Aim The purpose of this study was to explore contraceptive behavior of women belonging to two different religious populations living in Thrace of Greece.
Material and methods The study included representatives from two female religious subgroups: 180 Christian Orthodox living in Thrace (group A) and 150 Muslims living in Thrace (group B). Between September 2014 and September 2020, participants from each group were asked to answer a detailed questionnaire from family planning center in Democritus University of Thrace, Greece, concerning socio-economic status, sexual activity and contraceptive practices. Statistical analysis was performed using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by Turkey ̉ s test, chi-square test.
Results The two groups had similar demographics characteristics compared in terms of age (p=0.904) and residence place (p=0.499), but not in terms of social status (p<0.001), standing partner (p=0.012), occupation (p<0.001) and education (p<0.001). The Contraceptive pill (48.7%), the condom (39.1%), periodic abstinence (4.4%) and interrupted coitus (7.8%) were the most common methods of contraception, with the contraceptive pill being the most prevalent method among Christians from Greece, in contrast to the periodic abstinence among Muslims from Greece (39.2%). The family planning center consultant (48.4%), the gynecologist (24.0%) and the partner (27.6%) were the most usual sources of information.
Conclusions Our study results reveal that there are behavioral differences between ethnicity and minority groups regarding contraceptive practices, that the family planning center is a major participant in the development of the women’s’ concept.
