Contraception

The goal of the Contraception Priority Setting Partnership (PSP) was to create - by democratic consultation - a Top 10 priority list of research uncertainties, put together by patients, their partners and clinicians. 

The PSP hopes that this Top 10 will help guide researchers in answering questions that are equally important to all people affected by contraceptive care. It was an invaluable opportunity to work collaboratively with patients and clinicians to set pertinent research priorities which otherwise might have been overlooked by researchers themselves or the pharmaceutical industry.

The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare also believes that this project presents an ideal opportunity to raise the profile of contraceptive care across the UK and sexual and reproductive health as a medical specialty.

In the initial survey run by this PSP, 318 respondents suggested 480 potential questions for research.  After combining questions and removing those already answered by research, the PSP issued 57 unanswered questions in a second survey.  407 people responded to this second survey commenting on the order of priority of the questions.  A final priority setting workshop was held in April 2017, attended by service users and health professionals/service providers.

Kirsty and Caterina, volunteers from Brook, were just two of the people who attended the priority setting workshop. Caterina said "It was an incredible learning experience to hear from the other attendees, both patients and clinicians, and to be able to work with them to ensure that the concerns and experiences of young people were heard and valued."

See news from this PSP: Announcement of results on the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare website, and news on JLA website in January 2016.

The Contraception Top 10 was published in April 2017.

Key documents

Contraception PSP Protocol