Contraception and men attending a genitourinary medicine clinic

To identify men's knowledge and attitude to contraception and to determine whether there are differences in those men who have previous experience of termination of pregnancy (TOP) compared to those without experience.

Cross-sectional survey by written questionnaire of male attenders at a genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinic.

In total 999 men, aged 15 to 70 years, completed questionnaires, 97.2% of those eligible. Over 96% of men wishing to avoid pregnancy with regular sexual partners were using contraception. However, with casual sexual partners 36% of men would not ensure that they were covered for contraception. The majority, 68.8%, of men did not have enough knowledge to access appropriate emergency contraception. Experience of a TOP was reported by 16.5% of men. Compared to men who did not have termination experience there were no differences in contraceptive use or their knowledge of emergency contraception.

Use of contraception with regular sexual partners was good, but this was not the case with casual sexual partners or with respect to knowledge of emergency contraception. No significant differences were found in contraceptive use or attitudes between men with or without experience of TOP, but this may be influenced by several factors including the cross-sectional nature of the study. Improved targeting of men at the time of their partner's termination and the development of a National Sexual Health Strategy which takes into account men's needs may address this.