Dataset Information

Exploring gaps in monitoring and evaluation of male engagement in family planning.

ABSTRACT: Background: Male engagement is becoming more common in family planning (FP) strategies and interventions, yet effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of this approach lags. This review sought to understand how male engagement in FP is defined, identify gaps in M&E of male engagement and make recommendations. Methods: We conducted key informant interviews and a desk review of peer-reviewed articles and gray literature, including national FP strategies and policies. We then facilitated an online forum with experts in the field of male engagement in FP to provide feedback on our proposed indicators for male engagement in FP to reach consensus on and validate key indicators. Results: Although there is no universal definition of male engagement in FP, the most common definition is the inclusion of men in FP programming as FP clients, supportive partners, and agents of change. The most common approach was engaging men as clients exclusively, followed by engaging men as partners. Few papers reported on programs that engaged men across the full spectrum of the definition. There's significant variation in the degree to which male engagement in FP is included in M&E, planning, and approaches. Few programs reported findings disaggregated by sex and by contraceptive method, making it difficult to determine the effect of programming on male use of methods. There is a dearth of indicators for measuring male engagement in FP in national strategies and policies. Other gaps are a lack of core indicators for male engagement, qualitative indicators, and indicator reference sheets for many commonly used indicators. Among over 100 indicators being used to monitor and evaluate male engagement in FP, 15 key indicators were identified and validated, with accompanying guidance. Conclusions: As programming for male engagement in FP increases, coordinated efforts should be made to improve the systems that collect, analyze, and use data.

SUBMITTER: Adamou BM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6556759 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Exploring gaps in monitoring and evaluation of male engagement in family planning.

Adamou Bridgit M BM Iskarpatyoti Brittany S BS Agala Chris B CB Mejia Carolina C

Gates open research 20190408

<b>Background:</b> Male engagement is becoming more common in family planning (FP) strategies and interventions, yet effective monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of this approach lags. This review sought to understand how male engagement in FP is defined, identify gaps in M&E of male engagement and make recommendations. <b>Methods:</b> We conducted key informant interviews and a desk review of peer-reviewed articles and gray literature, including national FP strategies and policies. We then facili ...[more]

PMID: 31259315

Similar Datasets

Project description:CONTEXT:Community education and engagement are important for informing family planning projects. The objective of this study was to update two prior systematic reviews assessing the impact of community education and engagement interventions on family planning outcomes. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION:Sixteen electronic databases were searched for studies relevant to a priori determined inclusion/exclusion criteria in high development settings, published from March 2011 through April 2016, updating two reviews that included studies from 1985 through February 2011. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS:Nine relevant studies were included in this updated review related to community education, in addition to 17 from the prior review. No new community engagement studies met inclusion criteria, as occurred in the prior review. Of new studies, community education modalities included mass media, print/mail, web-based, text messaging, and interpersonal interventions. One study on mass media intervention demonstrated a positive impact on reducing teen and unintended pregnancies. Three of four studies on interpersonal interventions demonstrated positive impacts on medium-term family planning outcomes, such as contraception and condom use. Three new studies demonstrated mostly positive, but inconsistent, results on short-term family planning outcomes. CONCLUSIONS:Findings from this systematic review update are in line with a previous review showing the positive impact of community education using traditional modalities on short-term family planning outcomes, identifying additional impacts on long-term outcomes, and highlighting new evidence for education using modern modalities, such as text messaging and web-based education. More research is necessary to provide a stronger evidence base for directing community education and engagement efforts in family planning contexts. THEME INFORMATION:This article is part of a theme issue entitled Updating the Systematic Reviews Used to Develop the U.S. Recommendations for Providing Quality Family Planning Services, which is sponsored by the Office of Population Affairs, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Project description:INTRODUCTION:Use of family planning (FP) is powerfully shaped by social and gender norms, including the perceived acceptability of FP and gender roles that limit women's autonomy and restrict communication and decision-making between men and women. This study evaluated an intervention that catalyzed ongoing community dialogues about gender and FP in Siaya county, Nyanza Province, Kenya. Specifically, we explored the changes in perceived acceptability of FP, gender norms and use of FP. METHODS:We used a mixed-method approach. Information on married men and women's socio-demographic characteristics, pregnancy intentions, gender-related beliefs, FP knowledge, attitudes, and use were collected during county-representative, cross-sectional household surveys at baseline (2009; n11 = 650 women; n12 = 305 men) and endline (2012; n21 = 617 women; n22 = 317 men); exposure to the intervention was measured at endline. We assessed changes in FP use at endline vs. baseline, and fitted multivariate logistic regression models for FP use to examine its association with intervention exposure and explore other predictors of use at endline. In-depth, qualitative interviews with 10 couples at endline further explored enablers and barriers to FP use. RESULTS:At baseline, 34.0% of women and 27.9% of men used a modern FP method compared to 51.2% and 52.2%, respectively, at endline (p<0.05). Exposure to FP dialogues was associated with 1.78 (95% CI: 1.20-2.63) times higher odds of using a modern FP method at endline for women, but this association was not significant for men. Women's use of modern FP was significantly associated with higher spousal communication, control over own cash earnings, and FP self-efficacy. Men who reported high approval of FP were significantly more likely to use modern FP if reporting high approval of FP and more equitable gender beliefs. FP dialogues addressed persistent myths and misconceptions, normalized FP discussions, and increased its acceptability. Public examples of couples making joint FP decisions legitimized communication and decision-making with spouses about FP especially for men; women described partner support as key enabler of FP use. CONCLUSIONS:Our evaluation demonstrates that an intervention that catalyzes open dialogue about gender and FP can shift social norms, enable more equitable couple communication and decision-making and, ultimately, increase use of FP.

Project description:Patient and family engagement (PE) in healthcare planning and improvement achieves beneficial outcomes and is widely advocated, but a lack of resources is a critical barrier. Little prior research studied how organizations support engagement specifically in hospitals. We explored what constitutes hospital capacity for engagement. We conducted descriptive qualitative interviews and complied with criteria for rigour and reporting in qualitative research. We interviewed patient/family advisors, engagement managers, clinicians and executives at hospitals with high engagement activity, asking them to describe essential resources or processes. We used content analysis and constant comparison to identify themes and corresponding quotes and interpreted findings by mapping themes to two existing frameworks of PE capacity not specific to hospitals. We interviewed 40 patient/family advisors, patient engagement managers, clinicians and corporate executives from nine hospitals (two < 100 beds, four 100 + beds, three teaching). Four over-arching themes about capacity considered essential included resources, training, organizational commitment and staff support. Views were similar across participant and hospital groups. Resources included funding and people dedicated to PE and technology to enable communication and collaboration. Training encompassed initial orientation and project-specific training for patient/family advisors and orientation for new staff and training for existing staff on how to engage with patient/family advisors. Organizational commitment included endorsement from the CEO and Board, commitment from staff and continuous evaluation and improvement. Staff support included words and actions that conveyed value for the role and input of patient/family advisors. The blended, non-hospital-specific framework captured all themes. Hospitals of all types varied in the availability of funding dedicated to PE. In particular, reimbursement of expenses and compensation for time and contributions were not provided to patient/family advisors. In addition to skilled engagement managers, the role of clinician or staff champions was viewed as essential. The findings build on prior research that largely focused on PE in individual clinical care or research or in primary care planning and improvement. The findings closely aligned with existing frameworks of organizational capacity for PE not specific to hospital settings, which suggests that hospitals could use the blended framework to plan, evaluate and improve their PE programs. Further research is needed to yield greater insight into how to promote and enable compensation for patient/family advisors and the role of clinician or staff champions in supporting PE.

Dataset Information

Exploring gaps in monitoring and evaluation of male engagement in family planning.

Publications

Exploring gaps in monitoring and evaluation of male engagement in family planning.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets