Couple Communication on Unplanned Pregnancy Among Married Couples In Keiyo Marakwet County, Kenya

Abstract

Pregnancy is an exciting responsibility to a couple but the challenge is when it is unplanned.Effective communication gives couples the ability to plan about the pregnancy without disagreements which can lead to them getting their wires crossed. Conflict and misunderstanding can happen for a lot of couples, especially those who do not consider communication in addressing critical issues. Most of the families have been broken due to lack of communication about unplanned pregnancies while other have lost their lives in the process of procuring abortion. Understanding how a couple communicates about an unplanned pregnancy will direct on how to deal with this issue which is of public health concern. This was a descriptive cros-sectional study engaging a qualitative research designThe target population was couples who had had an unplanned pregnancy in Kaptarakwa Division, Keiyo-Marakwet County. The study used purposeful sampling method with a sample size of 20 couples. . From the findings it emerged that the community had mixed perceptions about an unplanned pregnancy. Most of the couples had an initial negative reaction but later accepted the pregnancy and moved on. Men felt the pregnancy resulted due to the woman’s carelessness and women felt they were to blame for the same. Most of the couples had minimal knowledge on contraceptives and the issue of contraception was considered as the responsibility of a woman. It is therefore relevant to scale up public health talksand sensitization on handling and preventing unplanned pregnancies.