Family Planning Clinics (family + planning_clinic)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Parent-Child Relations Among Minor Females Attending U.S. Family Planning Clinics

PERSPECTIVES ON SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH, Issue 4 2005
Rachel K. Jones
CONTEXT: Relatively little is known about parent-child relations among minor females who use family planning clinics. Such information could inform the debate on parental involvement legislation and help clinics develop effective strategies to promote positive parental engagement. METHODS: Self-administered surveys were completed in 2003,2004 by 1,526 women younger than 18 attending 79 U.S. family planning clinics, providing measures of parent-child relations, perceived parental attitudes toward sex and birth control, and parental knowledge of the clinic visit. Associations between relationships with parents and parental knowledge of clinic visits were examined using t tests and logistic regression. RESULTS: Many adolescents had talked to parents about sexual issues (50,80%, depending on the topic) and reported high levels of connectedness with parents (68%). A substantial minority (19%) perceived that parents disapprove of their both having sex and using birth control. The majority (60%) reported that a parent knew of their clinic visit; such reports were most common among those who had high levels of connectedness to parents and communication with parents about sexual issues, and those who did not perceive parents to disapprove of sex and birth control. Adolescents aged 15 and younger were more likely than 17-year-olds to indicate that a parent knew they were at the clinic and to report that a parent suggested the clinic. CONCLUSIONS Overall, minors attending family planning clinics have good relations with parents. The youngest adolescents may be at family planning clinics specifically because parents are involved in their reproductive health decisions. [source]


Prevalence of human papillomavirus genotypes in women from three clinical settings

JOURNAL OF MEDICAL VIROLOGY, Issue 1 2005
Anil K. Chaturvedi
Abstract Prevalence of 27 human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes was assessed in 1,331 women in three clinical settings: Family planning clinic (low-risk HIV,, n,=,202, 21.3% HPV+), colposcopy clinic (high-risk HIV,, n,=,854, 34.3% HPV+), and HIV outpatient clinic (HIV+, n,=,275, 48.7% HPV+). Compared to women from both family planning and colposcopy clinics, HIV+ women revealed significantly higher prevalence of infection with oncogenic, non-oncogenic, and multiple HPV types. HPV types 52 and 51 were most prevalent in the low-risk HIV, women, whereas in the high-risk HIV, women, HPV types 16, 52, 58, and 35 were most prevalent. Interestingly, in the HIV+ women, less characterized types 83, 53, and 54 were most prevalent. The distinct profiles of genotype prevalence persisted after stratification by Pap smear status. After adjustment for concurrent infections with other types, HPV type 51 in the low-risk HIV, women, and types 16, 35, 39, 45, 52, and 58 in the high-risk HIV, women were significantly associated with cytologic abnormalities (exact P,<,0.05). In HIV+ women across CD4 cell count strata, HPV types 42, 16, and 82 revealed significant decreasing trends with increasing CD4 counts (exact P for trend,<,0.05). These data suggest distinct genotypic prevalence profiles in women at diverse risk for cervical cancer. The association of several genotypes with cytologic abnormalities underscores the need for vaccines targeting a wide range of HPV types. J. Med. Virol. 75:105,113, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Confidential Reproductive Health Services for Minors: The Potential Impact of Mandated Parental Involvement for Contraception

PERSPECTIVES ON SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH, Issue 5 2004
Rachel K. Jones
CONTEXT: Recent legislative efforts to implement mandated parental involvement for minor adolescents seeking family planning services threaten the rights of adolescents younger than 18 to access reproductive health care. METHODS: State and federal laws and policies pertaining to minor adolescents' rights to access services for contraception and sexually transmitted diseases are reviewed, and research examining issues of parental involvement among adolescents using clinic-based reproductive health services is synthesized. RESULTS: Attempts to mandate parental involvement for reproductive health care often focus on contraceptive services and are typically linked to federal or state funding. Studies of teenagers using clinic-based family planning services suggest that slightly more than one-half would obtain contraceptives at family planning clinics even if parental notification were required. Mandated parental involvement for contraception would discourage few teenagers from having sex, but would likely result in more teenagers' using the least effective methods, such as withdrawal, or no method at all. Family planning clinics encourage teenagers to voluntarily talk to their parents, but relatively little information is available about the extent to which activities to promote parent-child communication have been adopted. CONCLUSIONS: Mandated parental involvement for teenagers seeking contraceptive care would likely contribute to increases in rates of teenage pregnancy. Research that will help clinics implement and improve efforts to encourage voluntary parental involvement is urgently needed. [source]


Misoprostol and declining abortion-related morbidity in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: a temporal association

BJOG : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS & GYNAECOLOGY, Issue 9 2005
Suellen Miller
Objective To validate anecdotal reports that abortion-related complications decreased in the Dominican Republic after the introduction of misoprostol into the country. Design Retrospective records reviews and cross-sectional surveys, interviews and focus groups. Setting Family planning clinics, pharmacies, door-to-door canvassing and a tertiary care maternity hospital in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Population Women of reproductive age in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Methods Qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Individual interviews and focus groups of reproductive health professionals, non-governmental organisation leaders and women's group leaders (n= 50) were conducted to discover the role of misoprostol in the Dominican Republic. Local women (n= 157) were surveyed to determine their knowledge of misoprostol as an abortifacient and mystery client visits were made to 80 pharmacies in order to purchase misoprostol without a prescription. Sales data were obtained that documented when misoprostol was introduced to the Dominican Republic pharmacies. Hospital admissions for abortions from the prior eight years were reviewed and hospital emergency room consultation ledgers of 31,190 visits for the period 1994,2001 were reviewed for abortion complications. Main outcome measures Frequencies of maternal morbidities and knowledge of misoprostol. Results Mystery clients purchased misoprostol without a prescription in nearly 64% of pharmacies; staff provided little additional information or counselling. Reliable sales data documented the introduction of misoprostol in 1986. Abortion complications decreased from 11.7% of abortions in 1986 to 1.7% in 2001. The majority of professionals interviewed felt that knowledge of these findings should be made public. Conclusions The data were of too poor quality to validate the verbal reports reliably, but misoprostol appears to have been widely used over a period when abortion-related morbidity fell. It remains plausible that the use of misoprostol contributed to the reduction. [source]


Opportunistic screening for Chlamydia in general practice: the experience of health professionals

HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE IN THE COMMUNITY, Issue 4 2003
Elizabeth Perkins
Abstract Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common curable bacterial sexually transmitted infection in the UK. The infection is asymptomatic in up to 70% of women, and if untreated, can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and infertility. Chlamydial infection can be diagnosed using urine testing and is easily treated with antibiotics. In 1999, the UK Department of Health funded a pilot opportunistic Chlamydia screening programme in two health authorities. All sexually active women between the ages of 16 and 24 years attending general practices and other healthcare settings, such as family planning clinics, antenatal clinics and genito-urinary medicine services, were offered the opportunity to be screened for Chlamydia, regardless of the purpose of their visit. This evaluation was funded to assess the feasibility and acceptability of opportunistic screening. The evaluation was conducted using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The present paper describes findings from the qualitative evaluation study arising from the health professionals' experience of opportunistic screening in general practice. Receptionists were central to the opportunistic screening model in general practice and it was this aspect of the model that raised most concerns. Whilst general practitioners reported that the involvement of receptionists saved them time, the receptionists themselves were sometimes drawn into discussions for which they felt ill equipped and unsuitably located. This research suggests that a call,recall national screening programme would provide a better model to undertake Chlamydia screening in general practice. The advantages of this model are threefold. First, each individual within the target age range can receive information about Chlamydia through the post. Secondly, the test and more detailed information can be managed by a practice nurse in a private and confidential setting. Thirdly, individuals are not repeatedly offered the test when visiting the surgery. [source]


Men And Family Planning: What Is Their Future Role?

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF NURSE PRACTITIONERS, Issue 10 2001
FP-C, Lorraine Neeley Fortunati MSN
Purpose To describe men's desired involvement in family planning and to determine the services desired by potential male clients. Data Sources Using a self-administered questionnaire, this study surveyed male partners of family planning clients and men attending sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics at an urban health department. Perceived health concerns, contraceptive attitudes and practices, and desired involvement in family planning currently and in the future were targeted. Conclusions Respondents reported desiring involvement in family planning decisions, although reported behaviors often conflicted with this desire. Routine physical examinations and receipt of health information were perceived to be important, while "male only" clinics were not. Respondents were willing to attend partners' family planning appointments if asked and were willing to help pay for the chosen contraceptive. Provision of vasectomy services was perceived as important. Prevention of cancer, STDs, and impotence were the three highest health concerns reported. Implications for Practice Men want to be partners in family planning and will access services if available. Current political and social policies are demanding more personal responsibility for the outcome of unintended pregnancies. In response to political and social demands, Title X family planning clinics are refocusing services to include men. [source]


Measuring the intensity of pregnancy planning effort

PAEDIATRIC & PERINATAL EPIDEMIOLOGY, Issue 1 2003
Pascale Morin
Summary This study validated a measure of pregnancy planning effort based on Miller's conceptual framework in two clinical settings. The questionnaire's main items deal with general behaviour with regard to pregnancy, timing and proception (proception being the reverse of contraception). Values for these three items are added to yield a continuous score ranging from 0 to 12. The study population comprised 448 women of different cultural backgrounds recruited in prenatal, fertility and family planning clinics in Quebec and North Carolina. The results indicate that the internal consistency between the three items pertaining to pregnancy planning was excellent (Cronbach's alpha of 0.83). Test,retest reliability after a 4-week interval was excellent, with an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.86 for the planning score. The planning score median for women attending family planning clinics (1.00) was significantly lower than that for those recruited in fertility clinics (11.00), confirming the discriminant ability of the instrument. Path analysis shows that the conceptual model corroborates the observed data and explains 53% of the pregnancy planning variability. In conclusion, this is the first questionnaire specifically designed to assess the intensity of pregnancy planning effort, a potentially important variable in epidemiological studies and clinical practice. [source]


Parent-Child Relations Among Minor Females Attending U.S. Family Planning Clinics

PERSPECTIVES ON SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH, Issue 4 2005
Rachel K. Jones
CONTEXT: Relatively little is known about parent-child relations among minor females who use family planning clinics. Such information could inform the debate on parental involvement legislation and help clinics develop effective strategies to promote positive parental engagement. METHODS: Self-administered surveys were completed in 2003,2004 by 1,526 women younger than 18 attending 79 U.S. family planning clinics, providing measures of parent-child relations, perceived parental attitudes toward sex and birth control, and parental knowledge of the clinic visit. Associations between relationships with parents and parental knowledge of clinic visits were examined using t tests and logistic regression. RESULTS: Many adolescents had talked to parents about sexual issues (50,80%, depending on the topic) and reported high levels of connectedness with parents (68%). A substantial minority (19%) perceived that parents disapprove of their both having sex and using birth control. The majority (60%) reported that a parent knew of their clinic visit; such reports were most common among those who had high levels of connectedness to parents and communication with parents about sexual issues, and those who did not perceive parents to disapprove of sex and birth control. Adolescents aged 15 and younger were more likely than 17-year-olds to indicate that a parent knew they were at the clinic and to report that a parent suggested the clinic. CONCLUSIONS Overall, minors attending family planning clinics have good relations with parents. The youngest adolescents may be at family planning clinics specifically because parents are involved in their reproductive health decisions. [source]


Confidential Reproductive Health Services for Minors: The Potential Impact of Mandated Parental Involvement for Contraception

PERSPECTIVES ON SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH, Issue 5 2004
Rachel K. Jones
CONTEXT: Recent legislative efforts to implement mandated parental involvement for minor adolescents seeking family planning services threaten the rights of adolescents younger than 18 to access reproductive health care. METHODS: State and federal laws and policies pertaining to minor adolescents' rights to access services for contraception and sexually transmitted diseases are reviewed, and research examining issues of parental involvement among adolescents using clinic-based reproductive health services is synthesized. RESULTS: Attempts to mandate parental involvement for reproductive health care often focus on contraceptive services and are typically linked to federal or state funding. Studies of teenagers using clinic-based family planning services suggest that slightly more than one-half would obtain contraceptives at family planning clinics even if parental notification were required. Mandated parental involvement for contraception would discourage few teenagers from having sex, but would likely result in more teenagers' using the least effective methods, such as withdrawal, or no method at all. Family planning clinics encourage teenagers to voluntarily talk to their parents, but relatively little information is available about the extent to which activities to promote parent-child communication have been adopted. CONCLUSIONS: Mandated parental involvement for teenagers seeking contraceptive care would likely contribute to increases in rates of teenage pregnancy. Research that will help clinics implement and improve efforts to encourage voluntary parental involvement is urgently needed. [source]


Psychotropic drugs and fatal pulmonary embolism

PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND DRUG SAFETY, Issue 8 2003
Lianne Parkin MB
Abstract Purpose To examine the association between the use of psychotropic drugs and fatal pulmonary embolism. Methods We conducted a national case-control study of fatal pulmonary embolism. Cases were 75 New Zealand men and women aged 15,59 years who died between 1 January 1990 and 31 December 1998, where the underlying cause of death was certified as codes 415.1, 451 or 453 of the International Classification of Diseases (9th Revision). Four controls, matched for sex and age, were selected from the general practice to which each case had belonged. Information was abstracted from the records of general practitioners, family planning clinics and psychiatric services. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (95%,CI) were estimated using conditional logistic regression. The key analyses were restricted to cases (n,=,62) and controls (n,=,243) without major risk factors for venous thromboembolism. Results Compared to non-use, the adjusted odds ratio for current use of antipsychotic drugs was 13.3 (95%,CI: 2.3,76.3). Low potency antipsychotics appeared to carry the highest risk (odds ratio: 20.8 [95%,CI: 1.7,259.0]). The main drug involved was thioridazine. The odds ratio for current use of antidepressants was also increased, at 4.9 (95%,CI: 1.1,22.5). Conclusions Our results for conventional antipsychotics are consistent with previous studies of non-fatal venous thromboembolism. The finding for antidepressants needs to be replicated in other studies. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Copper T380A intrauterine device for emergency contraception: a prospective, multicentre, cohort clinical trial

BJOG : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS & GYNAECOLOGY, Issue 10 2010
S Wu
Please cite this paper as: Wu S, Godfrey E, Wojdyla D, Dong J, Cong J, Wang C, von Hertzen H. Copper T380A intrauterine device for emergency contraception: a prospective, multicentre, cohort clinical trial. BJOG 2010;117:1205,1210. Objective, To determine the effectiveness of the Copper T380A (CuT380A) intrauterine device (IUD) as an emergency contraceptive in women. Design, Prospective, multicentre, cohort clinical trial. Setting, Eighteen family planning clinics in China. Sample, A cohort of 1963 women, aged 18,44 years, requesting emergency contraception within 120 hours of unprotected sexual intercourse. Methods, Women requesting emergency contraception were followed at 1, 3 and 12 months after the insertion of CuT380A. Main outcome measures, Efficacy of CuT380A as emergency contraception and for up to 12 months of postinsertion use. Insertion complication rates, reported side-effects and continuation rates at 12 months were also recorded. Results, No pregnancies occurred prior to or at the first follow-up visit, making CuT380A 100% effective as emergency contraception in this study. The pregnancy rate over the 12-month period was 0.23 per 100 women. In all, 29 (1.5%) women experienced a difficult IUD insertion process, requiring local anaesthesia or prophylactic antibiotics. No uterine perforations occurred. The main side-effects were increased menstrual bleeding and menstrual disturbances. The 12-month postinsertion continuation rate was 94.0 per 100 woman-years. Conclusions, CuT380A is a safe and effective method for emergency contraception. The advantages of CuT380A include its ability to provide effective, long-term contraception. [source]


Chronological aspects of ultrasonic, hormonal, and other indirect indices of ovulation

BJOG : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OBSTETRICS & GYNAECOLOGY, Issue 8 2001
René Ecochard
Objective To improve prediction of ovulation in normal cycles. Design Collection of women's characteristics and their menstrual cycles. Monitoring and analysis of time relationships between several indicators of ovulation: transvaginal ultrasonography, cervical mucus, basal body temperature, urinary luteinising hormone, and ratio of urinary oestrogen to progesterone metabolites. Setting Each of eight natural family planning clinics was to study 12 women for at least three cycles. Population One hundred and seven normally fertile and cycling women aged 18 to 45. Methods Daily measurements of urinary luteinising hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, oestrone-3-glucuronide and pregnanediol-3, -glucuronide. Basal body temperature recording and cervical mucus checking. Transvaginal ultrasound examination of the ovaries. Main outcome measures Delays between the expected day of ovulation according to the luteinising hormone peak or to ultrasound evidence and the expected days according to the other indices of ovulation. Results Ultrasonography was able to show evidence of ovulation in 283 out of 326 cycles. The average time lag between luteinising hormone peak and ultrasound evidence was less than one day (+0.46) but premature and late luteinising hormone-expected date of ovulation were observed in nearly 10% and 23% of cycles, respectively. Basal body temperature rise was observed in 98% of cycles. Cervical mucus peak symptom, rapid drop in the ratio of urinary metabolites, and luteinising hormone initial rise were all close to ultrasonographic evidence in more than 72% of cycles. Conclusions For accuracy and practical reasons, the cervical mucus peak symptom, the ratio of urinary metabolites and luteinising hormone initial rise might be better indices of ovulation than the luteinising hormone peak. [source]