EFFECTIVENESS OF VIDEO ASSISTED TEACHING MODULE (VATM) ON CONTRACEPTIVE METHODS AMONG THE COUPLES IN THE VILLAGES OF PONDICHERRY

Delay the first, postpone the second, and prevent the third.

From the global perspective, developing countries currently face the crisis of rapid population growth which has begun to threaten human survival. The population explosion which is affecting the whole world has been particularly detrimental to the infrastructure of the developing countries like India. Therefore it is necessary to stabilize the growth of the population in order to achieve the common goal of human survival.

Objectives: 1) Assess the knowledge, attitude and adopted practices of couples regarding contraceptive methods. 2) Evaluate the effectiveness of Video Assisted Teaching Module on contraceptive methods.

Methodology: A randomized controlled trial with pre and post-test designs was undertaken in the selected villages of Pondicherry. A total of 977 (488 in the control and 489 in the intervention group) couples were selected by a cluster randomization technique.

Findings: Among the study subjects, 46.6% of the control and 41.4% of the intervention group couples were at the age group of 23-27 years. In 82.6% and 83.4% of the control and intervention group, husbands were the prime decision makers for family planning. All couples (100%) had knowledge on female sterilization and condom method whereas none of them had heard about emergency contraception (EC) and injectables contraceptives. There was statistically significant difference (p<0.000***) in the post-test knowledge score among the intervention group (30.37±4.73) compared to the control group (23.09±4.97). Pre and post test knowledge is knowledge level of couples’ before and after the intervention. The post-test mean attitude score showed significant difference (p<0.000***) in the intervention group (108.62±28.3) compared to control group (65.5±15.5). There are two groups, control group was not shown the video only intervention group couples’ were shown video i.e intervention group. In the control group the use of contraceptives was 5.5% which increased to 7.9% in post-test whereas in the intervention group in post-test, the practice level was almost tripled (20.24% Vs 6.5%). The most common methods practiced was condom (35.89% Vs 54.5%).

Conclusion: The mean post-test knowledge and attitude score between the control and the intervention group