Acceptability of Child Adoption as a Management Option for Infertility Among Women of Reproductive Age Group in Ogbomoso, South-West, Nigeria: A Cross-Sectional Study

A cross sectional study

Abstract

Introduction: Child adoption refers to the processes by which a child is brought into a family by one or more adults, not biological parents, but recognized by law as such. Infertility has become the main reason parents seek child adoption. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, perception, acceptability and factors influencing child adoption as a management option for infertility among women of reproductive age in Ogbomoso.

Methodology:  This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. The instrument of study was interviewer-administered questionnaires. A total of 404 women of reproductive age group from different communities in the five local government areas of Ogbomoso were selected through a multistage sampling technique. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 26.

Result: Majority of the respondents 133(32.92%) were within the age range 21-25 years; up to 185(45.79%) were married; 171(42.33%) had tertiary education. The knowledge score of respondents on Child Adoption ranges between 0.00% and 85.71% with mean score of 53.96% ± 19.898.

Sixty two of the respondents had Good Knowledge. About 50% of the respondents had Good Perception. Three hundred and twelve (77.2%) of respondents were willing to accept child adoption if infertile. This study showed an increasing level of knowledge of child adoption and acceptability with increasing level of education.

Conclusion: The study shows high acceptance rate of child adoption practices. A significant association exists between good knowledge on child adoption and the inclination towards accepting child adoption as a management option of infertility.

Keywords: Child adoption, Infertility, Women, reproductive age, Nigeria.