Emergency Contraception (ECP): Reducing Unintended Pregnancies

A Second Chance With Emergency Contraception (ECP): Reducing Unintended Pregnancy

Emergency contraception is a method of birth control that can be used up to three days after sexual intercourse. Emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) can be given to a woman before she needs them (advance provision) or when she needs them (emergency provision). This study will compare these two methods of providing ECPs.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Detailed Description

ECPs can give women a "second chance" to prevent an unintended pregnancy that might arise because of lack or improper/defective use of contraceptives. By using ECP, a woman can reduce her risk of pregnancy by at least 75%; however, there is little information on what distribution patterns and other factors are most likely to encourage ECP use. This study will compare the use and cost of two ECP distribution patterns: advance provision and emergency provision. It will also identify environmental, situational, and behavioral factors associated with ECP acceptance and use.

Participants in this study will be recruited from four family planning clinics in the Philadelphia area and five family planning clinics in the Pittsburgh area. Participants from the Philadelphia clinics will be given ECPs as part of a regular clinic visit (advance provision); participants from the Pittsburgh clinics will be given ECPs on an emergency basis (emergent provision). Each participant will complete a short intake form and will be issued a pager. Participants will be paged every month over an 18-month period as a reminder to respond to a short automated telephone survey on ECP, contraceptives, and pregnancy status. Approximately half of the participants will be randomly selected to participate in in-depth interviews at study entry and Months 9 and 18. Clinic visit data will augment the surveys to verify use of the clinic and contraceptive method and to develop cost data.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment

1100

Phase

  • Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Pennsylvania
      • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19102
        • Family Planning Council
      • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15222
        • Family Health Council

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

15 years to 39 years (Child, Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria

  • Patient at a participating clinic

Exclusion Criteria

  • Pregnant
  • Medical or surgical procedure preventing pregnancy (e.g., tubal ligation, hysterectomy)
  • Norplant or IUDs
  • Desires to become pregnant

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Factorial Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Paul G Whittaker, D.Phil.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

June 1, 2001

Study Completion

May 1, 2004

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 21, 2003

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 22, 2003

First Posted (Estimate)

August 25, 2003

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

June 24, 2005

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 23, 2005

Last Verified

July 1, 2003

More Information

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Pregnancy

Clinical Trials on emergency contraception (estrogen/progesterone)

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