Funding for this research was provided by:
Wellcome Trust (074986/Z/04/Z)
Article History
Received: 3 September 2020
Accepted: 4 March 2021
First Online: 1 June 2021
Declarations
:
: Ethics approval for this study was obtained from the IRB at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and by University of Damascus, Syria.Verbal consent was obtained from women with the presence of a research assistant. We opted for a verbal consent because many women were illiterate and the majority (including those who read and write) felt more comfortable with giving a verbal consent. Women gave their consent for both; their participation in the study as well as allowing us to audio-record the interview. The study was explained to women by the lead author, who explained that she was an independent researcher, while emphasizing that their participation is voluntary and will not affect the care they are receiving. Participants were also informed that they may withdraw at any time without giving a reason. They were reassured that their participation would remain anonymous and that their names would not be mentioned in any research output or published materials. Participants were reminded that the interview will be audio -recorded right before starting the interview and the author gave them the option to indicate if they would prefer the interview not to be recorded, in which case we would take hand written notes during the interview.
: Consent was obtained from all the participants to publish information obtained from them but without the personal identifiers. These were also witnessed accordingly.
: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.