Odeblad, E. (1993). Natural family planning. Demand is increasing. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 307(6915), 1359. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.307.6915.1359-b
Odeblad E. Natural family planning. Demand is increasing. BMJ (Clinical research ed.). 1993;307(6915):1359. doi:10.1136/bmj.307.6915.1359-b
Odeblad, E. "Natural family planning. Demand is increasing." BMJ (Clinical research ed.), vol. 307, no. 6915, 1993, pp. 1359.
Author concludes cervical mucus is reliable with accredited teaching
A researcher in medical biophysics at a Swedish university concludes that cervical mucus is a reliable fertility indicator for most women who are taught by a qualified, accredited teacher. The 1993 BMJ letter draws on more than 40 years of mucus research. Demand for ovulation method teachers in Sweden has risen steadily since 1988.
Key Findings
After more than four decades studying cervical mucus, the author regards it as a simple, easily perceivable and dependable fertility sign for most women once a qualified, accredited teacher has instructed them.
A collaborator of John and Evelyn Billings noted in 1977 that the author's mucus types fit the sequence of mucus changes the ovulation method uses. The groups worked independently.
The author has taught the ovulation method to 826 women and couples, some seeking to avoid and some to achieve pregnancy. His university courses since 1988 have produced 250 accredited teachers.
Demand for teachers of the ovulation method in Sweden has grown steadily since 1988, especially among young people. Most of its users and teachers there are non-Catholics.
From his experience, the author considers strong motivation and qualified teaching the two most important factors in whether the ovulation method is acceptable to users and effective at preventing pregnancy.
Interpretation
The article is a letter to the editor of the BMJ. The author's conclusions draw on more than 40 years of cervical mucus research and on teaching the ovulation method to 826 women and couples. Some of these learners wanted to avoid pregnancy and some wanted to achieve it. The author's experience points to motivation and qualified teaching as the leading influences on the method's acceptability and effectiveness in preventing pregnancy. The author reports that teaching offered to women who wish to become pregnant after longstanding infertility is often combined with treatment of gynecological disorders.
RRM Context
Fertility awareness-based methods teach couples to read cervical mucus and other signs of fertility, and the ovulation method is one of them. Restorative reproductive medicine uses this kind of charting. A woman's daily observations give her clinician a record of how her cycle works. The letter links teaching with care for gynecological disorders in longstanding infertility, a cause-based approach.
Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.
Clinician-reviewed comparison of fertility awareness-based methods (Billings, Creighton, Sensiplan, Marquette, Standard Days, apps). Every effectiveness figure cited and labeled by metric.
01dkvrg87 