Profile and opinions of the female Persona user in The Netherlands
Janssen CJ,van Lunsen RH
Published August 16, 2000The European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care : the Official Journal of the European Society of Contraception, 5(2), 141-146
Janssen, C. J., & van Lunsen, R. H. (2000). Profile and opinions of the female Persona user in The Netherlands. The European journal of contraception & reproductive health care : the official journal of the European Society of Contraception, 5(2), 141-146. https://doi.org/10.1080/13625180008500388
Janssen CJ, van Lunsen RH. Profile and opinions of the female Persona user in The Netherlands. Eur J Contracept Reprod Health Care. 2000;5(2):141-146. doi:10.1080/13625180008500388
Janssen, C. J., and Rik HW van Lunsen. "Profile and opinions of the female Persona user in The Netherlands." The European journal of contraception & reproductive health care : the official journal of the European Society of Contraception, vol. 5, no. 2, 2000, pp. 141-146.
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Department of Sexology and Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynecology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
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Abstract
Objectives
The primary objective of this study was to investigate the profile of the Dutch Persona user and her opinion about this relatively new way of natural birth control. The results of the study were used to draw conclusions for the suitability for Persona as a contraceptive method.
Method
Data from 137 users of the device were obtained from structured questionnaires.
Results
The 'Persona woman' is typically in a steady relationship, highly educated and has an above-average income. She wants to have a contraceptive method with no side-effects and desires children in the future. She is therefore looking for information about her own cycle. It is remarkable that one in four women uses the system to help in planning a pregnancy instead of avoiding one.
Conclusions
Persona seems to be a welcome alternative for natural family planning and for couples who have no absolute negative attitude towards a(nother) child, but want to postpone their first pregnancy or to space pregnancies. The method is not reliable enough to be used as the only contraceptive method when a couple absolutely wants to prevent a pregnancy. Another conclusion that can be drawn is that the method improves fertility awareness.
This study has determined long-term continuation rates of clients who attended clinics of the New Zealand Association of Natural Family Planning and became autonomous users. It has also identified factors which might influence the continuation of NFP use. A total of 509 female subjects, 452 of them with their male partners, were enrolled in the study at the beginning of clinic teaching. Once autonomous they were sent questionnaires at 6-monthly intervals for a period of 24 months. Time out was allowed for pregnancy. The number of female subjects entering the 2-year follow-up phase of the study was 406 (79.8%). Of these 164 completed 2 years of use with 102 (20% of study entrants) using NFP and 62 (12.2%) using fertility awareness in combination with a barrier method. Subjects for whom NFP was their first family planning method, who were Catholic or who gave religion as their reason for choosing NFP were more likely to continue long-term use. The majority of subjects (> 90%) were highly satisfied with NFP use, with the most common reasons for satisfaction being self-awareness, freedom from drugs, naturalness and effectiveness. The difficulties reported related to abstinence and cycle interpretation.
For 10 years, a prospective study has been taking place in Germany to examine the use of natural family planning (NFP). As natural methods are behavioral methods, use-effectiveness, acceptability and continuation rates are very much influenced by patterns of sexual behavior. Therefore we performed an analysis of the sexual behavior of NFP users. Out of the data base of 1211 clients and 12,591 cycles we could identify a group of 300 women, all NFP beginners, with 5900 contraceptive cycles, who contributed at least 12 cycles with reliable recording of their sexual activity. Different groups were analyzed with methods of analysis of variance and regression models to find out significant differences in their sexual behavior with respect to sociodemographic structure and time of use. Nearly half of all the women systematically combine the fertility awareness part of NFP with other family planning methods. They use barriers in more than 60% of their cycles. The other half never or only in about 7% of their cycles use additional barrier methods. The latter show a clear decrease in barrier use in the course of time, whereas the frequent barrier users constantly combine the advantages of two family planning methods. Regarding the frequency of intercourse they are the sexually more active ones and show distinct sociodemographic characteristics. We could confirm the existence of three groups of NFP users, which differ significantly in their use of NFP as a family planning method. Despite these differences the low pregnancy rates indicate the conscious and risk-related sexual behavior of the group members.
In response to the lack of analyses of natural family planning (NFP) users in the UK a questionnaire was randomly distributed to teachers and users of this method in England and Wales in 1984-85. 464 of the 1000 questionnaires distributed were returned; the majority of respondents were married couples in the 25-34-year age group. Data on the demographic characteristics of these respondents countered the widely held belief that NFP users are predominantly Roman Catholics with large families. Only 59% of female respondents and 35% of male respondents were Catholic; moreover 65% had 2 pregnancies or fewer with an average number of 2.1. Specific NFP methods selected by study respondents were: symptothermal (67%) Billings ovulation method (21%) calendar temperature (8%) and rhythm (3%). 52% reported previous oral contraceptive (OC) use. 260 respondents were using NFP only while 204 were combining NFP with the use of another method predominantly condoms. The primary sources of information about NFP were: friends (37%) the church (27%) and magazines/newspapers (17%); 74% were taught NFP by a trained instructor. The mean frequency of sexual intercourse per menstrual period--6.9 among exclusive NFP users and 7.9 among those who combined NFP with artificial methods--did not differ from that in the general population. 31% of female respondents and 20% of male respondents reported no problems with the requirement for abstinence during the fertile period; 78% said they had experienced no psychosexual problems as a result of NFP use. There were 179 unplanned pregnancies reported only 25 of which were method-related. An additional 34 pregnancies were regarded as resulting from inadequate training especially about NFP use post-OC postpartum and premenopausal.
Pearson JT et al., 2021·Eur J Contracept Reprod Health Care·Free to read
Digital fertility awareness-based contraception offers an alternative choice for women who do not wish to use hormonal or invasive methods. The aim of this study was to investigate the key demographics of current users of the Natural Cycles app and assess the contraceptive outcomes of women preventing pregnancy in a UK cohort of women. This was a real world observational prospective observational study. The typical-use effectiveness of the method was calculated using both 13-cycle cumulative probability of pregnancy (life table analysis) and Pearl Index for the entire study cohort. Perfect-use PI was calculated using data from cycles where sexual intercourse during the fertile window was marked as protected and no unprotected sex was recorded on fertile days. 12,247 women were included in the study and contributed an average of 9.9 months of data for a total of 10,066 woman years of exposure. The mean age of the cohort was 30, mean BMI 23.4, the majority were in a stable relationship (83.2%) and had a university degree or higher (83%). The one year typical use, PI was 6.1 (95% CI: 5.6, 6.6) and with perfect-use was 2.0 (95% CI: 1.3, 2.8). 13 cycle pregnancy probability was 7.1%. This is the first study which describes the use of a digital contraceptive by women in the UK. It describes the demographics of users and how they correlate with the apps effectiveness at preventing pregnancy.
Fertility Awareness › Use and Experience › User Satisfaction
PMID 10943577 10943577 DOI 10.1080/13625180008500388 10.1080/13625180008500388 Janssen et al. 2000, Janssen 2000
Cite this article
Janssen, C. J., & van Lunsen, R. H. (2000). Profile and opinions of the female Persona user in The Netherlands. The European journal of contraception & reproductive health care : the official journal of the European Society of Contraception, 5(2), 141-146. https://doi.org/10.1080/13625180008500388
Janssen CJ, van Lunsen RH. Profile and opinions of the female Persona user in The Netherlands. Eur J Contracept Reprod Health Care. 2000;5(2):141-146. doi:10.1080/13625180008500388
Janssen, C. J., and Rik HW van Lunsen. "Profile and opinions of the female Persona user in The Netherlands." The European journal of contraception & reproductive health care : the official journal of the European Society of Contraception, vol. 5, no. 2, 2000, pp. 141-146.
