Factors associated with the health and reproductive autonomy of Quilombola women in Brazil

To verify the association between reproductive autonomy and sociodemographic, sexual, and reproductive characteristics in Quilombola women (a term indicating the origin of politically organized concentrations of Afro-descendants who emancipated themselves from slavery). Cross-sectional and analytical study with 160 women from Quilombola communities in the southwest of Bahia, Brazil. Data were collected using the Reproductive Autonomy Scale and the questionnaire from the National Health Survey (adapted). Out of the 160 participating women, 91.9% declared themselves as black, one out of every three were aged ≤ 23 years, 53.8% were married or had a partner, 38.8% had studied for ≤ 4 years, over half (58.1%) were unemployed, only 32.4% had a monthly income > R$ 430 (80 US dollars), 52.5% had their first menstruation at the age of 12, 70.7% had not accessed family planning services in the last 12 months, and over half used some method to avoid pregnancy (59.0%). The women had a high level of reproductive autonomy, especially in the "Decision-making" and "Freedom from coercion" subscales with a score of 2.53 and 3.40, respectively. A significant association (p