Training of opinion leaders in family planning in India: does it serve any purpose?
Sharma, V.; Sharma, A.
Revue d'Epidemiologie et de Sante Publique 44(2): 173-180
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0398-7620 PMID: 8693174 Document Number: 300677
As part of a national campaign to broaden support for family planning in India, medical officers at primary health centers are providing training to local opinion leaders. The one-day course covers topics such as the benefits of small family size, India's population policy, and the various contraceptive methods. However, an evaluation of this innovation indicated that it may be failing to produce adequate motivation. Included in the comparative study were 182 community influentials (predominantly tribals) from villages in Southern Rajasthan's Udaipur State, 83 of whom had attended the family planning orientation training. Knowledge scores were significantly higher (p 0.0001) among opinion leaders who participated in the training than among their untrained counterparts; the mean knowledge score was 32.1 out of a maximum possible score of 45 in the former group compared to 20.8 in the latter group. Attitudes toward family planning were slightly--but not significantly--higher among trained leaders. Contraceptive practice was poor in both groups; only 32.5% of trained and 28% of untrained leaders were using a fertility control method. Finally, only one-third of leaders from both groups were involved in motivating their followers to adopt temporary contraceptive methods and just half were advocating permanent methods. The knowledge-practice gap identified among these community leaders is attributed to the binding influence of anti-family planning sociocultural norms. It is recommended that the present training program be restructured to make greater use of dialogue to persuade participants to themselves adopt contraceptive use. Also necessary is correction of misinformation about vasectomy, widely equated with castration.