Use of Fertility Awareness Methods among Minority Women: How, When, and Why?

Among the family planning methods promoted by Title X are fertility awareness methods (FAM). Yet there is a dearth of information about the use of FAM in the United States. To address this gap, we are conducting in-depth interviews with Hispanic and African-American young adult women in an urban metropolitan area who have ever used FAM to better understand when, how and why FAM is used. Additionally, the study seeks to explore women's knowledge and perceptions of FAM and their fertility more generally. We will be examining differences in knowledge and perceptions by race/ethnicity and by generation among Latinas. Preliminary interviews conducted with over 40 minority young adult women thus far indicate that women use FAM in a variety of ways, including as their primary method, in conjunction with other birth control methods or as a backup when other methods are not available. Women in our sample turn to FAM to provide an added level of protection, as an alternative to hormonal methods or because they lack experience, familiarity with or access to other methods. Most use NFP either sporadically over time or for a short duration. Preliminary results suggest that while many women track their cycles and have been doing so since puberty, few can accurately identify their fertile period, which places them at risk of unintended pregnancy. Knowledge does not appear to be related to length of use or reasons for use. Finally, our results suggest that traditional survey questions likely underestimate the use of FAM.