Women's Health Issues
Volume 17, Issue 1 , Pages 52-60, January 2007

Intervening with couples:

Assessing Contraceptive Outcomes in a Randomized Pregnancy and HIV/STD Risk Reduction Intervention Trial

  • Joan Marie Kraft, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Division of Reproductive Health, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Joan Marie Kraft, PhD, Division of Reproductive Health, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway NE, MS K34, Atlanta GA, 30341.
    • ,
  • S. Marie Harvey, DrPH, MPH

      Affiliations

    • Department of Public Health, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon
    • ,
  • Sheryl Thorburn, PhD, MPH

      Affiliations

    • Department of Public Health, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon
    • ,
  • Jillian T. Henderson, PhD, MPH

      Affiliations

    • Bixby Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California
    • ,
  • Samuel F. Posner, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Division of Reproductive Health, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia
    • ,
  • Christine Galavotti, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Division of Reproductive Health, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia

Received 12 December 2005; received in revised form 12 October 2006; accepted 19 October 2006.

Purpose

This study assessed the contraceptive outcomes of the Partners Against Risk-Taking: A Networking, Evaluation and Research Study (PARTNERS). The PARTNERS project developed and evaluated a 3-session intervention to help young women and their male partners reduce their risk for unintended pregnancies, and HIV and other STDs.

Methods

Participating couples were randomly assigned to the 3-session intervention or a 1-session information session for couples. Changes in psychosocial factors related to women’s motivation to use contraception and relationship factors were assessed using analysis of variance with repeated measures. Changes in contraceptive outcomes were assessed using logistic regression with generalized estimating equations.

Results

Comparison of changes from baseline to 6 months among women who participated in the 3-session intervention with those who participated in the information session showed no significant intervention effect on reports of contraceptive use. Instead, contraceptive use increased in both conditions. Both groups exhibited similar changes in the psychosocial variable measuring the importance of avoiding pregnancy and in the relationship variable measuring women’s participation in contraceptive decision making. Members of the intervention group, however, showed greater improvement in the psychosocial variable measuring positive expectations pertaining to partner’s support for contraception.

Conclusion

These findings raise questions for further investigation to better understand couples behavior, and whether and how to intervene with couples.

 

 Conducted as part of the PARTNERS Project, which was supported by cooperative agreements #U30/CCU 915062-1-0 and #U30/CCU 615166-1-0 with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

PII: S1049-3867(06)00116-2

doi:10.1016/j.whi.2006.10.006

Women's Health Issues
Volume 17, Issue 1 , Pages 52-60, January 2007

Article Tools