Description

FPKNOCHARM indicates whether the woman knew about using charms or amulets as a method for family planning. The complementary variable FPEVUSCHARM indicates whether the woman had ever used this method to delay or avoid a pregnancy.

Some samples differentiate between spontaneous and probed affirmative responses; see Comparability.

Comparability

Apart from slight differences in how this contraceptive method was labelled, FPKNOCHARM is largely comparable across samples.

In most samples, the woman is first asked to list known methods of contraception in an open-ended question, and then is probed with descriptions of the methods not spontaneously mentioned. The other samples use only yes/no questions describing each contraceptive method. Because not all samples distinguish between spontaneous and probed affirmative responses, IPUMS-DHS uses composite coding, with all affirmative responses sharing a first digit of "1," and with the second digit distinguishing between "yes, spontaneously" (code "11") and "yes, probed" (code "12").

In addition, some samples did not specifically ask about charms/amulets, but respondents could volunteer this method when asked about "any other methods."

Comparability - Standard DHS

Starting in Phase 4, the response set reduced to two response categories ("yes" and "no"), eliminating the distinction between spontaneous and probed affirmative responses. In Phase 6, only the probing question is provided in the survey form, and the open-ended question is dropped.

Although questions on whether the woman knew of a given contraceptive method are included in the standard DHS questionnaire for Phase 1 forward, FPKNOCHARM is a country-specific response category that is not included in any of the standard DHS modules.

Universe