Contraceptive counseling training experiences and behaviors among obstetrics and gynecology residents in California and Florida

Abstract

ObjectiveTo describe experiences with contraception counseling training and provision of obstetrics and gynecology residents training in California and Florida. Study designWe conducted a mixed-methods study of obstetrics and gynecology residents training across 19 programs (with approximately 428 residents) in California and Florida from September 2022 through February 2023. We asked participants how often they use tiered-effectiveness counseling, their satisfaction with contraception counseling practices, and experiences with witnessing and recognizing contraception coercion. We asked about personal disappointment when patients decline long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) and pressure from faculty to prescribe LARC. To further explore resident contraception counseling education and behaviors, we conducted semi-structured telephone interviews with a subset of 20 survey volunteers. ResultsWe received survey responses from 155 (36.2%) participants. Most (n = 113 [76.4%]) often or always reported using tiered-effectiveness counseling. While few participants (n = 17 [11.3%]) reported feeling pressure from faculty to convince a patient to keep a LARC, some (n = 34 [22.1%]) reported they often or always feel disappointed when a patient chooses LARC removal, with more Florida participants reporting disappointment (n = 19 [37.3%]) compared to California (n = 15 [14.6%], p = 0.01). We identified two main themes from the telephone interviews. First, residents feel they have limited formal education on how to provide contraceptive counseling and commonly learn these practices by emulating supervising faculty or peer counseling styles. Second, residents are informally taught, through feedback and interactions with supervising faculty and peers, that successful contraception counseling is the ability to convince patients to use highly effective contraception. ConclusionWhen residents lack formalized contraception counseling education, they adopt counseling behaviors that may not be patient centered. ImplicationsWhen obstetrics and gynecology residents lack formalized contraception counseling education, they learn practices that may lead to coercive counseling behaviors during training. Resident education should include recognition and mitigation of contraception coercion and patient-centered counseling both through a formalized curriculum and socialization of trainees during their medical education.