Feasibility of incorporating the Standard Days Method into CASP family planning services in urban slums of India.

In India the Standard Days Method was incorporated into the activities of CASP with support from CEDPA as a part of its Reproductive and Child Health Sustainability Project. This operations research project was designed to contribute to the ongoing effort of the CEDPA-CASP project to establish sustainable community-based reproductive child health services with a focus on expanding family planning method choice through the social marketing of the Standard Days Method. The study was implemented over a two and a half year period in three units of Sangam Vihar where CASP in partnership with PLAN International operates small health clinics. CASP incorporated the Standard Days Method and fertility awareness information into the package of products and services that Community Health Guides (CHGs) sell to their communities through the Community Based Health Management Scheme. CASP collaborated with a consulting firm TNS Mode to collect data from community members and study participants. Surveys were conducted at baseline and endline to determine the effect of introducing the Standard Days Method at the community level. In addition field-investigators conducted interviews with method users to determine satisfaction correct use and continuation. Users were interviewed upon admission to the study and followed quarterly for up to twelve cycles when an exit interview was conducted. An exit interview was conducted in those instances where the woman stopped using the method or became pregnant. Men were also interviewed when they exited from the study. (excerpt)