Abstract

Objective: The aim of the study is to determine the relationship between the desire of pregnancy and the attitude towards family planning.

Methods: This descriptive study was carried out with 313 pregnant women between February and May 2022 by random sampling method. Data were collected using an information form about pregnant women and the “Family Planning Attitude Scale”. Data were evaluated with descriptive statistics and the Mann Whitney U test.

Results: The total score of the Family Planning Attitude Scale of pregnant women was 126.4 ±18.3. The mean score of the sub-dimension related to society was 57.6±10.3, the mean score of sub-dimension related to birth was 28.8±5.2, and the mean score of the Family Planning attitude sub-dimension was 39.9±6.8. It was determined that 74.8% of the participants performed the pregnancy voluntarily, 57.2% had knowledge about family planning, 31.9% used family planning method in the pre-pregnancy period, but the rate of participants who would use it after delivery was 66.5%.

Conclusion: As a result of the study, it was determined that there was no difference between the family planning attitudes of women who became pregnant voluntarily and women who became pregnant unintentionally. In order to prevent unintended pregnancies, it is recommended that women be informed about family planning methods after giving birth and before discharge from the hospital, and that they should be followed up frequently by midwives/nurses in the postpartum period, training, counseling and follow-up should be done.