Background: In Kenya, 17% of women have unmet need for family planning (FP) and the modern contraceptive prevalence rate (mCPR) has plateaued around 45%, contributing to poor reproductive health outcomes. This includes the nearly 50% of women in Kenya who report their last pregnancy as unintended, with those experiencing gender-based violence (GBV), particularly in the forms of intimate partner violence (IPV) and reproductive coercion (RC; behaviors that reduce women's ability to use contraception or otherwise prevent pregnancy), at significantly greater risk. Similar to other LMIC settings, both RC and IPV are highly prevalent in Kenya, particularly among women seeking FP and other reproductive health services (>1/3 of female FP clients). Since 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) has strongly recommended that IPV and RC be addressed within reproductive health services and, in 2018, the Lancet Commission on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights found that RC and IPV were a significant contributor to unmet need for FP and unintended pregnancy, with greatest impacts among women and girls in LMICs. Within Kenya, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has made reduction of unintended pregnancy and gender-based violence (GBV), especially among adolescents, a primary objective. Despite this need and guidance, no clinic-based intervention models outside of the U.S. (apart from one, ARCHES) have demonstrated efficacy to improve FP uptake/use and reduce IPV or RC thereby reducing unintended pregnancy.
Intervention Description: ARCHES (Addressing Reproductive Coercion in Health Settings) is a brief, clinic-based intervention delivered by family planning providers aiming to: 1) Increase women's and girls' ability to use family planning in the face of reproductive coercion, facilitating women's voluntary family planning uptake and continued use without interference, 2) Provide a safe and supportive environment for IPV disclosure and subsequent referral to support services, and 3) Educate and support providers to improve quality of care related to family planning counseling, including addressing reproductive coercion and intimate partner violence.
Objective: The objective of this study is to generate evidence and learnings on scaling integrated family planning services (including family planning, reproductive coercion, and intimate partner violence) in public sector health facilities in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya via adaptation and implementation of ARCHES, in partnership with the Kenya MOH.
Methodology: A cluster randomized controlled trial paired with concurrent implementation science assessments will test effectiveness of the ARCHES model that has been adapted for scale by the Kenya MOH. Female family planning clients aged 15-49 years at selected sites will complete baseline surveys (immediately prior to receiving care), immediately post-visit exit surveys, and 6-month follow-up surveys. Family planning providers trained in ARCHES will complete pre-training, post-training, and 3-month follow-up surveys to assess changes in gender-equitable attitudes and self-efficacy to address issues of violence among their clients. Costs associated with the scale-up strategy will be tracked and utilized in combination with results of the effectiveness trial to assess total cost and cost-effectiveness of ARCHES.
