Factors Associated with Choice of Sterilization Among Women Veterans

Background: We sought to compare associations of contraceptive preferences, beliefs, self-efficacy, and knowledge with use of sterilization versus other methods of contraception. Materials and Methods: This is a secondary analysis of a telephone-based survey of a nationally representative sample of women Veterans not desiring future pregnancy. Contraceptive method used at last sex was categorized as female sterilization, long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), short-acting methods, or nonprescription methods/no method. Multinomial regression models were performed to compare the association between independent variables (contraceptive preferences, beliefs, self-efficacy, and knowledge) and use of sterilization versus other contraceptive methods. Results: Six hundred twelve women Veterans aged 18-44 years who were sexually active with men, had no history of hysterectomy or infertility, did not desire future pregnancy, and were not using male sterilization as their method of contraception were surveyed. A total of 208 women Veterans reported using female sterilization (34.0%). While method effectiveness was rated as extremely important by the majority of participants, there was no association between perceiving method effectiveness as extremely important and method selected in adjusted multinomial models. Women Veterans were more likely to use sterilization compared to hormonal methods of contraception if they reported that lack of hormones was an extremely important contraceptive method characteristic (aRRR 3.69, 95% CI 1.94-7.03). Women Veterans who strongly agreed with the belief that birth control decisions are mainly a woman's responsibility were less likely to use sterilization compared to LARC (aRRR 0.54, 95% CI 0.29-0.98). Conclusion: Associations between contraceptive preferences, beliefs, self-efficacy, and knowledge and use of sterilization in a population of women Veterans not desiring future pregnancy are complex, and decisions may not solely be driven by desire to select a highly effective method.