Assessment of adolescent decision-making capacity for pharmacy access to hormonal contraception

Abstract

Objectives: To examine adolescents' decision-making capacity for pharmacsist-prescribed hormonal contraception.

Study design: A subset of 60 females, ages 14-21, were recruited to complete the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Treatment. Overall scores were compared by age and demographic factors and variation examined.

Results: Participants scored high on the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Treatment with little variation in the scores (18.8 [±1.9]/20 total points). Factors such as chronic illness, health literacy, and family affluence were not associated with of overall scores.

Conclusions: Adolescents and young adults have the capacity to make decisions regarding contraception in the pharmacy access settings.

Keywords: Access to health care; Adolescents; Capacity; Contraception; Decision-making; Pharmacy.