Male Involvement in and Knowledge about Family Planning: A Community-based Study from Urban Slums of Hyderabad, Telangana

Introduction: Conventionally, family planning program has viewed women as primary clients. Recently, the need for male participation in family planning has been highlighted, but there are limited efforts to bring the reproductive male population to accept contraceptives. Objective: The objective of the study was to study the male involvement in and knowledge regarding various family planning methods among married men. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional community-based study was conducted among married men in the urban field practice area of a medical college in Telangana state. A total of 223 married men were interviewed using a pre-designed and pre-tested schedule. Data were entered using MS-excel and analyzed using EPI-Info 7 version. Results: Average age of the respondents was 35.2 years with about 69% falling in the age group of 21–40 years. Majority 88%, 67%, and 58% have ever heard of condom, tubectomy, and vasectomy respectively. However, 90% of the respondent’s wives underwent tubectomy. More than half (60%) men felt that tubectomy is easy to perform, has fewer complications, has less chance of failure, and needs less duration of rest. About 50% husband was the alone who decides about the family planning in the family. Conclusion: In the present study, there were large gaps which are identified between male involvement in and knowledge regarding various methods of family planning. Key words: Family planning, knowledge, male involvement, urban slum