Natural Family Planning in Education and Practice

Abstract

Natural family planning (NFP), which comprises multiple, variegated methods, is an underutilized form of birth control. This is despite women's interest in it. It is unclear why this is the case. One hypothesis is that nurses and physicians, main sources of information on reproductive health matters, are not adequately trained to provide NFP services to patients. The extant English language literature on the subject of NFP and professional education was examined and analyzed for information on the breadth, content, and depth of NFP teaching in medical and nursing programs. Data on physicians’ and nurses’ practice and attitude toward NFP were also examined. Few articles and limited data exist to indicate what type of training in NFP student doctors and nurses receive, though it is clear that some information about it is obtained through the undergraduate nursing or medical curriculum. The literature suggests that many health-care providers would offer an NFP method to specific patients, but that such opportunities are rarely sought and are in fact limited. These methods would be more widely used if health-care professionals in general had better and more adequate training in NFP and offered it to more of their patients. Catholic professionals in particular have a special responsibility to train users and teachers of NFP.