Exploring adolescent-facing US clinicians' perceptions of their contraceptive counseling and use of shared decision-making: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Adolescent contraceptive decision-making is influenced by a number of patient and clinician-driven factors. Although the AAP continues to endorse an efficacy-based model of contraceptive counseling, many professional organizations are shifting to a shared decision-making model as the optimal approach for providing unbiased and patient-driven contraceptive counseling. While SDM is intended to reduce the influence of clinician bias, it can exacerbate inequity if a clinician tailors a conversation based on their assumptions of a patient's goals or preferences. In this qualitative study, we explored self-reported contraceptive counseling practices among US-based clinicians who see adolescent patients to assess how these practices create barriers or facilitators to SDM and person-centered contraceptive care. METHODS: We interviewed 16 clinicians at the 2022 AAP Annual Meeting who counsel adolescent patients about contraception. We used thematic content analysis to analyze interview transcripts using Dedoose. RESULTS: We identified six aspects of contraceptive counseling that clinicians commonly employed with adolescent patients. These were: (1) sociodemographic characteristics driving counseling, (2) reliance on tiered effectiveness counseling, (3) initiating counseling conversations using "ask then explain" or "explain then ask" approaches, (4) emphasis on teen pregnancy prevention, (5) the influence of method accessibility on counseling, and (6) parental involvement in decision-making and patient confidentiality. We describe how these themes align with or diverge from each component of the SDM framework. CONCLUSION: Clinicians in this study frequently engaged in non-patient-centered techniques during contraceptive counseling with adolescents. These findings can inform practice recommendations to support clinicians in providing high-quality contraceptive counseling using shared decision-making.

Uncertainty in Postpartum Permanent Contraception Decision-Making: Physician and Patient Perspectives.

PURPOSE: We sought to understand how patients and physicians conceptualize uncertainty in the permanent contraception decision-making process. BASIC PROCEDURES: In 2022-2023, we interviewed postpartum patients with a documented desire for permanent contraception (n = 81) and their delivering physicians (n = 67). Eligible patients gave birth at one of our four study hospitals in California, Ohio, Illinois, and Alabama. We used rapid content analysis and thematic content analysis to develop and refine themes related to uncertainty in permanent contraceptive decision-making. MAIN FINDINGS: Most patients reported full certainty in their decision regarding permanent contraception, although some expressed doubts. After receiving permanent contraception, some patients discussed grief but overall affirmed their decision. One patient said they wished they had considered other contraceptive options. Physicians reported using a range of strategies to safeguard from patient regret, including ensuring patients were 100% certain with their decision, inferring certainty based on their characteristics, asking patients to think through all scenarios that could affect decision-making, and repeat counseling during multiple interactions. PRINCIPAL CONCLUSIONS: Patient experiences reveal the depth, fluidity, and nuance of patients' contraceptive decision-making processes. Physicians sometimes failed to grapple with this nuance by centering potential regret in their counseling. Personalized and supportive contraceptive counseling that acknowledges the complexity of contraceptive decision-making is imperative. Shared decision-making can help ensure patients can make informed and autonomous decisions about their reproductive lives.

Perceptions and experiences of Congolese midwives implementing a low-cost battery-operated heart rate meter during newborn resuscitation.

Background: 900,000 newborns die from respiratory depression each year; nearly all of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. Deaths from respiratory depression are reduced by evidence-based resuscitation. Electronic heart rate monitoring provides a sensitive indicator of the neonate's status to inform resuscitation care, but is infrequently used in low-resource settings. In a recent trial in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, midwives used a low-cost, battery-operated heart rate meter (NeoBeat) to continuously monitor heart rate during resuscitations. We explored midwives' perceptions of NeoBeat including its utility and barriers and facilitators to use. Methods: After a 20-month intervention in which midwives from three facilities used NeoBeat during resuscitations, we surveyed midwives and conducted focus group discussions (FGDs) regarding the incorporation of NeoBeat into clinical care. FGDs were conducted in Lingala, the native language, then transcribed and translated from Lingala to French to English. We analyzed data by: (1) coding of transcripts using Nvivo, (2) comparison of codes to identify patterns in the data, and (3) grouping of codes into categories by two independent reviewers, with final categories determined by consensus. Results: Each midwife from Facility A used NeoBeat on an estimated 373 newborns, while each midwife at facilities B and C used NeoBeat an average 24 and 47 times, respectively. From FGDs with 30 midwives, we identified five main categories of perceptions and experiences regarding the use of NeoBeat: (1) Providers' initial skepticism evolved into pride and a belief that NeoBeat was essential to resuscitation care, (2) Providers viewed NeoBeat as enabling their resuscitation and increasing their capacity, (3) NeoBeat helped providers identify flaccid newborns as liveborn, leading to hope and the perception of saving of lives, (4) Challenges of use of NeoBeat included cleaning, charging, and insufficient quantity of devices, and (5) Providers desired to continue using the device and to expand its use beyond resuscitation and their own facilities. Conclusion: Midwives perceived that NeoBeat enabled their resuscitation practices, including assisting them in identifying non-breathing newborns as liveborn. Increasing the quantity of devices per facility and developing systems to facilitate cleaning and charging may be critical for scale-up.

Bridging Endocrine Therapy for HR+/HER2- Resectable Breast Cancer: Is it Safe?

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has required new treatment paradigms to limit exposures and optimize hospital resources, including the use of neoadjuvant endocrine therapy (NAET) as bridging therapy for HR+/HER2-invasive tumors and DCIS. While this approach has been used in locally advanced disease, it is unclear how it may affect outcomes in resectable HR+/HER2- tumors. METHODS: Women ≥18 years diagnosed with in situ (Tis) or non-metastatic HR+/HER2- breast cancer from March-May 2019 and 2020 were included. Fisher's exact test and two-sample t test were used to compare baseline characteristics and surgical outcomes between strata. Sub-analysis was performed between patients who received primary surgery vs a bridging NAET approach. RESULTS: Despite similar clinical characteristics, patients in 2019 were more likely to have a surgery-first approach (75% vs 42%, P-value = .0007), receive surgery sooner (22 vs 29 days, P-value < .001), and within 60 days from diagnosis date (100% vs 85%, P-value = .0301). Neoadjuvant endocrine therapy was a more prevalent approach in 2020 (48% vs 7%, P-value < .0001). Rates of clinical to pathologic up-staging remained consistent across primary surgery vs bridging NAET subgroups (P-value = .9253). DISCUSSION: Pandemic-driven treatment protocols provide a unique opportunity to assess the utility of bridging endocrine therapy for resectable HR+/HER2- tumors. Differences in clinical and pathologic staging were similar across groups and did not appear to be affected by receipt of NAET. Our limited cohort demonstrates this strategic therapeutic avenue can optimize health care utilization and may be a reasonable approach when delaying surgery is preferred.

Contraceptive use and counseling in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

OBJECTIVES: (1) Describe contraception use in women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE); (2) characterize the types of contraception used by this population; (3) determine factors affecting the documentation of contraception use; (4) identify if contraception counseling was received in this population at risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes. STUDY DESIGN: This cross-sectional study analyzed data from clinic visits from 2016 - 2018 among 453 women of reproductive age who have SLE. Documentation of contraception use, contraception method, contraception counseling, and other medication use were abstracted from the medical record and analyzed with percentage based statistics, chi-squared test, t-test, and logistic regression. RESULTS: Of the 453 women included in the analysis, 71% had a method of contraception documented within 2 years of the study period. Only 37% were using highly effective contraception. 78% had documentation of contraception counseling. Half (50%) were using teratogenic medications; patients on teratogenic medications had higher odds of having a contraceptive method documented (OR 1.56, 95% CI 1.04 - 2.36) however 24% did not have any contraception documented. 28% of patients were using contraception for which they had a possible or absolute contraindication. CONCLUSIONS: Given a substantial proportion of women with SLE did not have any contraception or contraceptive counseling documented, these findings suggest the need to improve universal reproductive health counseling in patients with SLE. IMPLICATIONS: There is room to improve reproductive health care in patients with SLE through provider training to help optimize pregnancy outcomes in this high-risk population.

Patient-reported causes of distress predict disparities in time to evaluation and time to treatment after breast cancer diagnosis.

BACKGROUND: We examined whether the National Comprehensive Cancer Network distress thermometer (DT), a patient-reported outcome measure, could be used to identify levels and causes of distress associated with racial/ethnic disparities in time to care among patients with breast cancer. METHODS: We identified women aged ≥18 years with stage 0-IV breast cancer who were diagnosed in a single health system between January 2014 and July 2016. The baseline visit was defined as the first postdiagnosis, pretreatment clinical evaluation. Zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) regression (modeling non-zero DT scores and DT scores = 0) and logistic regression (modeling DT score ≥ 4, threshold for social services referral) were used to examine associations between baseline score (0 = none to 10 = extreme) and types of stressors (emotional, familial, practical, physical, spiritual) after adjustment for race/ethnicity and other characteristics. Linear regression with log transformation was used to identify predictors of time to evaluation and time to treatment. RESULTS: A total of 1029 women were included (median baseline DT score = 4). Emotional, physical, and practical stressors were associated with distress in both the ZINB and logistic models (all P < .05). Black patients (n = 258) were more likely to report no distress than Whites (n = 675; ZINB zero model odds ratio, 2.72; 95% CI, 1.68-4.40; P < .001) despite reporting a similar number of stressors (P = .07). Higher DT scores were associated with shorter time to evaluation and time to treatment while being Black and having physical or practical stressors were associated with delays in both (all P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Patient-reported stressors predicted delays in time to care, but patient-reported levels of distress did not, with Black patients having delayed time to care despite reporting low levels of distress. We describe anticipatory, culturally responsive strategies for using patient-reported outcomes to address observed disparities.

The effect of treatment on patient-reported distress after breast cancer diagnosis.

BACKGROUND: The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Distress Thermometer (DT) uses a 10-point scale (in which 0 indicates no distress and 10 indicates extreme distress) to measure patient-reported distress. In the current study, the authors sought to examine the relationship between treatment and NCCN DT scores in patients with breast cancer over time. METHODS: The authors included women aged ≥18 years who were diagnosed with stage 0 to stage IV breast cancer (according to the seventh edition of the American Joint Commission on Cancer staging system) at a 3-hospital health system from January 2014 to July 2016. Linear mixed effects models adjusted for covariates including stage of disease, race/ethnicity, insurance, and treatment sequence (neoadjuvant vs adjuvant) were used to estimate adjusted mean changes in the DT score (MSCs) per week for patients undergoing lumpectomy, mastectomy only, and mastectomy with reconstruction (MR). RESULTS: The authors analyzed 12,569 encounters for 1029 unique patients (median score, 4; median follow-up, 67 weeks). Patients treated with MR (118 patients) were younger and more likely to be married, white, and privately insured compared with patients undergoing lumpectomy (620 patients) and mastectomy only (291 patients) (all P < .01). After adjusting for covariates, distress scores were found to decline significantly across all 3 surgical cohorts, with patients undergoing MR found to have both the most preoperative distress and the greatest decline in distress prior to surgery (MSC/week: -0.073 for MR vs -0.031 for lumpectomy vs -0.033 for mastectomy only; P = .001). Neoadjuvant therapy was associated with a longitudinal decline in distress for patients treated with lumpectomy (-1.023) and mastectomy only (-0.964). Over time, ductal carcinoma in situ (-0.503) and black race (-1.198) were found to be associated with declining distress among patients treated with lumpectomy and MR, respectively, whereas divorced patients who were treated with mastectomy only (0.948) and single patients treated with lumpectomy (0.476) experienced increased distress (all P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: When examined longitudinally in consecutive patients, the NCCN DT can provide patient-reported data to inform expectations and guide targeted support for patients with breast cancer.