Predictors of postpartum modern contraceptive use intentions among pregnant women in urban Ghana: a cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION

the provision of modern family planning services is crucial for postpartum women. In some cases, women have become pregnant before having their first menstruation following a delivery. Often, such pregnancy is deemed unplanned and unwanted and may be aborted. Therefore, identifying the predictors of extended postpartum contraceptive use among women is essential for efficient postpartum contraceptive use.

METHODS

a health facility-based, cross-sectional study was conducted at the Ashanti Regional Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana in 2018. A sample size of 298 pregnant women attending the antenatal clinics was used for the study. A 55-item questionnaire was used to collect data via a simple random sampling technique and multiple logistic regression, Pearson´s Chi-square, and descriptive statistics were performed using IBM-SPSS (v22.0).

RESULTS

the magnitude of postpartum modern contraceptive use intention was 30.20% among pregnant women. The most frequent method of intended use was oral contraceptives (18.8%). In the multivariate logistic regression model, we found that urban residence [AOR = 6.40, 95% CI: (1.22-24.66)], history of unintended pregnancy [AOR = 3.16, 95% CI: (1.02-9.80)] and frequency of sexual activity-once a month [AOR = 3.59, 95% CI: (1.23-10.53)], were factors positively associated with post-partum contraceptive use intentions among pregnant women.

CONCLUSION

the use of extended postpartum contraceptive services was not significant among the studied respondents. Place of residence, mass media, history of unintended pregnancy, and frequency of sexual activity once a month were important predictors of intentions to use modern contraceptives among urban Ghanaian women.