Foster Diana Greene, Landau Sharon Cohen, Monastersky Nicole, Chung Frances, Kim Nancy, Melton Mackenzie, McGhee Belle Taylor, Stewart Felicia
Bixby Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy, University of California, San Francisco, USA.
Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2006 Mar;38(1):46-52. doi: 10.1363/psrh.38.046.06.
California is one of eight states that allow a woman to obtain emergency contraceptives from a pharmacy without a physician prescription. Because many women do not know about emergency contraception or direct pharmacy access, it is important to understand barriers to getting the method and women's reasons for choosing the pharmacy option.
In a 2004 survey at 25 predominantly independent pharmacies across California that offered pharmacy access, 426 women completed questionnaires after obtaining emergency contraceptives. They were asked about their reasons for seeking the method, the time of unprotected intercourse, barriers to access, how they learned about pharmacy access and their reasons for choosing it. Chi-square tests and analysis of variance were used to assess differences between subgroups.
Eighty-six percent of women wanted emergency contraceptives for immediate use, and women obtained the method an average of 36 hours after unprotected intercourse. Those younger than 16, those who had had unprotected sex on the weekend and those who were embarrassed to ask for the method or who did not know about it all took a longer time to get the medication than did their respective comparison groups. Women who chose pharmacy access did so because they thought it was faster (54%) and more convenient (47%) than seeking a physician prescription. The majority reported that talking to a pharmacist was very helpful (84%) and that it was very important to be able to get the method directly from a pharmacy (81%).
Increasing women's knowledge about emergency contraception and its availability directly from pharmacies has the potential to improve the effectiveness of this contraceptive method by reducing the time interval between unprotected intercourse and initiation of treatment.
加利福尼亚州是允许女性无需医生处方就能从药房获取紧急避孕药的八个州之一。由于许多女性不了解紧急避孕或药房直接提供服务的情况，了解获取该方法的障碍以及女性选择药房途径的原因很重要。
2004年，在加利福尼亚州25家主要为独立经营且提供药房直接获取紧急避孕药服务的药房进行调查。426名女性在获取紧急避孕药后完成了问卷调查。她们被问及寻求该方法的原因、无保护性行为的时间、获取途径的障碍、她们如何得知药房直接提供服务以及选择该途径的原因。采用卡方检验和方差分析来评估亚组之间的差异。
86%的女性希望立即使用紧急避孕药，女性在无保护性行为后平均36小时获得该药物。16岁以下的女性、在周末发生无保护性行为的女性、因尴尬而不愿询问该药物或不知道该药物的女性，比各自的对照组获取药物的时间更长。选择药房直接获取服务的女性这样做是因为她们认为这比寻求医生处方更快（54%）、更方便（47%）。大多数人报告说与药剂师交谈非常有帮助（84%），并且能够直接从药房获取该药物非常重要（81%）。
增加女性对紧急避孕及其可直接从药房获取的了解，有可能通过缩短无保护性行为与开始治疗之间的时间间隔来提高这种避孕方法的有效性。
