Objective: To assess knowledge of oral contraceptive (OC) use in young, low-income, gravid, African-American patients following contraceptive counseling. Methods: African-American women less than 25 years of age who had chosen to use OC after delivery were eligible for this study. All patients received their care at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and were enrolled after 34 weeks of pregnancy. Patients received standardized counseling and completed a series of questions regarding importance, confidence and knowledge of OC. Results: Questionnaires were administered to and completed by 37 women. All patients were unmarried; 75% were unemployed; 30% of women had three or more pregnancies. Participants were highly motivated to use OC for contraceptive reasons, but were less interested in non-contraceptive health benefits. Almost all women, 96.8%, agreed that it was important to plan their next pregnancy and to avoid unplanned pregnancies (97.4%). Only 50% said that the health benefits of oral contraceptives were important. Patients felt confident about their ability to take OC; but displayed a lack of understanding of more complex instructions. Ninety-two percent were confident that they could take a pill daily and 89% said that they could take a pill at the same time each day. Seventy-eight percent of patients were confident that they knew what to do if they missed one pill, but only 37% actually knew what to do if they missed one pill. Conclusion: These pregnant women were highly motivated and demonstrated confidence in their ability to use OC. Nevertheless, they demonstrated less practical knowledge about how to use OC.
Learning Objectives: following this presentation listeners will be able to: 1. recognize limitations in oral contraceptive counseling. 2. identify risk factors associated with poor understanding of contraceptive counseling. 3. understand discrepancies between attitudes and knowledge of counseling
Keywords: Contraception, Prenatal Care
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.