The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #70474

Paul G Whittaker, DPhil¹, Kay Armstrong, MS², Toni L. Felice, PhD³, Patricia I. Documét, MD, DrPH³, and Janet Adams, PhD³. (1) Family Planning Council, 260 S. Broad St., Suite 1000, Philadelphia, PA 19102, 215-985-6769, paulw@familyplanning.org, (2) Consultant, 645 Harper Ave, Drexel Hill, PA 19026, (3) Applied Research Department, Family Health Council, Inc., 960 Penn Avenue, Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Providing emergency contraception (EC) in advance in publicly funded family planning clinics offers an opportunity for women to prevent unintended pregnancies. After the FDA approved certain oral contraceptives for EC in 1997, a Title X grantee passed a policy that its 25 agencies must provide prophylactic EC to all patients unless medically contraindicated. Personal interviews were conducted five years later with 493 patients from four clinics. While rates of discussing and offering EC differed significantly (p=0.009) among the four clinics, overall the majority (60%) of patients reported that clinic staff talked to them about EC and of those, 64% recalled being offered EC. Almost all (93%) of those offered EC in advance accepted them. Patients were significantly (p<0.05) more likely to report staff offering them EC if they were under 30 years old, had a main partner or were not using Depo-Provera. However, survey results indicating recent unprotected sex and having negative feelings about becoming pregnant were not factors in recalling being offered EC. Corroboration of patient recall will be done with clinic records and qualitative information will be collected from clinicians to identify barriers to EC provision. To improve implementation of EC prophylactic policies in order to prevent unintended pregnancy, recommendations related to clinic characteristics, educational counseling training for clinic staff, and individualized patient needs will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

Learning objectives: At the conclusion of this presentation, the participant in this session will be able to:
• Identify patient factors associated with EC provision 2.Assess and discuss barriers and future strategies to improve EC provision

Keywords: Contraception, Patient Perspective

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
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.