INTRODUCTION: Tubal ligation is a form of permanent contraception that women globally utilize when they have decided to have no further children. In the Dominican Republic (DR), the majority of women choose tubal ligation as their chosen contraceptive method. With many options available, there is interest in understanding why tubal ligation appears to be the most popular in the DR. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to describe the demographics of those who utilize tubal ligation, and identify differences between this group and those who utilize other or no contraceptive methods in a suburban community of the DR, Barrero. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey with 24 questions for this project, as part of a larger complete survey, was administered to 121 women living in Barrero who have children 0–12 years old regarding their pregnancy experience. House-to-house sampling allowed for gathering of descriptive data reported in frequencies (%). Association between insurance status and contraception form was assessed via chi-square test. RESULTS: Of 111 women who responded to questions about contraceptive methods, 92 (83%) participants were utilizing a form of contraception. Of these 92, 40 (43%) women report receiving a tubal ligation for their contraceptive method, with a mean age of 25. For women reporting a tubal ligation, there is a mix of insurance status, with 20.0% reporting public insurance, 42.9% private insurance, and 37.1% no insurance. Those utilizing other contraceptive methods reported 10.0% public insurance, 56.0% private insurance, and 34.0% no insurance. No significant difference was found between the contraceptive method utilized and the insurance status (p=0.687). Among all women interviewed, 2 of 10 Haitian women report tubal ligations, while 38 of 101 Dominican women utilize this contraceptive method. One hundred and three women (90.35%) felt contraception was readily available, including the majority of those with tubal ligations. CONCLUSIONS: Many tubal ligations are performed for both women who have public and private insurances. There does not appear to be a significant difference in the form of contraception utilized by the different insurance statuses. Younger women and those identifying as Dominican appear to be more likely to receive a tubal ligation. Future studies are needed to better study the motivation behind the choice of contraceptive method.
Cleave et al. (Fri,) studied this question.