ArticleResearch square2025
Patient Counseling Strategies at Female Genital Fistula Repair: A Qualitative Study among Ugandan Fistula Care Providers.
Article in Research square, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Objective: Ensuring high-quality provider counseling is needed to protect the health and well-being of women affected by genital fistula. We sought to understand Ugandan providers counseling practices and strategies. Methods: We conducted in-depth interviews with 30 fistula providers to understand their counseling practices and recommendations regarding post-repair reproductive health and pregnancy. We analyzed the data thematically across counseling domains: sexual resumption, post-repair pregnancy timeline, and post-repair birth mode. Results: Providers universally advised delaying sexual intercourse for 3-6 months post-repair to ensure proper healing. While nearly all providers emphasized delaying pregnancy, recommended timelines varied (3 months to >2 years) and were often tailored to patient characteristics and fistula history. Adherence strategies included couples counseling and the provision of written guidance. Contraceptive counseling and provision varied by facility affiliation and fistula type/severity, with religiously affiliated facilities favoring natural family planning. Elective cesarean section for post-repair births was universally recommended and providers employed diverse strategies to overcome the absence of standard guidelines and strong care linkages. Systemic barriers, such as contraceptive stock-outs and fragmented follow-up care, undermined effective counseling. Cross-cutting strategies to improve post-repair outcomes included economic empowerment, male partner engagement, and peer counseling. Conclusion: Counseling importance and broad messaging was consistent across reproductive health topics; however, key details varied by provider, facility, and patient characteristics. Standardizing key guidance and identifying optimal patient adherence messaging could improve post-repair pregnancy outcomes among this higher-risk population.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.