| dc.description.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
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multiple logistic regression analyses.
The results of the cross-tabulations and the chi-square values indicate that,
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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.
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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,
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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.
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