1.1 Background Contraceptive use by women with learning disabilities differs from that of nondisabled women of a similar age. Women with learning disabilities start contraception earlier and often use it when they are not sexually active. Hence, there is a need to hear directly from these women about their experiences of contraceptive decision‐making. However, accessing women to discuss a sensitive topic such as contraception poses significant challenges to researchers. 1.2 Materials and Methods The study was qualitative in nature and involved conducting semi‐structured interviews with 19 women. This paper reports on the methodological challenges and findings from the project which have wider implications for research on sensitive topics with hard‐to‐reach groups. It reflects critically on the challenges of accessing women with learning disabilities to participate in research on contraception. 1.3 Results Twelve of the 19 participants in our project were recruited through two organisations. Working in partnership with organisations that had a keen interest in the research and endorsed it at senior level enabled us to overcome recruitment challenges. However, working in this way raised gatekeeping issues that impacted upon data collection and may have affected our substantive findings. 1.4 Conclusions Working in partnership with organisations can be an effective and practical way of recruiting participants that researchers may otherwise find hard to reach. However, organisational partnerships can be hard to develop and take time. We argue that it is important to reflect openly and honestly about the methodological and ethical issues that may arise when working closely with organisations in sensitive research.

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关于通过组织伙伴关系让有学习障碍的女性参与敏感主题研究的批判性思考

1.1 背景 有学习障碍的女性使用避孕药具的情况不同于同龄的非残疾女性。有学习障碍的女性更早开始避孕，并且经常在性生活不活跃时使用它。因此，有必要直接听取这些女性关于避孕决策的经验。然而，让女性讨论避孕等敏感话题对研究人员构成了重大挑战。1.2 材料和方法 该研究本质上是定性的，涉及对 19 名女性进行半结构化访谈。本文报告了该项目的方法论挑战和发现，这些挑战和发现对难以接触到的群体的敏感话题的研究具有更广泛的影响。它批判性地反映了让有学习障碍的妇女参与避孕研究的挑战。1.3 结果 我们项目的 19 名参与者中有 12 名是通过两个组织招募的。与对研究有浓厚兴趣并得到高层认可的组织合作，使我们能够克服招聘挑战。然而，以这种方式工作会产生影响数据收集的把关问题，并可能影响我们的实质性调查结果。1.4 结论 与组织合作是招募研究人员可能难以接触到的参与者的一种有效且实用的方式。然而，组织伙伴关系可能难以发展并且需要时间。