Abstract:
The study was set to determine the factors influencing the use of female condoms among females attending family planning services at Entebbe general hospital. Its specific objectives included establishing the proportion of women using female condoms, determining the influence of personal factors, community factors, and health system factors respectively on use of female condoms among females aged 15 to 49 years.
The study adopted a cross sectional study design in which both quantitative and qualitative in data was collected from 117 randomly selected females using questionnaires, and 5 purposively selected health workers from the family planning unit using the key informant guide respectively. The study found the proportion of women ever using female condoms at 38.5% and none of the personal factors influenced use. Results found supportive roles of other women (AOR = 3.79; 95% CI: 1.05-13.64; p = 0.042) and that of the male spouses with regard to the use of the femidom (AOR = 4.44; 95% CI: 1.61-12.23; p = 0.004) were the community factors associated with female condom use. The study found the availability of female condoms at the health facility (AOR = 0.31; 95% CI: 0.10-0.93; p = 0.037) was the only health system predictor of female condom use. The qualitative results also agreed with the above quantitative findings.
The study based on the findings with respect to the specific objectives concluded that there was a significant use of the female condom among women that are characterized by good health seeking behaviors with regard to family planning services. It also concluded that the role of other women and the male partners alongside locational availability of femidom were pertinent when considering ways to improve the use on the female condoms among the women.
The study recommended among others that the government through its line Ministry of Health should develop and institutionalize interventions that promote roles played by other women with regard to use of the female condom in the community. It also recommended that the civil society organizations whose thematic areas are reproductive health in collaboration with the health professionals should adopt alternative outlets to the female condoms access like the retail centres, lodges and beaches in addition to health facilities found in the communities to increase female condom use among the women of reproductive age.
