Joan Ibeziako, O. (2022). Natural Family Planning, An Option in Reproductive Healthcare: A Qualitative Study on Clinicians' Perceptions. The Linacre Quarterly, 89(3), 298-318. https://doi.org/10.1177/00243639221078070
Joan Ibeziako O. Natural Family Planning, An Option in Reproductive Healthcare: A Qualitative Study on Clinicians' Perceptions. Linacre Q. 2022;89(3):298-318. doi:10.1177/00243639221078070
Joan Ibeziako, Ozoemena. "Natural Family Planning, An Option in Reproductive Healthcare: A Qualitative Study on Clinicians' Perceptions." The Linacre Quarterly, vol. 89, no. 3, 2022, pp. 298-318.
Clinicians say they would offer natural family planning after training
Clinicians said training would lead them to offer modern natural family planning (NFP), with appropriate patient selection, in a qualitative study of 15 South African doctors and nurses. Thirteen of the 15 participants did not know that national guidelines include modern NFP methods. Participants named professional culture and lack of advocacy as barriers.
Key Findings
Participants said training on modern natural family planning (NFP) methods would empower them to start discussions about the method and offer it to appropriately selected patients.
Thirteen of the 15 participants were unaware that modern NFP methods are included in South Africa's National Contraception Clinical Guidelines.
All participants called effectiveness the main reason to opt for or offer NFP, and all described themselves as uninformed about how effective NFP and contraceptives are.
Participants identified barriers that included professional culture (scientific versus natural, paternalism, a curative approach), user characteristics, partner cooperation and lack of advocacy for NFP.
Participants said they would promote NFP if a policy such as a national guideline supported it, and the study reports calls for early education of boys as well as girls.
Interpretation
The study used a basic interpretive qualitative design. The author held semi-structured interviews, chose participants to represent a range of views, and sorted the transcripts into themes. Interviews continued until no new themes emerged, at 15 participants. The group included doctors and nurses, and ten were women. The findings are clinicians' stated views and intentions. The author notes that the clinicians came from a specific district, so their views may differ from those of most other clinicians.
RRM Context
Restorative reproductive medicine treats the ovulatory cycle as a vital sign. The charting-based systems named in this paper include the Billings Ovulation Method, the Creighton Model System and the Marquette Model. Each gives couples a shared way to read the cycle. Participants raised partner support and teaching boys as well as girls, which fits the couple-centered principle of restorative care. Charted cycles give clinicians evidence about the root cause, and restorative care evaluates that cause before treatment.
Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.
Abstract
Natural family planning (NFP) empowers women to control their reproductive health and approach fertility as a normal biological process. Although substantive literature supports their comparative effectiveness with contraceptive methods, there is a paucity of this knowledge amongst clinicians and users. This study aimed to understand clinicians' perceptions regarding offering NFP to patients as part of reproductive health care. It explored clinicians' knowledge of NFP, described their perceptions of their effectiveness, and identified enabling and deterring factors to their use. Basic Interpretive qualitative research design was appropriate in obtaining an in-depth description of this phenomenon. It was conducted in 2018 in two hospitals and clinics in Ekurhuleni health district, located East of Gauteng Province, South Africa. Fifteen doctors and nurses from diverse cultural and educational backgrounds were purposefully selected and interviewed. Transcribed data were analyzed, coded, and recurrent themes identified. Training that empowers clinicians on NFP methods and their effectiveness will improve their willingness to advocate for it and promote patient autonomy by providing comprehensive counseling on family planning methods. Further, a pro-NFP policy would drive training in undergraduate and postgraduate programs and increase public awareness, including early education of male and female children.
Fertility Awareness › Use and Experience › Method Teaching · Ethics and Policy › Advocacy and Public Understanding › Public Awareness · Clinician Education and Training › Clinician Training › Professional Training
Ozoemena Joan Ibeziako
O Ibeziako
PMID 35875372 35875372 DOI 10.1177/00243639221078070 10.1177/00243639221078070 Joan Ibeziako et al. 2022, Joan Ibeziako 2022
00g0p6g84 