Patient-Centered Support for Contraceptive Decision-Making

The impacts of unintended pregnancy include adverse maternal and infant outcomes for women who continue their pregnancies, with higher rates of infant low birth weight, infant mortality, and maternal mortality and morbidity for these pregnancies as compared to planned pregnancies. In addition, children resulting from unplanned pregnancies have been found to be more likely to experience developmental delay. Over the past several decades, the proportion of unintended pregnancy in the United States has remained stubbornly high at approximately 50%. Each year, one in 20 women of reproductive age experiences an unintended pregnancy, and it is estimated that over half of women will have an unintended pregnancy in their lifetime. This high rate of unintended pregnancy in the United States places a heavy burden on both women and the health care system. A disproportionate amount of this burden is experienced by minority women and women of lower socioeconomic status. Given the high rate of unintended pregnancies in this country, interventions designed to help women achieve their fertility goals could have a substantial impact on their health outcomes and life course. In addition, identifying strategies that are appropriate for use in high-risk, diverse populations could address disparities in women's ability to plan their pregnancies. The investigators propose a cluster randomized trial to investigate the effect of an interactive, tablet-based contraceptive decision support tool that women will use immediately prior to their contraceptive counseling visits. The goal of the tool is to facilitate shared decision-making between the woman and her health care provider, with the ultimate goal of helping the woman to choose a contraceptive method that is consistent with her values and preferences, and is therefore best suited to helping her to avoid an unplanned pregnancy. The tool will be available in both English and Spanish. The investigators will measure the tool's effect on women's contraceptive continuation, as well as on their experience of contraceptive counseling, measured both quantitatively and qualitatively. In addition, the investigators will collect quantitative and qualitative data to determine the impact of the implementation of this tool on the experiences of providers and the clinics in which they work.