Patient-Centered Contraceptive Counseling: Evidence to Inform Practice

Patient centeredness is an increasingly recognized aspect of quality health care. The application of this framework to contraceptive counseling and care has not been well described. We propose a definition of patient-centered contraceptive counseling that focuses on and prioritizes each patient’s individual needs and preferences regarding contraceptive methods and the counseling experience. Guided by this definition, we review recent research that has advanced our understanding of how patient-centered contraceptive counseling can be delivered in practice, focusing on how women decide on a contraceptive method, their preferences for counseling, and their experiences with counseling. This research provides evidence that women have diverse preferences around attributes of their contraceptive methods and value personal, supportive relationships with their family planning providers that focus on their individual preferences. We discuss the implications of this research for practice and review recent interventions that incorporate patient centeredness to varying degrees.