A Guide for Developing Family Planning Messages for Women in the First Year Postpartum

From the ACCESS-FP programme (Access to Clinical and Community Maternal, Neonatal, and Women's Health Services-Family Planning), this guide was written to help programme managers create postpartum family planning (PPFP) messages to be used in family planning, maternal, newborn, child, and other health programmes and focuses on nine PPFP behaviours to prevent unplanned pregnancies during the first year after a birth. The content is based on findings of "PPFP research; discussions with PPFP experts, program managers and workers; and field experiences from ACCESS-FP country programs," and the format is based on "a series of message guides written for the Health Communication Partnership - Ethiopia Project."

The guide is organised in the following sections:
Section I: Introduction to Postpartum Family Planning - including an explanation of PPFP, how it suits the needs of postpartum women, and the nine key PPFP behaviours.

Section II: Creating Behavior Change Communication Messages - introducing message development "(small, doable actions; audiences; and motivators and barriers to action)" and creating and adapting messages.

Section III: Nine Key PPFP Behaviors - Creating Messages for PostpartumWomen, Their Families and Communities - creating messages specific to these behaviours, including sample messages and key points to consider for a programme.

Section IV: Putting It All Together: Three Case Studies about Making PPFP Messages a Part of Other Health Programs - including reaching postpartum women in health centres, households, and communities and using case studies of four projects from Bangladesh, Nigeria, Haiti, and India.

An example of message development information is: choose small doable action(s) and who, specifically, is the audience involved - both the person intended to do that action and those family or community members who can provide support. A tailored message example: "Breastfeeding mothers, ask your provider or community health care worker about methods that have no effect on breastmilk and when you can begin to use each method." The document analyses benefits/motivators for behaviours and potential barriers to help develop answers to questions and special considerations on message development.

An example of message considerations for a specific population is the message to reach co-wives in northern Nigeria built upon a Hausa (local ethnicity) proverb: "One good child is better than many useless ones."

The document suggests methods to reach postpartum women, including, for example, using household counseling to change behaviours and what messages might be developed for counselors. Family and community influencers and activities with each are listed, for example: "Religious leaders can help address resistance to family planning if the focus is on birth spacing to improve the health of the mother and newborn. They can also encourage breastfeeding," and "[c]ommunity groups can help track postpartum visits at health centers (Nigeria)." Samples of charts and flyers are included.