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Reproductive health counseling at pregnancy testing: a pilot study
Richard Boise1, Ruth Petersen, Kathryn M Curtis
1Adolescent Medicine, The Permanente Medical Group, 3400 Delta Fair Boulevard, Antioch, CA, USA. Richard.Boise@kp.org
Objectives:
To pilot brief reproductive health counseling for women obtaining pregnancy testing in a managed-care setting who did not desire pregnancy.
Methods:
Women received counseling, access to contraception and a booster call at 2 weeks. Changes in contraceptive behavior were evaluated.
Results:
Of 85 women who completed counseling, 58 (68%) completed follow-up. Participants reported that counseling was useful at baseline (94%) and follow-up (83%). The staff found the intervention important (100%) and implementation feasible (100%). Forty-one percent of participants improved their use of contraception (from no use or from less effective use to more effective use). Twenty-nine percent continued highly effective use and 9% recessed from highly effective use. Of 22 participants with risk of sexually transmitted disease, 3 (14%) began using condoms consistently, while 1 (5%) continued using condoms consistently.
Conclusions:
Counseling at pregnancy testing was well accepted by the staff and participants. Observed behavioral changes suggest that this intervention may be effective in increasing effective use of contraception.