Characteristics of women who sought emergency contraception at a university-based women's health clinic.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to identify unique characteristics for seeking emergency contraception (EC) among sexually active unmarried women who attended a university-based women's health clinic (WHC).


METHODS
Three hundred nine consecutive women who attended the women's health clinic for 3 months of the 2006 spring semester completed an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. Fisher exact and Student t tests were used to assess bivariate associations, and step-wise regression was used to determine independent associations.


RESULTS
Women who requested EC were more likely to have previously used EC (P < .001), to have had unprotected sex in the past 6 months (P < .001), to have experienced an unintended pregnancy in the past year (P = .009), and to perceive the need for EC use in the next 3 months (P < .001) but were less likely to use hormonal contraception or an intrauterine device (P < .001).


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings support the need for increased education that would include the use of and access to effective primary contraceptive methods in conjunction with EC awareness.
Parrish
Jared W
JW
Department of Public Health Sciences, John A Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, HI, USA. jaredp@hawaii.edu
Katz
Alan R
AR
Grove
John S
JS
Maddock
Jay
J
Myhre
Sue
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D044363:Contraception, Postcoital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006254:Hawaii; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011247:Pregnancy; D049168:Pregnancy, Unplanned; D013333:Student Health Services; D014495:Universities; D047568:Unsafe Sex; D055815:Young Adult