農村地域開發事業이 家族計劃普及에 미치는 影響에 關한 硏究

Abstract

[한글]

[영문]

Family Planning is one of the most important projects in Korea. The ultimate objective of family planning is to improve the living standard. However, over-emphasis on the means of conception-control might misrepresent the aim of family planning as being merely this more limited aspect. Then, the question is

whether a family planning service rendered as a part of comprehensive community development service would increase the acceptance of family planning.

In the national family planning service, the intra-uterine device (IUD) is being recommended on a large scale throughout the country

The specific purpose of this study is to test whether an integrated family planning and community development program could increase IUD acceptance more in comparison with such services without the community program.

For the study area, two villages (Changgok-Ri and Bokchung-Ri) in Kwangju County, located 26 km south-east from Seoul were chosen. For an unbiased apraisal, four comparable villages (Tan-Ri, Sujin-Ri, Dandae-Ri, Sangdaewon-Ri) in the same county were chosen for the control area.

Since December 1964 in the study area, IUD services were provided to 284 eligible women along with agricultural extension work and church services, both of which were newly introduced for the purpose of this study.

For the IUD services, a clinic-cum-living quarter of the nurse for the study project area was built in the study area. A nurse (family planning worker) was responsible for family planning education and insertion of IUD to those women screened by the Obstetrics and Gynecology specialist who visited there once a week.

A Presbyterian Church was also established in the village and the pastor of the church encouraged the church members to use family planning methods at his Sunday sermons.

The pastor who is an expert in modern farming operated a farming school in the study area, taught modern methods of farmings and raising domestic animal and demonstrated how to improve one's living in a rural setting. There were usually

three evening classes a week for this activity.

After a two-year action program as staled above the effect of such a community development program on the acceptance of family planning was assessed in comparison with the level of acceptance where no community development program was conducted.

The method of evaluation was a before and after interview in Dec 1966 and Jan.

1967. The data is summarized as follows:

1. IUD acceptance rate: In the study area, 35.2% of the eligible women accepted IUD insertion while the rate was 29.8% in the control area.

2. Family Planning status: Even though most of the women (more than 80%) in both areas were aware of and favored family planning, more than 50% of eligible women in the control area had not Practiced family Planning, but under 40% in the study area. These meant that there still remained in the control area a considerable proportion of women with unmet, but felt needs for family planning.

3. In the study area, farming and non-religious eligible women under 30 years old had practiced family planning more than the similar group in the control area. This implies that the study project effectively reached such groups as the socio-economical]y underprivileged and those of younger age who would not be moved

to adopt it without the social support of the planned program.

4. Relationship between modern way of thinking of eligible women and IUD acceptance: When we classify the study population into "modernized," "transitional" and "conservative"in the changing of farming practice and other customs, we observed that IUD insertion rate was the highest (46%) in the "modernized" group.

However, the acceptance rate in the "transitional" group of women was lower than the "conservative" group in the both study and control areas. This indicates that an ambivalent attitude toward a new idea or practice is a major problem in disseminating the IUD method in a rural setting.

5. Attendants at the church and agricultural extension seminars utilized the assigned family planning worker as their most important source of information, while non-attendants obtained their knowledge mainly through personal contacts with neighbors. This indicates that such community development projects may play an important role as an intermediate agent in introducing the family planning worker.

6. In practice of family planning, attendants of the extension seminar had a higher IUD insertion rate (37%) than non-attendants (29%). However, new attendants to the Changgok Church alone had a lower IUD insertion rate than non-church attendants, 29% and 36% respectively. This could be based on the fact that the duration of church services in the study area were too short to have render any effective impact in increasing family planning practice.

In short, this study indicates that a combined family planning and community development program produces more users of IUD than a family planning program alone.