Immediate recall of oral contraceptive instructions: Implications for providers

OBJECTIVE: The object of the study was to determine the patient characteris tics associated with inadequate recall of oral contraceptive pill-taking in structions. STUDY DESIGN: Sexually active women aged 13 to 40 years (n = 150) attending university-based family planning clinics completed anonymous self-report m easures that assessed demographic and reproductive characteristics, underst anding of pill-taking instructions, and contraceptive compliance. Logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with inadequate recall for the sample, stratified by minority versus nonminority women. RESULTS: Minority women with inadequate recall were almost 6 times more lik ely than minority women with adequate recall not to know the name of the pr escribed oral contraceptive and were 3 times more likely to have less than a high school education. In addition there were 1-fold and 2-fold increases in likelihood of inadequate recall as certainty of pill-taking instruction s and general oral contraceptive knowledge, respectively, decreased. Inadeq uate recall was associated with poor compliance. CONCLUSION: Women with inadequate recall may be identified at the conclusio n of their visit so that interventions to enhance their pill-taking skills can be provided.