Acceptability and utilization of female condom among couples attending family welfare clinics in Mumbai.

Senthil, S.; Neha, M.; Pratibha, K.; Rahul, G.; Achhelal, P.

Asian Journal of Research in Social Sciences and Humanities; 2015; 5; 54-61.       

Abstract: One of the major goals of the National Population Policy, 2000 is to address the unmet need for contraception. The unmet need for contraception in India (NFHS-3, 2005 - 06) is about 13% of which 6.3% for spacing and 6.8 % for limiting the family. Introducing a new modern method of contraception increases the prevalence by 3% and reduces the unmet need by 1.6%. In India , introducing and integrating female condom in Family Welfare programme may expand the contraceptive choices for women. There is dearth of literature available in Indian context on acceptability of female condom and perception of women in Family Welfare clinic settings. The aim was to explore the acceptability of female condom and possibility of introducing FC in Family Welfare programme. Objectives of the study were: 1) To study awareness and acceptability of female condom among the couples attending family planning clinics. 2) To understand attitudes and perceptions of the couples towards female condom.

Sample size: The sample size was calculated, based on contraceptive users attending two Family Welfare clinics. 110 women were enrolled.

Study Design: Prospective clinic based study.

Sampling Technique: simple random sampling technique was adopted.

Outcome of the study: Out of total 176 women screened, 110 were enrolled for the study. Among these more than 50% completed the study and less than 50% of women dropped out. 29.6% women dropped out due to reasons related to method and dropout rate in 70.4 % women was due to non method related reasons.

Keywords: Female condom, Family planning, Contraception, Acceptability, Feasibility.