SIMPLIFYING NFP - PRELIMINARY-REPORT OF A PILOT-STUDY OF THE COLLAR METHOD IN BRAZIL

Natural methods of fertility regulation are acceptable in most culture s. Many couples worldwide do not wish to use contraceptives or do not have access to them but wish to limit their family size or lengthen th e time between births. Barriers to expanding use of natural family pla nning (NFP) methods include a lack of providers who can teach NFP and a lack of time to teach and follow couples during the initial months o f NFP use. If simple yet effective methods of NFP are available, then NFP could be introduced to a wider audience. Recently, calendar rules have been revised that use a set interval to identify fertile days. Th ese new rules provide better coverage of fertile days and require less abstinence than the rules traditionally used with the calendar method . One of these new rules is being field tested in a pilot study in Bra zil. Couples are asked to abstain from day 9-19 (inclusive) of the men strual cycle, using a beaded necklace (the 'collar') as a mnemonic dev ice. Focus groups with the teacher-monitors and in-depth interviews wi th female and male users were carried out to evaluate the acceptabilit y of the 'collar' method. A preliminary analysis of these focus groups and interviews from the first site is presented.