Media Release
From: New Zealand Medical Association (NZMA)Key points
Adolescent use of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) in New Zealand is low, even though LARCs are recommended for this population.
We suggest a proactive LARC provision (PLP) approach to increase LARC uptake in the adolescent population.
We approached female adolescents in a focus group setting to see if they found this concept acceptable – they did find this concept acceptable when fully explained.
Adolescents have many different opinions about sexual health and contraceptives, and the adolescents in our study were interested to learn more about these topics.
ENGLISH SUMMARY
Some New Zealand adolescents are sexually active, and of those adolescents who are having sex, some are using contraceptive methods with high typical use failure rates, and some are using no contraception at all. Long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) are intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants, a group of contraceptive methods that are 22 times as effective as the pill. We suggested a provision model where adolescents would be offered LARCs proactively and consulted with four focus groups of female adolescents to assess whether they found this model to be acceptable. The adolescents were positive about this concept, and described a range of barriers that currently prevent them from accessing effective contraception.