A new study says that change in contraceptive counseling could lower pregnancies by half. In fact, effective counseling could make women more likely to choose the most effective form of contraceptives.
According to statistics, 37% of pregnancies in the United States alone were unplanned. This is from their date from 2006 to 2010. Thus, counseling women on the best varieties of birth control methods could cut the risk of unintended pregnancies.
Tech Times reports that by informing women who are seeking family planning advice about the types of hormonal implants and Intrauterine devices (IUD) as options for birth control, it could dramatically reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies compared to other methods of birth control.
The study, published in the journal The Lancet on June 16, was conducted by Cynthia Harper and colleagues from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. They wanted to test if educating and training health workers on long-term contraceptive methods and how to properly discuss them with women could lead with increased usage and decreased rate of unwanted pregnancies.
According to research, LARC's or long-acting reversible contraceptive methods are the most effective means of birth control with just less than 1 percent failure rate. Meanwhile, other control methods like condoms and birth control pills have 9% and 18% percent failure rates respectively.
Time reports that the researchers studied 40 Planned Parenthood clinics in the United States where they assigned 20 of the clinics with training on counseling and insertion of IUDs and implants while the other 20 were considered the control group and offered standard care.
The participants were followed up after a year. The researchers found out that the women who availed of the services of the clinic with LARC training were more likely to report getting counseling compared to those who belong in the control group.
"Unintended pregnancy has been one of those basic health issues that has persisted as a stubborn problem in the U.S., especially among 18-25 year olds," says study author Cynthia Harper, a professor of obstetrics, gynecology & reproductive sciences at the UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health.
They added that counseling should not be limited to Parenthood Planning clinics but also in other venues like clinics, hospitals, communities and schools.