Abstract

PIP: Dr. Katherine Forrest, consulting director of research for the Planned Parenthood of Santa Clara, claims that the reason that men fail to use family planning services lies with the services and not with the men. At least 5% of the female clients are accompanied by men at over 70% of clinics, according to a recent survey. That figure represents a "phantom" male clientele who already use family planning clinics, but few agencies are designed to serve or attract this audience. Forrest, speaking at the recent Association of Planned Parenthood Professionals Conference in Seattle, described a survey of men's reproductive health services at 35 family planning clinics. The clinics, which were located in the mid-Atlantic, South Central, and Western regions, included Planned Parenthood, hospital-based, government, and other nonprofit agencies. Questionnaires sent to those agencies revealed the following information: half of the agencies had some male staff members, but most of those men were in managerial roles; 60% of the programs indicated that they were designed strictly for women, but 89% of the agencies provide some medical or contraceptive services for men -- if only distributing condoms; 31 of the agencies distributed condoms, but over 70% of them provided only 1 brand; every program provided some counseling for men, including pregnancy, contraceptive, sexually transmitted diseases, abortion, infertility, sterilization, and sexuality counseling; 86% of the clinics had some educational resources related to men and family planning; and agencies with male staff members were somewhat more likely to provide male services. Resource restriction was the most common reason given for limiting male family planning services. Although many agencies provide services for men, few perceive men as clients. To improve services for men, family planning practitioners should take the following steps: emphasize medical contraceptive services over counseling; provide different kinds of condoms; don't regulate men to "secondary status" by providing services only for partners of female patients; recongnize and work toward improved staff attitudes concerning male clients; and provide male services on a fee-for-service basis when adequate funding cannot be obtained.