“We have to be mythbusters”: Clinician attitudes about the legitimacy of patient concerns and dissatisfaction with contraception

This study uses in-depth interviews with reproductive healthcare providers (N = 24) to examine their attitudes about common complaints regarding hormonal birth control. I identify how their reliance on formal medical knowledge, including evidence-based models, can lead them to frame patients' experiences or concerns about side effects as “myths” or “misconceptions” to be corrected rather than legitimized. I also describe a pattern of providers portraying negative side effects as normal to contraception and therefore encouraging patients to “stick with” methods despite dissatisfaction. Finally, I explore how these themes manifest in racialized and classed discourses about patient populations. I discuss the potential cumulative impact of these attitudes – if providers do carry them into clinical practice, they can have the effect of minimizing patient concerns and dissatisfaction, while steering women towards more effective methods of contraception.
Source: Social Science and Medicine - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research