Using Focus Group to Explore Cultural Acceptability of Contraception

Overview

The purpose of this study is to learn what women of childbearing age think of Long Acting Reversible Contraception. A variety of myths regarding LARCs have been described in the literature. This study is designed to asses women's cultural belief's regarding LARCs. Investigators are looking to collect information from women in general, rather than solely who are seeking contraception. Investigators will be recruiting women ages 18-45 years from seven family health centers affiliated with UPMC. Participants will be asked to a attend a 60-90 minutes focus group session. During the session the facilitator will try to engage participants in a discussion about contraception in general. They will also be asked to complete a short demographic survey of 8-12 questions. Data from focus groups will be assessed for recurring themes which will be used to create a cultural survey instrument that will be used in the second phase of the study.

Following approval by the University of Pittsburgh institutional review board (IRB), female participants between 18 and 45 years of age seeking care for contraception or other women's health services were recruited from seven Family Health Centers (FHCs) partnered with the Department of Family Medicine. The participants agreed to participate in one 2 hour facilitated focus group session (recorded for later transcription) to discuss their perceptions about contraception. Recordings were transcribed and de-identified. The resulting texts were coded by a team. Concepts and themes that arose from the coding were analyzed to inform the development of a survey on the topic of perspectives on contraception. Qualitative analysis of the transcripts and coding was carried out and results were shared in pubic fora.

Conditions

Interventions