The effect of the COVİD 19 pandemic on the choice of family planning method

This study was planned to examine the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the choice of family planning method. The population of this study consisted of married and sexually active women between the ages of 18-49 years who applied to the gynecology outpatient clinic of a university hospital in Balıkesir. Convenience sampling method was applied in sample selection in the study. The questionnaires required for the study were collected between September-December 2022 and a total of 409 usable questionnaires were obtained. Consisting of 36 questions, the questionnaire was filled out by face-to-face interviews with women. The data obtained from the questionnaires were transferred to the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 20.0 package program and analyzed. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean, percentage and standard deviation, and descriptive statistics such as Chi-Square, independence analysis, logistic regression and multi-category logistic regression. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that the majority of women used Family Planning (FP) methods before the pandemic, and the most commonly used FP methods were condoms, withdrawal and oral pills. During the pandemic period, it was determined that the most preferred methods by women were condoms, withdrawal and oral pills, the majority of them did not change their FP contraception method, the women who changed their FP contraception method did so due to the risk of transmission in health institutions and other reasons, and they did not have difficulty in accessing contraceptive materials during this period. In addition, it was found that there were significant relationships between women's education level, spouse‟s education level, occupation, spouse‟s occupation and economic status and FP use during the pandemic period. As a result of logistic regression analysis, it was determined that the factors affecting traditional-modern FP methods in the pandemic were the age of women and their husbands. It was concluded that there were significant relationships between women's economic status and their status of receiving FP counseling services and between the types of FP used before and after the pandemic. As a result of research it was determined that the factors affecting the use of FP method in the Covid-19 pandemic were women‟s age, husband‟s age, educational status, occupation and economic status, and it was concluded that the pandemic period did not affect the FP method change, difficulty in accessing materials, and access to FP counseling services. In order not to interrupt FP services in extraordinary situations such as pandemics, such services should be prioritized among health services in order to ensure the sustainability of healthy generations and increase the welfare level of the society.