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Mohammad Amirul Islam, MSc, Sabu S. Padmadas, PhD, and Peter W.F. Smith, PhD. Division of Social Statistics, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, England, 0044 23 8055 4088, islam@soton.ac.uk

Contraceptive burden is borne mostly by the women in Bangladesh. At the same time the contraceptive method mix in Bangladesh is skewed towards the female methods. But women's role regarding adoption of a contraceptive method with fewer side effects is unknown. This article investigates the influence of the decision-making process in family planning (FP) (decision taken by mainly wife, mainly husband and jointly) on female method use against male method use in Bangladesh using the recent Demographic and Health Survey. This study further explores the associated determinants of the decision-making process in FP (decision taken by mainly wife, mainly husband and jointly). Analysis of the data reveals that about 67% of the couples took FP decision jointly and in about 18% of the cases wives took the FP decision alone. Logistic regression analysis suggests that the sex of the spouse who takes the decision regarding FP (if not joint decision) is associated with the type of method in use (female/male). Further analysis suggests that division, area of residence, education of the spouses, marital duration, and approval of FP by the spouses are the significant determinants of couple's decision-making process in FP. It is recommended that shifting the target of the FP program from a women only approach to a couple based approach may help improving the situation.

Learning Objectives:

• i) To understand women's role in decision-making process in family planning,ii)To identify the determinants of decision-making process of family planning and iii) To explore the influence of decision-making process of family planning on the choice of family planning methods (female/male).

Keywords: Decision-Making, Family Planning

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered