title: Unmet contraceptive needs among refugees.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe what women of reproductive age who received primary care at a refugee health clinic were using for contraception upon arrival to the clinic, and to quantify the unmet contraceptive needs within that population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective chart review.
  
  
  METHODS
  Crossroads Clinic in downtown Toronto, Ont.
  
  
  METHODS
  Women of reproductive age (15 to 49 years) who first presented for care between December 1, 2011, and December 1, 2012. To be included, a woman had to have had 2 or more clinic visits or an annual health examination. Exclusion criteria for the contraception prevalence calculation were female sexual partner, menopause, hysterectomy, pregnancy, or trying to conceive.
  
  
  METHODS
  Contraception use prevalence was measured, as was unmet contraceptive need, which was calculated using a modified version of the World Health Organization's definition: the number of women with an unmet need was expressed as a percentage of women of reproductive age who were married or in a union, or who were sexually active.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 52 women met the criteria for inclusion in the contraceptive prevalence calculation. Of these, 16 women (30.8%) did not use any form of contraception. Twelve women were pregnant at some point in the year and stated the pregnancy was unwanted or mistimed. An additional 14 women were not using contraception but had no intention of becoming pregnant within the next 2 years. There were no women with postpartum amenorrhea not using contraception and who had wanted to delay or prevent their previous pregnancy. In total, 97 women were married or in a union, or were sexually active. Unmet need was calculated as follows: (12 + 14 + 0)/97 = 26.8%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was a high unmet contraceptive need in the refugee population in our study. All women of reproductive age should be screened for contraceptive need when first seeking medical care in Canada.
authors: Marina
authors: M
authors: Aptekman
authors: Meb
authors: M
authors: Rashid
authors: Vanessa
authors: V
authors: Wright
authors: Sheila
authors: S
authors: Dunn
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002170:Canada; D003267:Contraception / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003268:Contraception Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D011275:Pregnancy, Unwanted; D012036:Refugees / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
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