Intrauterine contraception in Saint Louis: a survey of obstetrician and gynecologists' knowledge and attitudes☆
Received 3 January 2009; received in revised form 5 August 2009; accepted 7 August 2009. published online 17 September 2009.
Abstract
Background
Many obstacles to intrauterine contraception (IUC) use exist, including provider and patient misinformation, high upfront cost and clinician practice patterns. The aim of our study was to investigate knowledge and attitudes about IUC among obstetricians and gynecologists in the area of Saint Louis.
Study Design
We mailed a self-administered, anonymous survey to 250 clinicians who provide obstetric and gynecologic care in Saint Louis City and County which included questions about demographics, training, family planning visits and intrauterine contraceptive knowledge and use.
Results
The overall survey response rate among eligible clinicians was 73.7%. Clinicians who had recently finished training or saw higher numbers of contraceptive patients per week were more likely to insert IUC than clinicians who completed training prior to 1989 or saw fewer contraceptive patients. Several misconceptions among clinicians were identified, including an association between intrauterine contraceptives and an elevated risk of pelvic inflammatory disease.
Conclusions
Physician misconceptions about the risks of IUC continue to occur. Improved clinician education is greatly needed to facilitate the use of these highly effective, long-acting, reversible methods of contraception.
☆ This research was supported by a grant from an anonymous foundation. Individual investigators (JP and JA) were supported, in part, by a Mid-Career Investigator Award in Women's Health Research (K24 HD01298) and by the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (UL1RR024992) and Grant Number KL2RR024994 from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and NIH Roadmap for Medical Research. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of NCRR or NIH. Information on NCRR is available at http://www.ncrr.nih.gov/. Information on Re-engineering the Clinical Research Enterprise can be obtained from http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/clinicalresearch/overview-translational.asp.
ABSTRACT