Commercial Drivers’ Participation in the Use of Family Planning Services in Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria

Aims: To determine the participation of male commercial drivers in the choice and use of family planning methods and possible implications for reproductive health policy formulation.
Study Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted.
Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study of 402 adult drivers was done. Participants were selected by balloting from the drivers register and all consenting drivers were interviewed by trained research assistants.
Results: Mean age of respondents was 44.5±9.9 years. Slightly more than half (53.0%) of participants were currently using a family planning method. The condom (58.2%) was the most popular family planning method followed by injection (32.9%) and withdrawal (22.1%). Only 43 (10.7%) and 36 (9.0%) of study’s participants have ever visited a family planning clinic for information or ever accompanied their spouses to a family planning clinic respectively. The commonest sources of information about family planning were the mass media (67.2%), health workers (21.1%) and friends (5.2%). Age (P<0.001) and knowledge (P=0.001) of family planning were found to be significantly associated with previous and current use of family planning. Respondents aged 40 years and above were about two times more likely to have good knowledge of family planning compared with younger respondents (OR=1.89; 95% CI=1.17–3.05). Similarly, respondents with good knowledge of family planning were about two times more likely to use a family planning method compared with those with poor knowledge (OR=2.35; 95% CI=2.257.20).
Conclusion: Commercial drivers’ participation in the choice and use of family planning was poor. The policy implication of these findings is the need for programmes targeted at men and designed to further improve their knowledge and attitude about family planning. This will motivate the men and by extension their wives in order to achieve better planned families.