Factors affecting method choice among the current contraceptive users in Kenya: evidence from the Kenya demographic and health survey, 1998.

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate the effects of Contraceptive goals, contraceptive competency, contraceptive evaluations and contraceptive access factors in the current choice of modern over traditional methods of family planning among a sub-sample of 1795 currently married women aged 15-49 years. These were the women who were using contraceptive methods at the time of the 1998 Kenya Demographic and Health survey. Data from this survey was used because it provides nationally representative information on contraceptive use in Kenya. The techniques of data presentation and analysis that were employed in this study included the cross-tabulation and the chi-square test together with the ....•....• multiple logistic regression analyses. The results of the cross-tabulations and the chi-square values indicate that, , all the contraceptive goal factors namely, wives' age, whether or not additional children are wanted and the number of living children per woman were statistically significantly related to the current choice of modern and traditional methods of family planning among the currently married women of reproductive ages. iii Similar results were also found for husbands' education level which is a (contraceptive competency factor), ethnicity and husbands' attitude towards family planning (contraceptive evaluations factors), and finally hubsbandwife discussion about family planning and region/province of residence (contraceptive access factors) in this study. Wives' education level (contraceptive competency factor), religion (contraceptive evaluations factor) and finally, wives' work status and place of type of residence- whether rural or urban (contraceptive access factors) were found to have no statistically significant association with the current choice of modern and traditional methods of family planning among the currently married women of reproductive ages. On the hand, results of the multiple regression analyses indicate that contraceptive goal (wives' desire not to have additional children and, having at least one living child compared with the desire -10 have additional children and having no living child respectively), contraceptive competency (husband's education to pri,mary and above level compared with those with no education), contraceptive evaluations (belonging to Kikuyu, Kisii, Luhya, Meru/Embu and Mijikenda/Swahili ethnic communities, and husbands' approval of family planning compared with the Kalenjin ethnic community and husbands' disapproval of family planning respectively) together with the contraceptive access factors (residing in Nairobi. central, coast, Nyanza, lV and rift valley provinces compared with those residing in western province) variables were statistically significantly related to more choice of modern over traditional methods of family planning among the currently married women of reproductive ages in Kenya. The main conclusion that was derived from the results of this study, was that, Kenyan couples were making rational choices in terms of their ccontraceptive goals, competency, evaluations and access. This was demonstrated by the fact that there was at least one variable in every category of these factors that was found to have a statistically significant effect on the current choice of modern over traditional methods of family planning among the currently married women of reproductive ages considered in this study. The major policy implications of the findings oi\his study is that population and family planning programmes in Kenya should take into account Contraceptive goals, contraceptive competency, contraceptive evaluations and contraceptive access factors alongside family planning programme inputs factors to motivate couples (0 use modern instead of traditional methods of family planning. This will facilitate government's efforts to speed the pace of fertility decline in Kenya. v