Disrespectful care in family planning services among youth and adult simulated clients in public sector facilities in Malawi

Characterizing provider bias in contraceptive care in Tanzania and Burkina Faso: A mixed-methods study

Provider bias based on age, marital status, and parity may be a barrier to quality contraceptive care. However, the extent to which bias leads to disparities in care quality is not well understood. In this mixed-methods study, we used four different data sources from the same facilities to assess the extent of bias and how much it affects contraceptive care. First, we surveyed providers in Tanzania and Burkina Faso (N = 295) to assess provider attitudes about young, unmarried, and nulliparous clients. Second, mystery clients anonymously visited providers for contraceptive care and we randomly assigned the reported age, marital status, and parity of each visit (N = 306). We used data from these visits to investigate contraceptive care disparities across 3 domains: information provision and counseling quality, contraceptive method provision, and perceived treatment. Third, we complemented mystery client data with client exit surveys (N = 31,023) and client in-depth interviews (N = 36). In surveys, providers reported biased attitudes against young, unmarried, and nulliparous clients seeking contraceptives. Similarly, we found disparities according to these characteristics in the reporting of contraceptive care quality; however, we found that each characteristic affected a different quality of care domain. Among mystery clients we found age-related disparities in the provision of methods; 16/17-year-old clients were 18 and 11 percentage points less likely to perceive they could take a contraceptive method relative to 24-year-old clients in Tanzania and Burkina Faso, respectively. Unmarried mystery clients perceived worse treatment from providers compared to married clients. Nulliparous mystery clients reported lower quality contraceptive counseling than their parous counterparts. These results suggest that clients of different characteristics likely experience bias across different elements of care. Improving care quality and reducing disparities will require attention to which elements of care are deficient for different types of clients.

Tools for patient-centred family planning counselling: A scoping review

Background

The focus of family planning counselling is gradually shifting from the tiered-effectiveness model to patient-centred counselling. Although tools exist that aim to make family planning counselling more patient-oriented without increasing the provider's workload, they are not widely used. This scoping review aims to address this by identifying key tools to make family planning care more patient-centred, reviewing the domains of patient-centred care they address, and identifying gaps in the evidence base.

Methods

We systematically searched PubMed and SCOPUS for documents on 'patient-centred family planning counselling or support' published between 2013 and 2022. Eligibility criteria included discussion of: 1) strategies for providing patient-centred care; 2) interventions using a patient-centred approach; or 3) the impact of patient-centred approaches. We identified tools for patient-centred care, and mapped them against an existing framework of the main domains of patient-centred care. We reported the available evidence of the impact on those tools.

Results

Our scoping review is based on 33 documents. We identified six tools for increasing the patient-centeredness of family planning counselling. None of the tools addressed all domains of patient-centred care. Evidence about the impact of these tools remains scarce. Although there is some evidence about the acceptability of the tools, key evidence gaps include the effect of the tools on quality of care and family planning outcomes.

Conclusions

Family planning implementers should be aware that existing tools differ in the extent to which they address key domains of patient-centred family planning counselling. There is a need for further research on factors that may deter providers from adopting these tools. A larger evidence base is needed to permit a future systematic review to determine the effect of these tools on family planning outcomes, such as method adoption and continuation.

Turned away and sleeping apart: A qualitative study on women's perspectives and experiences with family planning denial in Malawi

INTRODUCTION

Barriers to family planning for potential clients have been explored in the literature, but rarely from the perspective of the women themselves in a low-income setting. This research aimed to understand clients' perspectives on being turned away from receiving a method of family planning at a facility on the day it was sought.

METHODS

Three focus group discussions were held in two districts of Malawi in 2019 with clients who had been turned away approximately three to six months prior.

RESULTS

The reasons for turnaway participants mentioned fell into eight categories: no proof of not being pregnant, method and/or supply stock-outs, arriving late, provider unavailable, provider refusal, needing to wait longer after delivery of a child, financial constraints, and medical reasons. Participants were often turned away more than once before finally being able to initiate a method, in some cases returning to the same facility and in others finding it through community health workers, traditional healers, or private facilities. Clients often resorted to sleeping apart from their husbands until they could initiate a method and reported stress and worry resulting from being turned away.

CONCLUSIONS

Clients are turned away without a method of FP on the day they seek one for multiple reasons, nearly all of which are preventable. Many examples given by the participants showed a lack of knowledge and respect for clients on the part of the providers. Changing attitudes and behaviour, however, may be difficult and will require additional steps. Increasing the availability and use of pregnancy tests, having a more reliable supply of methods and materials, increasing the number of providers-including those trained well in all methods-and providing daily FP services would all help reduce turnaway. Improved access to family planning will help counties achieve their Sustainable Development Goals.

"I want one nurse who is friendly to talk to me properly like a friend": Learner preferences for HIV and contraceptive service provision in Gauteng, South Africa

Background

Research with adolescents indicates that youth aged 15-24 years, especially females, are at high risk for HIV infection. The overall HIV prevalence among youth in this age group was 6.2% estimated in 2022. In addition, > 800,000 adolescents are newly infected with HIV every year and 79% of these infections occur in sub-Saharan Africa. The health service provision preferences and needs of adolescents are critical to reaching this population.

Methods

This qualitative study was conducted with learners from three public secondary schools in Gauteng, South Africa. Using convenience sampling, 22 in-depth stakeholder interviews (KIIs) with stakeholders and 8 focus group discussions (FGDs) with 55 learners aged ≥ 15, were conducted between March and October 2018. Learners < 18 were given assent and parental consent forms, whilst those ≥ 18 could consent of their own accord. KIIs and FGDs were conducted in private venues in the preferred language by trained interviewers and audio-recorded. Audio files were transcribed verbatim and translated into English if needed. Data were analysed thematically using NVivo version 11.

Results

The findings from both stakeholders and learners indicate many critical accessibility barriers which include: negative healthcare staff attitudes from older judgemental staff; stigmatisation from healthcare workers, the community as well as family; a lack of private consulting spaces and no confidentiality of patient information at facilities; inconvenient clinic operating times; long queues and facility resource issues. Both groups of participants suggested that accessibility to healthcare could be improved through value-added services (including free Wi-Fi and food), social gatherings and educational information sessions, as well as being staffed by younger, friendlier, confidential and non-judgemental staff in a private healthcare setting.

Conclusion

It is clear that there are many critical barriers that deter learners from accessing HIV and contraceptive services. Provision of private rooms and trying to ensure information confidentiality for youth-friendly services at locations and times that can be easily accessed by learners is key. Greater emphasis on learner-parent-teacher communication around sexual health education at school is needed along with making this information being more readily available to learners.

Adaptation and validation of the quality of contraceptive counseling (QCC) scale for use in Ethiopia and India

We adapted the Quality of Contraceptive Counseling (QCC) scale, originally constructed in Mexico, for Ethiopia and India to expand its utility for measurement of client experiences with counseling. Scale items were modified based on prior research on women's preferences for counseling in each country, and refined through cognitive interviews (n = 20 per country). We tested the items through client exit surveys in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (n = 599), and Vadodara, India (n = 313). Psychometric analyses revealed the adapted scales were valid and reliable for use, and the final scales retained content validity according to the original published QCC construct definition. Specifically, confirmatory factor analysis revealed high factor loadings for almost all items on the original dimensions: Information Exchange, Interpersonal Relationship, Disrespect and Abuse. Internal consistency reliability was high in both settings (Alpha = 0.92 for QCC-Ethiopia and 0.74 for QCC-India). Final item pools contained 26 items in the QCC-Ethiopia Scale and 23 in the QCC-India Scale. Correlation analyses established convergent validity. QCC Scales and subscales fill a gap in measurement tools for ensuring high quality of care and fulfillment of human rights in contraceptive services, and consistent findings across continents suggest versatility in use across different contexts.

Frequency and impact of long wait times for family planning in public-sector healthcare facilities in Western Kenya

BACKGROUND

Long wait times for family planning services are a barrier to high quality care and client satisfaction. Existing literature examining family planning wait times has methodological limitations, as most studies use data collected during exit interviews, which are subject to recall, courtesy, and selection bias.

OBJECTIVE

We sought to employ a mixed methods approach to capture the prevalence, length, causes, and impacts of wait times for family planning services in Western Kenya.

METHODS

We used mystery clients, focus groups, key informant interviews, and journey mapping workshops to measure and describe family planning wait times. Fifteen mystery clients visited 60 public-sector facilities to quantitatively capture wait times. We conducted eight focus group discussions with 55 current or former family planning clients and 19 key informant interviews to understand facility-level barriers to family planning and feasible solutions. Finally, we visualized the process of seeking and providing family planning with journey mapping workshops with nine clients and 12 providers.

RESULTS

Mystery clients waited, on average, 74 minutes to be seen for family planning services. In focus group discussions and key informant interviews, three themes emerged: the nature of wait times, the impact of wait times, and how to address wait times. Clients characterized long wait times as a barrier to achieving their reproductive desires. Key informants perceived provider shortages to cause long wait times, which reduced quality of family planning services. Both providers and family planning clients suggested increasing staffing or offering specialization to decrease wait times and increase quality of care.

CONCLUSION

Our mixed methods approach revealed that wait times for family planning services were common, could be extensive, and were viewed as a barrier to high quality of care by clients, providers, and key informants. Across the board, participants felt that addressing workforce shortages would enhance service delivery and thus promote reproductive autonomy among women in Kenya.

Quality of family planning counseling and associated factors among women attending family planning clinics at selected health centers in Akaki Kality sub-city, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Background

Ethiopia has achieved a remarkable improvement in the provision of family planning. The modern contraceptive prevalence rate has shown a fivefold increment in the last two decades, yet the family planning service in the country is still deficient and characterized by poor counseling quality.

Objective

The aim of the study is to assess the quality of family planning counseling provided and the associated factors at selected health centers in Akaki Kality sub-city, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Method

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 678 randomly selected women attending family planning services at health centers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors associated with the quality of family planning counseling.

Result

A total of 678 women participated in the study. About 29.1% [95% confidence interval (CI): 25.7%–32.6%] of the respondents were adequately counseled. Age groups 37–49 [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.7; 95% CI: 1.1–6.6], being in marital union (AOR = 2.8; 95% CI: 1.2–6.7), attaining secondary education (AOR = 1.9; 95% CI: 1.1–3.6) or higher education (AOR = 2.2; 95% CI: 1.2–4.3), and visit status (AOR = 1.6; 95% CI: 1.1–2.4) were significantly associated with good counseling.

Conclusion

Less than one in three women was counseled adequately. Health professionals should give due attention to younger women, single clients, and clients with their first presentation to the health facility. It also indicates that promoting education among Ethiopian women is crucial for a positive outcome of family planning counseling.

Provider verbal disrespect in the provision of family planning in public-sector facilities in Western Kenya

Public-sector healthcare providers in low- and middle-income countries are a primary source of family planning but their disrespectful (i.e., demeaning or insulting) treatment of family planning clients may impede free contraceptive choice. The construct of disrespect and abuse has been widely applied to similar phenomena in maternity care and could help to better understand provider mistreatment of family planning clients. With a focus on public-sector family planning provision in western Kenya, we aim to estimate the prevalence and impact of disrespect and abuse from a variety of perspectives and advance methodological approaches to measuring this construct in the context of family planning provision. We combine and triangulate data from a variety of sources across five counties in western Kenya, including 180 mystery clients, 253 third-party observations, eight focus group discussions, 19 key informant interviews, and two journey mapping workshops. Across both mystery client and third-party observations conducted in public-sector facilities in western Kenya, approximately one out of every ten family planning seekers was treated with disrespect by their provider. Family planning clients were frequently scolded for seeking family planning while unmarried or low parity, but mistreatment was not limited to women with these specific characteristics. Women were also insulted for such characteristics as body size or perceived sexual promiscuity. Qualitative data confirmed both that client disrespect is widespread and leads women to avoid family planning services even when they desire to use a contraceptive method, sometimes leading to unintended pregnancies. Key informants attribute disrespectful provider practices to both low technical skill as well as poor motivation stemming from both intrinsic values as well as extrinsic factors such as low wages and high caseloads. Possible solutions suggested by key informants included changes to recruitment and admission for Kenyan medical/nursing schools, as well as values clarification to shift provider motivations. Interventions to reduce mistreatment must be multi-layered and well-evidenced to ensure that family planning clients receive the person-centered care that enables them to achieve their contraceptive desires and reproductive freedom.

Findings from a mixed-methods journey map study of barriers to family planning in western Kenya

Our objective was to map and prioritize barriers to high-quality family planning care in western Kenya. We conducted key informant interviews (n = 19); focus group discussions with clients (n = 55); mystery client visits (n = 180); unannounced visitors (n = 120); and direct observation of client-provider interactions (n = 256) at public facilities offering family planning. We synthesized the data into a client and a provider journey map, which we used to facilitate client (n = 9) and provider (n = 12) discussions. For both groups, stockouts were frequent, impactful, and important barriers. Clients also reported male partner resistance, insufficient counseling, and informal fees were priority barriers.

Measuring Quality of Maternal, Neonatal, Child, Reproductive Health and Nutrition Care with tools developed by the RADAR project and tested in Sub Saharan Africa

Increasing coverage of evidence-based maternal, neonatal, child, reproductive health and nutrition (MNCRHN) programs in low- and middle-income countries has coincided with dramatic improvements in health despite variable quality of implementation. Comprehensive evaluation to inform program improvement requires standardized but adaptable tools, which the Real Accountability, Data Analysis for Results (RADAR) project has developed. To inform selection of tools and methods packages (‘packages’) to measure program quality of care (QoC), we documented experiences testing the packages, which were developed and adapted based on global and local expertise, and pre- and pilot-testing. We conducted cross-sectional studies in 2018–2019 on the quality of 1) integrated community case management, 2) counseling on maternal, infant, and young child feeding, 3) intrapartum care, and 4) family planning counseling in Mali, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Malawi. Herein we describe package performance and highlight experiences that inform their selection and use. Direct observation packages provided high-quality, immediately applicable results but they required specialized expertise, in-person collection, adequate patient volume, reasonable wait times, and unambiguously ‘correct’ provision of care. General satisfaction questions from exit interview packages produced unvaryingly positive responses despite variable observed quality of care. Variation increased when questions were more targeted, but findings on caregiver and client’s recall of recommendations were more actionable. When interactive, clinical vignettes can capture knowledge of clinical care. But for conditions that can be simulated, like provision of family planning counseling, we could capture provider practice from simulated clients. Clinicians could more easily demonstrate tactile aspects of intrapartum care using observed structured clinical examinations, but this method required storage and transport of the required mannequins. Based on our findings we recommend ten questions upon which evaluators can base package selection. Findings from these packages inform programs and, in the context of comprehensive program evaluation enable us to link programs with impact.

Turned Away and at Risk: Denial of Family Planning Services to Women in Malawi

Family planning (FP) has been a development priority since the mid‐1990s, yet barriers to access persist globally, including women being turned away from facilities without a method. This study aimed to assess the extent of, and reasons for, FP turnaway in three districts of Malawi. In 2019, data collectors screened women exiting 30 health facilities and surveyed those who had been denied a method. Follow‐up surveys were conducted via telephone with turned away clients at six and 12 weeks postvisit. Of the 2,246 women who were screened, 562 were new or restarting users. Of these, 15% (83/562) reported having been turned away from the health facility without an FP method. Women cited 14 different reasons for turnaway; the top three were unavailability of method (34%), unavailability of a provider (17%), or a requirement to return on the scheduled FP day (15%). The multiple reasons cited for leaving the health facility without an FP method indicate that reducing turnaway will not be achieved easily. The top reasons for turnaway are related to health systems or management issues within health facilities. Facilities need additional support for staffing, training on long‐acting and permanent methods, and a consistent supply of methods.

The Provider Role and Perspective in the Denial of Family Planning Services to Women in Malawi: A Mixed-Methods Study

Family planning (FP) has been a global health priority for decades, yet barriers persist, including women being turned away from facilities without receiving services. This study assessed the provider role and perspective in client turnaway in three districts of Malawi. In 2019, data collectors surveyed 57 FP providers from 30 health facilities. All reported being comfortable providing FP to married women with children and married adolescents under 18 years old with children, whereas 12% of the providers expressed discomfort providing such services to married adolescents under 18 without children. Sixty percent of the providers required clients desiring FP and wishing to initiate oral contraceptives or injectables to be currently menstruating. Data collectors later conducted in-depth interviews (IDIs) with 8 of the 57 providers about client turnaway. During IDIs, providers’ most frequently mentioned reasons for turnaway was client pregnancy or suspicion of pregnancy. Providers expressed fears that initiating FP with a pregnant woman could cause community mistrust in the efficacy of modern contraception. Provider support for FP waned for nulliparous clients, regardless of age or marital status. To improve FP services in Malawi, providers need continuous education on all available methods of FP, a reduction in stockouts and programs to further sensitize the community to how contraception works. Understanding how Malawi has helped providers overcome social and cultural norms regarding provision of FP to adolescents might help other countries to make improvements.