Integrated delivery of family planning and childhood immunization services: a qualitative study of factors influencing service responsiveness in Malawi.

Evidence from several countries in sub-Saharan Africa suggests that the integration of family planning (FP) with childhood immunization services can help reduce the unmet need for FP among postpartum women without undermining the uptake of immunizations. However, the quality and responsiveness of FP services that are integrated with childhood immunizations remain understudied. A qualitative study was conducted in two districts of Malawi, which examined the factors influencing the responsiveness of FP services that were integrated with childhood immunizations in monthly public outreach clinics. Semi-structured interviews with clients (n = 23) and FP providers (n = 10) and a clinic audit were carried out in six clinics. Hardware (material) and software (relational) factors influencing service responsiveness were identified through thematic and framework analyses of interview transcripts, and clinic characteristics were summarized from the audit data to contextualize the qualitative findings. Overall, 13 factors were found to influence service responsiveness in terms of the ease of access, choice of provider, environment, service continuity, confidentiality, communication, dignity and FP counselling afforded to clients. Among these factors, hardware deficiencies, including the absence of a dedicated building for the provision of FP services and the lack of FP commodities in clinics, were perceived to negatively affect service responsiveness. Crucially, the providers' use of their agency to alter the delivery of services was found to mitigate the negative effects of some hardware deficits on the ease of access, choice of provider, environment and confidentiality experienced by clients. This study contributes to an emerging recognition that providers can offset the effect of hardware deficiencies when services are integrated if they are afforded sufficient flexibility to make independent decisions. Consideration of software elements in the design and delivery of FP services that are integrated with childhood immunizations is therefore critical to optimize the responsiveness of these services.

"It was my own decision": the transformational shift that influences a woman's decision to use contraceptives covertly.

BACKGROUND: Family planning (FP) is an important element of sexual and reproductive health and rights, but socio-cultural barriers and unbalanced gender relations often limit women's decision-making about contraceptive use. Covert contraceptive use (CCU) exemplifies the limits on women's decision-making and represents a way in which some women overcome constraints to achieve their reproductive goals. This study explores the decision-making process through which women choose to use contraceptives covertly. METHODS: A qualitative synthesis was conducted using data from women, health providers, community members, health administrators, and intervention implementers (n = 400) to explore the decision-making process through which women choose to use contraceptives covertly. Interviews and focus group discussions were conducted at two time points as part of an evaluation of interventions integrating FP and childhood immunisation services at sites in Benin, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda. The sexual and reproductive health empowerment framework by Karp et al. (2020) was adapted and used to guide the analysis. RESULTS: Women recognised that although they suffered the negative consequences of frequent pregnancies and of raising large families, they lacked overt decision-making power over their fertility. Women were confident to engage in CCU because they believed their husbands did not understand these consequences nor acknowledged their suffering, which justified not informing them. CCU was a difficult choice however, women felt comfortable voicing their reproductive preferences in settings where health providers were supportive. CONCLUSIONS: Women chose to use contraceptives covertly when they questioned the unfairness of their situation and recognised their own power to act in accordance with their reproductive preferences. This represented an important shift in a woman's perception of who is entitled to make decisions about contraceptive use. Importantly, health providers can play a key role in supporting women's autonomous decision making about contraceptive use and should be careful not to undermine women's confidence.

Integrated delivery of family planning and childhood immunisation services: a mixed methods assessment of service responsiveness.

BACKGROUND: Postpartum women represent a considerable share of the global unmet need for modern contraceptives. Evidence suggests that the integration of family planning (FP) with childhood immunisation services could help reduce this unmet need by providing repeat opportunities for timely contact with FP services. However, little is known about the clients' experiences of FP services that are integrated with childhood immunisations, despite being crucial to contraceptive uptake and repeat service utilisation. METHODS: The responsiveness of FP services that were integrated with childhood immunisations in Malawi was assessed using cross-sectional convergent mixed methods. Exit interviews with clients (n=146) and audits (n=15) were conducted in routine outreach clinics. Responsiveness scores across eight domains were determined according to the proportion of clients who rated each domain positively. Text summary analyses of qualitative data from cognitive interviewing probes were also conducted to explain responsiveness scores. Additionally, Spearman rank correlation and Pearson's chi-squared test were used to identify correlations between domain ratings and to examine associations between domain ratings and client, service and clinic characteristics. RESULTS: Responsiveness scores varied across domains: dignity (97.9%); service continuity (90.9%); communication (88.7%); ease of access (77.2%); counselling (66.4%); confidentiality (62.0%); environment (53.9%) and choice of provider (28.4%). Despite some low performing domains, 98.6% of clients said they would recommend the clinic to a friend or family member interested in FP. The choice of provider, communication, confidentiality and counselling ratings were positively associated with clients' exclusive use of one clinic for FP services. Also, the organisation of services in the clinics and the providers' individual behaviours were found to be critical to service responsiveness. CONCLUSIONS: This study establishes that in routine outreach clinics, FP services can be responsive when integrated with childhood immunisations, particularly in terms of the dignity and service continuity afforded to clients, though less so in terms of the choice of provider, environment, and confidentiality experienced. Additionally, it demonstrates the value of combining cognitive interviewing techniques with Likert questions to assess service responsiveness.

"As a woman who watches how my family is I take the difficult decisions": a qualitative study on integrated family planning and childhood immunisation services in five African countries.

BACKGROUND: Family planning (FP) has the potential to improve maternal and child health outcomes and to reduce poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. However, substantial unmet need for modern contraceptive methods (MCMs) persists in this region. Current literature highlights multi-level barriers, including socio-cultural norms that discourage the use of MCMs. This paper explores women's choices and decision-making around MCM use and examines whether integrating FP services with childhood immunisations influenced women's perceptions of, and decision to use, an MCM. METHODS: 94 semi-structured interviews and 21 focus group discussions with women, health providers, and community members (N = 253) were conducted in health facilities and outreach clinics where an intervention was delivering integrated FP and childhood immunisation services in Benin, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda. Data were coded using Nvivo software and an analytical framework was developed to support interpretative and thematic analyses on women's decision-making about MCM use. RESULTS: Most women shared the reproductive desire to space or limit births because of the perceived benefits of improved health and welfare for themselves and for their children, including the economic advantages. For some, choices about MCM use were restricted because of wider societal influences. Women's decision to use MCMs was driven by their reproductive desires, but for some that was stymied by fears of side effects, community stigma, and disapproving husbands, which led to clandestine MCM use. Health providers acknowledged that women understood the benefits of using MCMs, but highlighted that the wider socio-cultural norms of their community often contributed to a reluctance to use them. Integration of FP and childhood immunisation services provided repeat opportunities for health providers to counter misinformation and it improved access to MCMs, including for women who needed to use them covertly. CONCLUSIONS: Some women chose to use MCMs without the approval of their husbands, and/or despite cultural norms, because of the perceived health and economic benefits for themselves and for their families, and because they lived with the consequences of short birth intervals and large families. Integrated FP and childhood immunisation services expanded women's choices about MCM use and created opportunities for women to make decisions autonomously.

Context-acceptability theories: example of family planning interventions in five African countries.

BACKGROUND: Family planning (FP) can lengthen birth intervals and potentially reduce the risk of foetal death, low birthweight, prematurity, and being small for gestational age. Effective FP is most easily achieved through access to and acceptability of modern contraceptive methods (MCMs). This study aimed to identify mechanisms of acceptability and the contexts in which they are triggered and to generate theories to improve the selection and implementation of effective interventions by studying an intervention integrating FP with childhood immunisation services. METHODS: Qualitative interpretative synthesis of findings from realist evaluations of FP interventions in five African countries was guided by an analytical framework. Empirical mechanisms of acceptability were identified from semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with key stakeholders (N = 253). The context in which these mechanisms were triggered was also defined. Empirical mechanisms of acceptability were matched to constructs of a theoretical framework of acceptability. Context-acceptability theories (CATs) were developed, which summarised constructs of acceptability triggered for specific actors in specified contexts. Examples of interventions that may be used to trigger acceptability for these actors were described. RESULTS: Seven CATs were developed for contexts with strong beliefs in religious values and with powerful religious leaders, a traditional desire for large families, stigmatisation of MCM use, male partners who are non-accepting of FP, and rumours or experiences of MCM side effects. Acceptability mechanisms included alignment with values and beliefs without requiring compromise, actors' certainty about their ability to avoid harm and make the intervention work, and understanding the intervention and how it works. Additionally, acceptability by one group of actors was found to alter the context, triggering acceptability mechanisms amongst others. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated the value of embedding realist approaches within implementation research. CATs are transferable theories that answer the question: given the context, what construct of acceptability does an intervention need to trigger, or more simply, what intervention do we need to apply here to achieve our outcomes? CATs facilitate transfer of interventions across geographies within defined contexts.

Integrated delivery of family planning and childhood immunisation services in routine outreach clinics: findings from a realist evaluation in Malawi.

BACKGROUND: Family planning (FP) needs among postpartum women in low- and middle-income countries remain largely unmet. Integrating FP with childhood immunisation services could partially reduce this unmet need by creating multiple opportunities for timely contact with FP services during the 12 months following childbirth. METHODS: A realist evaluation of an intervention integrating FP and childhood immunisation services in routine outreach clinics in two rural districts of Malawi was conducted. A Context-Mechanism-Outcome (CMO) framework was used to describe the drivers of the intervention. A detailed programme theory was developed based on the analysis of semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with 50 stakeholders. RESULTS: A total of 9 core mechanisms were identified, which centred on constructs of access. Findings revealed that on the demand side, women were motivated to attend outreach clinics due to shorter travel distances; they felt confident they could access FP services and use contraceptive methods covertly if needed; and when supported by their husband, they were empowered to take up the use of contraceptive methods. On the supply side, providers were empowered through the training they received to provide integrated services; they were confident in their ability to provide essential services; and they were motivated by teamwork and by the recognition they received for their work. Additionally, some providers were found to be unwilling to walk long distances to reach remote clinics, which was seen to negatively affect the availability of services. CONCLUSIONS: The delivery of integrated FP and childhood immunisation services in the context of routine outreach clinics in rural Malawi was seen to trigger mechanisms of accessibility and to improve the acceptability and availability of FP services. However, further research is needed to understand how the integration of these services in a routine outreach clinic setting may affect other dimensions of accessibility, including the approachability, appropriateness and affordability of services.