Shared Decision Aids: Increasing Patient Acceptance of Long-Acting Reversible Contraception

Tracy P George; Claire DeCristofaro; Bonnie P Dumas; Pamela F Murphy

doi:10.3390/healthcare3020205

Shared Decision Aids: Increasing Patient Acceptance of Long-Acting Reversible Contraception

Healthcare (Basel). 2015 Apr 10;3(2):205-18. doi: 10.3390/healthcare3020205.

Authors

Tracy P George^{1

2}, Claire DeCristofaro^{3

4}, Bonnie P Dumas⁵, Pamela F Murphy⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nursing, Francis Marion University, Florence, SC 29502, USA. TGeorge@fmarion.edu.
² South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, Dillon, SC 29536, USA. TGeorge@fmarion.edu.
³ College of Nursing, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425, USA. claire.decristofaro@ashford.edu.
⁴ Department of Behavioral Sciences, College of Health, Human Services, and Science, Ashford University, San Diego, CA 92123, USA. claire.decristofaro@ashford.edu.
⁵ College of Nursing, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425, USA. dumasb@musc.edu.
⁶ Department of Behavioral Sciences, College of Health, Human Services, and Science, Ashford University, San Diego, CA 92123, USA. pamela.murphy@ashford.edu.

Abstract

Unintended pregnancies are an important public health issue. Long-acting reversible contraceptive methods (LARCs) are reliable, safe, highly effective methods for most women; however they are underutilized in the United States. Shared decision aids were added to usual care in five public health family planning clinics in the Southeastern United States, staffed by advance practice nurses and registered nurses. All five sites showed an increase in the use of LARCs during the time period that shared decision aids were used (results statistically significant to p < 0.001). It is important for women to make informed choices about contraception, and shared decision aids can be utilized to support this decision making. This resource has been adopted for statewide use in all public health clinics, and implications for practice suggest that the use of shared decision aids is an effective method to support informed patient decision making and acceptance of LARC methods of contraception.

Keywords: contraceptive implants; intrauterine devices (IUDs); long-acting reversible contraceptive methods (LARCs); patient education; public health nursing; shared decision aids.