Publications by authors named "Kirsten M J Thompson"
Importance: Travel distance to abortion services varies widely in the US. Some evidence shows travel distance affects use of abortion care, but there is no national analysis of how abortion rate changes with travel distance.
Objective: To examine the association between travel distance to the nearest abortion care facility and the abortion rate and to model the effect of reduced travel distance.
Background: US unintended pregnancy rates remain high, and contraceptive providers are not universally trained to offer intrauterine devices and implants to women who wish to use these methods.
Objective: We sought to measure the impact of a provider training intervention on integration of intrauterine devices and implants into contraceptive care.
Study Design: We measured the impact of a continuing medical education-accredited provider training intervention on provider attitudes, knowledge, and practices in a cluster randomized trial in 40 US health centers from 2011 through 2013.
Background: Understanding how contraceptive choices and access differ for women having medication abortions compared to aspiration procedures can help to identify priorities for improved patient-centered postabortion contraceptive care.
Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the differences in contraceptive counseling, method choices, and use between medication and aspiration abortion patients.
Study Design: This subanalysis examines data from 643 abortion patients from 17 reproductive health centers in a cluster, randomized trial across the United States.
Purpose: The majority of pregnancies during adolescence are unintended, and few adolescents use long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) due in part to health care providers' misconceptions about nulliparous women's eligibility for the intrauterine device. We examined differences in LARC counseling, selection, and initiation by age and parity in a study with a provider's LARC training intervention.
Methods: Sexually active women aged 18-25 years receiving contraceptive counseling (n = 1,500) were enrolled at 20 interventions and 20 control clinics and followed for 12 months.
Objectives: We determined whether public funding for contraception was associated with long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) use when providers received training on these methods.
Methods: We evaluated the impact of a clinic training intervention and public funding on LARC use in a cluster randomized trial at 40 randomly assigned clinics across the United States (2011-2013). Twenty intervention clinics received a 4-hour training.
Background: Almost one-half of women having an abortion in the United States have had a previous procedure, which highlights a failure to provide adequate preventive care. Provision of intrauterine devices and implants, which have high upfront costs, can be uniquely challenging in the abortion care setting.
Objective: We conducted a study of a clinic-wide training intervention on long-acting reversible contraception and examined the effect of the intervention, insurance coverage, and funding policies on the use of long-acting contraceptives after an abortion.
Counseling for IUDs and implants: are health educators and clinicians on the same page?
Perspect Sex Reprod Health
December 2013
Context: Low knowledge of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) and restrictive counseling practices have been documented among contraceptive care clinicians. However, little is known about health educators' counseling on LARC, how their practices compare with clinicians' and their specific training needs.
Methods: A survey conducted in 2011-2012 assessed knowledge and practices related to LARC counseling and provision among 410 staff at 40 Planned Parenthood clinics.
Past US FDA decisions about emergency contraception (EC) have been subject to undue political influence, and last year's barring of over-the-counter access to Plan B One-Step(®) for those under the age of 17 years is no exception. The US Department of Health and Human Services cited insufficient data on EC use for females aged 11-12 years. These youngest adolescents, however, rarely need EC: data from California (USA) show that in 2009, fewer than one in 10,000 females under the age of 13 years received EC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFContext: Long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods (IUDs and implants) are the most effective and cost-effective methods for women. Although they are safe to place immediately following an abortion, most clinics do not offer this service, in part because of the increased cost.
Methods: In 2009, telephone interviews were conducted with 20 clinicians and 24 health educators at 25 abortion care practices across the country.
Increased use of intrauterine contraception in California, 1997 to 2007.
Womens Health Issues
March 2012
Background: Modern intrauterine contraception (IUC) is safe and highly effective, but is used by fewer than 4% of women in the United States. Once recommended only for women with at least one child, it is now recommended for most women regardless of parity or age.
Methods: This study used data representative of California women from 10 years of the California Women's Health Survey (1997-2007) to describe how IUC users differ from women using other contraceptives, and assess changes in IUC users' characteristics over time.
Background: Placement of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) - intrauterine devices (IUDs) and the implant - directly after an abortion provides immediate contraceptive protection and has been proven safe.
Study Design: We conducted a survey of National Abortion Federation member facilities (n=326; response rate 75%) to assess post-abortion contraceptive practices. Using multivariable logistic regression, we measured variations in provision of long-acting contraception by clinic factors and state contraceptive laws and policies.