Abstract:
Both in developed and less developed countries, achieving well-being in reproductive health
is identified as a critical objective in the future of human and social development. Especially,
the situation regarding sexual and reproductive health is very complex. This is proven by the
data which highlights that at least one in eight married women in developing countries have
not received any facility to access family planning. This situation is made more complex as the
great majority of women live in the rural areas of less and least developed countries. In this
background, the main objective of this research was to examine the awareness of rural women
regarding family planning. The secondary objectives were to identify impacts on family health
due to the issues in family planning and to identify different levels and forms of intervention
of the social worker in facilitating the problem solving regarding family planning. A field
study was conducted on three selected Gramaniladhari divisions’ areas in Hambanthota district.
Based on purposive sampling, case studies and in-depth interviews were utilized for primary
data collection and the key sources of secondary data were official documents. As the study
reveals other than socio-economic factors, a key contributor to women being categorized as a
vulnerable group is lack of awareness in family planning. Further, it was revealed that awareness of rural women on the necessity and importance of family planning was in an insubstantial
level and the myths and beliefs of women regarding these methods have been nurtured by the
culture of the society. As a result of power imbalance caused by gender, males have dominated
the decision making on family planning and females have considered family planning as a duty
of the married women. Therefore, the role of social workers who work based on social justice
to the betterment of underprivileged individuals and communities have become a prominent
need in the society. The primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human
well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people. Social work interventions are
purposeful actions undertaken by workers based on knowledge and understanding acquired,
skills learnt and values adopted.
