Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Promoting Birthspacing Among the Maya-Quiche of Guatemala

1999; Guttmacher Institute; Volume: 25; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/2991879

1943-4154

Jane T. Bertrand, Sandra Guerra de Salazar, Lidia de Mazariegos, Ventura Salanic, Janet Rice, Christine Kolars Sow,

Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare

This program-based and population-based study assessed the effects of an intervention project conducted in 1993-96 in the Mayan department of El Quiche Guatemala. The intervention project was undertaken to increase the knowledge on the use of contraceptives and improve attitudes toward birth spacing. Findings revealed that knowledge of at least one method and positive attitudes toward birth spacing increased dramatically over the period between surveys. Moreover the proportion of subjects who responded that birth spacing was good more than doubled over the period (from 43% in 1992 to 88% in 1996). Current contraceptive use similarly rose from 5% to 18% in the period between surveys. The number of volunteer promoters who are able to reach Maya-Quiche women in remote rural areas increased notably from 79 in 1993 to 144 in 1995. The study design could not rule out the confounding factors. However logistic regression revealed that program-related variables such as contact with the private family planning clinic and exposure to birth spacing messages in the mass media and previous reproductive experience such as having experienced a mistimed pregnancy were the important predictors of contraceptive use once social and demographic factors were controlled for.