Predictors of postpartum modern contraceptive use intentions among pregnant women in urban Ghana: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: the provision of modern family planning services is crucial for postpartum women. In some cases, women have become pregnant before having their first menstruation following a delivery. Often, such pregnancy is deemed unplanned and unwanted and may be aborted. Therefore, identifying the predictors of extended postpartum contraceptive use among women is essential for efficient postpartum contraceptive use. Methods: a health facility-based, cross-sectional study was conducted at the Ashanti Regional Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana in 2018. A sample size of 298 pregnant women attending the antenatal clinics was used for the study. A 55-item questionnaire was used to collect data via a simple random sampling technique and multiple logistic regression, Pearson´s Chi-square, and descriptive statistics were performed using IBM-SPSS (v22.0). Results: the magnitude of postpartum modern contraceptive use intention was 30.20% among pregnant women. The most frequent method of intended use was oral contraceptives (18.8%). In the multivariate logistic regression model, we found that urban residence [AOR = 6.40, 95% CI: (1.22-24.66)], history of unintended pregnancy [AOR = 3.16, 95% CI: (1.02-9.80)] and frequency of sexual activity-once a month [AOR = 3.59, 95% CI: (1.23-10.53)], were factors positively associated with post-partum contraceptive use intentions among pregnant women. Conclusion: the use of extended postpartum contraceptive services was not significant among the studied respondents. Place of residence, mass media, history of unintended pregnancy, and frequency of sexual activity once a month were important predictors of intentions to use modern contraceptives among urban Ghanaian women.