Teaching Hispanic Couples the Creighton Model Fertility
Care System to Achieve or Avoid
Pregnancy Naturally: Experience from St.
Louis and St. Charles Counties
This presentation will describe the basic concepts of the Creighton Model Fertility Care System and it’s use for Hispanic couples wishing to achieve or avoid pregnancy in a morally accepted manner, as an alternative to using contraceptives and/or expensive invasive procedures. It will also discuss success of the method with Hispanic couples in the Missouri counties of St. Louis and St. Charles.
The Creighton Model Fertility Care System was
developed in the late 1970’s as a mucus only fertility care system to achieve
or avoid pregnancy naturally. Health Care providers with standardized training
in the program teach the method to couples in private sessions, excluding the
initial Introductory Slide Presentation, which may be private or in a group
setting. The first year of education includes eight private sessions with the
couple for individual instruction of mucus observations, chart review, and
marital bonding through techniques of communication taught to the couple. The
method is 99.5% effective to avoid pregnancy
(Five study meta analysis, 1998 Journal of Reproductive Medicine) and
the method is 40-80% effective in achieving pregnancy in couples with known
infertility. The sessions also include health care review by the practitioner
of any medical needs the couple may have concerning their fertility (this may
include infertility, premenstrual syndrome, unusual bleeding, etc.). Couples
with these needs can be referred to a Naprotechnology Physician (a physician
trained in Natural Procreative Technology) or the couple may choose their own
physician and present the information they have learned about their fertility.
The entire Creighton Model Fertility Care
System is available in Spanish including introductory slides, user manuals,
picture dictionaries and charts. All of these tools are available for
presentation.
The Creighton Model Fertility Care System has
been taught to the Hispanic/Latino culture all across the United States and in
many other countries with a large program started by Dr. Carlos Aldona in
Mexico. The Hispanic program has been available in the St. Louis and St.
Charles areas of Missouri for the past two years. A bilingual Fertility Care
Practitioner teaches the program in Spanish. The program is hospital based so
cost can be billed to insurance if the couples are insured. For couples with no
insurance coverage and/or with economic needs, there is grant funding available
through the St. Louis Archdiocesan Development Appeal designated to be of
assistance for Hispanic couples in this area of
available for referral to assist the couple/woman with fertility and healthcare needs. In the two years, four couples have entered the program. Three of these were referred by Healthcare (one physician and two allied health). One couple was referred by friends. There has been no official advertisement yet of the program. There has been overwhelming success and excitement for the Hispanic couples. Fifty percent of the couples came to achieve with infertility or previous miscarriage history (infertility being described as one year of trying to achieve pregnancy without success) and one hundred percent of these have achieved a pregnancy with success. Two of the couples did move away from this area during instruction but were given contacts in other states to continue the method.
Hispanic couples truly embrace this method with warmth and openness to the natural measures it offers and especially to moral acceptance with their faith. These four couples have expressed extreme gratitude for having the program made available to them in Spanish and all have expressed their faith as being an important reason for using the method. Current Latino couples using the Creighton Model from this office represent four separate Latin American countries with the majority of them being of the Roman Catholic faith. A discussion of the satisfaction scores of the couples will be discussed, but all 4 have expressed their satisfaction with the program in meeting their moral and reproductive health needs. In light of the upcoming need foreseen in this area of Missouri, another bilingual teacher is currently being taught who would teach in an office closer to the St. Louis Hispanic population (the present office is located in St. Charles), as travel of any distance is often difficult for the Hispanic population. Promotion through churches and physician referrals is planned.