Intervention versus treatment as usual: Are we doing counseling differently, and does it improve overall satisfaction with the for health centers?

Over 1,400 patients who were seen by counselors who had either underwent training in a new contraceptive counseling intervention or had not (control group) at 10 health centers -- five control, five experimental -- were asked to complete a questionnaire following their visit. The surveys assessed not only the method they were leaving the health center with, but previous method use, demographics, and what transpired during the course of their contraceptive counseling that visit. The responses to what the counselors did or did not share that day were significantly different between the treatment and control groups.

Counselors trained on the intervention were significantly more likely to discuss how to use the patient’s method of choice correctly, what to do if the patient wants to switch methods, possible side effects, STIs, plans for pregnancy, relevant lifestyle factors for method choice, and a quick start of their method of choice. These differences led to more positive client perceptions of not only the intervention counselors, but the intervention health centers. In particular, improvements in perceptions of trustworthiness, expertise, and accessibility of the intervention counselors were found. Positive attitudes towards the health center were evaluated with three attitude items focused on positive perceptions of the health center.  These improvements to patient experience further validate the importance of including all of these practices in an evidence-based contraceptive counseling program.