Fertility Problem Characteristics Experienced by Women with Physical Disability and Distressing Factors

This research was conducted to determine fertility characteristics problems experienced by women with physical disability and distressing factors. A total of 226 women aged between 15 and 49 with physical disabilities (orthopedic, visual, hearing, language and speech impairment) who were registered in the Department of Disability Services in Municipality of Sanliurfa, and in two associations of people with disability in Diyarbakir constituted the target population of this descriptive study. The aim was to reach all of the target population in the sample, but a total of 181 people were reached. Data were collected from November 1, 2015 to April 30, 2016 using a Data Collection Form. Descriptive statistics and the Chi square test were used in the analysis of the data. The distribution of disability type was 53.0% of women with orthopedic disability, 34.0% with visually impaired, 8.0% with language and/or speech impairment and 5.0% with hearing impairment. The total number of pregnancy women with disability was 4.3. The total number of pregnancies was higher (p < 0.05) for illiterate, unemployed, economically impoverished, Kurdish-speaking women who had a extended family type, 20–39% level of disability and whose husband or family elders made decided the number of the children. The unplanned pregnancy, miscarriage, optional termination of pregnancy and stillbirth rates were higher in this group. The rates of receiving antenatal care was 73.5% and use of modern contraceptive methods were 59.3% in women with disability. Because of their disabilities 65.0% of women had problems during pregnancy and 53.4% of women had problems during delivery. Given these results, women with disability should be evaluated as a risk group in terms of reproductive health, determined risks early, increased accessibility and dissemination of services, doing regular monitoring, enabled effective provision of counseling services, training and sensitivity of health personnel.