Abstract
BackgroundNowadays, nearly half of the world population lives in societies with low fertility or the below-replacement fertility. This potentially grounds the critical situation of reduction in the workforce and causes the aging of population due to an overall increase in life expectancy and standard of living. Hence, population and its transitions including the issue of fertility decline has become a topic of intense debate in the agenda-setting and policy-making processes in both the developed and developing countries. In this view, what can practically be done to respond to the fertility decline that entails effectively addressing the determinants of fertility change? In line with the literature, how people form their marriages or patterns of marriage is amongst influencing factors which potentially affect their reproductive practices as diverse societies recognize different conventions for marriage. This study is to examine women’s reproductive practices by the various patterns of marriage using the explanatory sequential mixed methods design.Methods/designThis study has an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, the follow-up explanations variant model, with two strands. This design will be implemented in two distinct phases. In the first phase, a cross-sectional quantitative study will be done using a cluster sampling strategy on 850 married women 15–49 years old living in Babol city, Iran. In order to obtain a deeper understanding of the results of the quantitative phase, researchers will implement a qualitative research in the second phase of this study. This design will provide an explanation of the quantitative research results using the qualitative evidence.DiscussionAs patterns of marriage have implications for the status of women, their health and fertility, the result of this study can provide a rich source of information for the required health-related interventions and policies are required to put the demographic changes on the right track at micro and macro level and improve the reproductive practices of women at micro level.
Highlights
Introduction to Concepts and IssuesCengage Learning. 2010. 2
As patterns of marriage have implications for the status of women, their health and fertility, the result of this study can provide a rich source of information for the required health-related interventions and policies are required to put the demographic changes on the right track at micro and macro level and improve the reproductive practices of women at micro level
Implications for the policy and the public. This mixed methods (MMs) study is to explain the main reproductive practices of Iranian women living in Babol city, Iran using the determinants of fertility with a focus on the patterns of marriage
Summary
This MMs study is to explain the main reproductive practices of Iranian women living in Babol city, Iran using the determinants of fertility with a focus on the patterns of marriage. As reproductive practices are central to the sexual and reproductive health of women, studying the determinants of these practices including patterns of marriage helps the policymakers and health promoters in creating appreciate agendas and policies to promote health of women and children, subsequently, the health of their families in Iran and those of other women who may have similar beliefs, habitudes and practices that need to be dealt with effectively Collecting both quantitative and qualitative data and integrating all objective and subjective findings enables a better understanding of the research objectives. Further study in this area, in the developing countries like Iran is required The findings of this MMs study may help public health educators, demographers, women’s health activist and policy makers to better understand the critical role of patterns of marriage in reproductive practices.
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