Our patient-facing birth control webpage just got a major overhaul! The newly redesigned upstream.org/birthcontrol is now even more user-friendly and comes with an exciting feature that we hope is going to be a game-changer for patients and their healthcare teams.
Many of us turn to “Dr. Google” when encountering a health issue or question. We know from our patient research that people considering birth control options often do the same—searching the internet to validate or refute what they have heard from friends or providers.
Now in the midst of a pandemic, when people are accessing care from home more than ever before, people need digital access to accurate, credible, and easy-to-understand information on birth control. Our new web tool is meant to complement and support the patient education materials we provide to our trained health center partners and also allow anyone to easily explore methods, either as part of a telehealth appointment or in preparation for a provider visit.
Users visiting upstream.org/birthcontrol can:
- Quickly identify methods that meet their preferences by layering various birth control characteristics: hidden, hormonal, non-hormonal, low-maintenance, or STI prevention
- View methods by default in alphabetical order or sort them by effectiveness
- Scan potential side effects, potential menstrual changes, and percentage efficacy quickly across method cards
- Click to learn more about a specific method, including whether the method can be used immediately postpartum and whether the method could affect breastfeeding
- And, crucially, people can select up to 3 methods on desktop and 2 on mobile to compare methods
The compare feature allows you to easily see how methods differ in usage, effectiveness, potential period changes, hormones, and STI prevention, and potential side effects:
There is lots of information about birth control methods on the internet, but comparing them side-by-side is not always possible or easy. We know that too much information can be overwhelming and unhelpful. This was one of the reasons why we developed this birth control webpage and suite of contraception education materials. People visiting upstream.org/birthcontrol can have a one-stop experience to help them prepare for or use during an appointment—whether the appointment is happening from their living room couch or the doctor’s office.
We hope that this page will be helpful to those exploring their birth control choices, and serve our health center partners as another tool to help provide their patients with high-quality contraceptive counseling.
If you’ve made use of upstream.org/birthcontrol, we’d love to hear what you think! Email us at resources@upstream.org or give us a shout on Twitter or LinkedIn.
Digital Access to Upstream’s Patient Education Materials
Trained Upstream partners may access digital copies of our Patient Education Materials through the Upstream Partner Portal. Others may request access to the materials through this form:
Request Patient Education Materials
If you are interested in partnering with Upstream, please email us at info@upstream.org.
