Desire to Avoid Pregnancy scale: Clinical considerations and comparison with other questions about pregnancy preferences

Jennifer Anne Hall*, Geraldine Barrett, Judith M. Stephenson, Natalie Lois Edelman, Corinne Rocca

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background Clinicians and women of reproductive age would benefit from a reliable way to identify who is likely to become pregnant in the next year, in order to direct health advice. The 14-item Desire to Avoid Pregnancy (DAP) scale is predictive of pregnancy; this paper compares it with other ways of assessing pregnancy preferences to shortlist options for clinical implementation. Methods A cohort of 994 UK women of reproductive age completed the DAP and other questions about pregnancy preferences, including the Attitude towards Potential Pregnancy Scale (APPS), at baseline and reported on pregnancies quarterly for a year. For each question, DAP item and combinations of DAP items, we examined the predictive ability, sensitivity, specificity, area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC), and positive and negative predictive values. Results The AUROCs and predictive ability of the APPS and DAP single items were weaker than the full DAP, though all except one had acceptable AUROCs (>0.7). The most predictive individual DAP item was 'It would be a good thing for me if I became pregnant in the next 3 months', where women who strongly agreed had a 66.7% chance of pregnancy within 12 months and the AUROC was acceptable (0.77). Conclusion We recommend exploring the acceptability to women and healthcare professionals of asking a single DAP item ('It would be a good thing for me if I became pregnant in the next 3 months'), possibly in combination with additional DAP items. This will help to guide service provision to support reproductive preferences.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)167-175
Number of pages9
JournalBMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health
Volume49
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2023
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.

Keywords

  • Reproductive Health
  • Reproductive Health Services
  • family planning services

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