# Improving contraceptive decision support for individuals with chronic conditions

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2024 · $767,196

## Abstract

PROJECT ABSTRACT
Women with pre-existing chronic conditions are more likely to experience unplanned pregnancy and
pregnancy complications than their peers without chronic conditions. Because contraceptive nonuse (not
using any contraceptive method) poses the greatest risk of unplanned pregnancy and is more prevalent
among those with chronic conditions, there is an urgent need to support the contraceptive goals of this group.
Contraceptive decision-making is a critical antecedent to contraceptive use, and a highly personal process. A
significant clinical care gap is the lack of resources that address the unique contraceptive decision needs
of patients with chronic conditions, such as understanding which methods may improve or worsen their
symptoms (e.g., anemia) or disease self-management (e.g., weight). Patients should also know if their chronic
conditions pose a health contraindication to a specific method, and if so, which other methods can be used
safely. However, clinicians, including primary care providers, do not routinely elicit patient preferences or
apply evidence-based contraceptive guidelines to counsel patients with chronic conditions. To address these
gaps, we designed a web-based tool, My Health My Choice (MHMC), to educate patients with chronic
conditions about their contraceptive options and promote clinician adherence to contraceptive guidelines from
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). MHMC is innovative because it is the first theory-
informed, user-tested contraceptive decision support tool that targets both patients with chronic conditions and
their clinicians. Our long-term goal is to improve reproductive health through contraceptive interventions in
general care settings. Building upon our promising pilot data, the study objective is to evaluate the efficacy of
MHMC in a two-arm, parallel cluster-randomized trial using mixed methods to compare MHMC (intervention)
to usual contraceptive care (control) in 14 primary care clinics that provide contraception. We hypothesize that
MHMC use will improve patient-reported quality of contraceptive decision-making and quality of contraceptive
counseling from their clinicians, which will lead to increased contraceptive use and decreased contraceptive
nonuse. The study aims are: Aim 1(Primary): To evaluate the impact of MHMC on contraceptive nonuse. Aim
2 (Secondary): To assess the impact of MHMC on adherence to the CDC Contraceptive Guidelines using
mixed methods. Aim 3: (Exploratory): To quantitatively explore decisional quality and contraceptive
counseling as mediators of the effects of MHMC on primary and secondary measures. The expected
outcomes are new findings regarding the efficacy of a novel contraceptive decision tool for individuals with
chronic conditions. This project will inform the development of scalable, person-centered contraceptive
interventions for medically at-risk patients in real-world clinical settings.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10933467
- **Project number:** 5R01HD110570-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** JUSTINE P WU
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $767,196
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-09-22 → 2028-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10933467

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10933467, Improving contraceptive decision support for individuals with chronic conditions (5R01HD110570-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10933467. Licensed CC0.

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