A College Contraceptive Clinic

Abstract

Why can't I go on and off the pill whenever I need to? boyfriend goes to another college, and we see each other only a few times during the school year. My periods are irregular. Will I ever become pregnant? What does a diaphragm do? These and other sex-related questions are asked every day of college health nurses all over the country. At New England College, Henniker, New Hampshire, we have developed a contraceptive program which many of the 1,200 students use. Since the contraceptive program was started in 1972, sex-related problems have decreased on campus. At the close of the second year of the program, requests for diagnostic tests for pregnancy had dropped 50 percent, and the percentage of positive tests for pregnancy had dropped 26 percent. Also, venereal disease reports were down 24 percent. More students than ever are using our services. Approximately 22 percent of the total female population were seen in our program during the first year and last year 34 percent were seen. Our screening tests have uncovered cases of gonorrhea that might otherwise have gone undetected for a dangerously long time. Unfortunately, our clinic has not attracted many men students, although 65 percent of the student population are men. We are planning a public relations campaign to bring more men into the program. Couples come in for contraceptive and V.D. counseling. Clinic use does not tell the whole