Kye-Choon Ahn** Ock-Kyung Kim* * *
INTRODUCTION
A Study on the Acceptability of
Male Fertility Regulating Methods
1n Korea·:t
1. BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
As part of the WHO Expanded Program is Human Reproduction, the Task Force on the Ac-ceptability of Fertility Regulating Methods was established in 1972. The objective of the Task Force
is to study those attributes of methods that affect acceptance in various sociocultural settings, in order to provide guidance to biomedical scientists engaged in the development of new and improved techniques of regulating fertility.
At one of the initial task force meetings (March, 1973), it was recommended that high priority research objective be to determine the potential need for new and improved fertility regulating meth-ods (FRMs) for men, and, if a demand exists, to provide biomedical scientists with cultural speci-fications for such methods. Information of this type obtained directly from potential users would help biomedical scientists evolve products consistent with the social and personal needs of people from various cultural settings.
In May 1974 the Task Force convened a meeting of scientists to specify the objectives 嶋and
design for the present cross-cultural research project. The six scientists at the meeting represented Latin America, Africa, Asia, the South Pacific, the Middle East and North America. They recommend-ed that the objectives of this proj~ct be to determine the attractiveness of attributes of existing and potential male methods and to assess the relative acceptability of male and female contraceptives. The study was implemented in Korea, Iran, Mexico, Fiji and India in January 1975.
With regard to the coordination of the study, all collaborating centers had contracts directly with WHO. Thus, the Task Force was responsible for the administrative monitoring of the projects progress. In addition, the Task Force facilitated communication betwee:µ sites (and as a result the comparability of final data) by convening four meetings of the principal investigators from each * The present paper is a country report of the comparative study supported by WHO Task Force on Acceptabili·
ty of Fertility Regulating Methods. WHO approved of the publication of the report in this form. ** Associate Professor, Dept. of Sociology, Yonsei University.
* * * Researcher, Center for Population and Family Planning, Yonsei University. 112
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