ABSTRACT

In recent decades, women’s use of contraception has evolved. Women not only utilize contraceptives to prevent pregnancy, but also to manage menstruation and other factors related to their personal agency. Despite an abundance of available contraceptive options, many women struggle to navigate and address their contraceptive needs. A hundred and thirty-four female participants responded to an open-ended questionnaire about contraceptive messages and decision making in an online survey. Using Uncertainty Management Theory as a framework, we illustrate how the women make sense of and manage uncertainty from multiple contraceptive messages. Results highlighted the absence of desired information, and identified messages that women wish they had received from healthcare providers and others. Our findings suggest that women’s understanding of contraceptives’ side effects is a communicative process in which anecdotal evidence is often treated as medical fact and healthcare providers are viewed as ineffective and dismissive in relaying and addressing information about contraception. In the absence of satisfying healthcare interactions, women seek information elsewhere to make their contraceptive choices.

摘要

近几十年来，女性对避孕的使用发生了变化。女性不仅使用避孕药具来预防怀孕，还使用避孕药具来管理月经和其他与她们个人能动性相关的因素。尽管有大量可用的避孕选择，但许多女性仍在努力寻找和解决她们的避孕需求。一百三十四名女性参与者在一项在线调查中回答了一份关于避孕信息和决策的开放式问卷。使用不确定性管理理论作为框架，我们说明了女性如何从多种避孕信息中理解和管理不确定性。结果强调缺乏所需信息，并确定了女性希望从医疗保健提供者和其他人那里收到的信息。我们的研究结果表明，女性对避孕药具副作用的理解是一个交流过程，在这个过程中，轶事证据通常被视为医学事实，而医疗保健提供者在传递和处理有关避孕的信息方面被视为无效和不屑一顾。在缺乏令人满意的医疗保健互动的情况下，女性会从其他地方寻求信息来做出避孕选择。