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The University of Southampton
Southampton Statistical Sciences Research InstitutePostgraduate study

Ms Megan Ledger 

Postgraduate Research Student

Ms Megan Ledger's photo

Ms Megan Ledger is Postgraduate Research Student within Social Sciences: Social Statistics & Demography at the University of Southampton.

I am a postgraduate researcher in the Division of Social Statistics and Demography in the School of Social Sciences.

I undertook my BSc in Population Sciences, also at the University of Southampton, in 2005 and graduated in 2008.

I then proceeded to do an MSc in Management Sciences within the School of Management at the University of Southampton from 2008-2010. During this time I took a year out, six months for medical reasons and 6 months where I gained experience in social media analysis.

Despite exploring statistics in a management and business context I felt my heart belonged to demography and I started my PhD in 2010. My general area of interest is maternal health but my PhD will focus on cultural barriers to contraceptive use.

Research interests

Contextual influences on contraceptive use: Family planning in Senegal; spotlight on Saint-Louis

This research explores the links between unmet need and contraceptive use, identifying and conceptualising sociocultural barriers to contraceptive use.

A systematic review of family planning interventions directed towards specific local contexts had been undertaken and the main outcomes will be discussed. All the papers discussed interventions which experienced success, either by increasing or maintaining contraceptive use levels. There is strong evidence that collaborating with respected members of the community can help to break down social and religious norms towards family planning. Demand crystallising elements were highlighted as being important in addressing contextual barriers to contraceptive use.

An analysis of the Senegal DHS 2011 and 2005 is currently being undertaken. Descriptive analysis will be used to describe the population of Senegal as a whole. The DHS data will be complemented by census data. Then bivariate analysis will be carried out using all women who are married or in a union, to understand the disparities and similarities between contraceptive users and those with unmet need. This will be followed by a multilevel logistic regression.

The final element of this research is a qualitative study to be carried out this summer in Saint-Louis a region in Northern Senegal where multiple interventions have been put in place to try and increase the level of contraceptive use in this area.

Supervisors
Zoe Matthews and Ying Cheong (Medicine)

PhD studentship
ESRC and MRC

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Conferences and events

UAPS 2011: 6th African Population Conference, Ouagadougou - Burkina Faso, 5-9th December

http://uaps2011.princeton.edu/sessionViewer.aspx?SessionId=305

Ms Megan Ledger
Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute University of Southampton Highfield Southampton SO17 1BJ UK
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