Knowledge of Benefits of Birth Spacing

The indicator assesses the proportion of the target population aware of at least two of the promoted benefits of waiting at least two years before trying to get pregnant again. Doing so enables the woman’s body to recover from the last pregnancy and reduces the risk of dying during the birth, having a miscarriage or delivering an undernourished baby.

Collect the following data by conducting individual interviews with a representative sample of your target population members:

RECOMMENDED SURVEY QUESTIONS (Q) AND POSSIBLE ANSWERS (A)

Q1: Do you think that there are any benefits of waiting at least two years after the last birth before attempting the next pregnancy?

A1: yes / no

(ask the following question only if the previous answer is YES)

Q2: Could you please tell me what are the most important benefits?

A2: specify the benefits your intervention promotes (multiple answers possible)

Note: If less than two are stated, keep probing: “Are there any other benefits?”

To calculate the indicator’s value, divide the number of respondents who were able to state at least two of the promoted benefits by the total number of respondents. Multiply the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage.

Disaggregate the data by wealth and other relevant criteria. 

1) The benefits your intervention promotes need to reflect the available scientific evidence, such as a lower risk of low birth weight, preterm birth, labour issues, or infant death. At the same time, they should also include (often non-health) benefits identified through your formative survey, such as facing less financial (or other) issues, having more time for each baby or following certain social norms. These benefits can often be more influential than a range of scientific health arguments.

2) Use pre-testing to determine whether the requirement of stating only two benefits is not unnecessarily low. If so, change the indicator to “three benefits”.