Why don't teenagers use contraception? A qualitative interview study

Abstract

Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. To investigate the causes of unintended pregnancies and in particular, reasons for non-use of contraception among young women attending a day unit for surgical abortion. Methods:Women between the ages of 16 and 20 attending a day unit at a hospital in the north of England who were due to have, or had recently had, a surgical abortion were interviewed about their knowledge of and views on contraception, sex education, and sexual health services. Twenty-four young women were interviewed, 22 on the day unit, one in her home and one over the phone, after the abortion. Interviews were recorded with the consent of the interviewees and fully transcribed. Transcripts were analysed using a grounded theory approach. Results:The most common reasons for non-use of contraception related to forgetting or "not thinking", being "in the moment" (i.e.,being "in the mood", not wishing to "break a spell"), the influence of alcohol, and pressure from young men not to use condoms. Lack of knowledge was rarely cited as a reason. Conclusions:Young people are aware of the need to use contraception, and knowledgeable about its availability; however, they often do not think about using it, especially where sex is unplanned. Alcohol and being "in the moment" are key factors which diminish the likelihood of contraceptive use.

Perception of Adolescents on the Attitudes of Providers on Their Access and Use of Reproductive Health Services in Delta State, Nigeria

“…That most respondents were dissatisfied with the services is an indication of the challenges which may restrict access and use of such services occasioned by the length of time they spent in the locations where they received services which might be connected to attitudes of the providers. This finding agrees with those of Brown and Guthrie [6] and Coyne-Beasley et al [33] who in their separate studies observed that lack of use of adolescents' reproductive health services was connected with their dissatisfactions with the services provided by the medical personnel as the extract from the male Focus Group Discussion in one of the schools show:…”

“…An aspect of provider attitude is the waiting time and duration of services in most health Centers which keep patients for hours without being attended to. This has led to many patients especially adolescents from coming to such health facilities and using the services in them [6] [19]. Hock-Long et al [19] in their study identified confidentiality of consent for care and service environment as two types of structural factors which affect access to sexual and reproductive health services.…”

“…Providers' attitudes often reflect the tremendous difficulty that societies and cultures have in accepting the sexuality of adolescents and in viewing sexuality as a natural and positive part of the full development of every person. Such hostile attitudes may result in young people's giving up-not on having sexual intercourse-but on using contraception [6] [14]. An aspect of provider attitude is the waiting time and duration of services in most health Centers which keep patients for hours without being attended to.…”

“…One of the major issues in adolescents' lack of access and use of reproductive health services is providers' attitude. Different aspects of providers attitude affect adolescents' uptake and usage of reproductive health services such as: how much the clients are kept waiting when they visit providers, the satisfaction with providers services; how much time they spend in rendering services to their clients, the level of confidentiality the providers observe when working with clients, how effective a physician is in his work, the assessment whether their clients are judge by them, and whether adolescents treatment required parental notification [3] [4] [5] [6]. Hence, it is the goal of the …”

Sociodemographic, sexual, reproductive and relationship characteristics of adolescents having an abortion in Portugal: a homogeneous or a heterogeneous group?

“…Condoms were the most frequently used type of contraception, and they are dependent on user compliance and have a higher rate of contraceptive failure (Lim, Wong, Yong, & Singh, 2012). In this sense, the use of effective contraceptive methods (Silva et al, 2011), such as longacting reversible contraception, which are not dependent on user compliance (Brown & Guthrie, 2010;Kost, Singh, Vaughan, Trussell, & Bankole, 2008) has been suggested as a safe and highly effective option to prevent unplanned pregnancy, including among adolescents (WHO, 2004a).…”