Sampling and empirical data collection

Purposive sampling was used to select key stakeholders for IDIs in both rounds of data collection. Stakeholders were selected if they were involved or had an interest in the intervention, which included implementing partners, government officials, HCWs and community members, including women (both FP users and non-FP users). Sampling ensured a wide range of stakeholders and opinions were sought. HCWs and VHTs that were selected were all directly involved in the delivery of integrated FP and immunisation counselling or service provision. Health facilities were identified based on their performance according to monitoring data and to the implementing partners and included those where the intervention was performing more or less well. Different stakeholders were selected in each round of data collection. Stakeholders were independently selected for each round of data collection and therefore differed across the two rounds.

Interview guides were developed for IDIs. These included a range of themes such as: workload, sociocultural norms and healthcare access. Implementing partners were involved in the development of the interview guides for the first round of data collection. The findings from the first round of data collection informed the development of interview guides for the second round. In addition to questions that addressed key thematic areas described above, the interview guides in the second round of data collection included a presentation of CMOs developed from round 1. At the end of the IDI, each stakeholder was presented with CMOs that were relevant to them and were asked to confirm whether they believed the statement was true at the time of round 1 data collection and, whether it was true now, why or why not in each case.³¹ This was followed by a discussion of each component of the CMO and their linkages. This was done to confirm previous CMOs and to gain a deeper understanding of each component of the CMO. It also allowed for an understanding of if and how participants perceived that these components linked together and whether they had changed between the two rounds of data collection.

Data were collected in English and Karamojong. All interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and translated into English when necessary. Interviews were conducted by a researcher from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and field-based research assistants, with oversight from a local study coordinator.