Interesting Facts found from Journal Articles..

After reading multiple journal articles concerning contraception, I've come up with quite a few interesting facts...

• An accurate understanding of pregnancy risk results in the highest rate of effectiveness (Steiner, 2006).
• The most common reason that women discontinue birth control use is because of adverse side effects (Brunner Huber, 2006).
• After discontinuing one form of contraception, it is common for women to either cease contraceptive use all together, or switch to a less effective method of birth control. This change results in higher pregnancy rates. (Brunner Huber, 2006).
• Students involved in a study concerning their knowledge and expectations for long-term contraceptives were shown to have “faulty understanding” of the effectiveness of different contraceptives (Shaklee, 2006).
• Some forms of birth control are more expensive, but last for a longer period of time than other, cheaper options. The three least expensive options for birth control were an intrauterine device, vasectomy, and intrauterine system, in that order (Trussell, 2009).
• The U.S.’s “Healthy People 2010” initiative specifies that injectable and oral contraceptives remain the most effective reversible methods (Kost et. Al, 2008).

References

Brunner Huber, L. R., Hogue, C. J., Stein, A. D., Drews, C., Zieman, M., et al. (2006). Contraceptive use and discontinuation: Findings from the contraceptive history, initiation, and choice study. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 194(5), 1290-1295.

Kost, K., Singh, S., Vaughan, B., Trussell, J., & Bankole, A. (2008). Estimates of contraceptive failure from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. Contraception, 77(1), 10-21.

Shaklee, H. & Fischhoff, B. (2006). The Psychology of Contraceptive Surprises: Cumulative Risk and Contraceptive Effectiveness. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 20(5), 385-403.

Steiner, M. J., Trussell, J., Mehta, N., Condon, S., Subramaniam, S., et al. (2006). Communicating contraceptive effectiveness: A randomized controlled trial to inform a World Health Organization family planning handbook. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 195(1), 85-96.

Trussell, J., Lalla, A. M., Doan, Q. V., Reyes, E., Pinto, L., et al. (2009). Cost effectiveness of contraceptives in the United States. Contraception, 79(1), 5-14.