EFFECT OF EDUCATION AND PARITY ON THE USE OF CONTRACEPTION IN TAIF REGION.

Introduction: Saudi women are using contraception for child spacing rather than limiting fertility, especially after having a certain number of children. Effect of education and parity on prevalence of contraceptives use was not studied in this region of Saudi Arabia. Thus, the present study was conducted to identify the effect of education and parity on prevalence of contraceptives use by women of this region. Research Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Obstetrics and Gynecology outpatient clinic in King Abdul Aziz Specialist Hospital, Taif, Saudi Arabia from January to March, 2015. Married women living with spouse, aged 18 to 49 years and having at least one child were invited to participate in the study through convenience sampling method. The data was collected on socio demographic characteristics as well as contraceptive use from all enrolled participants after informed consent. The data was analyzed using SPSS21 statistical software (IBM SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Results: Among four hundred and fifty four participants, majority (52.6%) were non users of contraceptives. The most common method of contraceptive use was pills (74%), followed by IUCD (16.7%), and male condoms (4.7%). Significant difference was found in comparison of education between the two groups, where around eighty five percent of contraceptive users had education of secondary level or above compared to only sixty five percent among non-contraceptive users (p-value < 0.001). Moreover, parity also showed significant difference, where slightly more than fifty percent of contraceptive users had parity greater than two, compared to around seventy five percent in non-contraceptive users (p-value < 0.001). Conclusion: There is significant increase in using contraception among Saudi women in Taif region in reproductive age group and this intention to use of different contraceptive methods was found associated with the increase level of education and parity.