Women’s Ability to Self-Screen for COCs Compared to a Nurse’s Assessment: Drug Shops in Rural and Peri-Urban Tanzania

Methods Between July and October 2010, 50 trained nurses intercepted and interviewed 1651 literate female clients ages 18 to 39 who were seeking various services at ADDOs in peri-urban and rural areas in two Tanzania regions. The nurse presented these women with a poster that summarized contraindications for COCs based on the World Health Organization criteria and asked them to determine their eligibility, i.e., to self-screen for using COCs. The nurses took a health history of the women and made a determination of the women’s eligibility based on the same WHO criteria. The study compared the two groups and the reasons for their determination of eligibility. The study also measured blood pressure, which can be a contraindication, and compared average BP measurements to both the women’s and nurses assessments. Women’s Ability to Self-Screen for COCs Compared to a Nurse’s Assessment: Drug Shops in Rural and Peri-Urban Tanzania