Women's Decision-Making Power on Modern Family Planning Use and Its Associated Factors in Northwest Ethiopia

INTRODUCTION: Poor decision-making power on family planning among married women is a public health concern. Despite this, there is a scarcity of research done on decision-making power of family planning use as one of their basic human rights. The study is aimed at determining the magnitude of married women's decision-making power on family planning use and its associated factors. METHODS: This was a community-based cross-sectional study that was conducted on married women from May, 01-30/2021. A multistage systematic random sampling technique was applied to select 620 eligible study participants. The study used semi-interviewer questionnaires to collect data, and the collected data were entered into EpiInfo version 3.7.2 and then exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used. The strength of associations of variables was described by using odds ratio, 95% confidence level, and P values less than 0.05. RESULTS: A total of 620 women were interviewed with 98% of the response rate. Overall, married women's decision-making power on family planning was 440 (71.0%). Odds of decision-making power on family planning use were higher among women who have primary education (AOR = 11.31, CI: 4.90-26.09) and secondary and above (AOR = 6.99, CI: 3.89-12.56) as compared with those who have no education. Husbands with secondary and above educational level (AOR = 3.27, CI: 1.58-6.78), having good knowledge about family planning use (AOR = 2.41, CI: 1.48-3.95) and having a good attitude towards family planning (AOR = 6.59, CI: 4.01-10.75), had higher odds of decision-making power on family planning. CONCLUSION: Women's educational status, knowledge, and attitude increased the odds of decision-making power on family planning. Therefore, the authors recommend awareness creation on family planning considering lower educational level as a priority to improve women's decision-making power.