| Abstract: | Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the existing pattern of contraceptive use among postpartum women in urban areas of China.Method: A hospital based longitudinal study was carried out in Z ibo city, Shandong province of China from June 1996 to November 1997. Both quant itative and qualitative research approaches were used. This report mainly deals with the quantitative data. Qualitative data provided insights into the behavior of breastfeeding and contraceptive use, which helped to understand the percepti ons and behavior of people and community in this area. Information was obtained from 496 new parturient women who gave birth in the five district hospitals wher e they first were interviewed. They were then followed-up three timings for int erview at 42 days, four months and one year after delivery, respectively. Struct ured interview questionnaires filled out by trained interviewers. Total subjects of 492 women were for analysis in this paper.Results: The results showed that 74.4% of women were using contr aceptive methods when they resuming the first sexual activity after delivery. Du ring postpartum period, the majority of women interviewed used condom within 3 m onths, for instance, at 3 months after delivery, there were still 84.5% of women use condom. Afterwards, most of them switched to IUD. Life table analysis shows that the continuation rates of full breastfeeding, abstinence, amenorrhea and a cceptance of contraceptive methods at 4 months after delivery were 35.5%, 68.2%, 5.0%, and 86.3%, respectively. Conclusion: The policy implications of this study are that contr aceptive services and information for postpartum women in urban areas need to be improved further. The contraceptive methods providing for postpartum women shou ld have more methods to let women choose and instead of only one method for all of postpartum women. |
