“It Depends on Your Pocket:” Findings From a Qualitative Study in Uganda Exploring Women's and Health Care Providers’ Perspectives on Family Planning

Abstract

An unmet need for family planning among Ugandan women remains. Our research team conducted qualitative research to identify Ugandan perspectives about family planning. We facilitated interviews with Ugandan women and health care providers. Using grounded theory, our team analyzed the data to identify themes from the transcripts. The researchers identified the cross-cutting theme as the influence of money on women and health care providers. Although affordability and accessibility were recognized as determinants of ensuring family planning uptake, we found that money impacts the decision making via additional mechanisms. For women, monetary concerns associated with assuring family needs were prioritized. For health care providers, they discussed that money created barriers as well as incentives to family planning service provisions.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Populations Services International, Washington, DC, and the Programme for Accessible Health, Communication and Education (former PSI/Uganda), for providing interview transcriptions with Ugandan women for analysis. The first author also thanks The George Washington University, School of Public Health and Health Services, Department of Prevention and Community Health, for awarding her the “Summer 2009 Culminating Experience Fellowship Award” to sponsor her visit to conduct research in Uganda. In addition, the first author also thanks the Programme for Accessible Health, Communication and Education for their support and assistance in Uganda. The authors acknowledge the women and health care providers who participated in the interviews.