From young rural intenders to ready-to-limit pragmatists: Segmenting the family planning market to improve behavior change interventions in the Philippines.

Although contraceptive use in the Philippines has increased steadily over the past 35 years results from the 2003 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) showed that family planning (FP) use had reached a plateau. One way to address this plateau and revitalize contraceptive use is to promote behavior change communication (BCC) efforts that are tailored to specific subgroups as opposed to generalized campaigns. Client-Centered Market Segmentation is a data analysis tool developed by the Private Sector Partnerships-One (PSP-One) project to help FP program managers tailor their interventions and messages to the needs of specific segments of the population. The tool draws on classic market segmentation approaches used by major commercial companies to increase product sales and grow market share. Client-Centered Market Segmentation allows a much broader multidimensional segmentation of the FP market by highlighting not only demographic and economic variations but also group differences in values beliefs and attitudes all of which are likely key drivers of FP demand and use. The present Client-Centered Market Segmentation study segments nonusers of FP in the Philippines into several subgroups each with its own unique and multidimensional profile and makes recommendations about how BCC strategies can best incorporate this information to effectively target and meet the needs of different nonuser groups. The following are the primary objectives of this research: 1. Clarify important ways that nonusers differ in their sociodemographic characteristics and their FP goals attitudes lifestyles values beliefs and needs. 2. Determine the relative size of these different nonuser market segments. 3. Prioritize the different market segments according to a variety of considerations including health impact priorities and the amount of effort and resources needed to effectively promote FP use. 4. Recommend ways that program managers particularly those involved in BCC can effectively meet the FP needs of the different nonuser segments through a targeted strategy. The market segmentation analysis produced six unique segments of nonusers: Segment 1: Young Rural Intenders; Segment 2: Young Urban Intenders; Segment 3: Low-Income Traditionalists; Segment 4: Conventional Skeptics; Segment 5: Ready-to-Limit Conservatives; Segment 6: Ready-to-Limit Pragmatists. We developed profiles for each of the segments by comparing results on general health attitudes; fertility and FP behaviors awareness attitudes values and beliefs; and media and lifestyle characteristics. These profiles are described in table ES.1. (Excerpts)