Abstract
Study Objective
The purpose of the study was to determine if barriers in rural areas might decrease
an adolescent’s likelihood of obtaining effective contraception. Previous studies
have reported mixed results in comparisons of rural and urban contraception use.
Design
Electronic survey.
Setting
Midwestern Public University.
Participants
Undergraduate and graduate women.
Interventions
Questionnaire.
Main Outcome Measures
Participants retrospectively recalled their contraceptive use and barriers to contraceptive
use between the 9th and 12th grades.
Results
A Barriers to Contraception Use Scale was created using exploratory factor analysis
and yielded 31 questions with 1 underlying factor: barriers. Participants were identified
as rural or urban using the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) definition and the
participant’s self-identification. Overall, rural participants endorsed more barriers
to accessing contraceptives than urban participants using the OMB definition (χ2 (2; n = 388) = 2.04; P < .05), and self-identification (χ2 (2; n = 398) = 2.37; P < .05). However, no differences were found in contraception use according to the
OMB definition, t (380) = −1.90; P = .06, or self-identification, t (380) = −2.11; P > .05. The Barriers to Contraception Use Scale total score predicted whether an individual
would have a prescription for contraceptives 70.5% of the time compared to the base
rate of 54.1%.
Conclusion
Although no rural–urban differences in actual contraception use were found, rural
participants reported more barriers to accessing contraception, and those who endorsed
more barriers were less likely to obtain contraceptives while in high school. Pregnancy
prevention programs should thus take these barriers into account when developing future
interventions.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 06, 2015
Footnotes
The authors indicate no conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
