Do women want a once-a-month pill?
Rimmer, C.; Horga, M.; Cerar, V.; Alder, E.M.; Baird, D.T.; Glasier, A.
Human Reproduction 7(5): 608-611
1992
ISSN/ISBN: 0268-1161 PMID: 1639977 DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.humrep.a137705Document Number: 328693
In 1990-91, 400 women attending clinics at the Family Planning Centre Dean Terrace, Edinburgh, Scotland; 400 women attending a gynecology clinic in Tirgu-Mures, Romania; and 100 women attending a family planning clinic in Ljubljana, Slovenia, completed a questionnaire as part of a study to determine attitudes about taking a once-a-month contraceptive (OC) or using an OC to induce menstruation (missed-period OC). The highest abortion rate was in Ljubljana (55%)even though the rate in Romania was more than 2 times as high as the rate in Yugoslavia. Ljubljana had the most Roman Catholics (54%), but the lowest percentage espousing strong religious beliefs (2%). Women with weak religious beliefs were more positive about a once-a-month OC than those with strong religious beliefs in Scotland and Romania (p .005). This same relationship existed about the missed-period OC among only Scottish women. Most women in all 3 centers liked the idea of a once-a-month OC (71.8% in Edinburgh, 81.3% in Tirgu-Mures, and 94% in Ljubljana). Women in Edinburgh were less likely to accept a missed-period OC than women from the other centers (24.2% vs. 80% and 58%, respectively). The women from all 3 centers found ovulation inhibition to be the most acceptable mode of action (77.3-90.4% vs. 54.2-68% for prevention of implantation and 15.7-33.4% for implantation suppression). Overall, most women found any method which acts after implantation unacceptable. Scottish women who did not use an IUD or postcoital emergency contraception in the past tended to have a negative attitude about a once-a-month OC (p .01) and a missed-period OC (p .001). Women who had a induced abortion tended to have a positive attitude about a missed-period OC (p .01 in Edinburgh and p .05 in Ljubljana). Abortion history did not influence attitudes towards either OC in Romania. Childless women in Edinburgh were more likely to be positive about the once-a-month OC than women with children (p .05).