|
|
|
|
|
Mohammad Amirul Islam, MSc, Sabu S. Padmadas, PhD, and Peter W. F. Smith, PhD. Division of Social Statistics, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton, UK, Highfield, Southampton, SO 17 1BJ, Southampton, United Kingdom, 0044 023 8055 4088, islam@socsci.soton.ac.uk
Background Provision of appropriate contraceptive knowledge is essential to enhance male participation in reproductive health (RH). The DHS efforts to measure men's knowledge of RH issues offer a unique opportunity to understand the levels of men's contraceptive knowledge, particularly in developing countries. These surveys demonstrated universal contraceptive knowledge without addressing the importance of degree of knowledge which may have a significant impact on the informed choices strategy of RH programs.
Objective We present a methodology to examine the degree of men's modern contraceptive knowledge in Bangladesh thereby exploiting information on different type of methods and further investigate the associated factors.
Data and Methods We used the 1999-2000 DHS couple dataset (N=2249). The degree of knowledge was measured by the number of modern methods men have ever-heard of. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the effects of socio-demographic variables on the degree of knowledge.
Results About 19% of the respondents reported having heard of 4-5 modern methods whereas only 5% heard of £ 3 methods. The mean number of methods known is 6.9. Men who approved family planning had a high degree of contraceptive knowledge (p<0.001). Young, illiterate and less educated men and those who had no mass-media exposure knew fewer methods than their counterparts.
Conclusions Men who had a low degree of modern contraceptive knowledge seem not properly informed about the wide range of contraceptive options. It is imperative that family planning intervention strategies should focus on the degree of contraceptive knowledge by providing a wide range of modern methods.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to
Keywords: Family Planning,
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.