Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #115853

Leonie C. Hunter, PhD¹, Judie Gillies, MRPharmS¹, and Marion Bennie, MRPharmS MSc². (1) Public Health and Health Policy, NHS Lothian, Deaconess House, 148 Pleasance, Edinburgh, EH8 9RS, United Kingdom, 00 44 (0)131 536 9062, Leonie.Hunter@lhb.scot.nhs.uk, (2) Information Services, NHS National Services Scotland, Gyle Square, 1 South Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh, EH12 9EB, United Kingdom

EC72 is a program supplying free emergency contraception (EC) through community pharmacy to 14-25 year olds in deprived communities in Lothian, Scotland. EC72 has three expected outcomes: Increase in access to EC for women in the most deprived areas or where there was a lack of alternative sources of EC; provide EC for up to 3000 women aged 14-25 in year one; and increase awareness of sexually transmitted infection in at risk populations.

At 12 months EC72 was evaluated to establish the progress of the program in achieving the expected outcomes and to inform future development of the program. The program was evaluated by multi-method analysis of client profile forms, client user questionnaires, and pharmacist questionnaires. Other EC service providers provided feedback on the impact of EC72.

In the first 12 months of the program 1311 women, 42% aged 14-19 years, accessed the service through 25 community pharmacies; 34% were resident in the most deprived areas. The majority of women accessed the service in the local community (73%) and were satisfied with the service they received (97%). Other EC service providers viewed EC72 as a valuable local alternative for young people. Analysis of EC supply through other services showed no decrease during the time of the project suggesting that EC72 did increase access to EC. The evaluation also identified several issues for future consideration with respect to expansion, targeting, advertising, and client privacy.

Learning Objectives:

• The participant in this session will be able to describe the methods used to evaluate the EC72 program and the evaluation outcomes.

Keywords: Contraception, Pharmacies

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.