Abstract:
Background: Modern contraceptive methods have provided women with the tools to plan their families
follow education and employment opportunities and contribute more fully to society. Women’s decision
making autonomy is the ability to make independent choices regarding her health, education, finance and
family life. Despite various family planning initiatives in Ethiopia, women’s in making decisions about
contraceptive use remains limited, particularly in rural areas. This study underscores the need for targeted
policies that promote women’s education, economic inclusion and awareness of right and assess the
prevalence and Determinants of women’s decision-making autonomy regarding the use of modern
contraceptive methods and identify factors influencing their autonomy among married women
Objective: This study aims to assess the prevalence and Determinants of women’s decision-making
autonomy regarding the use of modern contraceptive methods and identify factors influencing their
autonomy among married women in Dedo District, Jimma, south-west Ethiopia.
Method: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 317 women aged 15-49 years
using a structured interview-administered questionnaires. Simple random sampling technique was used to
select kebels and study participants. Data was collected by using kobo toolbox and entered into SPSS for
analysis. Both bi-variate and multi-variable logistic regression analysis were used to identify factors
associated with women’s decision making autonomy with statistical significance set at p<0.05
Results: The study showed that nearly three forth of women lacked autonomy in decision-making
regarding modern contraceptive use. Factors associated with high autonomy in decision making regarding
modern contraceptive use were, Level of education (AOR = 2.06, 95% CI: 1.005–5.75, p = 0.012),
Discuss with spouse on contraceptive methods ((AOR = 3.12, 95% CI: 2.035–6.417, p = 0.001),) and
Knowledge of women about contraceptive methods (AOR = 1.8, 95% CI: 1.23–4.23, p < 0.001).
Conclusion: Women’s decision-making autonomy was significantly associated with educational
attainment, knowledge of modern contraceptive methods and open spousal communication, to reduce this
factors recommending to ministry of health, local administrative and local NGO to Enhancing women’s
education, promoting open communication between Spouses and increasing women’s awareness that
Improving Autonomy
