REASONS FOR DISCONTINUATION OF CONTRACEPTIVE METHODS IN PORTSAID CITY

Background:  Most all pregnancies in Egypt are unintended. Of these, a great number occur to women who were practicing contraception in the month they conceived, and others occur when couples stop to use because they find their method difficult or in convenient to use. Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess the reasons for discontinuation of contraceptive methods in Port Said city. Subjects and Methods : This study was conducted at the family planning centers of fife areas which were Al Arab, AL Kewait , Al Manakh, Osman EbnAfan and Omar-Ebn Alkhatab. The study included five hundred women at the reproductive age, who were married, and using or discontinuing use of any contraceptive methods. Results: The results showed that (39.2%) of the studied women used hormonal contraception before discontinuation, and the reason for its discontinuation was mostly due to side effect(51.7%) followed by an equal percentage of health problems and husband disapproval (11.1%). Meanwhile (21.6 %) used IUD before discontinuation and the reason for its discontinuation was mostly due to side effect (57.4%) which were mostly due to menstrual irregularities (26.0%), back or colicky pain (39.0%) and hyper-menorrhea (35.0%).Husband' disapproval(28.7%) and failure of the method(15.1%) were the main reasons of discontinuation of mechanical barriers. However, the need to switch to another effective method (33.3%) was the most common reason for discontinuation of natural methods.Recommendation:The study recommended that better training of health providers especially nurses to provide family planning services, better information provision and counseling to clients, particularly about managing side effects and alternative contraceptive methods