The Institute for Reproductive Health is affiliated with the Georgetown University Medical Center. After promising results from initial trials, the operations research studies are designed to identify how different programs and providers will react to the method, how user needs and perspectives will change depending on different sociocultural contexts, and what organizational and operational adaptations will be necessary for successful introduction of the method. In Honduras, the SDM will be introduced in both public and private service delivery settings in programs offering multiple methods as well as natural methods only. The Honduran MOH has come to recognize the important role that natural methods play in the provision of family planning and reproductive health services, and is interested in improving the quality of services they offer to women who desire to use a natural method. The results of the study suggest that natural family planning users obtain information about natural methods from a close social network of family and community members.
Husbands actively participate in the family planning decision-making process.
There is little knowledge, however, about where to obtain more formal information about natural methods. Natural family planning users obtain information about methods from family and community members, yet there is little knowledge about where to obtain more formal information. Their interest in a simplified natural method is based on their extensive experience in promoting the Billings Ovulation Method. In some rural areas, the identification and instruction of BOM users has been difficult. Instructors and promoters report that it is for some potential users, observing and even having a discussion about their cervical secretions is culturally inappropriate.