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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Irit Sinai, PhD, Marcos D Arevalo, MD, MPH, and Victoria H. Jennings, PhD. Institute for Reproductive Health, Georgetown University School of Medicine, 4301 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20008, 202-687-1392, sinaii@georgetown.edu
Fertility awareness-based methods of family planning are unforgiving. Breaking the rules means having unprotected intercourse precisely when the woman is most likely to conceive. While not all intercourse in the fertile days results in pregnancy, the probability of conception is much greater. We examine the practices of couples using the Standard Days Method, a fertility-awareness based method of family planning. The method specifies days 8-19 of the menstrual cycle as the days when women should avoid unprotected intercourse to prevent pregnancy. Results from a recent effectiveness study show that the method is very effective when used correctly. 478 women contributed 4035 cycles to the study. 7.7% of the 311 cycles where women broke the rules ended in pregnancy, compared to 0.5% of 3724 cycles where couples used the method correctly. Women in the study knew that the probability of pregnancy was much higher if they have unprotected intercourse during days 8-19, yet some chose to do so. We use logistic regression to compare the characteristics of women who had no unprotected intercourse during days the method identifies as fertile in all of their cycles in the study, to women who had unprotected intercourse on those days at least once, in at least one cycle. Results indicate that economic characteristics and previous family planning use may be significant. We also examine the reasons women gave for having intercourse during their fertile days. Implications of the results to method provision and counseling will be addressed
Learning Objectives: Fertility awareness-based methods of family planning require that couples avoid unprotected intercourse during the days the methods identify as fertile. At the conclusion of this presentation, participants will
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.