Department of Behavioral, Social and Health Education Sciences, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
Department of Behavioral, Social and Health Education Sciences, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
Womens Health Issues. 2021 Sep-Oct;31(5):485-493. doi: 10.1016/j.whi.2021.03.003. Epub 2021 Apr 20.
In the context of a shifting health care landscape, better understanding of the factors that motivate women to seek services from specialized family planning clinics like Planned Parenthood (PP) can provide insights about potential changes in the role of specialized family planning clinics.
We surveyed 725 women seeking services at two PP health centers in Louisiana and Kentucky from March 2016 to May 2017. We examined differences in care-seeking between women who had varying levels of access including those who did and did not have insurance instability or a regular source of care (RSOC) besides the clinic.
More than 60% of women attending the health centers did not have a regular source of care and nearly 40% experienced instability in insurance. Women who experienced insurance instability and a lack of a regular source of care more frequently sought primary preventive services such as pap tests and well-woman care at PP than women with better access. For women with better access, PP health centers also served important roles for those seeking contraceptive and sexually transmitted infection-related services. The most frequent reasons for choosing PP were that it was faster to get an appointment, wanting to go to the PP clinic more than other clinics, and the confidentiality of services.
Our analysis suggests that PP health centers in Southern states still provide vital services for women with and without other sources of care and are critical for women needing access to timely services for preventive and sexually transmitted infection-related care.
在医疗保健领域不断变化的背景下，深入了解促使女性选择专门的计划生育诊所（如计划生育协会）的因素，可以为专门的计划生育诊所角色的潜在变化提供一些见解。
我们于 2016 年 3 月至 2017 年 5 月在路易斯安那州和肯塔基州的两家计划生育协会健康中心对 725 名寻求服务的女性进行了调查。我们考察了在不同获取途径（包括保险不稳定和无常规医疗服务来源的女性，以及除了诊所之外还有这些来源的女性）下，女性寻求服务的差异。
超过 60%的就诊女性没有常规医疗服务来源，近 40%的女性经历过保险不稳定。与保险稳定且有常规医疗服务来源的女性相比，经历保险不稳定和缺乏常规医疗服务来源的女性更频繁地在计划生育协会寻求初级预防服务，如巴氏涂片检查和常规妇女保健服务。对于那些获得更好医疗服务的女性来说，计划生育协会健康中心也为那些寻求避孕和性传播感染相关服务的女性提供了重要的服务。选择计划生育协会的最常见原因是预约更快、比起其他诊所更愿意去计划生育协会诊所就诊、以及服务的保密性。
我们的分析表明，南方各州的计划生育协会健康中心仍然为有和没有其他医疗服务来源的女性提供重要的服务，并且对于那些需要及时获得预防和性传播感染相关护理服务的女性来说至关重要。
