Determinants of contraceptive choices among sexually active women in Kampala District

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to assess the factors affecting the choice of contraceptives among sexually active women (15-49years) in Kampala district. A cross-sectional survey was adopted and primary data was collected from 200 respondents from different sexually active women around Kampala city divisions of Kawempe, Makindye, Central, Rubaga and Nakawa using a questionnaire approach designed in a kobo tool box. Simple random sampling was used. Data cleaning and analysis was done using STATA. Multinomial regression was used to investigate the influence of social-demographic and economic factors towards the contraceptive choices. The study findings revealed that majority of the respondents were aged between 23-30 (89), most respondents had attained tertiary/university education (80%) and (3.5%) did not attain any level of education and that majority of the respondents were single (42.50%) while only (2%) were widowed. It also revealed that majority (30%) were students, (27.50%) were employed and (13%) were un-employed. The study revealed that barrier methods of contraceptives that include abstinence, condoms, and withdraws were the most used with 85% of the total respondents. Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARC) that include IUDs and Implants were used by 64% and Hormonal methods like Injectable and pills were used by 51% of the respondents The study findings have indicated that Age of the respondent, distance to the nearest health center and whether or not the woman belongs to a social group has a significant effect on the contraceptive choice. On top of that, religion, marital status of the respondent, income level also has a significant effect on the contraceptive choice. However, number of children, education levels and unwanted pregnancy all had no significant effect on contraceptive choice. The main recommendation from this study is to the government to subsidize the cost of some contraceptive methods so that they are available for all women. Finally, this research recommended that women who are below 25 years and single should choose abstinence and condoms to avoid complications that come with the other contraceptive methods.