Standard Days Method Used as a Safe and Effective New Contraceptive Method of Choice: Findings from a Community Based OR Study Experiment in Rural India

Damodar Sahu, Institute for Research in Medical Statistics (ICMR)
Rebecka Landgreen, Georgetown University

The Standard Days Method is a recent innovation in natural family planning method designed to plan or prevents unwanted pregnancy. The method makes use of a simple color coded beaded necklace for women to track the fertile days of their menstrual cycle by moving a band over the beads. Data comes from OR study conducted by Georgetown University in rural villages in Uttar Pradesh, India to determine effective service delivery strategies for SDM introduction. The study also compared the effect of involving men in the use of the method. 482 couples were admitted into the study. After end of the study the cumulative continuation rate was estimated by independent variables i.e., age, education, parity, prior family planning experience and male involvement. These variables were statistically significant. Method failure was relatively low. In general couples consider the SDM a simple method to regulate their sexual behaviour during the fertile period.