Effect of postpartum counseling on adoption of family planning within six months in women delivered in SSG Hospital: an interventional study

Background: Increased family planning helps to reduce maternal mortality and infant mortality. Unmet need is spacing of birth for younger women and is the limitation of births for older women; both of which can be fulfilled by rigorous counseling. so the present study was conducted to measure the proportion of targeted women adopting family planning methods after postpartum counseling and to find out the type and timing of adoption.Methods: A Non-randomized control trial was conducted. The study was carried out at the postpartum delivery ward of the obstetrics and gynecology department of SSG Hospital. 103 participants in the intervention group and 103 participants in the control group were interviewed.Counseling and leaflet were given to the intervention group. The washout period was kept for one week. In the next week in the control group usual counseling was given by the counselor (standard of care). Second interview of the same participants was done telephonically or home visits after the 6 months to see the adoption of family planning method.Results: Within six months of delivery, acceptance of contraceptive methods was more in intervention group (72.85%) than in control group (48.52%). Condom was the most common type of contraceptive intervention used in both interventional group (51.45%) and control group (36.76%) followed by Copper T use which was 14.21% in interventional group and 8.82% in control group. Majority of the women adopted contraceptives within two months of intervention.Conclusions: Counseling may help in adoption of family planning methods among postpartum women.