UCSF College Health Study on Contraceptive Training and Education at Community Colleges

UCSF College Health Study: A Cluster Randomized Trial on Contraceptive Training and Education at Community Colleges

The purpose of this study is to measure whether a training and education intervention for clinic staff and young women aged 18-25 on contraceptive methods, including intrauterine devices (IUDs) and the implant, will result in greater contraceptive knowledge and access among students in community colleges.

In the US, young women aged 18-25 years have limited knowledge of contraception or pregnancy risks and often experience challenges in accessing reproductive health care. They have little familiarity with the full range of contraceptives, particularly long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) including the IUD and implant. This campus-level, multiple component intervention provides evidence-based contraceptive training and education to clinic staff and students in this age group attending community colleges in California and Texas.

Inclusion Criteria:

This study involves two groups of human subjects: students at 28 community colleges and staff at the student health center and referral clinics.

Students must be:

• Female;
• Age 18-25;
• Speaks English;
• Sexually active (vaginal sex with a male partner) in the last year;
• Not currently pregnant;
• Does not want to become pregnant in the next 12 months;
• At risk of pregnancy (including not sterilized);
• Enrolled in the current term at the participating community college;
• First-time college students, meaning no college enrollment prior to the current academic year; and
• Willing to be contacted by email and telephone over the next 12 months.

Clinic staff must:

• Be employed by a participating clinic; and
• Offer clinical care, counseling or education for contraception at the clinic.

For colleges to be eligible to be study sites, they must:

• Be an accredited community college;
• Not share health center staff with a participating college site;
• Have no active LARC intervention; and
• Enroll students ages 18-25 years.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Students and clinic staff will be excluded if they do not meet the inclusion criteria.