Women's recollections regarding the initiation of oral contraceptives and their perceived importance upon compliance a descriptive study

Oral contraceptives (OCs) represent one of the most popular and efficacious reversible forms of birth control available to women in the United States. However, there continues to be a high rate of discontinuation due to experiences of side effects. Most women (80%) should be able to tolerate at least one of the available OC preparations without side effects of any type. Previous studies conducted on OC discontinuation have suggested that an increase in patient education regarding side effects improves compliance. The purpose of this study was to describe women's recollections of their experience with OCs and their perceptions of the significance of education provided to them as it related to side effect severity perception and compliance. A sample of 30 women who had initiated OCs within the past 2 years at Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, located in Salt Lake City, was obtained by convenience sampling. Quantitative data were gathered using a questionnaire developed for this study. Data were analyzed using frequency distributions, t tests, and Pearson's r. Results included that side effect severity was perceived as higher if the side effect was unexpected. In addition, the unexpected side effects led to the most OC discontinuations in the sample. There was an overall low frequency of side effects discussed with the provider. Neither discussion of the side effect with the provider nor presence of a 3-month follow-up were significantly related to side effect severity perception. The educational points listed on the protocol had an extremely high recall rate and were ranked by the subjects to be mostly important to them. Implications from the data suggest that expanding the side effect patient education at initiation and follow-up to include specific side effect anticipatory guidance may reduce the unexpectedness of the side effect and thereby limit the number of discontinuations. Information gained from this study can be used to plan future research surrounding OC management.