Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #105334

Ward Rinehart, MA, Center for Communications Programs, John Hopkins University, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, MD 21202, Sarah L. Johnson, MA, Reproductive Health/Family Planning, World Health Organization, Dept. of Reproductive Health & Research, 20 Avenue Apia, Geneva, Switzerland, Kathryn A. Church, MPH, Department of Reproductive Health and Research, World Health Organization, Avenue Appia 20, 1211 Geneva 27, Geneva, Switzerland, and Young Mi Kim, EdD, Center for Communication Programs, The Johns Hopkins University, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, MD 21202, 410-659-6300, ykim@jhuccp.org.

The World Health Organization and the INFO Project at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have recently published the Decision-Making Tool for Family Planning Clients and Providers, a provider's job aid and client's decision-making guide for choosing and learning to use a contraceptive method. Such countries as Indonesia, South Africa, and Nicaragua are adapting and adopting the Tool. The Tool grew out of a normative model of client-provider interaction in counseling. The model integrates into a single framework (1) a process for client's decision-making assisted by the provider, (2) best practices in client-provider communication, and (3) reference to appropriate technical information at the relevant moments in decision making. The model takes the form of a flow chart or decision tree, presenting the decision-making process as tiered sets of options. This format embodies the most important principle behind the model and the Tool: Each client's individual needs, concerns, and wishes determine the flow of communication between client and provider. From the provider's point of view, this means that the provider strategically prompts the client to express needs, concerns, or wishes, and the client's expression determines the provider's next prompt, information, or discussion. We will discuss the normative model and the evidence-based best practices underlying it. We will describe the evolution of the model into a practical tool. We will demonstrate an interactive electronic representation of the model. Copies of the interactive model and the Tool will be available on CD-ROM and on the World Wide Web.

Learning Objectives:

• At the end of this session the participants will be able to engage in constructive dialogue to improve the model and its application to development of tools, training, and processes.

Keywords: Decision-Making, Family Planning

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation