Contraceptive counselling and care: a personalized interactive approach

Various studies have shown deficiencies and gaps in contraceptive counselling and care (CCC) in Europe as well as globally. These deficiencies include the lack of personalized communication integrating the individual woman's needs and her biopsychosocial profile into the interaction with the Health Care Professional (HCP).

Based on the standards summarized in the literature and based on the concept of interactive shared decision, we developed a structured approach as a proposal for CCC.

Integrating principles of patient-centred communication and trustful relationship, we propose a stepwise process of interactive counselling and care allowing women to express their needs and priorities, then help the HCP by taking into the account the biopsychosocial profile of the woman to exclude methods together with the woman which do not correspond to her needs or which are contraindicated; then look for additional benefits of contraceptive methods for the individual woman to finally come to a shared transparent decision.

This personalized interactive counseling approach may serve as an orientation for HCPs to find their individual way to tailor contraception to the individual woman.