Norplant acceptability study in Bangladesh.

This study is the first phase of a three-phased research project that examines the acceptability of Norplant among rural women in Bangladesh. Norplant was introduced in clinical trials in three centers in February 1985. By April 1987 all 600 Norplant acceptors had completed an 18-month follow-up and answered questions about its acceptance. This research aims to determine the womens experience with Norplant as acceptors or discontinuers to determine the attitude of husbands toward Norplant use to determine the incidence of side effects and to analyze Norplant outcomes by background characteristics and perceptions. Interviews were based on three sets of structured questionnaires designed by Family Health International. The sample included 121 of the 134 discontinuers 117 of the 466 continuers 20 husbands of continuers and 19 husbands of discontinuers. The mean age of the women in the sample was 27.6 years. Acceptors had an average of 3.3 years of schooling compared to only 2.8 years of schooling among discontinuers. About 52% of discontinuers were satisfied with Norplant due to duration of action safety and convenience of use. 34.5% were dissatisfied due to bleeding disturbances and 25.8% were dissatisfied due to minor medical complaints. 61.2% of discontinuers relied on joint decision making concerning removal. 22.3% of cases relied on wife-only choices of removal. 11.57% relied on husband-only decisions to remove. 81.8% cases of removal were requested during clinic counseling. About 44% were asked to try Norplant a little longer. 52% of discontinuers reported "some" effort in getting the implants removed and 10% reported "a lot" of effort. About 60% of discontinuers would not recommend Norplant. 98.3% of continuers were satisfied with the method. Findings suggest that the amount of counseling was correlated with clients and spouses degree of satisfaction.