Married Iranian Women's Knowledge, Attitude and Sense of Self-efficacy about Oral Contraceptives: Focus Group Discussion

BACKGROUND: Oral contraceptive pills effectiveness is lower in actual use than in clinical trials. The views of a group of married Iranian women were sought as a step toward improving the enhanced use of contraceptive pills. METHODS: Two focus groups of current pill users (n=13) and two focus groups of women not currently taking the pills (n=14) were held. Leaders trained facilitators; themes were identified from line-by-line analysis of transcripts. RESULTS: The majority of the participants were primary school graduates with a mean age of 34 years. Knowledge about mechanisms of action was low; some women wanted more information. Both users and non-users recognized positive and negative characteristics of contraceptive pills. For non-users, physical and emotional side-effects were the most important; and anecdotal information from their social network was more important. They tended to trust more traditional methods. For users, their own experience and more reality-based understanding of side-effects mitigated concerns about side-effects. They also felt that health clinic staff had a negative attitude toward the pills. A stronger expression of self-efficacy seemed to be associated with more positive attitudes toward oral contraceptive pills. CONCLUSION: Although Iran has had a government-funded family planning program since 1990, and pills are the single most popular modern contraceptive method, women who take OCPs can provide important information that could increase effective health education about their use.