FEASIBILITY OF A TELEPHONE FOLLOW-UP ON USE OF EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTIVE PILLS IN A COLLEGE HEALTH-CENTER

The authors examined the feasibility and effectiveness of a telephone follow-up procedure on use of emergency contraceptive pills (ECP) at a college health center. They made 264 telephone calls to the 97 women who had received ECPs during one 16-week academic semester and were su ccessful in reaching 65 (67%) of the women, who responded with informa tion about their experiences with ECPs. The women demonstrated a high rate of adherence to the medical regimen and reported very few side ef fects from ECPs; a majority said that ECPs did not affect their abilit y to carry out daily activities. On weighing the relative absence of p roblems following ECP distribution against the time, effort, and cost required to reach just over two thirds of the women, the researchers c oncluded that an ECP telephone follow-up procedure was neither cost-ef fective nor particularly useful.