Abstract
Background: Globally in 2021, an estimated 14% of adolescents gave birth before the age of 18. Access to emergency contraceptive pills (ECP) over-the-counter in community pharmacies varies between countries. Regulations on pharmacy provision of ECP has gradually changed, notably it is now available over-the-counter in the USA, UK and Australia. Insufficient research exists regarding adolescents' experiences, particularly with their knowledge, awareness, and access to ECP in community pharmacies. Aims/Objectives: To understand adolescents' experiences accessing emergency contraception pills in the community pharmacy setting. Methods: A rapid review of six databases was conducted to identify primary research articles published between 2013 and 2023 from all countries using keywords adolescent, emergency contraception, pharmacies, and experiences. Authors HN and BM independently used Covidence for title/abstract and full-text screening. Thematic analysis was undertaken to analyse extracted information from included studies. Findings: After identifying 1101 studies, 626 studies were screened by title and abstract. Five studies (four from USA, one from Switzerland) met the inclusion criteria for this review. Three themes were identified: knowledge and awareness, accessibility (convenience and privacy), and stigma. Four studies identified that adolescents have negative encounters when accessing ECP from community pharmacies due to insufficient knowledge and awareness among pharmacy staff and adolescents. According to three studies, pharmacy ECP access increases convenience but also privacy issues. Lastly, stigma associated with adolescent sexuality as well as both religious and moral objections of pharmacy staff were common topics in four studies acting as barriers in adolescent ECP access. Implications: There has been limited research on the experiences of adolescents accessing ECP. This review serves as a foundation for future research on dispensing ECP to adolescents in Australian pharmacy settings. The insights gained from this research can inform and improve policy and practices regarding ECP dispensing and improve access to this information for both adolescents and pharmacy staff.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 51 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Journal | Australian Journal of Primary Health |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 14 Aug 2023 |
| Event | Australasian Association for Academic Primary Care (AAAPC) Annual Research Conference 2023: Strengthening Primary Care: Networks, Collaborations and Infrastructure - University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia Duration: 17 Aug 2023 → 18 Aug 2023 https://www.publish.csiro.au/PY/PYv29n4abs (Published Abstracts) |