Women's preferences for a new contraceptive under development: an exploratory study.

OBJECTIVE

Currently available contraceptive methods do not meet the needs of all users. We sought to explore preferences of potential end-users regarding an on-demand, non-hormonal female contraceptive currently under development, using a web-based survey.

STUDY DESIGN

We recruited respondents for an exploratory survey via web link on Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Individuals were eligible if they were 18-44 years of age, identified as cis-gender female, were English-speaking, not pregnant, and had used barrier contraception previously. Respondents provided demographic characteristics and a basic reproductive history. We then provided a brief description of the potential contraceptive. Respondents were asked about their interest in the proposed contraceptive and preferences for method attributes.

RESULTS

A total of 500 respondents completed the survey. Three-quarters of respondents were <35 years of age and 48.2% were currently using a barrier contraceptive method. Three-fourths of respondents (73.8%) expressed interest in using the contraceptive under development. The majority wanted the method to be small (≤2 inches), rod-shaped, and low cost (<$5 per use). More than half (59.4%) said it was important to be able to use the method without partners' knowledge. The most reported potential concerns were vaginal irritation (51.6%) and lack of effectiveness (46.4%). Sixty percent of respondents were confident they could use the method correctly.

DISCUSSION

Available contraceptive methods lack attributes preferred by some users. Development of new contraceptives frequently does not involve end-user input early in the development process. Individuals in this sample displayed interest in the proposed contraceptive and expressed preferences that can inform the further development of this method.