title: Negotiating Collective and Individual Agency: A Qualitative Study of Young Women's Reproductive Health in Rural India.
abstract: The societal changes in India and the available variety of reproductive health services call for evidence to inform health systems how to satisfy young women's reproductive health needs. Inspired by Foucault's power idiom and Bandura's agency framework, we explore young women's opportunities to practice reproductive agency in the context of collective social expectations. We carried out in-depth interviews with 19 young women in rural Rajasthan. Our findings highlight how changes in notions of agency across generations enable young women's reproductive intentions and desires, and call for effective means of reproductive control. However, the taboo around sex without the intention to reproduce made contraceptive use unfeasible. Instead, abortions were the preferred method for reproductive control. In conclusion, safe abortion is key, along with the need to address the taboo around sex to enable use of "modern" contraception. This approach could prevent unintended pregnancies and expand young women's agency.
authors.affiliation: 1 Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Mandira
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.affiliation: 1 Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Birgitta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Essén
authors.affiliation: 2 University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Salla
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sariola
authors.affiliation: 3 Action Research & Training for Health, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Sharad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Iyengar
authors.affiliation: 3 Action Research & Training for Health, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Sunita
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Soni
authors.affiliation: 4 Karolinska Institutet/Karolinska University Hospital, WHO collaborating Centre, Stockholm, Sweden.|5 Dalarna University, Falun, Sweden.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Klingberg Allvin
mesh_terms: D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000523:psychology*; D000293:Adolescent; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D017008:Negotiating / Q000523:psychology*; D060728:Reproductive Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D012424:Rural Population; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D016387:Women's Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: abortion; agency; contraception; qualitative in-depth interviews; reproductive decision making; reproductive health policy; rural India