October 2002

Welcome to Skills For Youth! The skill described this month is:

Getting Contraception

Many pregnancy prevention programs provide teens with important information about a variety of contraceptive methods. But most programs stop short of teaching teenagers how to actually access contraception. Many youth, as well as adults, avoid going to a health care provider or clinic to get contraception because they don't know what to expect. The youth skill presented here helps young people find out what to expect when they go to a family planning clinic to get contraception.

This youth skill covers three important steps involved in getting contraceptives:

There are many questions that a young person will want to ask clinic staff before visiting. This activity gives youth an opportunity to practice using the phone to get information about clinic services and to prepare themselves for an upcoming visit (Step #3). Before making any calls, it's best to have youth brainstorm all the questions that may be answered over the phone. These questions might include:

• What contraceptive methods are available for teens at the clinic? (e.g. condoms, pills)
  
  
• What is the procedure (e.g. required exam or consultation) for getting these methods?
  
  
• Are male and female health care providers available?
  
  
• Can a friend, partner or family member accompany you on your appointment?
  
  
• What are the costs involved and acceptable methods of payment?
  
  
• What is the clinic's policy for client confidentiality? (Most states have laws that clinics can't disclose information about clients, including whether or not a client visits the clinic, without written consent.)
  
  
• What is the clinic schedule (e.g., days and hours the clinic is open)?
  
  
• How long does it take to get an appointment?
  
  
• How long does an appointment usually take?
  
  
• Are follow-up appointments necessary?
  
  
• Where is the clinic located?
  

Calling more than one clinic may also be a good idea so that youth can compare available services, costs, relative convenience of location, and teen friendliness. Have one or more telephone directories with yellow pages for youth to look through to find the clinic section in their local area. Note resources including public health clinics, school-based/linked clinics, community health clinics, and Planned Parenthood clinics, which usually offer family planning services, reasonable costs and/or services especially designed for teens.

Ideally, you should pre-select at least three conveniently located clinics from which youth can choose. If there are only one or two from which to choose, have the youth do some of this activity in groups of two or three in order to control the number of youth contacting each clinic. It is also a good idea to contact the clinics beforehand to explain the activity and elicit their participation in the exercise. You may also want to clarify the answers to some of the questions during your pre-lesson contacts with clinics.

For a handy checklist of information to gather when calling a clinic, see the Visit or Call a Clinic Worksheet.

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To get to a clinic, teens often need access to transportation. Whether they drive themselves or use other means of transportation, they should have a plan for how to get there. This step helps youth plan their way to the clinic, using a bus, train, car, or bike or going on foot.

Once youth have identified which clinic they want to visit, they can figure out the route to get there. Having the phone number and address of the clinic is a good place to start. Calling the clinic (as described in Step #1) is usually a good way to get directions. But when clinic staff are not helpful with directions, having youth plot their route can be a confidence-building exercise. In some locations, it is best to find a map so the youth can mark the route from their homes or schools to the clinic. Web sites like mapquest or yahoo.maps can also be helpful for not only marking a route but also getting step-by-step directions from specific locations.

The teens can then decide what means of transportation will work best for them. If they use a bus or train, they may need to find out:

If youth decide to use a car or bike, or if they decide to walk, they should be able to describe the route they will take to the clinic. This may mean writing down all street names and freeway numbers and which way to turn along the way. If there are landmarks that cue turns (like a fast food restaurant, gas station or park), these can also be written down. Again, a map with the destination and route marked will be especially helpful to have on hand, as well as the address and phone number of the clinic.

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Remind youth that clinics are professional places and that they should use their best behavior. Also remind them that they should keep to themselves the names of anyone they happen to see at the clinic.

Once at the clinic, teens may feel more comfortable if they have prompts to guide their process. You can create a worksheet for them to organize the information they collect or use the How Will You Avoid Pregnancy? Worksheet. Tell the youth that the worksheet will help them review and personalize the information that they will collect. Explain that this kind of worksheet should be for their use only. It should not be used for group discussion and should not be reviewed by anyone or turned in to the teacher or facilitator.

The following are suggested questions to include on the worksheet:

To help you reach a conclusion, show which methods seem best for you by circling the numbers below:

Tell the youth to look for and bring back some literature available from the clinic. This could be pamphlets or flyers that describe the services available.

In some communities, individual visits to a clinic may not be practical because of distance, the limited availability of clinics, or teens' concerns about confidentiality. Some clinics may also be unwilling to receive so many phone calls from youth. Since person-to-person contact with health care providers is especially important, it may be better to consider alternative activities, which include:

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Remind youth that knowing where to go, how to get there, and how to get the best contraception are important aspects of responsible sexual behavior. Explain that you realize they may not need this information yet, but they will most likely need it at some point in their lives. They may also know someone who needs the information now.

Tell the youth that a person-to-person visit to talk to a health care provider is the best resource for information about contraception. The visit also prepares them to get and use contraception as soon as they are ready to have sex, not after.

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