Experience of applying withdrawal in women of Mashhad: a phenomenological study Print

Method of withdrawal applied along with another method has a big role in unwanted pregnancies of women visiting County Health Center No. 1 in Mashha d. This paper studies the experiences of using withdrawal by women who visit health and care centers under County Health Center No. 1 of Mashhad in order to contribute to policy-making and have more comprehensive family plans.

This descriptive phenomenological study was conducted on 31 women visiting Health Center No. 1 in Mashhad aged 18-50 who used withdrawal. The study applied purposive sampling, and the data were analyzed by the 7-step methods developed by Colaizzi.

Classes derived from this study included psychological burdon (fear of contraceptive methods because of implification, friend's misconceptions, and pregnancy), efficiency (reach orgasm, relaxation after intercourse), accessibility (convenience and direct interface of the withdrawal method), traditional religious attitudes (God's will, tradition,and narrations from past generations), supportive changes of the spouse (interest in spouse, more satisfaction of the spouse, tendency to continue using withdrawal), expressing emotions (reduction of marital conflict, more excitement), and prevention of unwanted pregnancy(success of withdrawal).

Family planning programs cannot and should not eliminate withdrawal method, but they should focus onissues such as educating the correct use of this technique, informing of reproductive cycles in women most likely of pregnancy,emergency contraception methods,and increased participation of men in family planning in order to reduce unwanted pregnancies resulting from withdrawal method.