Table 5 Qualitative content area trends
From: What’s inside matters: an assessment of the family planning content of digital self-care platforms
Content area | Trends observed |
|---|---|
Reproductive intentions | Instead of assuming tool users want to prevent pregnancy, tools should ask and clarify for how long. This is essential if the tool will recommend a contraceptive method or group of methods |
List of all modern methods | Some tools were inconsistent when discussing all available modern methods or introduced inaccuracies in how they refer to certain methods |
Mechanism of action | When addressed, most tools had more than one inaccuracy/omission, particularly for emergency contraceptive pills |
Method effectiveness | Many tools do not distinguish between correct and consistent use (or perfect use) and typical use |
Duration of protection | High-scoring tools often distinguished between short- and long-acting methods Four tools cited incorrect information about the duration of protection provided by implants and intrauterine devices available in their geographic location. This included outdated or/ shorter protection timeframes than those specified by clinical guidelines, or timeframes that were misaligned with the methods described |
Return to fertility | More than half of the tools included two or more omissions or inaccuracies when describing return to fertility following the use of hormonal methods |
Instructions for use | Instructions for oral contraceptive pills and emergency contraceptive pills frequently contained errors or omissions. Some tools failed to distinguish between combined oral contraceptives (COCs) and progestin only pills (POPs). Some instructions for IUD use omitted the need for a pelvic exam |
Dual protection | Omission of guidance related to dual method use was most frequent in descriptions of fertility-awareness methods |
Discreetness | There were missed opportunities to identify methods that can be used discreetly |
Side effects | Information about the side effects of oral contraceptive pills was inaccurate or incomplete in ten of eleven tools. Some tools listed rare complications of IUD as side effects (e.g. uterine perforation) |
Non-contraceptive benefits | Injectables, IUDs, and OCPs were the methods with the highest frequency of omissions or inaccuracies |