Assistant Professor Kate Ahrens from the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service, and Research Associate Amanda Burgess collaborated with researchers from the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine and Oregon Health & Science University to examine evidence on the effectiveness and harms of contraceptive counseling interventions. The group’s findings were recently published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
The team found that enhanced contraceptive care and provision interventions increased the use of contraception without reducing condom use or increasing rates of sexually transmitted infections. In an accompanying editorial, the Annals Editor-in-Chief noted that these findings, “have important implications for all clinicians who care for patients with childbearing potential.”