Challenges for the implementation of the Family Planning Program in a low-income community in aracaju, Sergipe, Brazil

Abstract

A study on the reproductive characteristics and the meaning of family planning for childbearing age women and for the health team providing care to them was conducted in a low-income community in Aracaju - SE. In the descriptive stage of the study structured questionnaires were applied to 90 users of a Primary Care Unit random-selected from the family files containing personal data and information about the reproductive life of the women. This stage was followed by a qualitative approach in focal groups with six users and the health team applying semi-structured questionnaires for assessing the practice of family planning. The study showed that knowledge and offer of contraceptive methods are no guarantee of proper family planning. More than 97% of the participants related knowing about the condom, the pill and the contraceptive injection. 73,6% of the sexually active women practiced contraception but 76% of those who already had had a pregnancy referred to one or more unintended gestations. The focal groups revealed the need for other approaches to family planning such as preconception care, access to the partners and education in health to be developed by the team in order to help the users to better plan their offspring.