Reproductive health history and unmet family planning need of pregnant women applying to a secondary health institution

This study, it was aimed to determine the reproductive health histories of pregnant women, whether they used family planning methods, the desired status of their last pregnancy, the unmet need for family planning, women's empowerment, and determine the risk factors. The cross-sectional study was carried out with 428 women who applied to Aydın Gynecology and Pediatrics Hospital between October 2021 and March 2023. The data were collected by the same researcher with a questionnaire created by scanning the literature. In the data analysis, descriptive statistics, Mann Whitney U, Kruskal Wallis, Pearson chi-square, and Fisher's exact test were applied. Bonferroni correction was applied when necessary. The answers to the open-ended questions were evaluated by coding in the MAXQDA program. The median value of the gestational week of the women at the time of the study was 35 (8.42). 75.0% (n:321) of pregnancies were desired, 10.7% (n:46) were unintended, and 14.3% (n:61) were planned later. 31.1% (n:133) of the participants stated that they did not use the family planning method before getting pregnant. The most commonly used methods are withdrawal (50.8%) and condoms (30.2%). In the 15-19 age group, the use of family planning methods is low. It was observed that 4.0% of the participants had an unmet need for family planning before their current pregnancies. However, it was determined that 13.6% of the women did not use the method or were protected by the traditional method. Participants (47.9%) most frequently obtain the methods by their own means. It was observed that 50.5% of the women had risky pregnancies. As the education level and participation in the workforce increase, the probability of a risky pregnancy decreases. In terms of the status of women, 94.2% of women are in the positive group. The use of family planning methods is higher in the positive group. In this study, it was determined that the use of the method was not at the desired level, and the rate of planned and unintended pregnancy was high. Different family planning method background with high method absenteeism highlights the necessity of diversity and individuality in family planning counseling service. It was thought that keeping women in education and business life and improving their status would improve reproductive health.