A Systematic Review of Physician-Patient Interactions and the Effect of Health Care Provider Bias and Knowledge on Adolescent Contraception Counseling in Developing Countries and Comprehensive Review: Contraceptive Use and Impact of Physician Counseling for Adolescent Patients of Method Choices and Side Effects in Developing Countries

Abstract

Unmet need for contraceptives in developing countries remains a social and health problem and adolescents are more likely to struggle in starting long-acting contraceptive methods, often due to side effect or other concerns. This study aimed to analyze the biases in the provider-patient relationship and counselling practices for adolescent patients in developing countries. Attention was placed on patient’s preferred method, cultural and moral biases, knowledge gaps of patient and providers, side effect knowledge, and attitudes impacting the relationship upon counseling quality and likelihood of contraceptive use. Systematic review of articles with MeSH terms “developing countries,” “contraception,” “adolescents,” and other search terms yielded 6745 articles; 14 articles were chosen for further review. Findings highlight negative impacts of providers’ ethical concerns and knowledge gaps when addressing method use and side effects. Low knowledge base by providers of varying skill level also highlight a need for improved training on family planning methods.