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Less is More in Helping Women Understand What to Do When They Miss Contraceptive Pills |
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Unintended pregnancies resulting from women missing their oral contraceptive pills could be reduced if women better understood what to do when they forget to take their daily pill. USAID-funded research from Family Health International demonstrates that instructions explaining the steps to take when pills are missed are more readily comprehended when in graphic format, featuring simplified information. Conducted at 12 sites in Jamaica, the study involved over 800 current or past users of 21- and 28-day oral contraceptive pill packs, equally assigned to four groups of instructions that covered several scenarios. Most women in the study correctly specified what to do when one pill is missed but poorly identified steps to take when multiple pills are missed. This suggests that, as instructions become more complex, they also become less understandable. As a result of these findings, the World Health Organization's expert working group modified its Selected Practice Recommendations for Contraceptive Use (SPR), a version of which was used in the study. The modified SPR has been disseminated in the United Kingdom by the Faculty of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care Clinical Effectiveness Unit and by USAID through James Shelton's e-mail distribution list for Contraceptive Pearls. Providing women with simplified instructions for what to do when pills are missed, as well as counseling women on the need to follow these instructions, gives women who use oral contraceptives greater control in avoiding unintended pregnancies. Read more about this study. Source
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