Ethnic Chinese women's perceptions about condoms, withdrawal and rhythm methods of birth control.
OBJECTIVE
To gain a better understanding of ethnic Chinese women's perceptions and experiences of using barrier and rhythm methods of contraception in order to improve contraceptive counseling at abortion clinics.


METHODS
Qualitative descriptive study.


METHODS
Urban abortion clinic.


METHODS
Forty ethnic Chinese women presenting for abortion.


METHODS
Data were collected in semi-structured interviews by one interviewer who is fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese. Transcribed interviews were systematically analyzed to identify salient themes.


RESULTS
All of the women interviewed had used condoms (none with spermicide), 20 had used rhythm and 17 withdrawal, usually a combination of two or three of these methods. Many women noted that these methods are under male control and talked about the difficulty negotiating their use with partners. The majority of women using rhythm were unable to correctly identify "safe periods."
Wiebe
Ellen R
ER
Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, 1013-750 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 1H9 Canada. ewiebe@interchange.ubc.ca
Janssen
Patricia A
PA
Henderson
Angela
A
Fung
Iris
I
D044466:Asian People; D001955:British Columbia; D003267:Contraception / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic