ABSTRACT

The study investigated awareness, access and utilization of family planning information among women in Abia State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study described the level of awareness of family planning among the respondents, identified the sources of family planning information accessible to the respondents, ascertain the level of utilization of different methods of family planning among the respondents, identify reasons for contraceptive choice, counselling of respondents and satisfaction with services received, identify the perceived benefits of family planning methods utilized by the respondents and examined the perceived side effects of the family planning methods utilized by the women. Multistage sampling procedure was used in the selection of 360 women as the sample size. Data collected were analysed using simple descriptive and inferential statistics. Result from the study showed that most of the women 49.3% were between the ages of 20 – 24 years of age with 46.3% having a household size of 11 – 15 members. Many are aware of family planning activities but very few of them were aware of the benefits of family planning in Abia State. Radio, (77.8%), doctors (74.1%), television (62.2%) and churches (62.2%) respectively were the major sources of family planning information in the study area. Inferential results revealed that, attitude towards family planning (2.795**), sex of the children (2.505***), education (3.282***), employment (0.644***), accessibility of facility (2.705**), religion (-3.983***), husbands approval (5.853***), cultural factors (5.027***) and knowledge on family planning methods (5.043***) were all significant and related to utilization of family planning information. Access to information source of the respondents with a t-ratio of 4.691 was significant and positively related to the use of family planning methods by the respondents. At P <0.05, it was shown that there is a significant difference in the mean rating on the utilization of family planning methods across the three zones of Aba, Umuahia and Ohafia with a F-cal (19.432***) higher than the tabulated F value at 5% probability level. It was recommended that Government both Federal, State and Local and Non-Governmental organizations should fully participate and increase funding and logistic support to ensure that family planning activities covers every nooks and crannies of Abia State. Family planning service providers should carry out audience analysis to prepare messages that should be comprehensive and compatible with the culture of the people.