title: Meeting Contraceptive Needs: Long-Term Associations of the PRACHAR Project with Married Women's Awareness and Behavior in Bihar.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although interventions such as the PRACHAR project in Bihar, India, have been associated with increased contraceptive knowledge and use in the short term, less is known about whether such gains are sustained years later.
  
  
  METHODS
  Survey data, collected in 2013 from 2,846 married women aged 15-34, were used to compare contraceptive awareness and use between those who lived in areas where the PRACHAR project had been implemented in 2002-2009 and those who lived in matched comparison areas. Multivariate analyses assessed whether, after adjustment for covariates, outcomes differed between women in comparison and intervention areas, as well as between women directly exposed to the program and those who lived in intervention areas but had been only indirectly exposed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with women in comparison areas, those in intervention areas were more likely to have method-specific knowledge of oral contraceptives, IUDs, condoms and the Standard Days Method (odds ratios, 1.4-1.7); to know that oral contraceptives and condoms are appropriate for delaying first pregnancy (2.3 for each) and IUDs and injectables are appropriate for spacing births (1.4 for each); to have ever used contraceptives (2.1) or be using a modern method (1.5); and to have initiated contraception within three months of their first birth (1.8). Levels of awareness and use were elevated not only among women directly exposed to the intervention but also, for many measures, among indirectly exposed women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The association of multipronged reproductive health programs like PRACHAR with contraceptive awareness and practices may last for years beyond the project's conclusion.
authors.affiliation: Senior Associate, Population Council, New Delhi, sjejeebhoy@popcouncil.org.
authors.forename: Shireen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Jejeebhoy
authors.forename: Ravi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Prakash
authors.forename: Rajib
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Acharya
authors.forename: Santosh K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Elkan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Daniel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017280:Condoms; D003267:Contraception / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003270:Contraceptive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008393:Marriage; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012424:Rural Population; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D003270:Contraceptive Agents