Research Seminar series: Mahesh Karra - User-Centered Approaches to Contraceptive Counseling: Experimental Evidence from Urban Malawi
We are glad to announce the second talk of the M-CHEP Research Seminar series. In these seminars we have invited speakers from German and international universities present their projects in the fields of health economics, health services research, health policy, global health and public health. This hybrid seminar will give you the opportunity to share your questions with the speakers and gain experiences and ideas that could improve your research.
In this second seminar, Mahesh Karra will present his research on User-Centered Approaches to Contraceptive Counseling: Experimental Evidence from Urban Malawi
Where: Zoom or in person (information will be shared after registration
When: November 6th at 4pm-5pm (ECT)
More information including an abstract and registration information can be found here: https://www.m-chep.de/m-chep-events
Abstract
We test how two user-centered approaches to counseling shape women's contraceptive preferences and behavior: 1) tailored counseling that presents contraceptive methods based on women’s stated preferences; and 2) prompting women with the choice to invite male partners to counseling. A total of 782 women were randomized to receive tailored or standard counseling, cross-randomized with the prompt to bring partners to counseling. Following counseling, women were offered transport and access to a high-quality family planning clinic for one month. Women who received tailored counseling were 17.3 percent more likely to be discordant between their stated preferred method and method use. Women who were prompted with the choice to invite their partners were 14.5 percent less likely to change their stated preferred method but 15.8 percent more likely to use their stated method. While both approaches aim to facilitate user-centered contraceptive decision-making, neither necessarily yields strictly preferred outcomes for women.
About the author
Mahesh Karra is a tenured Associate Professor of Global Development Policy at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, Associate Director of the Human Capital Initiative at the BU Global Development Policy Center, and Director of the Program on Women’s Empowerment Research (POWER). He is also a Co-Editor of Studies in Family Planning.