Evaluation of knowledge level and attitudes of 15-49 years old women who apply to family planning polyclinic of Health Sciences University Diyarbakir Gazi Yaşargil Education and Research Hospital for Family planning

Introduction and Objective: In our study, it was aimed to reveal the relationship among socio-demographic features, maternity history, knowledge level on family planning, the preferred family planning methods of the married female individuals between the age of 15 and 49 years who live in Diyarbakır and the factors affecting their preference as well as to compare the outcomes with the previous studies. Findings: The mean age of female individuals who participated in the study was 31.72±7.42 years. The mean marriage age of female individuals was 20.15±3.73 years. The education level of 73.9% of female individuals and 61.3% of their spouses who participated in our study was found to be elementary school and below. Of female individiuals, 87.4% were housewives and the average number of alive children were 3.04±1.58. Of the participants whose education level was elementary school and below, 74.8% were using IUD and 7.3% of them were using condom; where as 55.2% of the participants whose education level was high school or above were using IUD and 20.7% of them were using condom. The rate of unintended pregnancy was 46.8% and 79.5% of these cases were resulted in birth. When the description of family planning was asked to the female individuals; 52.3% of them described it as preventive method against pregnancy as well as 31.8% of them gave the correct answer through describing it as preventive method against pregnancy and providing the couples who could not have a child with consultancy service and leading them to appropriate medical care. Conclusion: The rate of unintended pregnacy is high according to the results in our study. Family planning is a protective service and plays the major role in reducing health problems which occur in mother and baby in association with unintended pregnancies and frequent births. Therefore, the lifestyle, education level, financial conditions and disease of the users should be considered in raising awareness in family planning and in selecting the method which will be used as well as consultancy service should be provided for the most appropriate family planning method for the individual.