EFFECTS OF A FAMILY PLANNING PROGRAM ON FERTILITY OF A MARGINAL WORKING-CLASS COMMUNITY IN SANTIAGO

This paper describes the results during the period March, 1965-March, 1966 of a research project whose object was to study the possible effect of a family planning program on fertility, abortion, infant mortality, mortality, and on several social and psychological variables in a suburban blue-collar community in Santiago, Chile. The methodology that was designed to study these changes through the pregnancy history method is described, and variations in the fertility rate by age group (ASFR), the general fertility rate (GFR), and the total fertility rate (TFR) during the period 1964-66, the year in which the probable effects of the program were expected, are reported. In order to analyze this variation in terms of program effect, the sample was classified as patients, other protected women (OPW), and non-protected women (NPW). Among other results, it is shown that in 1966 the fertility of the population fell by 27.4 percent with respect to the estimated fecundity for that year for patientsand OPW's: it is demonstrated that the family program alone would be responsible for a drop of 24.5 percent in the fertility of the population. This leads into a discussion of the relation of the observed magnitude of change to the low percentage of women aged 15-44 years who were protected, and the conclusion is reached that this change was possible because high-efficiency contraceptives were used and because the protected women were those with the highest fertility of the population. Finally, the article investigates the validity of data obtained through the pregnancy history method; analyses the magnitude of the observed diminuation in fertility in 1964, before the onset of the family planning program; and outlines the participation of patients, OPW's, and NPW's. In conclusion, without the program, patients would experience a decline in fertility in the same proportion as that of the OPW's (instead of maintaining the fertility of the years before the program). In this way, the program would still be responsible for a decline of 19.4 percent. It is necessary to follow up this research in order to determine the constancy and magnitude of the effect of the program in the second and third years. © 1968 Population Association of America.