Vasectomy intention among male limiters in Indonesia

Abstract

During the last five decades, Indonesia has not had any significant increase of vasectomy adoption as a result of strong stigmatization and beliefs against this method. Socio-economic and demographic factors, subjective norms, attitude toward vasectomy, and role of the media are considered important issues among currently married males regarding intention to have a vasectomy. This study aimed to investigate vasectomy intention among current married males who no longer want to have any more children and would consider vasectomy as their family planning method (male limiters) in Indonesia and analyze factors that are associated with vasectomy intention among male limiters in Indonesia. This study is based on a cross-sectional study among 2,385 participants of IDHS 2012. Questions on vasectomy intention were from the standard IDHS 2012 current married male questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis (χ2 test) were employed. It was found that 16.6% of male limiters had intention to use vasectomy, and 83.4% had no intention to use vasectomy in the future. The vasectomy intention among male limiters in Indonesia is statistically significantly associated with ideal number of children, castration, and achieved ideal family size, attitude towards vasectomy, and printed media (pamphlets) with p-value < 0.05. This implies that promotion of male intention to use on vasectomy is strongly required. Higher monetary incentives, seminars on vasectomy benefits, and reversible clinics should be provided. Also, the government should develop cooperation with religious associations and religious leaders. Activities involving males in family planning occasions, advertisements for vasectomy for newly married couples, and revised family planning advertisement content are also recommended. These would help improve vasectomy prevalence in Indonesia