Opioid use in the United States has continued to increase over the past few decades, including among reproductive-aged women.  Substance use disorders can affect women’s reproductive and sexual health in multiple ways, ranging from irregular menses to sexually transmitted diseases, sexual abuse and unplanned pregnancy.  Several barriers to obtaining reproductive health care have been identified ...Read more >

A qualitative research study evaluating current role of male partners in contraceptive decision-making and identification of future interventions to increase male partner involvement and support of LARC methods.

Background: There are a growing number of adolescent girls involved in the juvenile justice system, including those detained in juvenile detention centers. These girls tend to have higher rates of sexual activity, sexually transmitted infections, and unintended pregnancy, and less access to routine health care.  Study purpose: We used principles of patient-centered care to explore ...Read more >

We aim to understand reasons adolescent females accessing emergency contraception in school-based health centers utilize emergency contraception, non-emergenct contraeption, and condoms. We will utilize interviews and surveys to assess contraceptve decision making and beliefs surrounding pregnancy risk and emergency contraceptive efficacy. We plan to assess rates of use of emergent and non-emergent contraception through a chart reviews. We ...Read more >

We conducted a multisite, double blind, randomized clinical trial to assess the utility of nitrous oxide for pain relief in early second trimester abortion. This study randomized participants to receive either inhaled nitrous oxide or intravenous (IV) sedation with fentanyl and midazolam. We included women desiring abortion at gestational ages between 12 weeks 0 days ...Read more >

Obesity is a major public health problem in the United States, and the number of bariatric procedures has exponentially increased in the last decade concordant with this epidemic. Bariatric surgery affords several important long-term benefits, but for women of reproductive age there may be complications that are of particular importance to pregnancies conceived in the ...Read more >

Objective: To compare pain scores during cervical dilator placement prior to dilation and evacuation with patient-administered vaginal lidocaine gel versus lidocaine paracervical block (PCB). Study design: We conducted an unblinded randomized trial of women ≥18 years of age undergoing surgical abortion at ≥16 weeks’ gestation in two outpatient clinics. We randomized participants to receive self-administered lidocaine gel ...Read more >

Background: Negative body image contributes to negative health behaviors, particularly eating disorders. In sexual health, women with negative body image are less likely to use a condom than women with positive body image. However, there is little research on how body image influences use of the various birth control methods available to young women. Methods: ...Read more >

Research shows that at least 86% of college students have reported intercourse at some point in their life and 68% report current sexual activity[.  This group has also been shown to engage in more high-risk sexual behavior including frequent partner change, sex without condoms and sex without the use of birth control.  The Surgeon General’s ...Read more >

The perinatal period is an important time to counsel patients and initiate a highly effective method of postpartum contraception. While the evidence of safety, effectiveness, and long-term continuation of postpartum contraception is established, less is known about the best approaches to counsel patients about their options for postpartum contraception. Within women’s health care and preventative ...Read more >