Investigation of contraceptional method use situations and affecting factors of married women during the COVID-19 pandemic: A retrospective study

This study aims to examine the contraceptive method use status of married women during the COVID-19 pandemic and the affecting factors.This is a retrospective and descriptive type of research. The research was conducted at a Family Health Center in Izmir among women between the ages of 15-49, who had been married at least once, and who were still sexually active (N: 1320). The research sample consisted of 1100 women. The participation rate in the research was determined as 83%. A survey form was used to collect data. Number, percentage distribution, mean values, and chi-square test were used in the SPSS 22.00 package program to evaluate the data. The average age of the women in the research group is 34.0 ±0.232. 75.1% of women were using contraceptive methods before the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic period, the rate of contraceptive method use decreased to 59.6%. It was determined that the methods most abandoned during the pandemic period were condoms and oral and injectable contraceptives. 36.1% of women who stopped using contraceptive methods during the pandemic period stated that they could not obtain contraseptıves due to curfews. The incidence of unplanned pregnancy during the pandemic period is ConclusionsIt was determined that the rate of women's use of modern contraceptive methods decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic period, and there were problems in accessing contraceptive methods.