Contraceptive choices among married child-bearing women in China

ObjectiveTo investigate contraceptive knowledge and choices among married child-bearing women in China.MethodsWe conducted this survey during October 2010 in 30 counties.Population proportional to size sampling method was employed in sampling.A total of 6 753 married child-bearing women were interviewed face-to-face.Information on demographic characteristics,contraceptive knowledge and choices were obtained.ResultsThere was a high awareness rate of oral contraceptive pills,condom,intrauterine device and female sterilization,but a relatively low awareness rate of other contraceptive methods.Among the 6 568 women who knew the condom,over 1/4 believed the condom could took off after the penis being flaccid;over 30% believed air leak checking by blowing the condom need to be conducted before using or oily lubricant could be used;89.1% reported experiencing at least one contraceptive method and 82.7% using at least one contraceptive method during the period before the survey and commonly used contraceptive methods reported by the women were intrauterine device(56.7%),female sterilization(21.0%),and condom(18.5%).ConclusionThe contraceptive rate is high but the awareness and using rate of contraceptive methods other than intrauterine device,female sterilization and condom are relatively low among married child-bearing women in China,and some of the women have misunderstandings on condom use.