California Latinas for Reproductive Justice. “Making the Case for Latinas Reproductive Health & Justice Policy.” Volume III, 2009. http://www.californialatinas.org/our-work/research/clrj-led-research/.
Annotation
This report is based on a qualitative research project by California Latinas for Reproductive Justice (CLRJ). It provides the viewpoints of key stakeholders including policy advocates, community leaders and researchers concerning the accessibility and usefulness of existing research about California Latinas’ reproductive and sexual health. In addition to interviews, CLRJ analyzed 28 online data sources from government agencies, university-based and non-profit research organizations. The key areas analyzed are reproductive and sexual health services, policies and programs and the appropriate reproductive and sexual health education, and comprehensive reproductive health services that would continue to educate and preserve minors’ legal rights to confidential services. The report highlights several key findings: that research data is not reflective of the communities represented, existing research lacks cultural competency, and in many cases the research and data is highly academic and inaccessible for advocates and community members. A few proposals mentioned by CLRJ are increasing community-based participatory research and ensuring that it reaches community members and advocates. The organization also recommends making research and statistical information come to life by incorporating personal stories.
This report is informative and helpful for reproductive and sexual health advocates. It may also be helpful for community members interested in learning more about qualitative research and how to gather stakeholders’ input from various professional perspectives. The report includes a list of interested stakeholders, a questionnaire, resources and educational websites for reference.