Department of Community and Behavioral Health, Center for Health Communication and Social Marketing, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
Psychol Health Med. 2012;17(3):356-65. doi: 10.1080/13548506.2011.608432. Epub 2011 Sep 7.
Unintended pregnancy among women in the 18-30 age group is a public health concern. The Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) provides a framework for exploring how women's perceptions of threat, efficacy, and fear influence intentions to use contraceptives. Past use and communication with best friends and partners were also considered. A telephone survey of 18-30-year-old women (N = 599) was completed. After univariate and bivariate analyses were conducted, the variables were entered into a hierarchal, multi-variate linear regression with three steps consistent with the EPPM to predict behavioral intention. The first step included the demographic variables of relationship status and income. The constructs for the EPPM were entered into step 2. Step 3 contained the fear measure. The model for the third step was significant, F(10,471) = 36.40, p < 0.001 and the variance explained by this complete model was 0.42. Results suggest that perceived severity of the consequences of an unintended pregnancy (p < 0.01), communication with friends (p < 0.01) and last sexual partner (p < 0.05), relationship status (p < 0.01), and past use (p < 0.001) were associated with women's intentions to use contraceptives. A woman's perception of the severity was related to her intention to use contraceptives. Half of the women (50.3%) reported ambivalence about the severity of an unintended pregnancy. In our study, talking with their last sexual partner had a positive effect on intentions to use contraceptives, while talking with friends influenced intentions in a negative direction. These results reconfirm the need for public health practitioners and health care providers to consider level of ambivalence toward unintended pregnancy, communication with partner, and relationship status when trying to improve women's contraceptive behaviors. Implications for effective communication interventions are discussed.
18-30 岁年龄段女性的意外怀孕是一个公共卫生问题。扩展平行进程模型（EPPM）为探索女性对威胁、效能和恐惧的感知如何影响使用避孕措施的意图提供了一个框架。过去的使用情况以及与最好的朋友和伴侣的沟通也被考虑在内。对 18-30 岁的女性（N=599）进行了电话调查。在进行单变量和双变量分析后，将这些变量按照与 EPPM 一致的三个步骤输入到一个层次、多元线性回归中，以预测行为意图。第一步包括关系状况和收入等人口统计学变量。EPPM 的结构被输入到第二步。第三步包含恐惧度量。第三步模型的显著性为 F（10,471）=36.40，p<0.001，该完整模型解释的方差为 0.42。结果表明，对意外怀孕后果的感知严重程度（p<0.01）、与朋友的沟通（p<0.01）和最近的性伴侣（p<0.05）、关系状况（p<0.01）以及过去的使用情况（p<0.001）与女性使用避孕措施的意图有关。女性对严重程度的感知与她使用避孕措施的意图有关。有一半的女性（50.3%）对意外怀孕的严重程度表示犹豫不决。在我们的研究中，与最近的性伴侣交谈对使用避孕措施的意图有积极影响，而与朋友交谈则对意图产生负面影响。这些结果再次证实，公共卫生从业人员和医疗保健提供者在试图改善女性避孕行为时，需要考虑对意外怀孕的态度、与伴侣的沟通以及关系状况。讨论了对有效沟通干预措施的影响。
