INTRODUCTION:

India was the first country to launch a family planning programme in 1952. In the I^st 50 years there has been many changes. The name of the family planning programme was changed to family welfare programme and lastly to the present Reproductive and Child Health and the changes was done to increase the acceptance of the family planning methods¹.

As per WHO “family planning as a way of thinking and living that is adopted voluntarily, upon the basis of knowledge, attitude and responsible decisions by individuals and couples, in order to promote the health and welfare of the family group and thus contribute effectively to the social development of a country”.²Scope of family planning services is not synonymous with birth control; it ismore than mere birth control. A WHO Expert Committee (1970) has stated that family planning includes in its purview: the proper spacing and limitation of births, advice on sterility, education for parenthood, sex education. Screening for pathological conditions related to thereproductive system (e.g., cervical cancer), genetic counselling, premarital consultation and examination. Carrying out pregnancy tests, marriage counselling. The preparation of couples for the arrival of their first child, providing services for unmarried mothers, teaching home economics and nutrition, andproviding adoption services. These activities varyfrom country to country according to national objectives andpolicies with regard to family planning. This is the modernconcept of family planning.²The world population at the beginning of the Christian era was about 250 million. It doubled second time about 20 years and doubled third time in less than hundred years, currently the world population is set to be increasing at the rate of the 78 million every years on October 12^th2011 world population become 6 billion .It is expected to reach 8 million by 3035.³Marriage is an important social Institution it is form according to the change in its form according to the change in the culture, it is an institution, which permits or admit man and women for family life.It is more or less durable condition between male and female, beyond the more acting of propagation (birth of off-spring). It is an approved social institution where by two more person forms the family. There has been mutual attraction due to certain biological and psychological causes resulting in the establishment of intimate relationship from the birth of the pregnancy.⁴A cross sectional study was conducted on Knowledge, attitude, and practice of family planning services among healthcare workers in Kashmir (2019). A self-administered questionnaire was served to the female multipurpose health workers of District Anantnag and Baramulla at a training conducted in Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Srinagar, Kashmir. All the participants had heard about family planning methods. The major sources of information were trainers (78.8%). About 90.4% of the study participants gave correct response regarding the types of family planning. About 80.1% of the respondents had a favourable attitude toward family planning. Around three-fourths of the study participants practiced one or other method of family planning. Our study lead to the conclusion that the level of knowledge and attitude toward family planning was relatively low and family planning utilization was quite low among the healthcare workers. A study was conducted on Family planning in Southern India: A survey of women's attitudes (2017). Women were recruited from villages in the Belgaum district of India. Members of the research team obtained consent and led 58 interviews in the local languages. Participants were asked questions covering topics related to postpartum contraceptive counselling, knowledge, and experience; postpartum sexual practice; birth spacing desire and counselling; and interest in long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs). Women generally desired 3 years of birth spacing. A majority did not receive counselling regarding postpartum contraception during the prenatal period, although most would have liked to have received such counselling. Those who had made a contraceptive plan during the prenatal period had an odds ratio of 25.2(95% CI 4.9-128.6, p = 0.00001) for using postpartum contraception. Influences on contraceptive decisions primarily came from friends and family, while information from medical providers was not a major influence. Most women did not believe they could make their own decisions regarding contraception use, but those who did had an adjusted odds ratio of 56(95% CI 3.4-9161, p = 0.0047) of utilizing postpartum contraception. Women generally liked the idea of LARCs. A large majority of the women surveyed (89.66%) liked the idea of a subdermal contraceptive implant, a method currently unavailable in this region. Ultimately, the women surveyed do have healthy attitudes and goals regarding birth spacing but few utilize effective contraception in order to meet their goals. Further efforts in counseling as well as availability of a wider variety of contraceptive methods, including the subdermal contraceptive implant, may decrease the disparity between desires and practices. 19/21

OBJECYIVES:

· To assess the knowledge regarding family planning methods among postnatal mothers at Bishop Benziger Hospital, Kollam.

· To assess the attitude regarding family planning methods among postnatal mothers at Bishop Benziger Hospital, Kollam.

· To find the correlation between knowledge score and attitude score among postnatal mothers.

· To find the association between knowledge score and selected demographic variables such as age, education, occupation, place of living, type of family, gravida and previous knowledge.

· To find the association between attitude score and selected demographic variables such as age, education, occupation, place of living, type of family, gravida and previous knowledge.

HYPOTHESES:

(All hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance)

H₁: There will be correlation between knowledge score and attitude score of postnatal mothers.

H₂: There will be significant association between knowledge score and selected demographic variables such as age, education, occupation, place of living, type of family, gravida and previous knowledge.

H₃: There will be significant association between attitude score and selected demographic variables such as age, education, occupation, place of living, type of family, gravida and previous knowledge.

METHODS AND MATERIALS:

The research approach is Quantitative approach, it indicates the basic procedure for conducting research. This aims to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding family planning methods among postnatal mothers at Bishop Benziger Hospital, Kollam

The study was undertaken with 60 samples. Purposive sampling technique were used. The research design was descriptive design. Structured knowledge questionnaire and checklist were used for collecting the data. The data was analysed by using descriptive and inferential statistics.

RESULTS:

Description of sample characteristics:

Figure1 shows the percentage distribution according to the age

Percentage wise distribution of the sample according to age shows that 65% of samples belongs to the age group of 19-25 years, 33.3% of samples belongs to the age group of 26-35 years and 1.6% of samples belongs to the age group of above 36.

Percentage wise distribution of the sample according to education shows that 21.6% of samples have secondary and higher secondary education, and 56.6% of samples are graduates and above.

Percentage wise distribution of the sample according to occupation shows that 66.6% of samples were home maker and 33.3% of samples were office worker.

Percentage wise distribution of the sample according to place of living shows that 30% of samples lives in rural area, 10% of samples lives in semi-urban area and 60% of samples lives in urban area.

Percentage wise distribution of the sample according to type of family shows that 23.3% of samples belongs to nuclear family, 68.3% of samples belongs to joint family and 8.3% of samples belongs to extended family.

Percentage wise distribution of the sample according to gravida shows that 75% of samples are primi and 25% of samples are multigravidae.

Percentage wise distribution of the sample according to source of information shows that 35% of samples got the information from professional, 8.3% of samples got information from peer group, 30% of samples got information from media, and 26.6% of samples got information from family members.

Description of knowledge of samples regarding family planning methods:

43.33% of the postnatal mother possessed moderate knowledge and 56.67% of the postnatal mother possessed adequate knowledge. The mean knowledge score was 11.8 with standard deviation of 1.28.

Description of attitude of samples towards family planning methods:

36.67% of the postnatal mother possessed moderate attitude and 63.33% of the postnatal mothers possessed adequate attitude. The mean attitude score was 54.51 with standard deviation of 6.67.

Table 1: Correlation between knowledge and attitude among postnatal mothers.

			Correlation (r)
Variables	Mean	SD	Correlation (r)
knowledge	11.8	1.28	0.12
Attitude	54.51	6.67	0.12

The Karl pearsons correlation coefficient was computed to determine the correlation between knowledge score and attitude score and the score was computed r=0.12 for a sample size of 60, shows weak positive correlations.

Association between knowledge score and selected demographic variables such as age, education, occupation, place of living, type of family, gravida and previous knowledge:

The calculated chi square value of age (0.43) was not more than the table value at 0.05 level of significance, there was no significant association between knowledge score and age. The calculated chi square value of education (9.37) was more than the table value at 0.05 level of significance, there was significant association between knowledge score and education. The calculated chi square value of occupation (2.87) was less than the table value at 0.05 level of significance, there was no significant association between knowledge score and occupation. The calculated chi square value of place of living (0.12) was not more than the table value at 0.05 level of significance, there was no significant association between knowledge score and place of living. The calculated chi square value of type of family (1.82) was not more than the table value at 0.05 level of significance, there was no significant association between knowledge score and type of family. The calculated chi square value of gravida (5.24) was more than the table value at 0.05 level of significance, there was significant association between knowledge score and gravida. The calculated chi square value of previous knowledge (1.69) was not more than the table value at 0.05 level of significance, there was no significant association between knowledge score and previous knowledge. H2 was accepted for the demographic variables such as education and gravida. There was significant association between knowledge score and selected demographic variables such as education and gravida. There was no significant association between knowledge score and age in years, occupation, place of living, type of family and previous knowledge.

Association between attitude score and selected demographic variables such as age, education, occupation, place of living, type of family, gravida and previous knowledge:

The calculated chi square value of age (0.37) was not more than the table value at 0.05 level of significance, there was no significant association between attitude score and age. The calculated chi square value of education (1.14) was more than the table value at 0.05 level of significance, there was no significant association between attitude score and education. The calculated chi square value of occupation (1.73) was more than the table value at 0.05 level of significance, there was no significant association between attitude score and occupation. The calculated chi square value of place of living (0.42) was not more than the table value at 0.05 level of significance, there was no significant association between attitude score and place of living. The calculated chi square value of type of family (0.19) was not more than the table value at 0.05 level of significance, there was no significant association between attitude score and type of family. The calculated chi square value of gravida (0.25) was more than the table value at 0.05 level of significance, there was no significant association between attitude score and gravida. The calculated chi square value of previous knowledge (0.36) was not more than the table value at 0.05 level of significance, there was no significant association between attitude score and previous knowledge. H3 was rejected for the demographic variables such as age in years, education, occupation, place of living, type of family, gravida and previous information. There was no significant association between attitude score and selected demographic variables such as age in years, education, occupation, place of living, type of family, gravida and previous knowledge.

CONCLUSION:

The present study was aimed to find the knowledge and attitude regarding family planning methods among postnatal mothers in Bishop Benziger Hospital, Kollam. The study concluded that 43.33% of the postnatal mother possessed moderate knowledge and 56.67% of the postnatal mother possessed adequate knowledge. The study also concluded 36.67% of the postnatal mother possessed moderate attitude and 63.33% of the postnatal mothers possessed adequate attitude. The findings of the study showed that there is weak positive correlation between knowledge and attitude (0.12) in which when knowledge increases there was mild increase in attitude. The study revealed that there was significant association between knowledge score and selected demographic variables such as education and gravida. There was no significant association between knowledge score and age in years, occupation, place of living, type of family and previous knowledge. There was no significant association between attitude score and selected demographic variables such as age in years, education, occupation, place of living, type of family, gravida and previous information.

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Received on 26.11.2021 Modified on 19.12.2021

Asian J. Nursing Education and Research. 2022; 12(4):423-426.

DOI: 10.52711/2349-2996.2022.00091