Evaluation of family physicians' thoughts, attitudes and behaviors regarding the intrauterine device method one of the family planning methods

Introduction and Aim: Family planning is one of the important health services provided in primary care. The intrauterine device (IUD) method is one of the long-acting-reversible contraceptive methods. It can be used in women of all age groups and is highly effective. In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the frequency of application and recommendation of the IUD method in primary care and the thoughts, attitudes and behaviors of family physicians about IUD. Material and Method: Our research was planned as an observational descriptive survey study. The universe of the study consisted of family physicians working in primary care, who were registered in the 2019 health statistics data of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Turkey. Within the scope of the research, a total of 245 family physicians working in the family health center were reached. The data were collected from the physicians who volunteered to participate in the research by face-to-face survey and online survey method from the Google Forms website. Results: A total of 245 family physicians participated in our study. It was found that the intrauterine device method was the second most frequently (38,4%) family planning method recommended by family physicians. Of the family physicians, 112 (45,7%) stated that the IUD was applicable in the family health center, and 133 (54,3%) stated that it was not. Malpractice concern (33,4%) was the most common reason for family physicians to consider the IUD as inapplicable in family health center. The most supported recommendation by family physicians for IUD Application in family health center was reducing the workload of nurses and midwives and applying positive performance to these individuals (61,2%). It was found that the level of knowledge of family physicians in recommending IUD was 40% and the level of knowledge about IUD was 72,85%. Conclusion: According to the results of our study, although the level of knowledge of family physicians working in primary care is sufficient compared to the literature, the rate of IUD application was found to be low compared to the literature. It was concluded that the biggest reason for this was malpractice concern.