Review on Adolescent Contraceptives - Article Example

According to the authors, adolescents should use the dual method of contraception to increase the efficacy of preventing unplanned pregnancy. Condoms were the contraceptive method preferred by adolescents in Benin. However, the study also reported low uptake of contraception methods among most adolescents (Osaikhuwuomwan & Abieyuwa, 2013).

Emergency contraceptives are the other commonly used contraceptive measures. According to Hickey & White (2014), most college students are aware of emergency contraception and its availability over the counter. However, the researchers also cited that there is low confidentiality in the use of emergency contraception as a method to prevent unplanned pregnancies among students (p. 30). The level of awareness of emergency contraception and access to pills over the counter was high among adolescents in San Francisco Bay (Yen et al., 2014). Both studies recognize that teenagers and youths choose to use emergency contraceptives because they are aware of the pregnancy risk and desire to prevent any form of unintended pregnancy. However, Yen et al. (2014) argue that adolescents lack enough knowledge on emergency contraceptive pills and recommend more education on the ECP among these young people to alleviate this misconception.

Contrary to these three studies, other scholars attempted to investigate the relationship between contraceptive use, childbearing and future success in life.  Richards & Sheeder (2014) conducted the study and found that most women felt that childbearing would not affect their educational achievement (p. 303). The perception poses a challenge to conventional pregnancy prevention counselling approaches that use contraceptive use as a motivator for women to avoid pregnancy. Most conventional counselling methods urge women to use contraceptives as the primary means to prevent pregnancy. The idea is to motivate women not to bear children at early stages in their lives to secure a bright future. However, as Richards & Sheeder (2014) found out, not all women believe that the use of contraceptives to prevent childbearing has any effect on their future achievements (p. 304).

Confidentiality emerges as an important issue among adolescents concerning the use of contraceptives. Ensuring patient confidentiality is a crucial measure in patient-centred practices to care for teens (Dalby, Hayon, & Carlson, 2014). Similarly, Osaikhuwuomwan & Abieyuwa (2013) agree that ensuring confidentiality and providing private access to condoms would help improve the uptake of contraception and contribute to reducing adolescent pregnancy (p. 60). Heath care providers for youths should ensure they maintain confidentiality after clients visit the clinics. Regarding adolescent consent and confidentiality, different states have varying rules and laws. Such complexity calls for healthcare providers to understand the state laws related to adolescent treatment and confidentiality care (Chaisson & Shore, 2014). In general, parental care is required when handling adolescents younger than 18 years. However, as Chaisson & Shore (2014) explain, some states allow for exceptions to the rule of parental care (p. 453). Confidentiality must be assured when handling issues of pregnancy in teens to ensure that one gains trust and allow the adolescents to be honest in disclosing personal information. Confidentiality and consent laws allow the teen patient to access personal information giving control over certain medical information to the adolescent (Chaisson & Shore, 2014).