FRED H. BIXBY
FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
Mentor Research Interests

Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, Ph.D.

Shireen Jejeebhoy welcomes collaboration in conducting ongoing research, data management, and analysis, and performing secondary analyses of data already available from the projects described below.

Currently her main areas of research include:

• Situation and needs of young people. An ongoing subnational study of married and unmarried young women and men in six states of India includes a survey that covers youth transitions and life choices, with a focus on education, economic activity, program involvement, voting practices, marriage experiences, and sexual activity both within and before marriage; and in-depth interviews with parents. Other ongoing work includes an intervention addressing the health and social needs of newly married and first-time pregnant young women and first-time mothers; an exploration of the HIV and reproductive health vulnerabilities faced by married young women and men in two states characterized by low age at marriage and high and low levels, respectively, of HIV and the disconnect between risk behaviors and self-perceptions of risk; and pregnancy-related experiences and delays in recognizing problems and seeking care among adolescents. Additional work with unmarried youth includes interventions intended to explore the influence of life and livelihood skill building programs on adolescent girls’ ability to exercise informed choices in their transitions to adulthood; and pathways to abortion undertaken by pregnant adolescents experiencing unintended pregnancy. Other research areas include a focus on parent–child communication, the influence of sexuality education on young people’s subsequent behaviors, and a major focus on sex without consent experienced by married and unmarried young women and men.
• Understanding the context of and expanding access to abortion. In order to better understand the context of abortion, research is ongoing, in collaboration with a consortium on comprehensive abortion care, that aims to understand rural women’s perceptions and experiences of abortion in a more or less developed state, with the intention of implementing a program on comprehensive abortion care in these settings. Research is also ongoing that explores pathways to abortion experienced by unmarried young women. Efforts to provide evidence for expanding the abortion provider base also are ongoing, including research that explores the feasibility and acceptability of the provision of medical abortion (and soon manual vacuum aspiration as well) by nurses and other non-allopathic providers.
• Influencing programs. Evidence generated through both programs of work outlined above have influenced and continue to influence programming.

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