Contraception & Unintended Pregnancy
Contraception & Unintended
Pregnancy
The CDC and Office of Population Affairs have published guidance on steps to quality contraceptive counseling.
- Use open-ended questions
- Demonstrate expertise, trustworthiness, and accessibility
- Ensure privacy and confidentiality
- Explain how personal information will be used
- Encourage them to ask questions and share information
- Listen to and observe them
- Be encouraging and demonstrate empathy and acceptance
Reproductive Life Plan:
- Do you have any children now?
- Do you want to have (more) children?
- How many (more) children would you like to have and when?
Contraceptive Experiences and Preferences:
- What methods are you currently using, if any?
- What methods have you used in the past?
- Have you previously used emergency contraception?
- Did you use contraception at last sex?
- What difficulties did you experience with prior method, if any (eg, side effects or non-compliance)?
- Do you have a specific method in mind?
- Have you discussed method options with your partner and does your partner have a preference for what method you use?
- Providers should inform patients about all contraceptive methods, including Long Acting Reversible Contraception with appropriate patients. Before the health-care visit, they may have only limited information about all or specific methods of contraception
- It is not appropriate to omit information on a method solely because the method is not available at the service site
- Providers should ensure patient understanding of: method efficacy; correct use of method; non-contraceptive benefits; side effects; protection from sexually transmitted infection (STIs), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
- Providers should encourage patients to consider barriers to using method(s) under consideration
- Patient restates the most important messages in their own words
- Can increase likelihood of patient and provider reaching a shared understanding
- Has improved compliance with a treatment plan and health outcomes
- Helps ensure patient has opportunity to understand their options and make informed choices
Explore this interactive resource developed by the Guttmacher Institute to find information about unintended or mistimed pregnancy in your state.
Reference: Kost K, Maddow-Zimet I and Little AC, Pregnancies and Pregnancy Desires at the State Level: Estimates for 2017 and Trends Since 2012, New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2021, https://www.guttmacher.org/report/pregnancy-desires-and-pregnancies-state-level-estimates-2017.
Watch the videos below to learn more about patient centered contraceptive counseling, using open ended questions to initiate contraceptive discussions and insights into addressing misinformation.
Explore All Videos
Contraceptive Counseling: Anita Nelson, MD
Part 1: Addressing Misinformation In the first part of the video, Dr. Anita Nelson discusses how she approaches contraceptive counseling in the age of social media and misinformation. She offers insight on how to address misinformation while offering accurate and balanced information that allows patients to make informed choices about their birth control.
Part 2: Efficient Counseling QuestionsIn the second part of this video, Dr. Anita Nelson discusses an approach to open the conversation about contraception, using a short question, “How do you think you’d feel if you got pregnant in the next year?”
Patient Centered Counseling: Anita Nelson, MD
Dr. Anita Nelson gives her perspective about the importance of patient centered counseling, listening to patients, and giving them ample opportunity to ask questions.
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