SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS INFLUENCING UNIFORM MEN INVOLVEMENT IN FAMILY PLANNING IN EDO STATE

ABSTRACT

Male involvement in FP has been a concern for health policy makers for a while now. This is because male involvement will reduce the high Total Fertility Rate (TFR) and as it regards uniform men, will help to provide their reproductive health datas. This study investigated the sociocultural factors influencing uniform men involvement in family planning. Eight research questions were raised and answered and seven hypotheses were formulated and tested. The descriptive survey design was used for the study. The population of the study comprise all 3,423 uniform men in Edo State. The sample size of the study was 494. The instrument for data collection was a self-structured questionnaire title “Sociocultural Factors Influencing Uniform Male Involvement in Family Planning Questionnaire (SFIUMIIFPQ)”. The instrument was validated by the researcher’s supervisors and one other expert in the Department of Education Evaluation and Counselling Psychology. The internal consistency of the item was determined using the Cronbach Statistical tool and an alpha level of 0.74 was gotten. Data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions raised while regression was used to test the formulated hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level of significance. Findings revealed that majority of uniform men had high level of involvement in family planning. It was observed that desire for large family size significantly influenced uniform men involvement in FP (p=.014). Ethnic group significantly influence uniform men involvement in family planning (p=.030). Uniform men who desired to have three children were the most involved in FP (p=.002). Religious affiliation did not significantly influence uniform men involvement in FP. Also male child preference, income and level of education did not significantly influence uniform men involvement in FP at 0.05 level of significance. Based on the findings, it was concluded that even though male involvement in family planning may be low generally in the country, among uniform men it is high. It was recommended that public health awareness campaigns should be targeted at those who desire to have more than four children to make them more involved in FP. Also behavioural communication interventions targeted at driving uptake of involvement in family planning should use men who are known to be involved in family planning as ambassadors to educate and relate their experiences.