‘The main barriers to modern contraceptive uptake among young women are myths and misconceptions’, says a new paper in the open-access journal BMC Public Health.

Below is the citation and abstract. The full text is available here:

http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/s12889-015-1483-1.pdf

CITATION: Ochako et al. Barriers to modern contraceptive methods uptake among young women in Kenya: a qualitative study. BMC Public Health (2015) 15:118. DOI 10.1186/s12889-015-1483-1

ABSTRACT

Background: Young women in Kenya experience a higher risk of mistimed and unwanted pregnancy compared to older women. However, contraceptive use among youth remains low. Known barriers to uptake include side effects, access to commodities and partner approval.

Methods: To inform a youth focussed behaviour change communication campaign, Population Services Kenya developed a qualitative study to better understand these barriers among young women. The study was carried out in Nyanza, Coast, and Central regions. Within these regions, urban or peri-urban districts were purposively selected based on having contraceptive prevalence rate close to the regional average and having a population with low socioeconomic profiles. In depth interviews were conducted with a sample of sexually active women aged 15–24, both users and non-users, that were drawn from randomly selected households.

Results: All the respondents in the study were familiar with modern methods of contraception and most could describe their general mechanisms of action. Condoms were not considered as contraception by many users. Contraception was also associated with promiscuity and straying. Fear of side effects and adverse reactions were a major barrier to use. The biggest fear was that a particular method would cause infertility. Many fears were based on myths and misconceptions. Young women learn about both true side effects and myths from their social networks.

Conclusion: Findings from this research confirm that awareness and knowledge of contraception do not necessarily translate to use. The main barriers to modern contraceptive uptake among young women are

myths and misconceptions. The findings stress the influence of social network approval on the use of family planning, beyond the individual’s beliefs. In such settings, family planning programming should engage with the wider community through mass and peer campaign strategies. As an outcome from this study, Population Services Kenya developed a mass media campaign to address key myths and misconceptions among youth.

SELECTED QUOTES from full text:

“The woman inserts it (pill in the vagina) so that she doesn’t get pregnant” [Non-user, Kisumu]

“If they put that (implants) on you when you remove it (implants) you cannot give birth again” [User, Kisumu]”

“Pills are very bad and I don’t like anything to do with them… if you take the pill for so long, you may give birth to a paralyzed child…” [User, Mombasa]

“All these family planning methods interfere with our feelings (libido) be it a coil, be it a tablet, (pills) be it what, I heard that it (modern family planning) reduces feelings” [User, Mombasa)

“Sometimes they complain because of the way they (pills) make you feel tired, bring mood swings and sometimes you have a low libido. This will make him complain because he will start accusing you that you are being unfaithful to him” [User, Mombasa]

“And so they (men) say that only promiscuous women use the pills and that is why they are against those pills” [Non-user, Mombasa]

—

Best wishes, Neil

Let’s build a future where people are no longer dying for lack of healthcare knowledge – Join HIFA: www.hifa2015.org