Corinne Rocca, PhD, MPH

Epidemiologist
Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health

Email: roccac@obgyn.ucsf.edu

Biosketch:

Corinne H. Rocca, PhD, MPH, is an epidemiologist in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences. She received her doctorate in Epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley; an MPH in Population and Family Health from Columbia University; and a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University. In her research, Dr. Rocca combines the approaches from her training in social epidemiology with those of demographers and clinicians interested in understanding sexual behavior, contraceptive use and unintended pregnancy. Broadly, her research examines how structural factors, such as access to reproductive health care and cultural norms, affect risk of unintended pregnancy among high-risk populations in the US and South Asia.

Dr. Rocca’s research has focused on expanding our understanding of pregnancy intentions, including what influences adolescents’ and women’s attitudes towards pregnancy and how intentions translate into behavior. In her work, she has used quantitative psychometric techniques, including item response theory, to improve the measurement of pregnancy intention, childbearing attitudes, as well as other latent variables important to understanding pregnancy risk.

Dr. Rocca joined Bixby in 2001 to direct a randomized trial evaluating pharmacy access to emergency contraception; data were provided to the FDA to inform their decision on over-the-counter access to emergency contraception. Collaborating on an NIH study in Bangalore, India, she co-authored scientific articles investigating contraception and the association of women’s social and economic resources with domestic violence. She recently completed research investigating unsafe abortion in Nepal and found a need to innovate care in medication abortion for women in remote areas. She is launching a new trial in Nepal evaluating access to medication abortion through pharmacies. Finally, working on the Turnaway Study, she is evaluating women’s long-term emotional responses after having an abortion or an unwanted birth in the US.


Areas of Interest:

    • Pregnancy intentions
    • Latent variable measurement
    • Adolescent sexual behavior and contraceptive use
    • Emergency contraception
    • Social environment
    • Reproductive health disparities
    • Abortion
    • Epidemiology


For a complete list of publications, please click here: Publications on PubMed.


Updated December 2013


Citations:

  • Rocca CH, Kimport K, Gould H, Foster DG. Women's emotions one week after receiving or being denied an abortion in the United States. Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2013:45(3):122-31.
  • Rocca CH, Hubbard AE, Johnson-Hanks J, Padian NS, Minnis AM. Predictive ability and stability of adolescents' pregnancy intentions in a predominantly Latino community. Stud Fam Plann. 2010:41(3):179-92.
  • Rocca CH, Shankar M, Sreevathsa A, Krishnan S. Acceptability and use of emergency contraception among married women in Bangalore, India. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2013:21(1):64-8.
  • Rocca CH, Rathod S, Falle T, Pande RP, Krishnan S. Challenging assumptions about women's empowerment: social and economic resources and domestic violence among young married women in urban South India. Int J Epidemiol. 2009:38(2):577-85.
  • Rocca CH, Krishnan S, Barrett G, Wilson M. Measuring pregnancy planning: an assessment of the London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancy among urban, south Indian women. Demog Res. 2010:23(11):293-334.
  • Rocca CH, Harper CC, Raine-Bennett TR. Young women's perceptions of the benefits of childbearing: associations with contraceptive use and pregnancy. Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2013:45(1):23-32.
  • Speidel JJ, Rocca CH, Thompson KM, Harper CC. Pregnancy: not a disease but still a health risk. Contraception. 2013:88(4):481-4.
  • Rocca CH, Harper CC, Raine-Bennett TR. The authors reply. Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2013:45(2):113-4.
  • Rocca CH, Harper CC. Do racial and ethnic differences in contraceptive attitudes and knowledge explain disparities in method use? Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2012:44(3):150-8.
  • Rocca CH, Puri M, Dulal B, Bajracharya L, Harper CC, Blum M, Henderson JT. Unsafe abortion after legalisation in Nepal: a cross-sectional study of women presenting to hospitals. BJOG. 2013:120(9):1075-83.