Factors Influencing Adoption of Modern Family Planning Methods by Married Women in Kwanza Division, Transnzoia County, Kenya.

Abstract

The governments of Kenya together with other stakeholders involved in the provision of family planning services have put in place various strategies and policies to increase uptake of family planning services. This is aimed at increasing contraceptive prevalence, reducing Total Fertility Rate (TFR), reducing unmet need for family planning services as well as reducing maternal and child deaths. Despite the various strategies and policies, total fertility remains high at 4.6% while the national contraceptive adoption level is at 46% far below the projected rate of 70% by vision 2030 and the unmet need for contraceptive stands at a national level of 26%. Kwanza division has a low CPR indicated by high maternal and child deaths. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors influencing adoption of modern family planning methods by married women in Kwanza Division, Trans-Nzoia County, Kenya. The dependent variable for the study was adoption of modern contraceptives by married women. Independent variables were couples desire for large families, women economic status, community attitude and women’s close social networks. The study adopted a descriptive study design. The theoretical framework that guided the study was the Diffusion of Innovations Theory and the Social Networks Theory. The target population was 28,787. The sample size for the study was 397 married women which was obtained using the Krecjie and Morgan Table (1970). The sampling procedure adopted was multistage random cluster sampling. Data was collected using interview guides. Data was analyzed using frequencies, percentages, multiple regression, spears rho and presented on tables. The findings of the study will be important in designing the post 2015 agenda by the government and other stakeholders involved in provision of reproductive health services in Kenya. The findings of the study indicate that by taking the coefficient of determination, couples desire for a large family as a factor contribute 28.4 % variability in adoption of modern family planning practices also a statistical significant relationship between economic status and adoption of modern family planning practices by married women was observed. The study recommends that national and county governments should strive to improve transition rates from primary to secondary school to raise the education levels among women which would promote better understanding of reproductive rights and the benefits of modern family planning methods by women