Using a Chord Diagram to Visualize Dynamics in Contraceptive Use: Bringing Data into Practice.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Demography
• Data Visualization

Background:

• Understanding contraceptive switching and discontinuation is crucial for effective family planning programs.
• Existing methods for analyzing contraceptive histories can be complex and less intuitive.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a novel visualization approach for contraceptive histories.
• To elucidate patterns of contraceptive switching and discontinuation using Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data.

Main Methods:

• Applied a novel approach using R and the 'chorddiag' package to create interactive chord diagrams.
• Utilized the 2014 Kenya DHS contraceptive calendar data to visualize contraceptive use trajectories.
• Assessed user-friendliness and utility with family planning researchers and advocates.

Main Results:

• Interactive chord diagrams effectively visualize contraceptive switching and discontinuation patterns.
• Users found the chord diagrams easy to understand and manipulate for investigating contraceptive churn.
• The visualization method provides insights into women's contraceptive trajectories.

Conclusions:

• Chord diagrams offer a visually appealing and powerful tool for analyzing contraceptive use.
• This method enhances the ability of researchers and program managers to understand contraceptive discontinuation.
• Publicly available DHS data can be leveraged for deeper insights into contraceptive behavior.