Evaluation of women's attitudes regarding long-acting and permanent family planning methods

Long-Acting and Permanent Family Planning methods are suitable for a large number of women who want to regulate their fertility or interrupt childbirth. Despite their safety and effectiveness, these methods are not used to the desired level. The aim of this study is to determine the attitudes of women of childbearing age toward long-acting and permanent family planning methods. The study consists of two stages. In the first stage, a tool was developed to measure women's attitudes toward LAPFP methods, and in the second stage, the factors affecting women's attitudes toward LAPFP methods were examined by using this measurement tool. This study is cross-sectional and was conducted with 530 people in Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University Health Practice and Research Center Hospital. Among the reasons why women do not use the LAPFP method. It was found that there were various situations such as wanting to become pregnant (23.2%), fear of the side effects of the method (9.4%), and the husband's disapproval (8.1%). SPSS version 25.0 and AMOS v24.0 were used for statistical data analysis. In order to reveal the factors affecting the LAPFP attitude, the measurement model was tested in the structural equation model, and then the structural model was examined. In the results of our research, better education level, living and working in an urban area are associated with more positive family planning and a more positive LAPFP attitude. It is associated with having more children, not wanting another child, and having contraceptive failure before, a more negative FP attitude, and a more positive LAPFP attitude. More public awareness of family planning should be created in order to change the public perception of LAPFP methods. In order to reduce the rate of early discontinuation of the method, appropriate counseling about the advantage and effectiveness of family planning and increasing the satisfaction of the clients should be considered.