Family planning has been proven to save and enhance the lives of women and children.
However, sub-Saharan Africans living in rural areas tend to use fewer contraceptives and have
more children than their urban counterparts. Moreover, there is gap between awareness and
use of modern contraceptive. This study, therefore, investigated the factors that may influence
acceptability and consequent use of family planning among rural women in two communities in
Ife Central Local Government Area, Osun State, Nigeria. A survey of 400 consenting women
was done using a pretested self-administered questionnaire, which included questions on
awareness on family planning and factors which are likely to predict its use. Data were
analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square test of association and logistic regression. The
age of the respondents was 21.1±9.0 years and there were more Christians (94.2%) than
Muslims and other religious groups. A large majority (79.0%) were currently married, with
most respondents possessing junior secondary certificate. Almost all (96.4%) respondents had
heard about family planning. However, only 20.0% were aware of the place where the services
are available in their communities. Most of them (61.5%) noted that they were influenced to use
family planning through organisations, which did social marketing of the products. Twenty-one
percent respondents opined that their spouses would not approve of the use of family planning.
Forty-three percent desired to have at least four children. Factors predictive of uptake of family
planning were number of children (HR=1.74, 95% CI 1.15–2.53) and level of education
(HR=2.12, 95% CI 1.43–3.22). A total of 35% of the respondents agreed to accept the method
but practice and acceptance of family was very low. Interventions such as reproductive/family
planning health education, social marketing, awareness and campaign targeting this population
must be intensified in order to derive the maximum benefits of family planning to individuals
and the nation, ultimately