Awareness and practice of family planning methods among married woman of urban and rural Trichy, Tamilnadu

Background: Family planning services have the potential to improve the quality of lives of people and their economic welfare. Increasing population growth is a worldwide problem today and our country with growth rate 16 million each year is second most populous country. Population growth is major obstacle to overall progress of nation. Objective: To assess the awareness and practice of family planning methods among married women of reproductive age group living in rural and urban Trichy. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among married women attended opd in urban health centre samayapuram and rural health centre sirugambur Trichy. The study period was Feb to March 2017 and the study sample was 200 married women belonging to reproductive age group (15-45yrs). Data was collected by using predesigned prestructerd questionnaire on socio-demographic profile, knowledge and practice among married women in urban and rural Trichy .Data was analyzed by using spss ver 16. Results: Majority of study population belong to age group of 26-35yrs in urban samayapuram and15-25yrs in rural sirugambur. Most of them in urban(26%) have completed middle school, in rural(41%) have completed primary school. Majority of the study population belongs to upper lower class in urban (62%), rural(35%) .99% of urban study population and 86% of rural population in study group have awareness about family planning methods. 96% of urban study population and 76% of rural study population were aware about spacing between two children. But usage of contraceptives is only 63% in urban study population and 44% in rural study population. Main reason for not using contraceptives in urban is need for more male children(14%) and in rural it is due to lack of knowledge(20%). Conclusion: This study concludes that although the awareness of married female is favorable for family planning methods, but the actual practice lags behind than the requirement.