Abstract
Objectives
Legislation allows adolescents to access comprehensive contraceptive care; however,
provider practices remain unclear. We examined predictors of provider knowledge and
comfort surrounding the provision of contraceptive care to adolescents.
Methods
We mailed a survey to Illinois contraceptive providers (n = 251). Study outcomes include 1) knowledge of adolescent consent laws, 2) comfort
asking for time alone with adolescents, 3) comfort providing contraception to adolescents
without parental consent, and 4) comfort providing long-acting reversible contraception
(LARC) to adolescents without parental consent. Using multivariable logistic regression,
we estimated adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
Results
Most providers are knowledgeable of consent laws (90%) and report being comfortable
asking for time alone with adolescents (94%) and comfortable providing contraception
to adolescents without parental consent (88%). Having a large proportion of patients
who are eligible for family planning services was associated with increased comfort
asking for time alone with adolescents (aOR, 7.03; 95% CI, 1.58–31.3) and providing
contraception to adolescents (aOR, 4.0; 95% CI, 1.4–11.1). Only one-half (54%) were
comfortable providing LARC methods to adolescents, with higher comfort among providers
who: received more than 2 days of formal family planning training (aOR, 2.77; 95%
CI, 1.2–6.2), specialized in obstetrics-gynecology (aOR, 5.64; 95% CI, 2.1–15.1),
and had a patient population with more than 50% patients from minoritized racial/ethnic
groups (aOR, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.2–6.6).
Conclusions
Although knowledge of consent laws was high, gaps remain. Only one-half of our sample
indicated comfort with the provision of LARC methods without parental consent. Additional
efforts to increase provider comfort with all contraceptive methods and training on
adolescent-centered practices may be required to meet the needs of adolescent patients.
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Biography
Amy L. Moore, MSc, is the Director of Research Implementation at Ci3 at the University of Chicago. Her work focuses on increasing access to reproductive health care.
Biography
Lee Hasselbacher, JD, is a Research Assistant Professor at Ci3 at the University of Chicago. Her policy-related research covers topics such as access to contraception and abortion, health care reform, religious refusals in health care, and consent and confidentiality for young people.
Biography
Crystal P. Tyler, PhD, MPH, is the Executive Director of Ci3 at the University of Chicago who has extensive expertise in maternal and reproductive health.
Biography
Anthony E. Rodriguez-Ortiz, BA, is a researcher in sexual and reproductive health with expertise in public policy and quantitative analyses.
Biography
Melissa Gilliam, MD, MPH, is the founder of Ci3 at the University of Chicago and has extensive expertise in adolescent sexual and reproductive health care.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 09, 2022
Accepted:
July 15,
2022
Received in revised form:
June 24,
2022
Received:
November 5,
2021
Footnotes
Funding Statement: Supported by the Pritzker Community Health Initiative.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Jacobs Institute of Women's Health, George Washington University. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
