Knowledge Dissemination to Increase Access and Quality of Care for Contraception among Youth in Northern British Columbia

Despite public health efforts, pregnancy rates among teens in rural and northern British Columbia are 70% higher than the provincial average. Over the past three years, the Rural and Northern Youth Contraception Research Team has partnered with a health authority, service providers, Aboriginal leaders, the non-profit health service organization Options for Sexual Health, and local citizens to better understand youth decision-making related to contraception use and the impact of gender, place and culture on this process. This proposal describes tailored dissemination activities to engage knowledge users in transferring study findings into clinical practice and evidence-informed policy. In addition to traditional scholarly presentations and publications, we propose four sequentially planned dissemination activities: 1) development of briefing notes for knowledge users; 2) face-to-face meetings with decision makers; 3) a contraception in-service workshop for public health providers; and 4) a webinar for knowledge users in rural and remote settings. These dissemination activities have the potential to improve not only the personal health of northern youth by reducing the rate of unintended teen pregnancies, but also the health of the population by reducing the risk of young parents dropping out of school and by encouraging access to post-secondary training and more gainful employment opportunities. Incorporation of gender-, place and culture-specific perspectives into health service delivery has the potential to increase access, quality of care and use of highly effective contraception able to reduce unintended pregnancies.