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A survey intended to ascertain the rate of use and type of contraceptive methods applied by Spanish women aged 40 to 50 years, and to determine the proportion of women in this group at risk of an unwanted pregnancy, was designed and validated. To achieve representative national results for the study population, it was estimated that a sample size of 2000 women was required. Women were selected using probabilistic, stratified random sampling. The survey questionnaire was prepared by the research group with the collaboration of experts in the conduct of population studies of this type. Participants were interviewed face to face by qualified and trained staff from a specialised company external to the research group. Overall, 1039 women (52%) resorted to some contraceptive method, of which (male or female) sterilisation was the most common. We estimate that in Spain there are 840,000 women (31.8%) aged 40 to 50 years at risk of unwanted pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Based on the hypothesis that the media represent an important source of information about contraceptive methods and sexuality, this paper reviews the news items about contraception published by four important Spanish newspapers and four women's magazines. Materials and methods All news items appearing from January 1, 1997 to December 31, 2002 in the following publications: El País, El Mundo, ABC, La Vanguardia, Mía, Clara, Ragazza , and Época were collected during the first 6 months of 2003. Results Seven hundred and ten news items about contraception were identified during the period analysed, of which 117 (16.5%) had a negative character. Conclusions Over 80% of news items appearing in the Spanish press in the 1997–2002 period give a positive information about contraceptive methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]