2021/09/20 by Angela Cooke-Jackson, Angela Cooke‐Jackson, Valerie Rubinsky +1
Health Professions · Medicine · Psychology · #Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health #Attachment and Relationship Dynamics #Reproductive Health and Contraception
paper · doi:10.1080/10410236.2021.1980249
openalex publication_date 2021/09/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
In recent decades, women's use of contraception has evolved. Women not only utilize contraceptives to prevent pregnancy, but also to manage menstruation and other factors related to their personal agency. Despite an abundance of available contraceptive options, many women struggle to navigate and address their contraceptive needs. A hundred and thirty-four female participants responded to an open-ended questionnaire about contraceptive messages and decision making in an online survey. Using Uncertainty Management Theory as a framework, we illustrate how the women make sense of and manage uncertainty from multiple contraceptive messages. Results highlighted the absence of desired information, and identified messages that women wish they had received from healthcare providers and others. Our findings suggest that women's understanding of contraceptives' side effects is a communicative process in which anecdotal evidence is often treated as medical fact and healthcare providers are viewed as ineffective and dismissive in relaying and addressing information about contraception. In the absence of satisfying healthcare interactions, women seek information elsewhere to make their contraceptive choices.