Exploring adolescents current sources and learning preferences about contraception in a US paediatric emergency department

In the USA, adolescents who seek care in emergency departments have been shown to be a group at increased risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections because of misuse or non-use of contraception.1 Schools are often their traditional source of sexual health education, but school curricula vary greatly, are not always medically accurate, and may focus on abstinence-only education.2 In addition, adolescents are less likely to have primary care providers and thus may miss opportunities to receive contraceptive counselling,the emergency department being their only contact with a clinician.1 Several studies have shown that adolescent females are interested in being educated about contraception in emergency departments.3 4 We assessed male and female adolescents’ current and most trusted sources of contraception education, as well as their interest and preferences for contraception education in the emergency department.

We surveyed a convenience sample of English-speaking…

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