Agreement and concordance regarding reproductive intentions and contraception between husbands and wives in rural Ballabgarh, India
<b>Background:</b> Traditionally, women have been the chief respondents in most demographic and health surveys focusing on family planning; the role of men has been limited. However, in recent years there has been realization of the importance of men′s role in family planning...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
2010-01-01
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| Series: | Indian Journal of Community Medicine |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.ijcm.org.in/article.asp?issn=0970-0218;year=2010;volume=35;issue=1;spage=19;epage=23;aulast=Yadav |
| Summary: | <b>Background:</b> Traditionally, women have been the chief respondents in most demographic and health surveys focusing on family planning; the role of men has been limited. However, in recent years there has been realization of the importance of men′s role in family planning. <b> Aims and Objectives:</b> To assess the levels of agreement and concordance between husbands and wives regarding reproductive intentions and contraception. <b> Materials and Methods:</b> A cross-sectional survey was carried out in 200 randomly selected married couples (in the age range of 15-44 years) in village Dayalpur, Haryana. Data pertaining to reproductive intentions and contraception was collected and the level of agreement (kappa statistics) between husbands and wives was calculated. <b> Results:</b> The observed concordance was 67.5% for ideal family size, 84.5% for contraceptive attitude, 88.5% for fertility desire, 93.5% for unmet need, and 97% for report of number of currently living children. The adjusted kappa statistic varied from a low of 0.43 (<i>P</i> ≤ 0.001) (ideal family size) to a high of 0.96 (<i> P</i> ≤0.001) (number of living children) with contraceptive attitude (0.7) (<i> P</i>≤0.001), unmet need (0.88) (<i> P</i>≤ 0.001), and current use of contraception (0.93) (<i> P</i> ≤0.001) having kappa values in between. Overall, a greater degree of agreement was observed for reproductive health events as compared to family planning attitudes and intentions. An in-depth analysis of the responses in the current study provides further evidence of male domination in decision making. <b> Conclusion:</b> In surveys pertaining to reproductive health events, the wife′s response can be taken as proxy for the couple′s response, but for assessing family planning attitudes and intentions, there is a need to collect information from husbands and wives separately. |
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| ISSN: | 0970-0218 1998-3581 |