Publications by authors named "Sarah Okumu"

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic strained the provision of sexual and reproductive health services, including family planning, which were categorized as non-essential services at the peak of COVID-19 infection control in Kenya. We set out to assess the effect of COVID-19 on fertility management practices among Kenyan women in two cities to inform mitigation measures in future similar disruptions.

Methods: This was a qualitative study to describe the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on women's fertility management practices from 61 in-depth interviews (IDIs) with women aged 15-45 years residing in Nairobi and Kisumu, Kenya, between February and May 2021.

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Background: Expanding contraceptive options could better meet users' diverse needs and preferences. Annovera is a contraceptive vaginal ring that provides a year of pregnancy prevention while remaining under user control and allowing for regular menstrual cycles. This method may also help to reduce burdens on some health care and supply chain systems.

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Implementing self-injection (SI) of subcutaneous depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA-SC) is a key self-care strategy for sexual and reproductive health, but SI uptake remains low, and assertions about the potential of SI to increase women's control over contraceptive use lack evidence. We sought to qualitatively explore how women with diverse contraceptive experiences-including those with and without experience using SI-view the benefits and challenges of SI as compared to other methods. We conducted 241 in-depth interviews with women across four sub-Saharan African countries and found alignment between the perceived and experienced benefits of SI across our diverse sample.

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Establishing and proving methodological rigor has long been a challenge for qualitative researchers where quantitative methods prevail, but much published literature on qualitative analysis assumes a relatively small number of researchers working in relative proximity. This is particularly true for research conducted with a grounded theory approach. Different versions of grounded theory are commonly used, but this methodology was originally developed for a single researcher collecting and analyzing data in isolation.

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