Risk and protective factors for intention of contraception use among women in Ghana

Abstract

The use of various forms of contraception in Ghana gained prominence after the government resorted to investing more in family planning programs when maternal mortality was declared an emergency in the country. In Ghana, the intention to use and actual usage of contraceptives is influenced by many factors, which may lead to non-usage or discontinuation. This quantitative study was conducted to determine risk and protective factors impacting on the intention and usage of contraceptives. Survey data from the Ghana 2014 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) ( n = 9396) was used. A sub-sample of 7661 women in their reproductive age were included in this study, who reported being sexually active within the last year. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to test the association between a broad range of risk and protective factors including religion, early sexual intercourse, frequency of sex, number of lifetime sexual partners with intention to use contraception. We controlled for income, educational attainment, and age. Overall ( n = 3661; 47.8%) reported no intention of contraception use. Logistic regression analysis revealed that no formal education (OR = 1.49; 95% CI, 1.29–1.72; p < 0.001), and primary school as highest educational level (OR = 1.19; 95% CI, 1.04–1.25; p < 0.001), Islamic religion (OR = 0.73; 95% CI, 0.59–0.90; p < 0.001), not currently employed (OR = 1.50; 95% CI, 1.34–1.69; p < 0.001), husband opposing contraception use (OR = 2.19; 95% CI, 1.42–3.46; p < 0.001), and currently pregnant (OR = 1.30; 95% CI, 1.09–1.54; p < 0.001) were also positively associated with no intention of use. Engaging religious leaders for advocacy in the community was identified as an approach to address barriers and increase awareness on contraceptive use. Targeted family planning programs should intensify public education on safe sex behaviors.

Assessment of intention to use contraceptive methods with spatial distributions and associated factors among women in Ethiopia: evidence from EDHS 2016

“…The current educational motivation due to different international efforts like the sustainable development goals might influence these things. Participants in the study in Gahanna showed the reverse intention compared to our study; the participants with primary education as their highest education had no intent to use contraceptive methods in that study [ 2 ]. That might indicate an intention to learn and use contraception was correlated; however, the status of the relationship was not clear.…”

“…A woman may incline toward contraceptive method use even though many factors might make things difficult for her. The intention to use contraceptive methods is associated with some socio-demographic variables in Africa [ 2 ]. The socio-demographic factors of the women like age, place of residence, marital status, education, religion, work, frequency of visit to health institution, and awareness of the ovulation cycle have reported affecting intention to use contraception methods [ 3 ].…”

Individual and Community-Level Factors Associated With Intention to Use Contraceptives Among Reproductive Age Women in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…A person’s intention to perform a behavior is driven by perceived costs and motivation [ 5 ]. Intention to use and use of family planning has been the best method to control family size and unnecessary pregnancies [ 6 ]. Even the intention to use contraceptives improves the health of children, women, families, and whole societies [ 7 ].…”

Identify Key Determinants of Contraceptive Use for Sexually Active Young People: A Hybrid Ensemble of Machine Learning Methods

“…In terms of the participants' education level, our study shows that young males pursuing a bachelor's or young females pursuing a master's degree tend to have higher FCU. Previous studies can partly explain this phenomenon: with a higher degree of education, students may have more opportunities to learn sexual knowledge and raise awareness of contraception [28,29].…”