Contraception matters: indicators of poor usage of contraception in sexually active women attending family planning clinics in Victoria, Australia

BMC Public Health

Christopher Fairley²  Kathleen McNamee³  William CW Wong¹  Meredith Temple-Smith⁴  Jason Ong⁵ 

[1] Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong;Melbourne Sexual Health Centre. School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia;Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Family Planning Victoria. Monash Medical Centre, Clayton, VIC, Australia;General Practice and Primary Health Care Academic Centre, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia;Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

关键词: Unplanned pregnancy;    Unintended pregnancy;    Women’s health;    Family Planning;    Contraception;   

Others  :  1162700
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-12-1108

 received in 2012-09-18, accepted in 2012-12-19,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Background

Unintended pregnancy (mistimed or unwanted) remains an important health issue for women. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of and factors associated with risk of unintended pregnancy in a sample of Victorian women attending family planning clinics.

Methods

This cross-sectional survey of three Family Planning Victoria Clinics from April to July 2011 recruited women aged 16-50 years with a male sexual partner in the last 3 months, and not intending to conceive. The questionnaire asked about contraceptive behaviours and important factors that influence contraception use (identified from a systematic literature review). Univariate analysis was calculated for the variables of interest for associations with contraceptive use. An overall multivariate model for being at risk for unintended pregnancy (due to inconsistent or ineffective contraceptive use or non-use) was calculated through backward elimination with statistical significance set at <0.05.

Results

1006 surveys were analyzed with 96% of women reporting contraception use in the last 3 months. 37% of women were at risk for unintended pregnancy due to imperfect use (61% inconsistent users; 31% ineffective methods) or never using contraception (8%). On multivariate analysis, women at risk for unintended pregnancy compared with women not at risk were <25 years old (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.2-2.7); had no university/postgraduate degree (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.2-2.4); and had >1 partner in the last 3 months (OR 3.2, 95% CI 2.3-4.6). These women were dissatisfied with current contraception (OR 2.5, 95% 1.8-3.5); felt “vulnerable” to pregnancy (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.6-3.0); were not confident in contraceptive knowledge (OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.5-4.8); were unable to stop to use contraception when aroused (OR 2.1, 95% CI 1.5-2.9) but were comfortable in speaking to a doctor about contraception (OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.1-4.1).

Conclusion

Despite reported high contraceptive usage, nearly 40% of women were at risk for unintended pregnancy primarily due to inconsistent contraceptive use and use of ineffective contraception. Strategies for improving consistency of effective contraception use or greater emphasis on long-acting contraception may be needed for certain subpopulations at higher risk for unintended pregnancy.

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Ong et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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