We attempted to determine the level of knowledge about mechanisms of action of birth control methods in five representative samples of European women.
To assess the understanding of the mechanisms of action of birth control methods, women were asked to give their beliefs regarding at which stage(s) of human reproduction various methods of birth control may act (Table 2).
To respect the principles of informed consent, some women may need more education about what is known and not known about the mechanisms of action of birth control methods.
One issue that has received little attention but that may be important for some women is understanding or beliefs and intentions about mechanisms of action of birth control methods.
However, we are unaware of any study that has systematically investigated how women's beliefs about the beginning of human life and the mechanisms of action of birth control methods may relate to their intentions to use and actual use of specific birth control methods.
The primary purpose of our study was to determine among women beliefs about the mechanisms of action of birth control methods in relation to postfertilization effects and how this understanding related to their stated intentions to use methods of birth control, and reported use of specific methods.
In the meantime, we believe that it is important that physicians and health care providers who prescribe birth control methods be willing to educate women on the basic processes of human reproduction and what is known about the mechanisms of action of birth control methods.
Actions in support of birth registration include legal and policy reform; civil registry strategic planning, capacity building and awareness-raising; the integration of birth registration into other services, such as health and education; community-based registration and social mobilization campaigns.
We aimed to do this by assessing among women: 1) beliefs about the mechanisms of action of select birth control methods, 2) personal belief of when human life begins, 3) intention to use birth control methods that may exhibit postfertilization effects, and 4) reported actual use of specific birth control methods.
The questionnaire contained no information about the mechanism of action of any method of birth control.
