Mourtada Rima, Melnikas Andrea J
, Beirut, Lebanon.
Population Council, One Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York, NY, 10017, USA.
Confl Health. 2022 Jun 15;16(1):35. doi: 10.1186/s13031-022-00468-8.
Starting in October 2019, Lebanon experienced overlapping crises that caused a significant deterioration of the living conditions for Syrian refugees and the host community. Previous studies have shown that difficult living conditions and refugee status alone do not impact the fertility preferences of Syrian refugees. This study seeks to explore the effect of the overlapping crises on the fertility preferences and behaviour of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
In this qualitative study, we carried out focus group discussions (FGDs) with married female Syrian refugees recruited purposively from two cities in West Bekaa (Bar Elias and Saad Nayel) and from inside and outside the Informal Tented Settlements (ITS). Transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis.
The overlapping crises (political, economic, and Covid-19) in Lebanon influence Syrian refugee women's reported desire for fewer children. Two themes emerged that explained the change in Syrian refugees' fertility preferences towards limiting their number of children or delaying having children, and potentially a change in their fertility practices: the sudden deterioration in their living conditions triggered by the effect of inflation on their daily needs, and decreased support and changes in the job market that led to more women working to support their families. Consequently, refugees expressed a preference towards limiting their number of children due to concern about the consequences of the crisis on their children's physical and mental well-being. This was combined with decreased pressure on women from men and in-laws to have (additional) children and concern over the effect of Covid-19 on pregnant women.
The sudden deterioration in living conditions due to the overlapping crises may have influenced Syrian refugees' preferences towards limiting their number of children or delaying having children until the situation improves. The potential shift in power dynamics in households caused by more women working outside the home also may have increased women's autonomy in making decisions regarding family size and use of modern contraception. These findings have implications for developing programs that focus on female livelihoods and engagement in work outside the home to influence family size and other reproductive health outcomes and gender equity indicators.
自2019年10月起，黎巴嫩经历了多重危机，导致叙利亚难民和当地社区的生活条件显著恶化。此前的研究表明，仅艰难的生活条件和难民身份并不会影响叙利亚难民的生育偏好。本研究旨在探讨多重危机对黎巴嫩叙利亚难民生育偏好和行为的影响。
在这项定性研究中，我们与从贝卡西部的两个城市（巴尔埃利亚斯和萨阿德奈耶勒）以及非正式帐篷定居点内外有目的地招募的已婚叙利亚难民女性进行了焦点小组讨论。使用主题分析法对访谈记录进行了分析。
黎巴嫩的多重危机（政治、经济和新冠疫情）影响了叙利亚难民女性报告的少育意愿。出现了两个主题，解释了叙利亚难民生育偏好向限制子女数量或推迟生育的转变，以及可能的生育行为变化：通货膨胀对其日常需求的影响引发了生活条件的突然恶化，就业市场的支持减少和变化导致更多女性工作以维持家庭生计。因此，由于担心危机对子女身心健康的影响，难民表示倾向于限制子女数量。这与男性和姻亲对女性生育（更多）子女的压力减少以及对新冠疫情对孕妇影响的担忧相结合。
多重危机导致的生活条件突然恶化可能影响了叙利亚难民限制子女数量或推迟生育直到情况改善的偏好。更多女性外出工作导致家庭权力动态的潜在转变，也可能增强了女性在家庭规模决策和使用现代避孕方法方面的自主权。这些发现对于制定侧重于女性生计和外出工作参与度以影响家庭规模及其他生殖健康结果和性别平等指标的项目具有启示意义。
