What Drives Knowledge Seeking, Sharing, and Use Among Family Planning Professionals? Behavioral Evidence From Africa, Asia, and the United States.

OBJECTIVE: To contribute to strengthening family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) programs by identifying behavioral factors that influence FP/RH professionals' knowledge management (KM) behaviors. METHODS: We conducted an online survey, in-depth interviews, and cocreation workshops between July 2019 and June 2020 with a convenience sample of FP/RH professionals in Africa, Asia, and the United States to explore their KM behaviors. We used descriptive statistics to analyze the survey data and inductive thematic analysis for the interviews, and we synthesized participant inputs from selected cocreation activities. RESULTS: The samples consisted of 273 survey respondents, 23 interviewees, and 69 cocreation workshop participants. There were no significant differences in how professionals seek and share information by gender, role, or geographic region, except related to language barriers among Francophone professionals. FP/RH professionals reported using both digital sources and their professional networks to seek and share information. Choice overload and cognitive overload (when people are presented with too much information and in a way that is hard to understand, respectively) act as barriers as they seek and use information. Too many information sources lead to frustration and inaction and best practices are often not contextualized or specific enough for application. Positive KM organizational cultures help facilitate effective information sharing, but reluctance to share information persists due to fear of losing comparative advantage. FP/RH professionals noted that such barriers result in duplication of effort and lack of advancement in FP/RH programs. CONCLUSION: To improve overall program impact, KM interventions in FP/RH and global health should reduce cognitive and choice overload, especially by curating and sharing practical, actionable information with essential details on context and how programs are implemented so that others can apply or adapt the learnings. Programs should use incentives to foster motivation to share this type of information.

Interpersonal and community influences affecting childhood vaccination decision-making among Nigerian caregivers: Perceptions among frontline workers in Nigeria.

Although routine immunization has contributed to a substantial reduction in mortality from vaccine-preventable diseases globally, vaccine-preventable diseases are attributable for 22% of childhood deaths in Nigeria. Individual and structural level factors that influence vaccination uptake in Nigeria have been well documented. However, there is limited information about the role of interpersonal and community level factors. Frontline workers play a crucial role in delivering life-saving vaccines in Nigeria, as they are tasked with ensuring that all children are vaccinated, within the health system as well as traveling to underserved areas, where health systems are not able to reach. This qualitative study conducted focus groups to examine frontline workers' perceptions of influences affecting caregivers' vaccine-related decision-making. Community- and facility-based frontline workers (n = 47) identified village and community chiefs, as well as religious leaders as influential within the context of immunization uptake because of their trusted role within communities. Male partners and husbands were identified as also holding an enormous level of influence over childhood vaccination, and the credibility of frontline workers influenced vaccination coverage. Immunization programs should target not only caregivers but also key influencers-such as interpersonal and community sources-to make progress in reaching vaccination coverage goals.