Staff members learn how to use shared decision making, a model for care that is associated with higher patient satisfaction with method choice and contraceptive counseling overall. Equipped with this model and questions to help guide the session (such as “do you want to get pregnant in the next year?” and “what do you hope to get out of your method?”), staff members use their knowledge of contraceptive options to support the patient in choosing a method that best aligns with their stated preferences and goals.
Centering counseling around the patient’s stated goals is essential to quality contraceptive counseling and is designed to reduce bias and avoid coercion. There is no “one size fits all” contraceptive method, and some patients are seeking contraception for benefits in addition to, or other than, pregnancy prevention.
Upstream USA has endorsed the LARC Statement of Principles created by SisterSong and the National Women’s Health Network and we are proud to live into these principles through our program and in every interaction we have with health care agencies.