BIO

My name is Tarek Dahman. I am a second-year public health major and pre-medical student at FSU. I plan on working in the medical field in a clinical specialty, however, I am undecided as to which specialty. I chose public health as my major because I feel more compelled to do population-based research and I enjoy understanding disease transmission pathways and modes of prevention. I was born and raised in Weston, Florida, but I am originally from Syria, and I visit each summer. I look forward to continuing global work with an emphasis on the public health of the arab world.

Literacy Gaps of Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARCs)

Abstract

The United States has the highest percentage of unintended pregnancies among developed countries at an inflated 45%. Unintended pregnancies have been shown to be correlated to risks including the mother experiencing postpartum depression and the child scoring lower than average on development tests. These unintended pregnancies are typically the result from the misuse or failure of contraceptives. The most commonly used contraceptive methods (oral contraceptive pills and condoms) have around a 10-20% failure rate whereas less commonly used long-active reversible contraceptives (LARCs) have around a 0.8% failure rate. Previous research found that women who obtained and currently use LARCs had experienced multiple barriers before beginning their LARC use. The goal of this study is to examine the most prominent barrier, which was healthcare providers passing recommendations to patients that were not supported by clinical contraceptive guidelines. This barrier is why LARCs are less commonly utilized compared to other, less efficient modes of contraceptives. To gain a better understanding of healthcare providers’ health literacy of contraceptive guidelines, quantitative surveys were sent to hundreds of OB/GYN, family medicine, internal medicine, and pediatric residency programs across the country. Residents were targeted for this study as they will be the future generation of healthcare providers that will pass recommendations regarding LARCs. These surveys will consist of 30 questions regarding contraceptive guidelines that will take 10-15 minutes to complete. The data received in the surveys will be interpreted through statistics software (SPSS) in order to assess and compare residents’ understanding of guidelines.

Keywords: LARC, Contraceptive, Literacy