Association of men's exposure to family planning programming and reported discussion with partner and family planning use: The case of urban Senegal

Abstract

BackgroundFamily planning programs increasingly aim to encourage men to be involved in women’s reproductive health decision-making as well as support men to be active agents of change for their own and the couple’s reproductive health needs. This study contributes to this area of work by examining men’s exposure to family planning (FP) program activities in urban Senegal and determining whether exposure is associated with reported FP use and discussion of family planning with female partners.MethodsThis study uses data from two cross-sectional surveys of men in four urban sites of Senegal (Dakar, Pikine, Guédiawaye, Mbao). In 2011 and 2015, men ages 15–59 in a random sample of households from study clusters were approached and asked to participate in a survey about their fertility and family planning experiences. These data were used to determine the association between exposure to the Initiative Sénégalaise de Santé Urbaine (in English: Senegal Urban Reproductive Health Initiative) family planning program interventions with men’s reported modern family planning use and their reported discussion of FP with their partners. Since data come from the same study clusters at each time period, fixed effects methods at the cluster level allowed us to control for possible program targeting by geographic area.ResultsMultivariate models demonstrate that religious leaders speaking favorably about family planning, seeing FP messages on the television, hearing FP messages on the radio, and exposure to community outreach activities with a FP focus (e.g., house to house and community religious dialogues) are associated with reported modern family planning use and discussion of family planning with partners among men in the four urban sites of Senegal.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that it is possible to reach men with FP program activities in urban Senegal and that these activities are positively associated with reported FP behaviors.

Reproductive health decision making among nomadic pastoralists in North Eastern Kenya: a qualitative social network analysis

“…While men and husbands were involved in RSH decisions, such as whether to have another child, they may be less involved in day-to-day decisions (such as visiting a health facility). Finally, while other studies show community leaders are key influencers in FP issues [75][76][77], religious and community leaders formed part of the reference group for nomadic pastoralist women, but not semi-nomadic pastoralist women.…”

Male Involvement in Family Planning: An Integrative Review

“…There was an association between community-based activities and sue of family planning. In Senegal, men (n = 2270) who were exposed to a religious leader speaking favorably about family planning were more likely to report using family planning and discussing family planning with their spouses [15]. Radio activities and television exposure was associated with family planning use [19].…”

“…Higher education level, exposure to media and knowledge of modern family planning are significantly improving communication with their partner [12]. Community-based activities, exposure to a religious leader speaking favorably about family planning [15] [20] and counseling programs for husbands are effective approach to engage men in family planning [16].…”

Elevating Social and Behavior Change as an Essential Component of Family Planning Programs

“…Evaluations of SBC programs support this modeling, demonstrating that a variety of approaches are successful at improving family planning outcomes, including working with religious leaders to create normative support for family planning within religious teachings (Adedini et al 2018;Speizer et al 2018), engaging men and working with couples to challenge inequitable gender norms and power relationships and improve couple communication (Doyle et al 2018;Lemanj et al 2017;Subramanian et al 2018), promoting role models and demonstrating pathways to change through mass media (Jah et al 2014), and engaging communities through dialogues, communication, and empowerment (Wegs et al 2016). The evidence also shows that SBC can influence family planning-related discussion and behavior even among those not directly exposed to interventions, demonstrating the diffusion power of high-quality SBC (Boulay, Storey, and Sood 2002).…”

“…2018 ; Speizer et al. 2018 ), engaging men and working with couples to challenge inequitable gender norms and power relationships and improve couple communication (Doyle et al. 2018 ; Lemanj et al.…”