Form Of Birth Control Research Articles

Sexual Behaviors and Safer Sex Practices of College Students on a Commuter Campus

The sexual behaviors and safer sex practices of college students at a midwestern commuter university are described. Responses from a student sample of 1,919 indicated that slightly more than 10% used condoms consistently. The most frequently cited reasons for not using condoms were monogamy (83%) and preferring other forms of birth control (31%). The leading reason for consistent condom use was fear of HIV infection (72%). Approximately 75% indicated they talked with their sexual partners about HIV prevention; women reported communicating significantly more often than men did (p < .0001). Seventy percent of the sample reported they had only one sexual partner during the past year. Students who had multiple partners during the past year were more likely to practice such unsafe sexual practices as not using condoms and not communicating about HIV prevention. Unsafe sexual practices occur on nontraditional university campuses just as frequently as they do on more traditional campuses, thus supporting the need for HIV prevention programs on every college and university campus.

Patient noncompliance after vasectomy

Objective: To determine the postoperative instruction compliance rate in men undergoing bilateral vasectomy. Design: Retrospective chart review. Setting: Private practice urological office. Patient(s): The records of all patients undergoing vasectomy were reviewed to determine the rate of compliance with postvasectomy follow-up instructions. It is our policy to have the patient continue to use some form of birth control until he achieves two consecutive negative semen analyses 1 month apart. In addition, we recommend a yearly semen analysis after achieving sterility to screen for the rare patient who recanalizes. Postvasectomy follow-up instructions are given to the patient both verbally and in writing. Intervention(s): None. Main Outcome Measure(s): The records of 1,892 consecutive patients undergoing vasectomy were reviewed, and the results of semen analyses were noted to determine the rate of compliance with postvasectomy follow-up instructions. Result(s): Six hundred forty-four men (34%) never returned after vasectomy and, therefore, no semen analyses were available for examination. Six hundred nineteen men (33%) returned for a single semen analysis. Six hundred twenty-nine men (33%) returned for a second negative semen analysis. Only 60 men (3%) completed postvasectomy follow-up instructions and returned for a yearly semen analysis. Conclusion(s): The rate of compliance with postvasectomy follow-up instructions for determining sterility is poor.

Low-Dose Oral Contraceptives and Stroke

For decades it has been known that oral contraceptive drugs are one of the most effective forms of birth control. Despite their clear and substantial benefits, concern has remained about the short-...

The pregnancy that doesn't stay: The practice and perception of abortion by Ekiti Yoruba women

Ekiti Yoruba village women in southwest Nigeria make use of traditional and ‘patent’ medicines as abortifacients as well as D&Cs performed in urban centers to terminate unwanted pregnancies. This paper examines present day abortion practices and attitudes and relates them to traditional beliefs about conception, fetal development and infertility. These beliefs, along with factors of economy and access, help to explain the continued use of abortion as a form of birth control, despite the presence of other options. The paper concludes with a discussion of the current debate about legalizing abortion in Nigeria and a recommendation consonant with everyday village practice.

Bone-sparing properties of oral contraceptives

Postmenopausal osteoporosis is a major health care problem that affects 20 million women in the United States and accounts for >1 million fractures per year. Hormone replacement therapy is effective for reducing bone loss in the postmenopausal women. However, intervention before menopause may delay or prevent the decline in bone mass that begins between ages 30 and 40 years. The effects of oral contraceptives on bone mass have been investigated, and a positive association between oral contraceptive use and bone mass that is directly related to the duration of oral contraceptive use was observed. The effects of oral contraceptives on bone mass may be related to the specific formation. The effect of estrogens is dose related, and the optimal dose appears to be 25 to 35 μg of ethinyl estradiol or its equivalent. Results from several studies show that norethindrone has a positive effect on bone mass. An oral contraceptive may offer optimal birth control for the older premenopausal woman who currently uses other forms of birth control. (A M J O BSTET G YNECOL 1996;174:15-20.)

A new generation of oral contraceptive progestins: Guest Introduction

When they were first introduced in the 1960s, oral contraceptives produced striking lifestyle changes for women of reproductive age. This convenient, non-coital contraceptive medium immediately became the most popular form of birth control in the industrialized world. In the several decades which have followed, pharmaceutical science has attempted to improve on those first, somewhat crude, orally active contraceptive steroids. In particular, contraceptive progestins have undergone a variety of generational changes which have led to more potent, less estrogenic and more specific contraceptive effects.

A national survey of women's attitudes toward oral contraception and other forms of birth control

A survey of women 18 years of age and older was conducted in 1993 for The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists by The Gallup Organization to examine women's opinion about the effectiveness of oral contraceptives and other methods of birth control. Many of the questions asked in the survey were repeated from an earlier Gallup study conducted for the College in 1985. The survey results were based on telephone interviews with a national sample of 995 women, 18 years of age or older, conducted from August 9 through September 21, 1993. None of the birth control methods was thought to be completely effective, though women tended to score oral contraceptives, implants, the intrauterine device, and injections more highly than other methods. The rhythm method, condoms, gels, spermicides, and foams were thought to be less effective. The condom was the only form of birth control thought by 49% of the women surveyed to provide complete (4%) or considerable (45%) protection against sexually transmitted diseases. However, only 6% reported that they currently used condoms. Other methods more likely to be named as providing at least some protection were spermicides/gels/foams (21%), diaphragms (18%), and sponges (13%). A large majority of the women reported that, with the exception of condoms, none of the other birth control methods provided protection against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). 38% of women believed that condoms provided quite a lot of protection, and an additional 35% thought they provided at least some protection against HIV transmission. 54% of the women surveyed incorrectly believed there are substantial risks with using oral contraceptives, but 36% did not think so. The number of women citing substantial risks had decreased significantly since 1985 (54% vs. 76%). Of these, cancer was most frequently mentioned (29%). 42% of women named some type of benefit from using oral contraceptives other than preventing pregnancy; although an equal proportion (42%) thought there were no health benefits.

Alcohol use and contraception in first sexual experiences.

Recent research has suggested that the use of alcohol or drugs in conjunction with sexual intercourse is associated with nonuse of contraception, particularly in first intercourse experiences. This paper reports findings from a nationally representative sample of adolescents and young adults aged 18-30 who were asked a number of questions about the circumstances and characteristics of the first time they had intercourse. Results showed that drinking at the time of first intercourse was more prevalent among those who first had sex prior to 1985; moreover, members of this cohort were less likely to use condoms or other forms of birth control at the time of first intercourse. Drinking was associated with nonuse of contraception only among those who had their first sexual experience prior to 1985. The results are discussed in terms of historical changes in the sexual climate of the AIDS era.

Natural Fertility and Family Limitation in Roman Marriage

Family limitation is a form of birth control in which married couples stop procreating after they reach what they perceive to be a sufficient number of children. Family limitation is therefore a parity-related form of fertility control. In developed nations of the modern world family limitation is most commonly achieved through contraception and to a lesser extent abortion and it is often accompanied by deliberate birth spacing and other efforts at planned parenthood. Some scholars posit that ordinary couples in the ancient Roman world anticipated such modern behavior. All reliable comparative evidence however indicates that no general population practiced family limitation before the modern fertility transition. Ancient Rome was no exception. He discusses the fertility transition from natural fertility to family limitation marital fertility in Roman Egypt and John Riddles hypothesis that chemical birth control agents were readily available in the ancient world and that family limitation was practiced by the lower classes.

Contraceptive use and attitudes among U.S. women

More than half of the 6.3 million pregnancies which occur annually in the US are unintended. Approximately 50% of the unintended pregnancies which occurred in 1987 were among women not using birth control, while the other 50% occurred among women who were using some form of birth control when they became pregnant and most likely suffered method- or user-related contraceptive failure. The incidence and outcomes of unintended pregnancies vary with women's age. Oral contraceptives are the most popular of reversible birth control methods among US women, with nearly 30% of American couples choosing the pill as their method of reversible contraception. 25% chose tubal sterilization and 11% vasectomy. A 1992 survey found 25% of contraceptive users to use condoms, 8% withdrawal, and 1% the subdermal hormonal implant. As for method satisfaction, 94% of OC users are content with their method compared to only 17% and 57% who are satisfied using rhythm and withdrawal, respectively. The following factors affect women's choice of a contraceptive method: childbearing plans and age, women's perceptions of birth control methods, past experience with contraception, physician's influence, religious factors, education, access and cost factors, and health concerns. Future trends in contraception will likely be shaped by the changing demographics of the US population and increased awareness of sexually transmitted diseases along with the continuation of the AIDS pandemic.

Attitudes toward childbearing and changes in sexual and contraceptive practices among HIV-infected women.

Women now constitute 12% of persons with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and three quarters of them are well within their childbearing age. To determine if women infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) change their attitudes toward childbearing and their sexual and contraceptive practices. Questionnaire and interview. Forty-six women age 18 to 44 participated; 33 were white, 12 were Hispanic, and 1 was black. Intravenous drug abuse was reported by 65%. Nineteen had symptomatic HIV disease or AIDS. Only 70% said they had received counseling after testing. Of these, 59% said they were counseled on avoiding pregnancy, and 81% said they were counseled on use of condoms. Before testing, 59% had wanted to have children; after testing, only 17% did. Only 4% said they had always used condoms before testing, but 54% said they did after testing; 39% said they used some form of birth control before testing compared with 70% who said they did after testing. Counseling was not optimal. Sexual and contraceptive practices changed, but follow-up study will be needed to see if such changes are sustained.

Life-styles, adaptive strategies, and sexual behaviors of homeless adolescents.

The purpose of this study was to gather information about homeless adolescents, a largely invisible and understudied population. Highly trained interviewers conducted structured face-to-face field interviews with 93 homeless adolescents between the ages of 13 and 17 in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles. Seventy-nine percent of the sample had experienced more than one homeless episode in their lifetime, and almost a fourth reported more than ten episodes. Mean length of time homeless was 440 days (median of 201 days). Aggressive and violent behaviors, including stealing, destruction of property, and physical fights, were common. The sample had a high prevalence of several mental disorders, including conduct disorder with aggression, major depression, and alcohol and drug abuse. Almost half had attempted suicide. Nearly all the adolescents were sexually active; about a third had more than ten partners in the previous year. About a third reported trading sex for money, food, or drugs. Although most had basic knowledge of HIV transmission and used some form of birth control, little more than half had used a condom in the most recent sexual encounter, and 18 percent reported sex with intravenous drug users. Further research on this population is needed, and follow-up contacts in particular are essential in developing appropriate and successful service programs for them.

Family planning: cultural and religious perspectives.

The world population explosion has caused political leaders to look upon national and regional birth control projects as vital. Support for regulation of individual fertility has been evident in all cultures, and at all times, even in those societies in which social and religious rules have favoured the abundant production of children. As the secularization of Western society and scientific enquiry gained momentum during the modern period, knowledge of reproduction increased and was applied to control human population growth. The various methods of contraception and their development through the years from the ancient ideas to the modern era are presented. Each approach to fertility control has its advantages and disadvantages. No one method is perfect for everyone, for every clinical setting, and in every culture. Higher levels of fertility have been associated with 'traditional', religious prohibitions on some forms of birth control, 'traditional' values about the importance of children and the priority of family, and 'traditional' family and gender roles reinforced by religion. The attitude of the main religious groups to contraceptive practice is discussed.

Sex, AIDS, and the use of condoms: a survey of compliance in college students.

To evaluate compliance with the suggestion that condoms be used during risky sexual activity, 206 college students' use of condoms during genital and anal sex was surveyed. Analysis indicated that 78% engaged in genital intercourse, and while 20% always used a condom, 44% used condoms less than half the time. Of the 10% engaged in anal sex, 90% did not use condoms. Students at highest risk (with the most partners) were using condoms least often. All respondents reported knowing AIDS was transmitted sexually. Nonetheless, reasons given for not using condoms were belief they knew their partners' sexual history or another form of birth control was being used. Results suggest that outcome studies are needed to assess programs which focus on behavioral change, including use of condoms.

Hands-Off Leadership and Multicultural Programs

A small circle of young women sat in the warm mid-winter sun deep in the Central Kalahari of Botswana. Russian, American and Batswana, they were part of a multicultural program which had assembled a few days earlier. The facilitator was encouraging a discussion of issues of importance to women. The American women, always quick to speak, suggested discussing abortion, a highly charged topic that, to them, clearly symbolized women's issues around the world. However, to the Russians, abortion was not an issue. It was simply an accepted form of birth control. One young woman had already had two. To the Batswana, abortion was not an issue. It was inconceivable that anyone would ever abort a child. So it was left to the Americans to explain why it is a sharply divisive issue in their country, and to try to engender a conversation about something that was at best a curiosity to the other women. The two of us had been sitting for hours, waiting in the car on a dark roadside north of Gaborone, Botswana, watching the constellations wheel slowly over the silent land. We were looking for a bus from Harare, Zimbabwe that was supposed to arrive sometime around 6 p.m. It had been coming three times a week for years, but nobody seemed to know where it was going to stop on any given day, so we had decided to try intercepting it. Not only that, the Russians we were expecting may not have even made it to Harare as far as we knew. Finally, well past midnight, a bus roared by and we took chase. At the first stop, somewhere in Gaborone, we ran to the door of the bus and found five smiling Russians stepping off. “How was it?” I asked Elena Sadovnikova, their irrepressible leader. “Well, we forgot about visas for Botswana and they refused us at the border. But African bureaucracy is no match for a Russian. Once again, bureaucracy struggled against Elena and lost!”

Contraceptive Development Lags in U.S.

Contraceptive development in the US has been halted by all but one company Ortho Pharmaceuticals. The reasons for this are complex and the problem is very serious. Legal and regulatory pressures have taken away the incentive to do research. There are 3 million unwanted pregnancies each year in this country. If contraceptive use were more widespread and the technology was constantly being improved by a highly competitive market, then this number would be much lower. There are several new forms of birth control being studies for use in the US, such as injectables using microspheres or microcapsules which can last for 1, 3, or 6 months, biodegradable pellets that are inserted under the skin of the hip or upper arm slowly release hormones, the vaginal ring which is saturated with time-released hormones and is worm around the opening of the uterus like a diaphragm, transdermal patches which are changed weekly for 3 weeks with a placebo patch to allow menstruation, osmotic pills which gradually release hormones on a lower and less frequent schedule, and vaccines which can immunize women against hormones in the placenta, egg or from sperm. This research is at an early stage. Luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) analogues suppress ovulation by affecting the pituitary gland. This method has the side effect of blocking ovarian production of estrogen and progesterone. Male methods like Inhibit inhibit the production of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). Gossypol has been used in China, but one side effect is that it is sometimes irreversible. Outside the US the injectables Depo-Provera and Noristerat are approved in 90 and 40 countries respectively. Norplant is a progesterone releasing implant, made in Finland, that lasts up to 5 years; it was recommended for approval in 1989 by the FDA's Fertility and Maternal Health Drug Advisory Committee RU-486 prevents the cells in the uterus from receiving progesterone, was developed in France. The Filshie clip is a titanium and silicone rubber barrier that blocks the fallopian tubes. Ovablock is a silicone plug that blocks the fallopian tubes and increase reversibility.

Ethics and reproduction

In Western culture, the ethical principles of respect for persons can be further divided into 2 categories - a) autonomy and b) protection of the vulnerable; beneficence; and justice. The principles of ethics can be directed towards 2 levels: microethics - concerned with the individual and macroethics - concerned with the greater community. In the case of obstetrical procedures such as in vitro fertilization, prenatal diagnosis, and fetal sex selection, the principles of microethics and macroethics conflict. The exact number and/or kind of babies may benefit the parents by they may not benefit a society that is expected to accommodate these new members. This aspect can also be addressed when dealing with abortion. Support for and against has led to a questioning and reexamining of present abortion laws; the aim is to either restrict abortion or reduce the abortion time limit from 28 to 24 weeks. Policies of the United States have an effect on other policies, worldwide. Abortions are needed as a form of birth control in developing countries; 500,000 women/year die from birthing complications and 100,000 die from complications of illegal abortions. There has also been some questioning of in vitro fertilization. Why fertilize a certain number of eggs which may never be allowed to grow and mature? There has also been some questioning of whether or not an embryo in vitro fertilization is a person or not. Deciding the status of the embryo has opened up research possibilities in the United State and the United Kingdom. Discussion on in vitro fertilization has opened up discussion on surrogacy. There seems to be more support for surrogacy in the United States than in the United Kingdom - where there is a restrictive ban on commercial surrogacy.

Frequency of use, knowledge, and attitudes toward the contraceptive sponge among inner-city black and hispanic adolescent females

This study assessed the frequency of use, knowledge, and attitudes toward the contraceptive sponge in sexually active, inner-city, black and Hispanic adolescent females. A 54-item, self-administered questionnaire was completed by 208 adolescents (mean age 17.9 years) attending a gynecology/family planning clinic within a comprehensive adolescent health center. Twenty-nine (13.9%) had never used any birth control, and 49 (23.6%) had not used any form of birth control in the 3 months prior to the study. Fifty-three (25.5%) of the adolescents had used a less reliable method such as rhythm and/or withdrawal. The birth control method used least was the sponge. Only four (1.9%) of the adolescents had used the sponge in the 3 months prior to the study, and only ten (4.8%) had ever used it. Knowledge of the correct use of the sponge was poor. However, 69 (44.8%) of the 156 girls who knew about the sponge had a positive attitude toward it, and only 19% said they did not like it. The contraceptive sponge may be a viable option for adolescents, particularly those who are not using birth control or who are using a less reliable method.

Muslim fertility transition: The case of the Singapore Malays

It is generally believed that the higher level of fertility prevailing in some populations has been sustained by certain religious tenets favouring large family norms. There are numerous studies which have demonstrated that Roman Catholicism has played an important role in upholding fertility at a relatively higher level on account of its consistent condemnation of artificial methods of birth control (Day, 1968; Murphy and Erhart, 1975). There are still other studies which have linked the relatively higher fertility prevailing in most Muslim populations to certain Islamic teachings concerning population control (Kirk, 1968; Nagi and Stockwell, 1982). There is, however, no general concensus among Muslim religious authorities about the different forms of birth control: the majority endorsing family planning, some sanctioning induced abortion, and most opposing sterilization.

Parents' perception of social and sexual functions in adolescents with Down's syndrome.

The authors investigated parental perceptions of social interactions, interest in the opposite sex, sexual functions and issues concerning sex education in young persons with Down's syndrome. The evaluation of the data revealed that more than half of the study population showed interest in the opposite sex and are attending social gatherings. Many of the youngsters had expressed a desire to get married, however, only a few had an interest in sexual relationships. Masturbation was observed in 40% of the young men and in 22% of the young women. About half of the parents feel that their children should be sterilized or should have other forms of birth control if they would be able to reproduce. Only a limited number of adolescents had sex education. More parents who have girls with Down's syndrome than those who have boys are worried that their child may be taken advantage of sexually.