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

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.

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.

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.

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%).

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.