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Background & Aim: Although natural contraceptive methods have been used for centuries, they have high failure rates so family planning programs tend to promote modern methods. Knowing utilization rate of natural methods and its pattern could help the planners to design effective family planning programs. This study was designed to identify the utilization rate of natural family planning and its related factors in Ghaemshahr, Iran, 2005

Methods & Materials: In this cross-sectional study, 304 married and non-pregnant women aged 15-49 years that were not intended to become pregnant were recruited using systematic random sampling. All participants completed the informed consent form. Data were collected using a content valid and reliable (r=0.84) questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square, ANOVA and t-test.

Results: The utilization rate of natural and medical methods were 39.5% and 60.5%, respectively. Among all various methods, withdrawal was the most prevalent one (37.5%). The frequency of breastfeeding and safe period were 1% and 0.3%, respectively. The most cited reasons for using natural methods were fear of side effects of other methods (50.6%), its convenience (36.5%), preference of spouses (32.6%), and the wrong perception of being as effective as other methods (22.5%). There were significant associations between age (P=0.003), marriage duration (P=0.01), number of children (P=0.0001) and living in urban area (P=0.0001) with utilization rate of natural methods. Health providers were reported to be the main source of information.

Conclusion: Although family planning programs tend to promote modern methods, the wide spread use of natural methods especially withdrawal method suggests that those couples that are interested in continuing the method should be educated for correct use of it. On the other hand, it is recommended that family planning packages should contain programs to increase knowledge, to correct the wrong believes, to consult with couples, to targeted men and other groups of the populations and finally to activate mass media.

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Background & Aim: Menopause is a period in women’s lives with complications and consequences that can reduce the quality of life. The most common complications are vasomotor disorders which can affect sleep, life enjoyment, social activities and work. The usual treatment for these effects is hormone therapy but due to its side effects, most people tend to have complication-free treatments. One of these strategies is nutritional measures. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of group counseling about the nutritional measures of Iranian traditional medicine on vasomotor disorders in postmenopausal women.
Methods & Materials: This clinical trial study with multistage sampling was performed in 2018-2019 on 62 postmenopausal women referred to health center number 2 in Mashhad. Two health centers were selected as control or intervention group by Heads or Tails method in order to prevent the dissemination of the material. The intervention group received three sessions of the group counseling about the nutritional measures of Iranian traditional medicine. There was no intervention for the control group. The data collection tool was a questionnaire on the quality of life in menopause that was completed two months before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed on the SPSS software version 24 using independent t-test, Chi-square, Mann-Whitney, and Wilcoxon tests.
Results: There was no significant difference in the mean score of vasomotor between the two groups before the intervention (P>0.05) but after the intervention, the difference between the mean score of vasomotor before and after the intervention was -2.18±4.08 for the intervention group and 0.59±3.30 for the control group. A significant decrease in the vasomotor score was observed in the intervention group compared to the control group (P<0.001).
Conclusion: Group counseling about the nutritional measures of Iranian traditional medicine can help reduce vasomotor disorders.
Clinical trial registry: IRCT20180626040239N1