Patient education and counseling
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To describe development and testing of a counseling tool intended to inform family planning clients while helping the family planning provider facilitate the client's decision-making process; and to discuss challenges and requisites for shifting to shared decision-making from the extremes of decision-making dominated by the provider, on one hand, or unaided by the provider, on the other. DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOOL: The WHO Decision-Making Tool for Family Planning Clients and Providers is derived from evidence-based principles of client-centered care and counseling. This article discusses how these principles are manifested in the Tool and how the Tool aids both provider and client in improving counseling. ⋯ Use of the tool improves the performance of both providers and clients in family planning counseling and decision-making. There are challenges, however, at the levels of both the provider and the organization in sustaining these changes and scaling up such initiatives in quality of care.
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Emotional care is an important component of abortion services. Evidence-based counseling for other stigmatized and sensitive health issues may be informative for the improvement of abortion counseling. ⋯ Abortion care providers may be able to integrate additional patient-centered practices to support coping or improve psychological adjustment after abortion.