Epidemiology doctoral student Courtney Dewart won a scholarship to attend the annual North American Forum on Family Planning.
Courtney Dewart, doctoral student of epidemiology
Epidemiology doctoral student Courtney Dewart won a scholarship to attend the 2018 North American Forum on Family Planning next month in New Orleans.
Since its commencement in 2011, the three-day annual forum, co-sponsored by the Society of Family Planning, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, focuses on “advancing access to safe, convenient and high-quality family planning care.” This year, the event is thought to have approximately 1,500 social and medical scientists, clinical staff and other family planning professionals in attendance.
Dewart was nominated for this scholarship by Maria Gallo, PhD, associate professor of epidemiology.
“Attending the forum will provide me an opportunity to engage with other researchers and clinicians to advance my education in the field of family planning and to discuss my own research findings,” Dewart said. “I aim to connect with other attendees to share information and contribute to the evidence-based knowledge of how electronic platforms may be used to optimize reproductive health.”
Dewart is presenting a poster at the forum titled “Electronic interventions for changing knowledge, attitudes, or practices regarding contraception: A systematic review,” in which she researched and compared all the literature ever published on the use of technology to deliver contraceptive education.
In her review, Dewart and her partner on the project, 2018 CPH graduate Jaclyn Serpico, went through approximately 4,000 citations to discover 13 instances where intervention methods were used to improve education about contraception and eventually prevent pregnancies.
“Electronic platforms might be used to augment the education about contraceptives that people receive in schools and from health care providers to optimize appropriate use and patient satisfaction with method choice,” Dewart said. “With mobile technologies becoming more widely available, use of electronic platforms for the delivery of health education presents a unique opportunity for the dissemination of interventions in a variety of settings."
