This application proposes research to increase understanding of unintended pregnancy (UP) among young, low-income U.S. women.
The specific aims are to (1) increase understanding of the meaning and dynamics of UP; (2) generate, refine, and test hypotheses about causes of UP; (3) develop better measures of pregnancy intendedness and determinants of UP; and (4) contribute to efforts of programs and policies to reduce UP. The research addresses Healthy People 2000 objectives of reducing UP. To achieve these aims, the proposed project will study contraceptive practices and UP among 20 to 29-year-old, predominantly minority, unmarried, low-income women in Atlanta, GA, and charlotte, NC and their partners and family members. It builds on the Longitudinal Study of contraceptive Choice and use Dynamics (LSCC), a prospective study of contraceptive use and pregnancies among a probability sample of clinic women. This study, which is currently fielding the second follow-up survey, includes a substantial number of women who have had Ups since the baseline. The proposed study will complement and significantly extend the LSCC research, focus on UP, and integrate qualitative research methods with the quantitative LSCC base. Methods include ethnographic research, focus groups, and case studies with samples of women who have experienced UP or have successfully prevented it, selected from the LSCC. The investigators will use the results of the qualitative study as a basis for developing survey measures and hypotheses; they will use focus groups and cognitive testing in developing these survey measures, then will conduct an additional round of survey data collection with women age 20-29 to test hypotheses and measures.
| Kuo, Tzy-Mey; Suchindran, C M; Koo, Helen P (2008) The multistate life table method: an application to contraceptive switching behavior. Demography 45:157-71 |
| Wilson, Ellen K; Koo, Helen P (2008) Associations between low-income women's relationship characteristics and their contraceptive use. Perspect Sex Reprod Health 40:171-9 |
