Evaluating women’s experiences with a referral system for safe and legal abortion care on the Thailand-Burma border

Methods

Summary

Over a 1-year period, we plan to conduct 30 in-depth, open-ended interviews with participants. These interviews will take place in-person in/around Chiang Mai, Thailand, with the assistance of an interpreter fluent in Burmese, Karen, and English. Participants will provide consent to participate and to audio-record the conversation.

We will begin the interview by gathering general information about the participant, including her age, relationship/family status, current and past living situation, and daily life. Next we will learn about her reproductive, contraceptive, and pregnancy history, including any prior experiences with abortion. From there we will ask about the unintended or unwanted pregnancy for which she sought safe abortion care through the safe referral program. We will explore the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy (relationship status, reason for seeking abortion care), her experience accessing the program (costs involved, logistics), and her thoughts about the abortion care she received (relationship with providers, timeliness of care). The interview will conclude with a discussion of her overall feelings towards the safe referral program (positives/negatives, avenues for improvement, etc), and more generally ways to enhance safe and legal abortion services and reproductive health care on the Thailand-Burma border.

 Participants will be given a small incentive, and will be reimbursed for their transportation to and from the interview. Ultimately, interviews will be transcribed verbatim and translated into English. We will analyze interview material for content and themes, and use this data to inform initiatives to improve and scale up the safe referral program.