Volume 3 • Issue 4 • 1000120 J Psychol Psychother ISSN: 2161-0487 JPPT, an open access journal Research Article Open Access Saoji et al., J Psychol Psychother 2013, 3:4 DOI: 10.4172/2161-0487.1000120 Research Article Open Access Denial Mode for Vasectomy among Married Men in Central India: Causes and Suggested Strategies Ajeet Saoji, Raghvendra Gumashta*, Shilpa Hajare and Jaydeep Nayse Department of Community Medicine, NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Nagpur, India *Corresponding author: Raghvendra Gumashta, Department of Community Medicine, NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Nagpur, India, Tel: +91 8149929994, E-mail: rgumashta@yahoo.com Received April 20, 2013; Accepted June 28, 2013; Published July 07, 2013 Citation: Saoji A, Gumashta R, Hajare S, Nayse J (2013) Denial Mode for Vasectomy among Married Men in Central India: Causes and Suggested Strategies. J Psychol Psychother 3: 120. doi: 10.4172/2161-0487.1000120 Copyright: © 2013 Saoji A, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Vasectomy is considered in India as a very safe, simple and cost effective method as compared to female sterilization. However, the prevalence of female sterilization, a highly popular and practiced method of family planning, exceeds that of vasectomy by a factor of 37 to 1 with a current rate of 4.4%. In a cross sectional study conducted at a rural health training centre feld practice area of a tertiary care hospital, the study was conducted by use of a structured questionnaire, which was used for interviewing to all study subjects for assessing the level of knowledge, perception and potential demand about vasectomy among married males in India. Data analysis was done using Epi info version 3.5.1. The awareness of vasectomy was found to be 97%, but their knowledge level was low (54.0%) and 13.0% had no knowledge. The association of knowledge on vasectomy among men and level of education as well as occupation was found statistically signifcant. Although the majority of participants (54.0%) indicated an approval for a vasectomy, only 1% men were actually practicing it. The potential demand for vasectomy was found to be 21.0%. Information, Education and Communication campaigns followed by Behaviour Change Communication approaches will do wonders for the acceptance and use of Vasectomy by the prospective benefciaries. Keywords: Public health; Vasectomy; Men; Potential demand; Perception Introduction World-wide accepted method of female sterilization needs to be compared with Vasectomy, a simple, safe and efective method of family planning. However, the use of female sterilization is much higher than vasectomy in India with its prevalence exceeding that of Vasectomy by a factor of 37 to 1 with a current rate of 4.4 % [1,2]. From the National family planning program inception in the 1950s through the mid-1970s, vasectomy played a dominant role. Vasectomy was very popular method of sterilization during 1956 and 1980 in India with 65% of cases adopting Vasectomy [3]. By the late 1970s, however, vasectomy use had begun to decline drastically. Shrinking away from the responsibility sharing of Vasectomy by men needs to be understood for changed behavior and practice. Probably, the new generation of benefciaries have not been duly informed and appropriately counseled for adopting the Vasectomy practices. It has been seen that the well informed persons take appropriate and responsible decision for Family Planning while deciding about their family planning choices [4]. And, it’s sure and well understood that the consenting persons need to be informed well in advance for making an informed decision about the surgical procedure being ofered. Tus, the consenting depends on one’s understanding of the procedural requirements, limitations and alternative choices. It is, however, important for the men to make a decision based on the information obtained from diferent sources including peer groups, newspapers, advertisements and literature. If appropriate and correct benefts are not shared with the patient, he may decline to go in for the surgical procedure of vasectomy. Te decision also depends on the various cultural practices, attitude, beliefs and practices of the society. Kishori Mahat et al. showed that the misconceptions based on cultural feelings had great role in refusal by men for adoting the option of vasectomy [5]. It has been deep seated belief that the vasectomy may result in castration. Tey are also fearful of the procedure and its failure. It’s true that the vasectomy cases, which fail, can have severe consequences for women, leading to charges of infdelity and potential eviction from the family [6]. However, it has been recently noticed that the non usage of condoms and vasectomy, the easy approaches to family welfare, by men is due to incorrect and defcient approaches by the health care workers, counseling services and proactive actions by the health service delivery mechanism. Tere is immediate and urgent need of ensuring that policy makers and providers are enriched with the recent and appropriate information with motivational skills to ensure better acceptance of these practices in the interest of general population [7,8]. It has been noticed that the people give due importance to the media propaganda, if done correctly, appropriately and with clarity of the purpose [7,9]. A WHO expert committee has defned fve methods in 1975 to evaluate the success of Family Planning Programmes. One of them is the evaluation of knowledge; attitude, motivation and behavior among people [10]. India is a patriarchal society and men are the dominant decision makers. Te literature about men’s behavior and practices for vasectomy is sparsely available in India. Considering the importance of these factors, we studied the level of KPP (knowledge, perceptions and practices) about vasectomy among married males, so as to assist in assessing the health needs of the target population, health intervention requirements and training load of the medical ofcers. Material and Methods Study design: We conducted a cross sectional study in a feld practice area of a tertiary care hospital at Nagpur, India from December 2010 to June 2011. Pre tested format was used among married men aged Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy J o u r n a l o f P s y c h o l o g y & P s y c h o t h e r a p y ISSN: 2161-0487