Family planning researchers have been studying the discontinuation of contraception—the prevalence and reasons for it—for decades, as it has implications for contraceptive prevalence, total fertility, and unintended fertility. However little is known about the reliability of contraceptive discontinuation reporting: only two studies have examined the reliability of reported discontinuation in low‐resource contexts. We use longitudinal and overlapping data from reproductive calendars to test the reliability of women's reporting of contraceptive discontinuation in Burkina Faso, Kenya, and Uganda. We test whether recent discontinuations reported at baseline are reported one year later, and if the same reason for discontinuation is reported. Results reveal moderate reliability at the aggregate level of reporting of the index discontinuation; however, reliability is low when the timing of discontinuation is considered. There is variability across the reliability of reasons for discontinuation; discontinuation due to desired pregnancy is reported reliably while other reasons are less reliably reported. Our findings have important implications for the field, particularly in how the data are used and interpreted; we urge caution around event‐level analyses of contraceptive discontinuation and reasons for discontinuation, given low reliability.

中文翻译：

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布基纳法索、肯尼亚和乌干达避孕药具停用报告的可靠性


几十年来，计划生育研究人员一直在研究停止避孕的现象及其流行程度及其原因，因为它对避孕普及率、总生育率和意外生育有影响。然而，人们对停用避孕药具报告的可靠性知之甚少：只有两项研究检验了资源匮乏情况下报告的停用避孕药具的可靠性。我们使用生育日历中的纵向和重叠数据来测试布基纳法索、肯尼亚和乌干达妇女报告停止避孕的可靠性。我们测试基线报告的最近停药是否在一年后报告，以及是否报告相同的停药原因。结果显示，指数终止报告的总体可靠性中等；然而，当考虑停药时间时，可靠性较低。停药原因的可靠性存在差异；由于期望怀孕而终止的情况得到可靠报告，而其他原因的报告则不太可靠。我们的发现对该领域具有重要意义，特别是在如何使用和解释数据方面；鉴于可靠性较低，我们敦促谨慎对待停用避孕药具和停用原因的事件级分析。