Advance Provision of Emergency Contraception and Adolescent Pregnancy; A Systematic Review of Research and Practice Recommendations

Although the overall pregnancy rate for adolescent females has decreased in the past few years, teen pregnancy continues to be an issue in the United States. Teen pregnancy adversely affects the mom, infant, and community. Emergency contraception (EC) is a contraceptive method adolescents can use to prevent pregnancy and when used correctly can prevent 95% of unintended pregnancies. Studies have shown adolescent females who receive advance provision of EC use it more frequently and sooner after unprotected intercourse than those who do not receive EC in advance. The aim of this article is to provide a systematic review to identify if advance provision of emergency contraception to adolescent females decreases pregnancy rates. A search was performed on MEDLINE, CINAHL, OVID, PubMed, and the Cochrane Library for research studies meeting inclusion criteria. Reference lists for systematic and metaanalysis studies were manually reviewed. A total of 16 articles were identified, with 6 studies meeting inclusion criteria. These studies were reviewed and evaluated using Stetler’s Evidence Ranking system. Stetler’s Quality Rating Tool was used to evaluate the level and quality of evidence of the randomized control trial studies. The QUOROM statement checklist for quality was used to evaluate the meta-analysis study, and the AMSTAR tool was used to measure the quality of the systematic review. Based on evidence from the analysis of the articles, advanced provision of emergency contraception to adolescents does not deter pregnancy rates. However, advance provision does increase the use of emergency contraception.