Influences on Women's Care Seeking at Planned Parenthood Health Centers in Two Southern States

Abstract

Introduction: In the context of a shifting health care landscape, better understanding of the factors that motivate women to seek services from specialized family planning clinics like Planned Parenthood (PP) can provide insights about potential changes in the role of specialized family planning clinics.

Methods: We surveyed 725 women seeking services at two PP health centers in Louisiana and Kentucky from March 2016 to May 2017. We examined differences in care-seeking between women who had varying levels of access including those who did and did not have insurance instability or a regular source of care (RSOC) besides the clinic.

Results: More than 60% of women attending the health centers did not have a regular source of care and nearly 40% experienced instability in insurance. Women who experienced insurance instability and a lack of a regular source of care more frequently sought primary preventive services such as pap tests and well-woman care at PP than women with better access. For women with better access, PP health centers also served important roles for those seeking contraceptive and sexually transmitted infection-related services. The most frequent reasons for choosing PP were that it was faster to get an appointment, wanting to go to the PP clinic more than other clinics, and the confidentiality of services.

Conclusions: Our analysis suggests that PP health centers in Southern states still provide vital services for women with and without other sources of care and are critical for women needing access to timely services for preventive and sexually transmitted infection-related care.