ATTITUDE OF WOMEN OF CHILD BEARING AGE TOWARDS THE USE OF CONTRACEPTIVES; THE RIVERS STATE EXPERIENCE: IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELLING

Abstract

The study investigate attitude of women of child bearing age towards the use of contraceptives; the Rivers State Experience: Implications for counselling. The study adopted survey research design. Four research questions and four null hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study was 841,622 registered married women of reproductive age in Rivers State. The sample of the study was 520 women of reproductive age drawn through purposive sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was self design and titled: Attitude Towards Contraceptives Scale (ATCS). The instrument was validated by three (3) experts in Guidance and Counselling. The reliability of the instrument was ascertained using Cronbach alpha reliability method and yielded a reliability index of 0.83. Simple percentage was used in answering the research questions while chi-square was used in testing the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The finding of this study reveals that women of reproductive age with many years in marriage have positive attitude towards the use of contraceptives than their counterparts with few years in marriage, the result of this research question shows that married women of reproductive age from high income level have more positive attitude towards the use of contraceptives than those from low income level, that the attitude of women of reproductive age towards contraceptives based on length of marriage, age, income level and educational level significantly differs. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that governments at all level should establish health facilities where information on reproductive health could be discussed including safety measures which also include the use of contraceptives.