Characteristics and concerns of women choosing an online contraception selection tool ("choosing wisely").

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Choosing Wisely, a user-friendly and interactive application developed and tested at Queen's University, is a self-administered computer-based questionnaire that aims to assist women, their partners, and their health care providers in deciding among contraceptive options. The application asks specific, direct questions regarding a patient's preferences, health, and lifestyle, and it then generates three lists (1) indicated contraceptive methods, (2) options that may be suitable, and (3) contraindicated methods. OBJECTIVE: To report statistics on the users of Choosing Wisely in the first 13 months since the launch of the program on the award-winning SOGC website Sexualityandu.ca in June, 2007. METHODS: At the end of the program module, each user's answers were logged anonymously in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet along with the time and date of completion. Descriptive statistics were generated in SPSS version 16.0. RESULTS: Between June 21, 2007, and July 25, 2008, 9775 users completed the Choosing Wisely program. Of these users, 8942 (91.5%) were female, and 8745 (89.5%) were under 35. At least one concern regarding contraceptive options was reported by 7359 users (75.3%), and the most common of these was weight gain, selected by 4806 (65.3%). CONCLUSION: Choosing Wisely has attracted an average of 24 users per day seeking more information on birth control methods. The responses gathered from the program will likely allow for both a better understanding of the characteristics of women who desire birth control and refinement of the program, with the aim of better serving those who are seeking contraceptive advice.