Women's knowledge of commonly used contraceptive methods.

INTRODUCTION

Despite the availability of reliable contraceptive methods in this country, half of all pregnancies are unintended. There is a scarcity of research in a primary care population that measures women's knowledge about commonly used contraceptive methods.

METHODS

All women between 18 and 40 in the waiting room at 2 different family practice clinics were approached over a 2-week period. Women were asked to complete a short written questionnaire that included demographics, reproductive information, and 9 true/false questions about common contraceptive methods.

RESULTS

Two hundred fifty-two surveys were completed. Half of all women believed that condoms are 99% effective and only 57% knew that condoms were not as effective as oral contraceptive pills. Close to half of all the women received their contraceptive information from the clinic. Only 42% of the women knew that oral contraceptive pills can reduce the incidence of some types of cancer. There was not correlation between number of questions answered correctly and number of children, type of contraceptive used, age, or race/ethnicity. Twenty-six percent of the respondents were not using any contraception.

DISCUSSION

Overall, the women surveyed demonstrated fairly good knowledge of contraception methods. More women surveyed were aware that oral contraceptive pills can reduce the rate of uterine and ovarian cancer than in previous similar studies. Also, women in this survey were more likely to use intrauterine devices than the general population.

CONCLUSION

Health care professionals should develop more effective education about contraceptive methods.