Family planning among Southeast Asian refugees
Minkler, D.H.; Korenbrot, C.; Brindis, C.
Western Journal of Medicine 148(3): 349-354
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0093-0415 PMID: 3363968 Document Number: 521259
Vietnamese, Cambodian, lowland Laotian, Lao Mein and Lao Hmong refugees living in Alameda, San Francisco, and Santa Clara counties, California, were interviewed to document family planning knowledge, attitudes and practices, and to identify current barriers to care. The 438 refugees were selected from those willing to participate among clinic and social service agency clients. The subjects varied widely across groups in education (Vietnamese highest to Lao Hmong lowest). Preferred family size generally followed an inverse relationship with education, from 3.2 for Vietnamese to 8.1 for Lao Hmong. Those from a rural background typically had a higher preference for boys than did urban people. Family formation was usually delayed until age 20 by most women. Knowledge of family planning methods was generally high, but variable among ethnic groups by method. Most people were more familiar with the more effective methods than they were with less effective methods. Methods commonly used in the past were female sterilization (12%), pill (31%), injectable (9%) and IUD (8%). 70% of women who were not pregnant and who did not want to be were using some method of contraception. Over half of women not already sterilized or infertile expressed willingness to use family planning. Barriers to family planning information were experienced by 70%, such as language, not knowing enough about family planning to ask questions, cost, and transportation. Fear about physical examination was not cited as a problem.