151. Characteristics of women who sought emergency contraception at a university-based women's health clinic
- Author
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Alan R. Katz, Sue Myhre, John S. Grove, Jay E. Maddock, and Jared W. Parrish
- Subjects
Adult ,Pediatrics ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Adolescent ,Universities ,Student Health Services ,medicine.medical_treatment ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Population ,Fertility ,Hawaii ,Health Services Accessibility ,Young Adult ,symbols.namesake ,Pregnancy ,medicine ,Humans ,Emergency contraception ,education ,Fisher's exact test ,media_common ,education.field_of_study ,Unsafe Sex ,business.industry ,Public health ,Pregnancy, Unplanned ,Obstetrics and Gynecology ,Patient Acceptance of Health Care ,Family planning ,Family medicine ,symbols ,Marital status ,Female ,Contraception, Postcoital ,business ,Developed country - Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify unique characteristics for seeking emergency contraception (EC) among sexually active unmarried women who attended a university-based women's health clinic (WHC).Three hundred nine consecutive women who attended the women's health clinic for 3 months of the 2006 spring semester completed an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. Fisher exact and Student t tests were used to assess bivariate associations, and step-wise regression was used to determine independent associations.Women who requested EC were more likely to have previously used EC (P.001), to have had unprotected sex in the past 6 months (P.001), to have experienced an unintended pregnancy in the past year (P = .009), and to perceive the need for EC use in the next 3 months (P.001) but were less likely to use hormonal contraception or an intrauterine device (P.001).Our findings support the need for increased education that would include the use of and access to effective primary contraceptive methods in conjunction with EC awareness.
- Published
- 2009
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