title: A prospective multicentre trial of the ovulation method of natural family planning. I. The teaching phase.
abstract: The percentage of 869 women in five countries capable of being taught to recognize the periovulatory cervical mucus symptom of the fertile period was determined in a prospective multicentre trial of the ovulation method of natural family planning. The women were ovulating, of proven fertility, represented a spectrum of cultures and socioeconomic levels, and ranged from illiteracy to having postgraduate education. In the first of three standard teaching cycles, 93% recorded on interpretable ovulatory mucus pattern. Eighty-eight per cent of subjects successfully completed the teaching phase; 7% discontinued for reasons other than pregnancy, including 1.3% who failed to learn the method. Forty-five subjects (5%) became pregnant during the average 3.1-cycle teaching phase. The average number of days of abstinence required by the rules of the method was 17 in the third teaching cycle (58.2% of the average cycle length). To what extent the findings of this study can be extended to other couples remains to be demonstrated.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002582:Cervix Mucus / Q000502:physiology; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004544:El Salvador; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007494:Ireland; D009520:New Zealand; D010060:Ovulation; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010679:Philippines; D011247:Pregnancy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors