The DHS Program

Consistency in reporting condom use between husbands and wives in Bangladesh
Authors:	Islam MA, Padmadas SS, Smith PW.
Source:	Journal of Biosocial Science, Jul;42(4):563-72. doi: 10.1017/S0021932010000064. Epub 2010 Mar 5.
Topic(s):	Contraception
Country:	Asia Bangladesh
Published:	JUL 2010
Abstract:	Consistency in reporting contraceptive use between spouses is little understood, especially in developing settings. This research challenges the accuracy of measuring contraceptive prevalence rate, which is traditionally calculated based on women's responses. Multinomial logistic regression techniques are employed on a couple dataset from the 1999-2000 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) to investigate the consistency in reporting condom use between husbands and wives. The level of inconsistency in reporting condom use was about 46%, of which about 32% was explained by husbands reporting condom use while wives did not, and 14% by wives reporting condom use while husbands did not. Regression analysis showed that couple education and age difference between the spouses are significant determinants of inconsistent reporting behaviour. The findings suggest the need for alternative approaches (questions) in the DHS to ensure consistency in the collection of data related to use of family planning methods.