Contraceptive choice for women with chronic disease: a qualitative approach
Synopsis
Unintended pregnancy remains high in developed countries despite access to high quality sexual and reproductive services. Some evidence exists that women with chronic diseases experience unintended pregnancy at significantly higher rates than women without chronic disease. For these women, unintended pregnancies are associated with serious adverse maternal and perinatal
outcomes including, congenital abnormalities, pre-term labour, spontaneous abortion, and foetal death. Optimised preconception care and reproductive life planning is critical to the prevention of unintended pregnancies and reduction in pregnancy-related complications in women with chronic diseases. Little information exists in the Australian context. The aim of this project is to understand how women in their prime child-bearing years (and their partners) negotiate contraceptive decision-making and reproductive life planning in the context of chronic disease.