Dynamics Governing Women's Decision on Reproductive Health Matters: Reflections from a Qualitative Study in Central India

Abstract

One of the major challenges of Reproductive and Child Health Programme in India is addressing the barriers in communication and improve dialogue between diverse stakeholders, particularly women in the community. Through a qualitative study conducted in one of the rural districts of India, it was attempted to understand the factors affecting women's decision-making process. It is observed that most of the factors are affected by strong intrinsic environment and hence it becomes important for programme managers to understand the environment first in order to design an acceptable and effective communication strategy. In this study, knowledge, tradition, stigma and accessibility of services are identified as the key primary factors affecting decision making of women in the community, particularly on their health related issues. These in turn are governed by various supporting factors. Finally, it is observed that communication strategies can achieve their desired objective only when the local intrinsic environment is taken into cognisance.