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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Toni Felice, PhD¹, Janet Adams, PhD², Kay Armstrong, MA², and Paul G. Whittaker, PhD³. (1) Applied Research, Adagio Health, 960 Penn Avenue, Suite 600, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, 412.288.2130, tfelice@adagiohealth.org, (2) Consultant, 1106 Gilchrest Dr, Pittsburgh, PA 15235, (3) Research Department, Family Planning Council, 260 S. Broad St., Suite 1000, Philadelphia, PA 19102

EC is underused by most women, including those who do not wish to become pregnant but routinely engage in unprotected sex. Partner dynamics and a woman's and her main partner's knowledge, beliefs, and feelings about birth control methods in general and EC in particular may influence her decision to use or not use EC. We explore this issue with data from a longitudinal EC study in which 1079 women were enrolled in nine family planning clinics in southeastern and western Pennsylvania. Participants completed an enrollment interview and were asked to complete a monthly automated telephone survey about their sexual practices over 18 months. A subset of these women completed three in-depth interviews: at enrollment, nine months, and 18 months after enrollment. Of the 310 women who participated in the third in-depth interview, 73 reported having taken EC at some point in the past. Preliminary data analyses indicate that EC users were significantly more likely to have recently changed main partners compared to non-users (x2 = 3.75, p < .05). EC users were also more likely than non-users to strongly agree that EC is a better way to reduce unintended pregnancies than abortion (x2 = 18.24, p < .001). Main partner's attitudes appear to also be associated with EC use. Partners of women who have used EC in the past were significantly more likely to strongly agree that EC should be easy to get for any woman who wants it (x2 = 4.95, p < .03).

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, a participant will be able to

• Identify factors other than knowledge and availability that influence EC use.
• Recognize the influence of additudes towards contraception on EC use.
• Understand how relationship dynamics influence EC use.

Keywords: Contraception, Reproductive Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered