With encouragement from discussion leaders, participants expressed their concerns and introduced related issues during the discussions. The findings reported here arise from this qualitative research. As such, they do not necessarily represent Jordanian population as a whole. While traditional values on family size, family planning and birth spacing predominate, there is evidence that Jordanian attitudes and beliefs about contraceptive practice are changing. The focus-group findings indicate a recognition among most respondents that closely spaced births often result in health risks to mother and child and that broad economic changes have altered the costs of children.
Many respondents believe that contraception is acceptable for economic as well as health reasons.
This indicates a change in social norms from the older generation and, in turn, presages behavioral changes with significant demographic implications for the near future. Information, education, and communication programs can facilitate and support these normative and behavioral changes. Primary Findings Knowledge about family planning methods . Participants were aware of most family planning methods, but lacked in-depth knowledge. Breastfeeding was a popular birth-spacing method, although often used unsuccessfully.