The effect of a theory-based intervention to decrease unwanted pregnancy

Objective (s): Withdrawal could increase the unwanted pregnancy. The aim of this study was to determine effect of a Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) in changing withdrawal contraception use to decrease unwanted pregnancy. This study had three phases. The first and the second phases provided an educational program based on TPB and SCT. Participants recruited from women who were attending to clinics of public health services in Tehran, Iran. Criteria for inclusion were: current withdrawal users, married, sexually active, did not intend to be pregnant, no identifiable risks to the participants beyond OCs use. The intervention group received an educational program while the control group received routine procedures. Evaluation was performed before, one and three months after intervention. The data was analyzed by SPSS software Repeated measure, Wilcoxon and t test were used to analyze the data. The results showed that after intervention there were significant differences in the mean behavioral and normative beliefs scores between two groups indicating an increase in believing to use oral contraception. In addition, there was significant association between intention to use OCP and perceived behavioral control. The current study provided evidence for the effectiveness of a belief-based intervention for preventing pregnancy prevention.