Measuring Family Planning Provider Bias

A Discrete Choice Experiment among Burkinabé, Pakistani, and Tanzanian Providers

Bibliographic Data

ID10795320
AuthorsMaria Dieci (0000-0002-5364-8789, Maria Dieci, Sandra I. McCoy, William H. Dow are at the School of Public Health University of California, Berkeley Berkeley CA 94704 USA, corresponding author), Zachary Wagner (0000-0003-2922-3315, Zachary Wagner is at the RAND Corporation Santa Monica CA 90401 USA), Willa Friedman (Willa Friedman is at the Department of Economics University of Houston Houston TX 77204 USA), Sarah Burgess (0000-0002-1989-4599, Sarah Burgess, Jessica Vandermark are at the Camber Collective San Francisco CA 94102 USA), Jessica Vandermark (Sarah Burgess, Jessica Vandermark are at the Camber Collective San Francisco CA 94102 USA), Sandra I Mccoy (0000-0002-4764-9195, Maria Dieci, Sandra I. McCoy, William H. Dow are at the School of Public Health University of California, Berkeley Berkeley CA 94704 USA), Mita Shah (0000-0002-1514-3931, University of California, Los Angeles), Manisha Shah (0009-0005-6438-6162, Manisha Shah is at the Luskin School of Public Affairs University of California, Los Angeles Los Angeles CA 90095 USA), William H Dow (0000-0002-4080-1668, Maria Dieci, Sandra I. McCoy, William H. Dow are at the School of Public Health University of California, Berkeley Berkeley CA 94704 USA)
Year2021
Volume52
Issue3
Pages299-320
Publication date2021-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueStudies in Family Planning (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0039-3665 • E-ISSN: 1728-4465
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/sifp.12170
PMID34472623
OpenAlexW3198189490
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited31

The unmet need for modern contraception remains high around the world, particularly for youth. While some of this unmet need is driven by limited health infrastructure and method mix availability, many adolescents who visit family planning providers still do not receive methods that fit their needs. This suggests that providers may be biased against youth and that interventions to change provider behavior could help close this gap. However, it is unclear if this bias is a result of age or other characteristics common among young women such as not being married and not having children. We use a discrete choice experiment in Burkina Faso, Pakistan, and Tanzania to disentangle the effects of age on providers’ decisions to provide contraception from the effects of other potential confounding factors. We find that, although young women may experience the most bias, age is not the main driver. Rather, marital status and parity seem to influence provider decisions to offer services or counsel on modern methods. These findings suggest that interventions to reduce provider bias should focus on changing behavior towards unmarried and nulliparous women, regardless of their age

Business · Confounding · Economics · Environmental health · Family medicine · Family planning · Fertility · Population · Psychological intervention · Service (business · Service provider · Socioeconomics · Tanzania · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Global Maternal and Child Health · Marketing · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Reproductive Health and Contraception