What do women want in contraceptives?

What matters most to women and healthcare providers when it comes to contraceptive choices may vary dramatically, according to a recent study in Contraception.

Researchers at Dartmouth College used online cross-sectional surveys to study a sample of 417 women and 188 healthcare providers who prescribe contraceptives in the United States. Each participant was given a list of 34 questions related to the features of contraceptive options and was asked to rate the importance. Participants were also asked to rank the questions in order of importance.

Overall, women and providers had a similar average importance rating for 18 of the questions, but had dissimilar views for the other 16 questions. The most important question for women was “How does it work to prevent pregnancy?” For providers, the 2 most important questions were “How often does a patient need to remember to use it?” and “How is it used?”

The 8 questions that were most likely to appear in the top 3 for women and/or providers involved the safety of the method, mechanism of action, mode of use, side effects, typical- and perfect-use effectiveness, frequency of administration, and when the contraceptive begins to prevent pregnancy.

The investigators concluded that while there were considerable similarities between what women want to know and the information that healthcare providers give, the differences highlight the need for good contraception counseling, especially shared contraception decision making.