ACCEPTANCE & PERCEPTIONS OF NORPLANT: A PROPOSAL FOR A REPLICATIVE STUDY
Although research has established the NORPLANT method as one of the most effective approaches to contraception, the method has not been widely adopted by women (Cullins & Garcia, 1997). The need for a safe and effective approach, however, to contraception continues to be great (Wildemeersch, Van Kets, Vrijens, Delbarge, Van Trappen, Temmerman, Depypere, & Thiery, (1997). Better information is required in relation to why women select the NORPLANT method and why the method is rejected, if the use of this effective approach to contraception is to be increased.
Darney, Atkinson, Tanner, MacPherson, Hellerstein, and Alvarado (1990) conducted a study in the late-1980s to develop information in relation to why women select the NORPLANT method and why the method is rejected. While the information developed by this study was valuable at the time it was reported, there are three problems that emerge when an attempt is made to apply the information in the contemporary period. First, the information developed was based on data that is now 10-to-12 years old. The extent to which the study findings remain relevant in the late-1990s is not known. Second, much of the data collected for the study was through the use of non-directional interview questionnaires. While there are valuable uses for this approach to data collection, the non-directional approach does not assure that data relevant to some key issues involved in a problem will be collected. Within this context, the study findings reported by Darney, Atkinson, Tanner, MacPherson, Hellerstein, and Alvarado (1990) are silent on some issues that are deemed to be highly relevant in the contemporary period, such as the effect of NORPLANT on sexual pleasure and the costs associated with the use of the NORPLANT method (Dunson, Krueger, & Amatya, 1996; Davidson & Kalmuss, 1997). Thirdly, issues that appear to be impo...