A prospective multicentre trial of the ovulation method of natural family planning. I. The teaching phase
Fertility and Sterility 36(2): 152-158
1981
ISSN/ISBN: 0015-0282 PMID: 7021189 Document Number: 335775
The percentage of 869 women in 5 countries capable of being taught to recognize the periovulatory cervical mucus symptom of the fertile period was determined in a prospective multicenter trial of the ovulation method of natural family planning. The women were ovulating, of proven fertility, represented a spectrum of cultures and socioeconomic levels, and ranged from illiteracy to having a postgraduate education. In the 1st of 3 standard teaching cycles, 93% recorded an interpretable ovulatory mucus pattern. Of the subjects, 88% successfully completed the teaching phase; 7% discontinued for reasons other than pregnancy, including 1.3% who failed to learn the method. Subjects (45; 5%) became pregnant during the average 3.1-cycle teaching phase. The average number of days of abstinence required by the rules of the method was 17 in the 3rd teaching cycle (58.2% of the average cycle length). To what extent the findings of this study can be extended to other couples remains to be demonstrated.