Hilgers, T. W. (1995). The Natural Methods for the Regulation of Fertility: The Authentic Alternative. The Linacre Quarterly, 62(1), 52-59. https://doi.org/10.1080/20508549.1995.11878291
Hilgers TW. The Natural Methods for the Regulation of Fertility: The Authentic Alternative. Linacre Q. 1995;62(1):52-59. doi:10.1080/20508549.1995.11878291
Hilgers, Thomas W. "The Natural Methods for the Regulation of Fertility: The Authentic Alternative." The Linacre Quarterly, vol. 62, no. 1, 1995, pp. 52-59.
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Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction, Omaha, Nebraska.027jqx654
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RRM Academy Synopsis
Creighton Model NFP is a standardized education and research system
In a 1992 address to a Pontifical Council for the Family summit, the author presents the Creighton Model as a standardized system joining natural family planning education, research and service. Since 1978 the program has trained 434 teachers and 41 medical consultants. The address also introduces NaProTechnology.
Study at a glance, published conference address of 434 teachers: Creighton Model is a standardized education, research and service system. Source: Hilgers TW, 1995, DOI 10.1080/20508549.1995.11878291.
Key Findings
The Creighton Model is an integrated education, research and service system that uses a standardized modification of the Billings' Ovulation Method within a Catholic ethical and moral service delivery framework.
Standardization tools include an introductory presentation and booklet, a follow-up form, the Picture Dictionary, the Vaginal Discharge Recording System and a case management approach for difficult cases.
The Natural Family Planning Practitioner completes a 13 month core curriculum with two theoretical phases of nine and seven days, practica of five and eight months, and a certification examination.
Since 1978 the program has trained 434 teachers, 46 Supervisors and Educators, 41 Medical Consultants and 11 Clergy and Religious; two people have completed its reproductive medicine fellowship.
Research areas include hormone correlations with ovulation, correlations between endocervical and vulvar mucus observations, use-effectiveness studies and the discovery of the empty follicle syndrome, an infertility syndrome detected by ultrasound.
Interpretation
The article is a published conference address, delivered in December 1992 and printed in 1995. The address gives a historical and organizational account of the Creighton Model. Its figures are training counts, and the research section lists program areas. The author notes that natural family planning research methods were generally weak, which led the program to develop methods specific to the field. The account reflects the program as it stood in 1992.
RRM Context
The address names NaProTechnology as a medical approach that works with a woman's normal fertility. Restorative reproductive medicine shares that aim, and the address records an early statement of it within one named method.
Our editorial summary of this paper, not the article's abstract.
Abstract
The following is an address presented to a summit meeting on natural family planning sponsored by the Pontifical Councilfor the Family in December, 1992 I am honored and privileged to have this opportunity to be with all of you at this summit meeting on natural family planning. I wish to thank Alfonso Cardinal Lopez Trujillo for his invitation and all ofthe members ofthe Pontifical Council for their generosity and hospitality. I have been asked to discuss with you what has become known as the Creighton Model Natural Family Planning System. This system obtained its name from my personal association, in its early days of development, with Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska. This discussion will be, by its very nature, a summary of work that has been done and work that is currently ongoing. The Creighton Model is referred to as a "model" as opposed to a "method" because it is an integrated education, research and service oriented system which meets the demands of the allied health and medical professions in the field of natural family planning. This system was specifically built to accomplish accountability and competency through a strong professional infra-structure. At the same time, it has been built within the context of a Catholic ethical and moral service delivery framework. It uses a standardized modification of the Billings' Ovulation Method in accomplishing these goals. I personally became involved in natural family planning with a research project I did as a senior medical student in 1968. As I investigated the salivary albumin concentrations in women during the course of their menstrual cycles, I was looking for a reported decrease in albumin around the time of ovulation. Unfortunately, a project which I had no doubt would solve the problems related to natural family planning (sic), proved to be not a very good idea
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