There is little understand and literature that has explored Australian women’s understandings of contraception. The researchers conducted this study to examine the attitudes towards and performances of women’s subdermal contraceptive implants.
Researchers conducted open-ended interviews with ninety-four women who had ever used contraception. They also conducted sixty-five interviews with women who discussed or mentioned the subdermal implant but had not previously used the device were examined and analyzed using thematic analysis.
The emergent themes were: satisfaction with the current method; weak personal opinions and ambivalence; uncertainty due to specific concerns; and strong adverse reactions – fear and dislike. Although there were a few positive perceptions expressed by women who had never used the subdermal implant, the perception was predominantly negative for most women.
The study concluded that women tended to form negative impressions from other women’s stories about the subdermal implant. Interventions to enhance evidence-informed awareness of the relative advantages and disadvantages of the implant – for example, improved access to supportive contraceptive counseling – need investigation in the Australian context. Researchers could usefully investigate avenues to enhance women’s perceived control over the device.
Reference: https://srh.bmj.com/content/43/2/128
