CP-led contraception intervention for WRO
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Community pharmacist provision of contraception services for women receiving opiate substitution treatment
IRAS ID
200449
Contact name
Hannah E Family
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Bath
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 3 months, 1 days
Research summary
Women who are addicted to opiate medicines (e.g. heroin) often find that their periods (menstruation) stop and that they cannot successfully get pregnant and give birth in the normal term. This happens because of the combined effects of the drugs and weight loss. Women who seek help for their addiction and are given a script for methadone or buprenorphine can find that their general health improves. As their health improves their fertility also returns. However this can often happen without women noticing as they may ovulate (produce an egg) before their periods return. This means that women may continue to have unprotected sex believing that they are still unable to get pregnant. National health data suggests that higher rates of unplanned pregnancy occur amongst women who are prescribed methadone or buprenorphine compared to other women in the general population.
This study will explore whether community pharmacists could support women who attend their pharmacy for their methadone or buprenorphine each day to access family planning and contraception advice and services. To do this we will conduct up to 40 interviews with women who attend pharmacies for their methadone or buprenorphine as well as observe and interview community pharmacists’ day to day work.
The findings from the interviews and observations will be drawn together to develop a service to be trialled in future research. We hope a service like this would mean that women who do not wish to get pregnant are able to make this choice and supported by their pharmacist in accessing a method of contraception that suits them, and for women who would like to get pregnant could also be referred to access the right advice and support for preparing for pregnancy.REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/NW/0376
Date of REC Opinion
18 May 2016
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion