Tubal sterilization or vasectomy: how do married couples make the choice?
OBJECTIVE
To examine the relative importance of husband, wife, and couple factors as determinants of sterilization method choice.


METHODS
Married couples seeking sterilization interviewed before surgery and again 1 year later.


METHODS
Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program subscribers seeking care at the Kaiser Foundation Hospital, Santa Clara, California.


METHODS
Two hundred married women seeking a tubal sterilization and their husbands and 200 married men seeking a vasectomy and their wives.


METHODS
None.


METHODS
Sterilization method chosen.


RESULTS
In a logistic regression model, nine predictor variables correctly classified 94.9% of 395 couples (P less than 0.000).


CONCLUSIONS
The choice of a sterilization method is achieved primarily through processes that involve both spouses. The motivations of both husband and wife, their mutual influence and communication, their present pattern of contraceptive use, and what they know about the satisfactions or dissatisfactions of other people who have had sterilizations are all factors that should be taken into account when the clinician helps a patient make the method-choice decision.
Miller
W B
WB
Transnational Family Research Institute, Palo Alto, California.
Shain
R N
RN
Pasta
D J
DJ
D002755:Choice Behavior; D003142:Communication; D003268:Contraception Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology*; D009042:Motivation; D013246:Sterilization, Tubal / Q000523:psychology*; D014659:Vasectomy / Q000523:psychology*