As an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ottawa, my research program is dedicated to conducting policy relevant and action- and intervention-oriented research on comprehensive reproductive health issues. My research includes multi-methods social science research and health policy analysis and I work at the local, provincial, national, and international ...Read more >

In 2012, the District of Columbia (DC) passed a law authorizing the Boards of Pharmacy and Medicine to develop regulations allowing pharmacists, through collaborative practice agreements with healthcare providers, to prescribe hormonal birth control. Advocates for Youth played a central role in developing and promoting this law, with the goal of increasing contraceptive access among ...Read more >

The etonogestrel (ENG) contraceptive implant is one of the most effective methods and US usage is increasing. We recently demonstrated that concomitant use of the ENG implant and carbamazepine, a known cytochrome P-450 enzyme inducer, causes significant decreases in serum ENG levels with most (80%) to below the level needed for ovulatory suppression (

Background: Oportunidades is a large conditional cash transfer (CCT) program in Mexico. This analysis sought to measure program effects on pregnancy and contraceptive use among young rural women beyond the effects of education. Methods: We used three waves of the ENADID, a population-based survey, to describe trends in outcomes and education among women 15 to ...Read more >

Our team’s goal is to strengthen human resources for abortion care. Outside of abortion, there is extensive literature documenting need for supportive interventions for workers in helping professions. Abortion providers face highly unique stresses, including being targets of stigma, violence, harassment, and restrictive legislation. To date, the focus of human resources for abortion care has ...Read more >

Americans have an “undermet” need for contraception: While most have access to modern methods, not all use a method that may be ideal for their particular life circumstance, resulting in substantial numbers of unintended pregnancies. The use of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC), such as IUDs and implants, has been identified as one potentially effective way ...Read more >

Our project aims to develop a psychometrically valid and reliable scale to use in research and in programmatic evaluation to improve clinical care. During the reporting period, project activities focused on planning and launching the multi-phase study, which has both qualitative and quantitative stages. We first developed the study protocol, and then initiated the study: ...Read more >

Objective: We developed and tested MiLARC—a theory-guided, web-based public health intervention designed to deliver accurate, targeted, and comprehensive LARC information in an engaging population-level platform. Methods: Informed by findings from our broader ongoing project to investigate and address multi-level barriers to LARC, we used a theory-guided approach to adapt an existing web-based contraceptive education intervention ...Read more >

Objectives: Increased use of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) could significantly reduce unintended pregnancies, but less than 10% of US women currently use IUDs or implants. A critically understudied aspect of LARC methods and contraception more generally is their sexual acceptability, or their effects on women’s sexuality, which could influence continuation rates and marketing efforts. Methods: ...Read more >

Objectives: to enumerate facilitators of and barriers to the provision of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) in community health centers (CHCs), in order to identify potential points of intervention to better support provision of these methods. Methods: Focus groups discussions (with clinicians and staff who have direct patient contact) and key informant interviews (with administrators) at ...Read more >