Assessing the Demand for Contraceptive Methods and its Relationship with Unwanted Pregnancy in High-Risk Women

Introduction: High-risk pregnancy refers to cases in which a pregnant woman suffers from illnesses and problems that make pregnancy dangerous or the newborn is considered high-risk, and any inadvertence may increases mortality and morbidity in mother or fetus. One of the ways to prevent high-risk pregnancies is to use family planning. Using proper family planning is one of the methods to prevent high-risk pregnancies. Therefore, the present paper has been conducted to prevent high-risk pregnancies, unplanned pregnancies and ultimately illegal abortions.Methodology: This descriptive survey study was carried out in urban health centers of Qazvin city in 2017. The research population consists of all 10-49 years old married women who referred to these centers. The sample size was calculated 384 people using Cochran formula. The sampling method was simple random sampling and data gathering tools included researcher-made questionnaire, interview and examining household files.Findings:Findings show that 57.8% of female households do not have a tendency for future childbirth; however, they still do not use long-term contraceptive methods. 51% of women with the highest frequency used natural contraceptive method and 16.4% of women used condom. 29.2% of women had left the method because of unwanted pregnancy and 14.6% female households had a ground disease.Discussion & Conclusion: Family planning methods are an essential principle for any healthy society and it is important to use them properly to protect the health of women and children. As high-risk pregnancies is one of the factors that threatens the lives of the mother and the fetus or the infant, therefore the difference between the use and demand for long-term contraceptive devices may increase unwanted pregnancy and abortion in these women. Therefore, health policy makers and health care providers should plan to develop free contraceptive services and promote the management of educational and counseling services for high-risk women and their husbands to select an effective and safe contraceptive method.

Keywords:

Demand , Family Planning , High-Risk Pregnancy , Unwanted Pregnancy