Participation in self-help groups among women seeking contraceptives in Nairobi

Reproductive coercion (RC) is a prevalent form of gender-based violence
that interferes with female reproductive agency and is highly associated
with intimate partner violence (IPV). Women’s self-help groups are a
promising avenue to increase support and coping for violence, but little
research exists to describe how survivors participate in women’s self-help
groups nor how they may discuss RC within these groups. This study aims to
quantitatively assess the potential of women’s-only self-help groups as a
platform for reaching women in need of support for RC and IPV among a
sample of reproductive-aged women seeking contraceptive services from
private, community-based clinics in Nairobi, Kenya (n=659). To do this, we
(1) described women’s use of self-help groups and (2) examined
associations of women’s experience of RC and IPV with self-help group
participation and discussion of RC within self-help groups. We also
assessed differences in discussion of RC by group type (loans and savings
clubs, charitable/social work, religious group, sports/hobbies, others).
We found that more than half of women participated in self-help groups,
with most of these women participating in economic self-help groups (63%),
and that self-help group participation was not associated with prior
experience of RC or IPV. Women who had ever experienced RC were more
likely to report discussing RC within women’s self-help groups (AOR 1.82
95% CI 1.06-3.14), and RC discussion was less commonly reported in
economic groups compared to charitable/social work groups.
 Findings highlight that participation in and discussion of RC
within women’s-only self-help groups is common and acceptable to
survivors, and supports the need to integrate RC and IPV programming,
particularly within the common, sustainable, and scalable structure of
economic women’s self-help groups.