Abstract
Objectives
Although a sizeable percentage of minority women use fertility awareness methods (FAM),
little is known about their use in the United States. We sought to fill this gap by
examining FAM use among Latina and black women ��� groups that have high rates of
unintended childbearing and FAM use ��� focusing on knowledge, sources of information
and accuracy of use. Unlike other methods, accurate use of FAM requires relatively
high levels of knowledge.
Study Design
In-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted with 58 Latina and black women
who were current or past users of FAM. Participants were recruited through local clinics
and ads posted in neighborhoods and local Web sites. A purposive sample design was
used to ensure that the sample included individuals with characteristics associated
with FAM use. An inductive approach was used in the data analysis.
Results
Women learned about FAM from family, professionals and the Internet. In general, what
they learned fell into one of two levels of information ��� basic or in-depth ���
and many women possessed moderate to low levels of knowledge. By decomposing accuracy
of use into its components, we find that it is driven largely by knowledge. While
the vast majority of women were abstaining from unprotected sex during what they believed to be their fertile window, only 34 of the 58 participants accurately identified
their fertile period.
Conclusions
Findings speak to a gap in reproductive literacy that has important implications for
FAM users. The gap between behavior and knowledge could help account for high failure
rates associated with FAM use.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 10, 2013
Accepted:
May 27,
2013
Received in revised form:
May 16,
2013
Received:
April 15,
2013
Footnotes
���This paper was funded through grant number 6 FPRPA006033-03-01 from the Office of Population Affairs, US Department of Health and Human Services. Preliminary findings from this study were presented at the 2010 Human Fertility ��� Where Faith and Science Meet conference, the 2010 American Public Health Association conference and the 2012 Office of Population Affairs Grantee Meeting. Parts of this paper appeared in the proceedings from the 2010 Human Fertility conference. The authors have no conflict of interests to disclose, and the paper has not been simultaneously submitted or published elsewhere. The authors would like to thank Elizabeth Wildsmith, Jennifer Manlove, Katherine Rodrigues and Megan Barry for their valuable contributions to this study. The word count of the manuscript is as follows: Abstract (249), Introduction (574), Methods (986), Results (1293) and Discussion (811). The total paper, not including abstract, is 3667 words.
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Copyright
© 2013 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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- Response to Guzman et al.: The use of fertility awareness methods (FAM) among young adult Latina and black womenContraceptionVol. 89Issue 1
- PreviewWe read with interest the article on the use of fertility awareness methods (FAM) among young adult Latina and black women in the U.S. (Contraception 2013; 80:232–238). We applaud the authors for acknowledging the importance of FAM as family planning options for women who prefer this approach. The article correctly highlights the potential benefits of FAM to couples. We do, however, disagree with the definition of FAM used in the article, which shapes the author's premises, their results and their discussion.
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