Testing the Impact of Two Posters on Contraceptive Knowledge, Contraceptive Preferences, and Perceived Pregnancy Risk
Condition: Contraception; Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      This study tests two posters that teach people about contraception: one designed by the
      Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and one designed by the researchers. The investigators
      hypothesize that the new poster will have more increased (1) contraceptive knowledge, (2)
      willingness to use effective contraception, and (3) perceived pregnancy risk than the CDC
      poster. This study will expand useful knowledge because contraceptive knowledge, willingness
      to use effective contraception, and perceived pregnancy risk have been shown to affect
      women's likelihood of using contraception. If the investigators learn how to increase these
      factors, the investigators could theoretically reduce women's risk of unplanned pregnancy.

      The investigators will test this hypothesis by recruiting N=1000 women to complete an online
      survey using Amazon Mechanical Turk. These women will complete a survey that will first
      measure their initial contraceptive knowledge, willingness to use effective contraception,
      and perceived pregnancy risk. Then women will randomly be shown one of the two posters. Then,
      the investigators will measure their contraceptive knowledge, willingness to use effective
      contraception, and perceived pregnancy risk again. The investigators will use statistical
      tests (a t-test) to find out whether there are significant changes in these three outcomes
      for either of the posters, and whether one poster does a better job of changing these
      outcomes than the other.
    

Detailed description: 
      Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of two posters' ability to improve contraceptive
      knowledge, willingness to use effective contraception, and pregnancy risk perceptions. One of
      these posters was developed by the CDC. The other was developed by the research team in a
      previous study using cognitive interviews with N=26 women. The new poster is designed to meet
      the informational needs of women with low numeracy (i.e. low facility with math) and women
      who do not use contraception.

      Participants: The investigators will recruit N=1020 women aged 18-44 who can speak and read
      English, have been sexually active in the last three months, and who are not pregnant or
      trying to get pregnant.

      Procedures (methods): The investigators will use Amazon Mechanical Turk to recruit
      participants. Participants will take one survey. The survey will first ask baseline questions
      to assess contraceptive knowledge, willingness to use effective contraception, and perceived
      pregnancy risk. Participants will then be randomly shown one of the two posters. Then
      post-exposure questions on the three outcomes will be asked.

      The investigators test the hypotheses that before compared to after exposure, the mean scores
      for (1) contraceptive knowledge, (2) willingness to use effective contraception, and (3)
      perceived pregnancy risk will increase more for the new fact sheet than for the CDC sheet.

      The investigators also collect the following covariates: age, race/ethnicity, education,
      income, insurance type, insurance coverage of contraception, numeracy (facility with math),
      health and safety contraindications to contraceptive use, sexual orientation, parenthood,
      years since first sex, relationship status, prior exposure to CDC sheet, and pregnancy
      avoidance intensity. The investigators will compare whether the covariates are balanced
      between the randomized groups and the US population using two-sample t-tests, chi-squared, or
      nonparametric tests as appropriate. If the unbalance is statistically significant, the
      investigators will include the covariate in the regression to compare the adjusted difference
      between treatments. The investigators use two-sample t-tests to test our hypotheses. The
      investigators will also test for subgroup differences in our outcomes based on our covariates
      using a Chow test.

      The investigators will first test survey mechanics (correct coding, correct links) on N=20
      women. The investigators will survey N=1000 women for data analysis.
    

Intervention name(s): View CDC Poster; View Patient-Centered Poster
Intervention type(s): Other; Other
Intervention description(s): The poster designed by the CDC to explain contraceptive effectiveness.; The poster designed by the research team to explain contraceptive effectiveness. This poster was developed through cognitive interviews with 26 North Carolina women, and the final version of this poster was found to be more useful, acceptable, and attractive than the CDC poster by the majority of women participating.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: contraceptive knowledge; contraceptive use; educational intervention; poster; online survey