The objective of this study was to describe contraceptive clients’experiences of the services they received at a family planning clinic in the centre of Jyväskylä, Central Finland.

The data was collected with a questionnaire from the clients visiting family planning clinic from January to April 2007. Public health nurses delivered the questionnaire form to the clients at the beginning of the consultation (n=71). The response rate was 97%.

The majority of the clients were aged between 20 and 29 years. Contraceptive pills (37%) were the most popular birth control method. Most of them were content with the contraceptive method they used. One third of the clients said that they had been afraid of getting pregnant while using the present contraceptive method. More than half of them clients said they would prefer a public health nurse visit instead of a doctor. Most of the respondents had used the Internet to find more information on the services. According to nearly 40% of them, making an appointment was difficult.

36% of the respondents had received counselling for STI prevention from a doctor and 56% from a public health nurse. Only 38% had received sexual counselling, but 42% could not express their opinion on this question

In general, the clients were very satisfied with the family planning services provide. However, more attention should be paid to STI prevention and sexual counselling during the consultations. The division of tasks between doctors and public health nurses should be closely considered in the future.