Inter-Spouse Communication and Contraceptive Behavior in Cameroon: A Couple-Based Analysis: Abstract

"Multivariate analyses suggest a strong positive influence of husband-wife communication about family planning on contraceptive use and future intention to use contraceptives."

The focus of this Institut de Formation et de Recherche Démographiques (IFORD) presentation for the International SBCC Summit 2016, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, February 8-10, is on communication and contraceptive behaviour in Cameroon.

From the abstract:
"In Cameroon, the number of deaths due to maternal complications increased from 669 in 2004 to 782 per 100,000 living births in 2011. The CPR among women living in couple has increased between 1991 and 2004 from 16 percent to 26 percent, but there is a contrast in 2011, with a decrease to 23 percent (DHS-MICS, 2011). In addition, 24 percent of women in union had an unmet need for family planning in 2011 while this proportion was 22 percent in 1991. Inter-spouse communication on FP has been found in the literature to have a great influence in the decision-making process of couples for adopting FP measures, especially in male-dominated cultures, where, it is thought unnecessary for men to discuss family planning as child bearing and contraception are presumed to be female matters (Islam et al, 2010; Becker, 1996). In Cameroon, 53 percent of women in union (married or cohabiting) have never discussed FP with their partner (DHS-MICS, 2011). This study tried to answer two specific questions: what is the effect of spouse communication about FP on contraceptive use of couples in Cameroon? and what is the effect of spouse communication about FP on a couple’s future intention to use contraceptives in Cameroon?

Key highlights:
The percentage of couples currently used contraceptives is 19, 34 percent and around 56 percent of couples never discussed on family planning. At bivariate level, results showed a strong association between inter-spousal communication on FP and using of contraceptives within couples; only 10.7 percent of couples which never discussed FP used contraceptives whereas this proportion is 33.7 percent within couples which discussed FP sometimes/often. Multivariate analyses suggest a strong positive influence of husband-wife communication about family planning on contraceptive use and future intention to use contraceptives. Spouses are less likely to use contraceptives when they never discussed on family planning than they discussed about it once or twice time (OR= 2,38; 99 percent), or sometimes/often (OR= 3,18; 99 percent). Furthermore, among couples currently not practicing contraception, couples which discussed once or twice about FP were more likely to intend to use contraceptive compared with those which never discussed about FP (OR= 2,17; 99 percent) and couples which discussed sometimes or often about FP were more likely to intend to use contraceptive than those couples in which discussion does not exist (OR= 2,23; 99 percent)"