Effectiveness of Lactational Amenorrhea Method in Ethiopia: A Multi-Center Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: Although the lactational amenorrhea method (LAM) is one of the most commonly used contraception methods during the first six months of a woman's postpartum period, there has been little research on its effectiveness in general and particularly in Ethiopia. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of LAM and the experiences of Ethiopian women who used it. Methods: This was a multi-center prospective cohort study of postpartum women from five Ethiopian regions and one city administration. All pregnant women who gave birth in these randomly selected hospitals and five health centers directly referring to the hospitals were invited to the study if they selected LAM and were followed monthly at home. Each month, trained researchers visited the woman at her home and collected information about breast feeding, the return of menses, the resumption of sex, the use of another contraceptive, and a pregnancy test using urine human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Women who reported starting new contraceptive methods, resumption of menses, starting complementary feeding, neonatal death, getting pregnant, or refusing were excluded from the cohort. The data were collected using ODK Collect and exported to Stata 14 for analysis. Results: Among the 2162 women who selected LAM as a contraceptive, 2022 were enrolled in the cohort study, and 901 completed the follow-up. At the end of the sixth month, eight women got pregnant, corresponding to an effectiveness of 99.1%. More than half of the cohort were excluded from the follow-up for reasons of transitioning to other types of contraception, resumption of menses, or refusal to follow-up. Conclusion: The effectiveness of LAM is high and should be recommended for postpartum women, with proper counseling provided. A study should be conducted to examine the effectiveness of breast feeding as a contraceptive beyond the Bellagio consensus.

Knowledge of lactation amenorrhea method among postpartum women in Ethiopia: a facility-based cross-sectional study.

While the importance of knowledge about contraceptives in improving their utilization and thereby reducing the risk of unintended pregnancies is well documented, there are limited studies documented about the Lactational Amenorrhea Method (LAM). Thus, understanding the knowledge of postpartum mothers about LAM is essential for designing tailored interventions. This study assessed the level of knowledge about LAM and its associated factors among postpartum mothers in Ethiopia. A facility-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 3148 randomly selected postpartum participants. The study utilized multistage sampling approach in hospitals located across five regions and one city administration in Ethiopia. Data were collected using face-to-face interviews at discharge. A participant was categorized as having knowledge of LAM if she correctly answered the three LAM criteria: amenorrhea, the first 6 months, and exclusive breast feeding. A binary logistic regression model was used to identify factors associated with knowledge of LAM. Variables with p < 0.25 in the binary logistic regression were included in the multiple logistic regression. Then, associations were described using the adjusted odds ratio (AOR) along with the 95% confidence interval (CI), and statistical significance was declared at p < 0.05. Only four in 10 participants (40.6%; 95% CI 38.9-42.3) had knowledge of LAM. Participants who attended college or above educational level (AOR = 2.1, 95% CI 1.5-2.8), those with parity of two (AOR = 2.3; 95% CI 1.6-3.6) or more than two (AOR = 2.4; 95% CI 1.5-4.0), those who expressed a desire for further fertility (AOR = 1.3; 95% CI 1.1-1.5), individuals who received counselling on LAM (AOR = 3.0; 95% CI 2.6-3.7), and those who gave birth in hospital (AOR = 2.6; 95% CI 1.4-2.6) had higher odds of knowledge about LAM, compared to their counter parts. In contrary, participants resided far away from health facilities had 30% lower odd of knowledge about LAM compared to those resided near the health facilities (AOR = 0.70; 95% CI 0.6-0.8). The proportion of participants who had knowledge of LAM was low. Strengthening counseling about LAM during antenatal care and delivery with due attention to women with limited access to health facilities should be considered for increasing their level of knowledge on LAM.

Translation, transcultural adaptation, reliability and validation of the pelvic organ prolapse quality of life (P-QoL) in Amharic.

BACKGROUND: The Prolapse Quality of Life (P-QoL) is a disease-specific instrument designed to measure the health-related quality of life in women with prolapse; however, there is no Amharic version of the instrument. The aim of this study were to translate the P-QoL into Amharic and evaluate its psychometric properties among adult women. METHODS: We followed an intercultural adaptation procedure to translate and adapt the P-QoL. A forward-backward translation, face validity interviews with experts and cognitive debriefing of the translated version with ten adults from the target group were performed. The Amharic version was then completed by 230 adult women with and without POP symptoms. All women were examined using a simplified Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification (SPOP-Q) system. We examined internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = ICC). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted and model fit was discussed. We extracted a new factor structure by exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Criterion validity was also assessed against the SPOP-Q stage. RESULTS: The translated measure was found acceptable by the experts and target group, with only minor adaptations required for the Amharic context. It had high internal consistency (α = 0.96) and test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.87; p <  0.001). In CFA results, the model fit indices were unacceptable (CFI = 0.69, RMSEA = 0.17, SRMR = 0.43, TLI = 0.65, and PCLOSE = 0.00). EFA extracted three-factor with satisfactory convergent and discriminant validity. The P-QoL median scores were significantly higher in symptomatic women (Mann-Whitney U Test; p <  0.001). The score was also significantly correlated with stage of prolapse (Spearman's correlation coefficient = 0.42 to 0.64, p <  0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The P-QoL scale was successfully translated to Amharic and appears feasible, reliable and valid for Amharic-speaking women. Factor analysis confirmed a three-factor structure, inconsistent with the original English version. Further studies are needed to evaluate responsiveness of the Amharic P-QoL score.

Validation of the Amharic version of the Pelvic Organ Prolapse Symptom Score (POP-SS).

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: We aimed to translate and culturally adapt the Pelvic Organ Prolapse Symptom Score (POP-SS) into Amharic and evaluate its psychometric properties. METHODS: We followed an intercultural adaptation procedure to translate and adapt the POP-SS. One hundred and eighty-six women with POP symptoms completed the Amharic POP-SS and Prolapse Quality of Life (P-QoL) questionnaires. All women were examined using a simplified Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification (SPOP-Q) system and were divided into four groups based on the POP-Q scores as stage 1, 2, 3, and 4. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were determined using Cronbach's alpha and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), respectively. Criterion validity was assessed against the SPOP-Q stage and the P-QoL scale. Furthermore, we tested construct validity using exploratory factor analysis. RESULTS: The POP-SS score was successfully translated and achieved good content validity. It had high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.86) and test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.81; p < 0.001). There was a statistically significant difference among four groups of stages in POP-SS score. and women with stage 3 had the highest median score (Kruskal-Wallis test; p < 0.05). The POP-SS score was also significantly correlated with the P-QoL score (Spearman's correlation coefficient = 0.28, p < 0.001). The exploratory factor analysis identified two factors, namely, physical symptoms and evacuation symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The POP-SS scale was successfully translated to Amharic and appears reliable and valid for women with symptoms of POP. However, further studies are needed to evaluate its responsiveness.