Doci Florida, Thaci Jonida, Foster Angel M
Faculty of Heath Sciences, University of Ottawa, 1 Stewart Street, 312-B, ON, Canada.
Independent consultant, Tirana, Albania.
Contraception. 2018 Apr 11. doi: 10.1016/j.contraception.2018.03.033.
Contraceptive prevalence is relatively low in Albania, and abortion is the mainstay of family planning. Although levonorgestrel-only emergency contraceptive pills are available, uptake of this method is minimal. Emergency contraception (EC) could play a significant role in addressing women's need for an effective and discreet pregnancy prevention method. However, information about the dynamics surrounding EC is limited.
In 2016-2017, we conducted a multimethods qualitative study that aimed to explore awareness, knowledge, attitudes and practices toward EC in Albania. This project comprised four components: a community-based survey with 115 respondents, six focus group discussions with women of reproductive age, 19 semistructured key informant interviews, and 16 structured interviews with retail pharmacists. We analyzed our data using descriptive statistics and for content and themes.
Our findings suggest that EC is widely available in pharmacies in Albania. However, a quarter of our survey participants did not know whether EC was available, and more than a third did not think EC was safe to use. Women face numerous barriers to accessing this form of contraception. Misconceptions about hormonal contraceptives, in general, and about progestin-only EC in particular, lack of training among providers, and stigma and fear of judgment were common obstacles identified by participants.
Misinformation and lack of knowledge about EC among women and providers in Albania appears common. Training health service providers, raising awareness among women, and developing linguistically and culturally resonant materials for distribution could be keys to improving access to and use of EC.
Although the availability of progestin-only EC is widespread in Albania, our findings suggest that more work needs to be done to align national regulatory policies with international standards, facilitate evidence-based service delivery, and increase access to medically accurate information in Albanian.
阿尔巴尼亚的避孕普及率相对较低，堕胎是计划生育的主要手段。尽管仅含左炔诺孕酮的紧急避孕药可供使用，但这种方法的使用率极低。紧急避孕在满足女性对一种有效且隐秘的避孕方法的需求方面可以发挥重要作用。然而，关于紧急避孕相关动态的信息有限。
在2016年至2017年期间，我们开展了一项多方法定性研究，旨在探究阿尔巴尼亚对紧急避孕的知晓度、知识、态度和实践情况。该项目包括四个部分：对115名受访者进行的社区调查、与育龄女性进行的六次焦点小组讨论、19次半结构化关键信息人访谈以及与零售药剂师进行的16次结构化访谈。我们使用描述性统计以及内容和主题分析方法对数据进行了分析。
我们的研究结果表明，紧急避孕在阿尔巴尼亚的药店中广泛可得。然而，四分之一的调查参与者不知道是否有紧急避孕药，超过三分之一的人认为紧急避孕药不安全。女性在获取这种避孕方式时面临诸多障碍。参与者指出，对激素避孕尤其是仅含孕激素的紧急避孕存在误解、提供者缺乏培训以及耻辱感和对评判的恐惧是常见的障碍。
在阿尔巴尼亚，女性和提供者中关于紧急避孕的错误信息和知识匮乏似乎很常见。培训卫生服务提供者、提高女性的知晓度以及开发语言和文化上合适的宣传材料可能是改善紧急避孕的获取和使用情况的关键。
尽管仅含孕激素的紧急避孕药在阿尔巴尼亚广泛可得，但我们的研究结果表明，仍需开展更多工作，使国家监管政策与国际标准接轨，促进循证服务的提供，并增加阿尔巴尼亚语医学准确信息的获取。
