The Reproductive Life Index

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) reproductive life plan is designed to reflect a woman's family plans in the context of personal values and life goals, but it does not incorporate visual and quantitative indicators. The objective of this study is to describe a simple quantitative and visual tool, the Reproductive Life Index, and its unit of measure, the Family Planning Quotient. METHODS: In response to the CDC's reproductive life plan, the Reproductive Life Index and Family Planning Quotient have been developed to visually depict and quantify a woman's reproductive life plan and assist health care providers in speaking to a woman's family planning needs and interests. RESULTS: The Reproductive Life Index longitudinally graphs measures of the Family Planning Quotient over time as well as adverse pregnancy outcomes. The Family Planning Quotient captures the number of children a woman has (the numerator) divided by the number of children she wants (the denominator) at one time point. A Family Planning Quotient of less than 1 indicates a woman desires more children and a Family Planning Quotient equal to or greater than 1 indicates a woman has achieved or exceeded her family plans. The Family Planning Quotient can also be used on a population level to capture the overall reproductive health status of a study sample. Five theoretical cases were developed to represent the utilization of the Reproductive Life Index Family Planning Quotient. The quotient was also sampled in 2,372 women from three different populations. CONCLUSION: The Reproductive Life Index/Family Planning Quotient is a novel tool to assist patients and health care providers in reproductive health planning. This tool may become a standard index to measure a woman's reproductive health goals. The Reproductive Life Index/Family Planning Quotient must be further implemented to demonstrate its effect on reproductive health planning.