Contraceptive Uptake and Adherence Post Obstetric Event among 14-20 Year-Old Adolescents

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Most teenage girls giving birth every year do not plan their pregnancy. Others choose to interrupt it, often under unsafe conditions. OBJECTIVES: To describe the profile of adolescents who have an obstetric event and analyze how contacts with the health care system around the obstetric event influence contraceptive uptake and adherence. METHODS: Surveys were applied to a non-representative sample of postpartum or postabortion hospitalized teenage girls in public health institutions of Pilar, San Juan and Posadas before hospital discharge and 80 and 160 days after the obstetric event. RESULTS: Only 4 out of 10 adolescents left the hospital with a contraceptive method. Postpartum and postabortion care checkups were the moments of greater accessibility to contraception, though adolescents not always received the method of their choice. One hundred and sixty days after the obstetric event, 8 out of 10 adolescents were using a contraceptive method. Problems identified in the quality and continuity of use suggest a high proportion of them are exposed to unplanned pregnancies. CONCLUSIONS: Increasing the coverage and quality of contraceptive counseling in postabortion and postpartum adolescents is key, since this may be the first opportunity to discuss methods face to face with qualified personnel. A wide range of methods including medium (injectable) and long-acting methods (intrauterine devices and sub-dermal implants) should be offered.