Contraceptive Intention, Religious Attitudes and Sources of Spirituality in Married Muslim Women: A Descriptive Correlational Study in Türkiye

Abstract

Objective: This study was carried out to reveal the relationship between contraceptive intents, religious attitudes, and spiritual resources of married Muslim women.

Methods: The study was conducted using a descriptive-correlational design. The study was conducted with 273 participants between July and November 2023. To collect data, the Personal Information Form, Trait Sources of Spirituality Scale, Ok-Religious Attitude Scale, and Contraceptive Intent Questionnaire were used. The data were evaluated using Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis, and Spearman correlation tests.

Results: No significant relationship was found between the total and sub-scales of the Contraceptive Intent Questionnaire, Trait Sources of Spirituality Scale, and Ok-Religious Attitude Scale (p > 0.05). A positive and high correlation was detected between the total, emotion, relationship, and behavior sub-scales of the Trait Sources of Spirituality Scale and Ok-Religious Attitude Scale (p < 0.05). The contraceptive intent levels of women were found to be associated with some of their socio-demographic and obstetric variables (age, previous delivery method, sex of existing children, and contraceptive method used). The only variable that showed a significant relationship with all three scales was found to be the sex of the existing children of women.

Conclusion: Some socio-demographic and obstetric characteristics of married Muslim women are related to the sex of the child they have, their contraceptive intents, spiritual resources, and religious attitudes. In contraceptive counseling services provided to Muslim women, their religious attitudes and spiritual resources should be taken into consideration.

Keywords: contraceptive intent; family planning; religious attitude; reproductive health; spiritual resources.