Evaluating Household Visits and Small Groups to Increase Contraception Use Among Married Adolescent Girls in Rural Niger

Household visits will be conducted to build trust in the health system, educate regarding different forms of modern contraception, (how administered, how they work, availability), dispel related myths (i.e., those regarding infertility), promote the health advantages of birth spacing, and create related dialogue among adolescent wives and other household members present during these visits. The relais will provide and resupply oral contraceptive pills and condoms to interested participants and will accompany the married adolescent to the nearest health facility for other forms of contraception, if requested to do so. To complement the household visits to married female adolescents, male relais will conduct home visits to discuss healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy with husbands of adolescent females, provide education on different forms of contraception, and discuss concerns husbands may have regarding use of contraception.

In the wife-only groups, adolescent wives will be convened by trained adult female community members to learn and discuss a broad range of gender and health-related topics, with a focus on modern contraception, and cultivate self-efficacy, social support and life skills. The small groups will be led by trained female small group mentors who are trained peers and will follow a designated curriculum consisting of different topics each week developed by Pathfinder International and derived from Population Council/UNFPA's Safe Spaces curriculum. The husband groups will follow a curriculum adapted from Promundo's Program P6 and supplemented by the tools and activities developed by Pathfinder International. These groups of husbands will focus on fostering reflection and dialogue to contribute to more equitable gender norms, support for contraception use for HTSP, positive health seeking behavior for them and their families, and increased couples communication and joint SRH decision-making.