Knowledge, attitude, and practice of contraception among pregnant women in Ende district, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

Introduction: Indonesia has the fourth largest population in the world with 255.7 million people and a rate of birth of 21 per 1,000 population. There is also a high rate of unmet need and total fertility rate (TFR), which can potentially lead to unwanted pregnancies, consequently increasing the maternal mortality rate (MMR). Thus, family planning program through postpartum contraceptive use is one of the efforts to reduce the MMR and TFR. This study is conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of contraception among pregnant women in Ende district. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out at three primary health centers in the main district of Ende from July to August 2015. A total of 305 pregnant women who completed questionnaires assessing their KAP of contraception were enrolled in this study. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 23.0 for Windows with Pearson or Spearman correlation tests. Results: In this study, 86.53% of pregnant women were aware of family planning methods, among which the best known was injection (63.97%). Most respondents obtained information from health professionals (63.30%). More than half of the respondents agreed that contraception was beneficial and would recommend it to their families. The most prevalent reason for not wanting to use contraception in the future was the desire to have a child (44.59%). The total knowledge score was correlated with attitude and practice scores (p < 0.001). Conclusion: More than half of respondents knew, agreed, and would like to recommend contraception. Primary health care providers play a major role in improving women’s knowledge of family planning. To support the success of family planning, the government should emphasize on family planning education. In particular, there appears to be need for counseling about family planning for pregnant women.