Knowledge and Attitude of Married Women in Kwara State, Nigeria Towards Vasectomy as a Choice of Male Contraception

Abstract

Despite the well-documented impact men have on women’s choice of contraception, it appears that women’s input into their partners’ decisions about contraception has been undervalued and underutilized. Vasectomy being one of the few options available for males, is not often used as a means of family planning. This study examined the knowledge and attitude of married women in Kwara state, Nigeria towards vasectomy as a choice of their male partner’s contraception. Specifically, differences in knowledge and attitude based on selected demographic characteristics were assessed. The study design was descriptive survey type. Six hundred married women were sampled from the six Local government areas selected across the three senatorial districts of Kwara State, Nigeria through a multistage procedure. Two research questions and hypotheses were tested for the study. Data collected were analyzed using percentage and pie-chart to answer the research questions raised while 4-way Analysis of Variance to test the hypotheses postulated at 0.05 alpha level. Results revealed that respondents had inadequate knowledge of vasectomy and negative attitudes towards it as choice of contraceptive for their partners. There was no significant difference in the knowledge of vasectomy among respondents based on years of marriage, family size and religion. However, when tested, a significant difference existed in knowledge of vasectomy based on educational level (F (8, 532) = 0.665; p>0.05). Also, no significant difference was found in the attitude of females on vasectomy as a choice of male contraception based on years of marriage, education, family size and religion in Kwara State, Nigeria (F (8, 532) = 1.047; p>0.05)The findings suggest a need for effective awareness programmes as well as improvement in health talks and counselling topics targeted to enhance their knowledge of vasectomy as well as improve their attitude towards it.