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Network: Improving Service Quality
Vol. 19, No. 1, Fall 1998

Ways to improve the quality of family planning services include better staff
training and client counseling, as well as offering clients a range of
methods from which to choose. Also in this issue of Network, a contraceptive
update reviews how different methods affect menstrual bleeding, an important
consideration when selecting a method.

Contraceptive Update: Menstrual Changes Influence Method Use

Modern contraceptive methods can profoundly affect menstrual bleeding
patterns, with disturbances ranging from heavier bleeding, to prolonged or
irregular bleeding, to no bleeding at all. These common bleeding
disturbances from method use can discourage starting or continuing to use a
method. A related article, How to Manage Bleeding Disturbances, discusses
ways to minimize this contraceptive side effect.

A "Client Perspective" Helps Improve Services

Quality care means looking at services from the client's perspective.
Clients have a right to accurate information, good access to services and a
range of available method options, as well as safety, privacy,
confidentiality, dignity and comfort. Included are specific recommendations
for quality family planning services from the U.S. Agency for International
Development.

Clients Prefer Method Choices

Clients are more likely to be satisfied and to continue practicing family
planning when they have adequate information about methods and several types
of methods from which to choose, and can make decisions without pressure or
coercion. Related articles discuss informed choice, a process in which
clients make decisions based on adequate information, and informed consent,
in which clients give permission to undergo a procedure, take medication or
participate in a research study after receiving information about risks and
benefits.

Training Involves Many Factors

The effectiveness of staff training to improve family planning services
depends upon many factors: who is trained and where, how the information is
taught and whether the training is later reinforced. Interactive Techniques
Enhance Training offers suggestions to enhance training.

Guidelines Require Comprehensive Steps

In recent years, nearly 50 developing countries have begun developing new or
revised national guidelines on family planning services. Writing the
guidelines, however, is only a first step. Disseminating them and training
providers about why and how to use the guidelines are essential. Also,
guidelines must be updated regularly.

Read the full text of Network 19-1 on FHI's Web site at
English: http://www.fhi.org/en/fp/fppubs/network/v19-1/index.html
<http://www.fhi.org/en/fp/fppubs/network/v19-1/index.html>
French: http://www.fhi.org/fr/networkf/fv19-1/index.html
<http://www.fhi.org/fr/networkf/fv19-1/index.html>
Spanish: http://www.fhi.org/sp/networks/sv19-1/index.html
<http://www.fhi.org/sp/networks/sv19-1/index.html>

Many other FHI publications are also available in full-text versions in
English, Spanish and French on our Web site: http://www.fhi.org.
<http://www.fhi.org/>

FHI is committed to helping women and men have access to safe, effective,
acceptable and affordable family planning methods to ensure that they
achieve their desired number and spacing of children; preventing the spread
of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs); and improving
the health of women and children.