Fear of becoming pregnant among female healthcare students in Spain

Abstract

The inconsistent use of hormonal contraceptive methods can result, during the first year of use, in one in twelve women still having an undesired pregnancy. This may lead to women experiencing fear of becoming pregnant (FBP). We have only found one study examining the proportion of FBP among women who used hormonal contraceptives. To gather further scientific evidence we undertook an observational, cross-sectional study involving 472 women at a Spanish university in 2005–2009. The inclusion criteria were having had vaginal intercourse with a man in the previous three months and usual use for contraception of a male condom or hormonal contraceptives, or no method of contraception. The outcome was FBP. The secondary variables were contraceptive method used (oral contraceptives; condom; none), desire to increase the frequency of sexual relations, frequency of sexual intercourse with the partner, the sexual partner not always able to ejaculate, desire to increase the partner’s time before orgasm, age and being in a stable relationship. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to determine the associated factors. Of the 472 women, 171 experienced FBP (36.2%). Factors significantly associated (p < 0.05) with this FBP were method of contraception (condom and none), desire to increase the partner’s ability to delay orgasm and higher frequency of sexual intercourse with the partner. There was a high proportion of FBP, depending on the use of efficient contraceptive methods. A possible solution to this problem may reside in educational programmes. Qualitative studies would be useful to design these programmes.

Sexual behaviour and risk of sexually transmitted infections in young female healthcare students in Spain

“…In addition, all the participants had to have had vaginal intercourse with a man during the three months prior to completing the questionnaire and not have a stable partner; i.e., have had at least one sexual encounter with someone she did not identify as a stable partner and this partner was open to sexual activities with others. This information was assessed by specific questions, shown in the Appendix of a previous paper ( Navarro-Cremades et al, 2015 ).…”

“…The information was collected with an original questionnaire (See Appendix in Navarro-Cremades et al, 2015 ). Prior to distributing the questionnaire, a verbal introduction was given explaining the voluntary and anonymous nature of the survey, as well as the confidentiality of all the data.…”

“…The questionnaire used in this study collected information about various female sexological aspects ( Van-der Hofstadt et al, 2007–2008 ; Navarro-Cremades et al, 2013 ; Navarro-Cremades et al, 2015 ). This study only used those items considered most relevant by the research team.…”

Peer Review #1 of "Sexual behaviour and risk of sexually transmitted infections in young female healthcare students in Spain (v0.1)"

“…The results of this pilot study showed the good psychometric characteristics of the questionnaire (analysis of items and internal consistency, indexes of discrimination and factorial analysis) (Van-der Hofstadt et al, 2007Hofstadt et al, -2008Navarro-Cremades et al, 2013). The questionnaire used in this study collected information about various female sexological aspects (Van-der Hofstadt et al, 2007Hofstadt et al, -2008Navarro-Cremades et al, 2013;Navarro-Cremades et al, 2015). This study only used those items considered most relevant by the research team.…”

“…To assess this, questions were asked about contraception methods used ( Manuscript to be reviewed frequency of sexual activities (yes and no), desire to have more variety in sexual activities (hour of the day, position, etc.) (yes and no), frequency of sexual intercourse with the partner (6 5-7 times/week; 5 3-4 times/week; 4 1-2 times/week; 3 2-3 times/month; 2 once/month), and age (in years) (Navarro-Cremades et al, 2015).…”