title: Contraceptive counseling: best practices to ensure quality communication and enable effective contraceptive use.
abstract: Improving the quality of contraceptive counseling is one strategy to prevent unintended pregnancy. We identify aspects of relational and task-oriented communication in family planning care that can assist providers in meeting their patients' needs. Approaches to optimizing women's experiences of contraceptive counseling include working to develop a close, trusting relationship with patients and using a shared decision-making approach that focuses on eliciting and responding to patient preferences. Providing counseling about side effects and using strategies to promote contraceptive continuation and adherence can also help optimize women's use of contraception.
authors.affiliation: *Departments of Family & Community Medicine, Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, and Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California †Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, Magee-Women's Hospital ‡Center for Research on Health Care, VA Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dehlendorf
authors.forename: Colleen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Krajewski
authors.forename: Sonya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Borrero
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D003267:Contraception; D003271:Contraceptive Agents, Female / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D003657:Decision Making; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005260:Female; D054625:Healthcare Disparities; D006801:Humans; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010358:Patient Participation; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D035502:Trust
chemical_list: D003271:Contraceptive Agents, Female