Male Involvement in Family Planning in Some Selected Rural Communities in Enugu East Local Government Area in Enugu State, Nigeria.

ABSTRACT Men involvement in family planning would increase its recognition, acceptance and practice by people especially within the rural communities. This is because in rural communities in Nigeria including Enugu, men are still the gate keepers in our families who control power and major decision making. Some of them decide whether their wives will practice family planning or not and the methods to be adopted. This implies the men seem to have the finally say on the number of children the family should have, the spacing, maternal health and general level of reproductive health in the family. In Nigeria male involvement in family planning from previous studies is low, pregnancy and delivery problems are treated as women affair. Though men do not carry pregnancy, they are the initiators of the process and therefore should be involved in family planning for better success. The purpose of the study was to examine Male involvement in family planning in some selected rural communities in Enugu East Local Government Area in Enugu State, Nigeria. The target population of the study were 3320 men. Sample size was 360 men. The instrument for data collection was a researcher developed questionnaire which was also used as an interview guide for illiterate subjects. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation. Statistical analyses was done using the statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17. Chi-square inferential statistics was used for testing the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. Results showed there was a significant association between male involvement in family planning and socio demographic variables (age, educational level, occupation and religion). Other findings revealed that less than half of the respondents (46%) got involved in family planning practice in the rural communities studied. There were low mean response values of 2.21, 2.11 and 2.25 to the nature of men’s involvement in family planning. The main factors that affected their involvement were inadequate knowledge (40.5%), lack of many contraceptives options (34.8%). Most of the men used withdrawal method (35.5%) or condom (23.8%) and a combination of withdrawal and condom (27.5%) while (13.1%) use vasectomy. The study concluded that men’s involvement in family planning was low in the communities studied. Adequate information, education and communication is needed in the communities to improve their knowledge. Some cultural and religious beliefs that hinder men’s involvement in family planning should be discouraged. More male contraceptive options should be promoted as well as made available.