COUNSELLING SERVICES AND FAMILY PLANNING AWARENESS AMONG MARRIED COUPLES IN AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study investigated the influence of counselling services on family planning awareness among married couples in Uyo Local Government Area. The counselling services examined included information services, orientation services, follow-up services, and referral services from which corresponding research questions and hypotheses were formulated to guid the study. The study adopted a Causal Comparative (Ex-post factor) Research Design. A sample size of 400 was drawn from a population of 140, 172 couples using Taro Yamane Formula for sampling size. Purposive sampling technique was employed in handpicking cases the matches the target population. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire entitled “Counselling Services and Family Planning Awareness Questionnaire (CSFPAQ)” which had a reliability Coefficient of 0.75 after being subjected to Cronbach alpha. Data was analysed using One-way ANOVA. The results indicated there is a significant influence of information services on family planning awareness among married couples (F-ratio₍₃₉₇₎ = 497.840, p < 0.05), there is a significant influence of orientation services on family planning awareness among married ( F-ratio₍₃₉₇₎ = 1080.432, p < 0.05), there is a significant influence of follow-up services on family planning awareness among married couples (F-ratio ₍₃₉₇₎ = 885.185, p < 0.05) and there is a significant influence of referral services on family planning awareness among married couples (F-ratio ₍₃₉₇₎ = 680.315, p < 0.05). It was recommended that, the governments and healthcare organizations should establish more counselling centres and mobile clinics in rural and urban areas to increase access to counselling services for married couples in order to increase family planning awareness.

Keywords: Counselling Services, Family Planning, Awareness, Married Couples