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KMID : 0378019750180060822
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New Medical Journal
1975 Volume.18 No. 6 p.822 ~ p.830
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A Comparative Study of Mothers´ Club Effectiveveness in Family Planning
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Abstract
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This study is intended to identify the determinants of effectiveness of small groups through the investigation of mothers´ clubs in Korean villages.
Mothers´ clubs are local groups of women organized as a means of promoting the diffusion of family
planning. The objectives of mothers´ clubs, as originally stated by PPFK in 1968, were:
1. To create a local, voluntary movement of mothers to encourage family planning practice. 2. To aid field workers in finding new acceptors.
3. To serve as a channel for family planning information and contraceptive supplies. 4. To encourage participation in community development activities.
5. To accelerate interpersonal communication and legitimation of family planning practice.
These objectives of mothers´ clubs have remained as most important to this day, although the tendency has been for the clubs not only to fill these family planning functions, but also to add on such topics as nutrition, child care, and other community development issues.
Starting in May, 1968, mothers´ clubs were organized by PPFK; by the end of 1974 there were about 28,250 such clubs, enrolling approximately 705,000 members. Most mothers´ clubs are organized at the level of the natural village.
From the review of the literature on small groups, three general hypotheses, with regard to mothers´ club effectiveness, were proposed for this study.
1. Effectiveness of small groups would be associated with group composition. 2. Leaders´ attributes would affect effectiveness of small groups.
3. The characteristics of groups themselves, such as size, structure, and activities would be related with their effectiveness.
The data were collected from 25 villages in each of 25 Gun´s which were drawn from the total of 138 Gun´s by systematic random sampling on the basis of the list of number of mothers´ clubs in each Gun.
A total of 1, 052 women with spouse aged up to 49 and 25 mothers´ club leaders were interviewed in 1973. However, 20 clubs enrolling 367 interviewed members were included in the analysis since we excluded non-members, members who are naturally sterile or beyond menopause, and clubs whose interviewed members were less than 16.
Mothers´ club effectiveness was defined from the family planning prOgrath point of view, And was measured by two indicators. One was the percentage of members having favorable attitudes toward at least one contraceptive method out of five: the loop, oral pill, vasectomy, condom, and rhythm method. The other was the percentage of gong-eem members, those who do not want any more children but do not practice family planning.
We examined the association between each of these effectiveness indicators and ten variables involving the characteristics of mothers´ clubs themselves, club members, and leaders.
The findings confirmed our hypotheses as generally valid. However, it seems risky to state the specific relationships between mothers´ club effectiveness and each of the variables considered found from this study because the sample size was limited and no in-depth analysis was applied. It suggests that further investigation of larger scale along this line is necessary, and that such studies will be able to provide valuable information in terms of both theoretical and practical utility.
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KEYWORD
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