Contraceptive discontinuation: frequency and associated factors among undergraduate women in Brazil.

BACKGROUND: In Brazil, high contraceptive prevalence rates coexist with high rates of unintended pregnancies. Contraceptive discontinuation may explain this context, but few studies have focused on highly educated young women in countries with low unmet need for modern contraception. This paper explores frequency and associated factors of contraceptive discontinuation among undergraduate students in Brazil within 12-months. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study was conducted among a probability sample of 1679 undergraduates of São Paulo University. Data were collected online using a contraceptive calendar. We examined factors related to monthly discontinuation of oral pills and male condoms using Generalized Estimating Equation models. RESULTS: Altogether, 19% of oral pill users and 48% of male condom users discontinued their method for method-related reasons within 12-months, and 18% of oral pill users and 15% of male condom users abandoned/or switched to less effective methods. Women in casual relationships were at increased odds of oral pill (OR = 1.4 [1.1-1.8]) and male condom discontinuation (OR = 1.3 [1.0-1.7]), and at increased odds of switching from oral pill to less effective or no method (OR = 1.4 [1.1-1.7]). Other associated factors were method specific. Women from lower socioeconomic status or who had multiple lifetime partners were more likely to discontinue or abandon the oral pill, while more sexually experienced women were less likely to discontinue the male condom. CONCLUSION: Frequent method discontinuation in Brazil calls for greater attention to the difficulties women face when using short acting methods. Discontinuation was associated with type of partner and sexual experience highlighting the changing contraceptive needs of women at the early stages of their professional careers.

Women's reproductive health knowledge, attitudes and practices in relation to the Zika virus outbreak in northeast Brazil.

OBJECTIVES: To assess knowledge, pregnancy attitudes and contraceptive practices in relation to the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil. METHODS: We interviewed 526 women 18 to 49 years old in primary health services in a Northeastern capital of Brazil, in 2016. They provided information about their knowledge of Zika transmission and health consequences, their receipt of counseling related to sexual and perinatal transmission of Zika, their pregnancy intentions and reassessment of contraceptive options in the context of the Zika virus outbreak. RESULTS: Awareness about Zika congenital syndrome was high, but knowledge about sexual transmission was low. Few women had changed pregnancy intentions or contraceptive practices in response to Zika. Pregnant women were more likely to access counseling about family planning, condom use and pregnancy postponement due to Zika virus than non-pregnant women, which may suggest that health system responses followed pregnancy occurrence. CONCLUSIONS: We observed missed opportunities for prevention of perinatal transmission of Zika virus through behavioral change, including effective contraception to prevent pregnancy and condoms to prevent perinatal transmission, as a complement to vector control.

Concordance between intention to use and current use of contraceptives among six-month postpartum women in Brazil: The role of unplanned pregnancy.

OBJECTIVE: to examine the effect of pregnancy planning status in the concordance between intention to use and current use of contraceptives among postpartum women. DESIGN AND SETTING: a prospective study was conducted in 12 primary health care facilities in São Paulo, Brazil, from November 2013 to September 2014. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 264 woman aged 15-44 years old completed a face-to-face interview when they were pregnant (baseline), and were interviewed by phone at 6 months postpartum. MEASUREMENTS: At baseline, participants were questioned about the contraceptive method they would prefer to be using at 6 months postpartum. At 6 months postpartum, they answered about the contraceptive method they were currently using. Pregnancy planning status was measured using the Brazilian Portuguese London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancy. We conducted logistic regression, considering contraceptive preference-use concordance as the dependent variable and the main covariate as pregnancy planning status. FINDINGS: Only 28.9% of postpartum women were using the method they preferred to use when they were pregnant. The agreement between preference and contraceptive use was higher for injectables (60.9%) and lowest for IUD, as nobody who preferred it was actually using it. Women who were not sure about what method they intended to use after childbirth more frequently reported no use at six months postpartum. Multivariate logistic regression showed that postpartum women whose pregnancy was unplanned were less likely to use the contraceptive methods that they intended to use when they were pregnant [aOR=0.36; 95%CI=0.14-0.97]. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Brazilian women were able to access contraceptives in the postpartum period. However, there is a considerable discordance between their contraceptive intention to use and use at the sixth postpartum month. A higher unmet demand for IUD and sterilization should be highlighted. The pregnancy planning status is associated to postpartum contraceptive preference-use concordance, so interventions before pregnancy may affect postpartum contraceptive use. Women with unintended pregnancies present an important opportunity to offer additional family planning counseling.

Evaluation of the psychometric properties of the London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancy in Brazilian Portuguese.

BACKGROUND: Estimates of unplanned pregnancy worldwide are of concern, especially in low and middle-income countries, including Brazil. Although the contraceptive prevalence rate is high in Brazil, almost half of all pregnancies are reported as unintended. The only source of nationally representative data about pregnancy intention is the Demographic and Health Survey, as with many other countries. In more recent years, however, it has been realized that concept of unintended pregnancy is potentially more complex and requires more sophisticated measurement strategies, such as the London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancy (LMUP). The LMUP has been translated and validated in other languages, but not Portuguese yet. In this study, we evaluate the psychometric properties of the LMUP in the Portuguese language, Brazilian version. METHODS: A Brazilian Portuguese version of the LMUP was produced via translation and back-translation. After piloting, the mode of administration was changed from self-completion to interviewer-administration. The measure was field tested with pregnant, postpartum, and postabortion women recruited at maternity and primary health care services in Sao Paulo city. Reliability (internal consistency) was assessed using Cronbach's alpha and item-total correlations. Construct validity was assessed using principal components analysis and hypothesis testing. Scaling was assessed with Mokken analysis. RESULTS: 759 women aged 15-44 completed the Brazilian Portuguese LMUP. There were no missing data. The measure was acceptable and well targeted. Reliability testing demonstrated good internal consistency (alpha = 0.81, all item-rest correlations >0.2). Validity testing confirmed that the measure was unidimensional and that all hypotheses were met: there were lower LMUP median scores among women in the extreme age groups (p < 0.001), among non-married women (p < 0.001) and those with lower educational attainment (p < 0.001). The Loevinger H coefficient was 0.60, indicating a strong scale. CONCLUSION: The Brazilian Portuguese LMUP is a valid and reliable measure of pregnancy planning/intention that is now available for use in Brazil. It represents a useful addition to the public health research and surveillance toolkit in Brazil.

Post-abortion contraception: care and practices.

OBJECTIVE: to analyze assistance regarding contraception methods received by women during hospitalization due to abortion, and contraceptive practices the month after this episode. METHODS: a longitudinal study of women hospitalized due to abortion in a public hospital in the city of São Paulo. Face-to-face interviews (n=170) followed by telephone interviews in the subsequent month (n=147) were conducted between May and December of 2011. RESULTS: a small number of women reported they received guidance on, and prescription for, contraceptive methods at hospital discharge. A trend of statistical significance was identified for prescription of contraceptive methods at discharge and its use in the following month, when adjusted for age. Most women reported sexual intercourse (69.4%) with the use of contraceptive method (82.4%), but no health professional guidance (63.1%). CONCLUSION: despite the fact that post-abortion contraception assistance was lower than the recommended guidelines by public health policies, women demonstrated willingness to use contraceptive methods.