COUNSELLING, KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS
COMBINED ORAL CONTRACEPTIVES: A CROSS-SECTIONAL
SURVEY AMONG ROMANIAN WOMEN
ANDREEA FARCAȘ1*, ANDREEA DIANA POPA1, SÂNZIANA MARDALE1, CAMELIA BUCȘA1, DANIEL-CORNELIU LEUCUȚA2, CRISTINA MOGOȘAN1
1Drug Information Research Centre, “Iuliu Hațieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 6 Pasteur Street, 400349,
Cluj-Napoca, Romania
2Medical Informatics and Biostatistics Department, “Iuliu Hațieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 6 Pasteur
Street, 400349, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
*corresponding author: afarcas@umfcluj.ro
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Abstract:
The daily combined oral contraceptive (COC) pill has been the contraceptive method of choice available to women
worldwide for the last 50 years. This study was a cross-sectional survey designed to evaluate Romanian women’s knowledge,
attitudes and counselling regarding COCs use. The majority of women considered COCs a safe, efficient and easy to use
method to avoid pregnancy. While most of them used COCs at the gynaecologist’s prescription accompanied
recommendation, a large percentage bought COCs without prescription from pharmacies. Despite the fact that the majority of
women were counselled mainly by gynaecologists regarding the utilization, efficacy and adverse drug reactions (ADRs),
their main concern and the reason of nonadherence to COCs therapy were the possible ADRs. The findings indicate that
counselling supports an informed and rational use of COCs. Healthcare professionals should be aware that Romanian
women’s perception on COCs ADRs is more important than their perceived efficacy. Thus effective education on COCs
utilization should improve compliance.

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