Mobile Health Application for Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptive Information

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Traditionally, health educators have provided contraception counseling highlighting long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods. Recently, mobile health applications have gained attention as potentially effective communicative tools. We designed a mobile application, “Plan A Birth Control” (Plan ABC), to provide tailored information about the most common, nonpermanent contraceptive methods with emphasis on LARC methods. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial was conducted at the University of California Los Angeles in which participants were assigned by simple randomization to contraception counseling through Plan ABC or a health educator before physician encounter. A secondary analysis was conducted among women who chose LARC methods. Long-acting reversible contraceptive knowledge index was compared between the study arms in the domains of use, effectiveness, mechanism of action, risks, benefits, and warning signs (maximum score 6). RESULTS: Of the 120 participants in the primary study, 65 chose LARC methods. Of those participants, 34 received health educator counseling and 31 received Plan ABC counseling. Both groups were demographically similar in age and educational status. The mean knowledge score for the Plan ABC counseling group (5.35) was not significantly different (P=.30) from that of the health educator group (5.56). CONCLUSION: An increase in LARC use in the United States could result in reduction of high rates of unintended pregnancies. Results from our study suggest that Plan ABC can be effectively used to impart basic LARC knowledge among women. This can save time for health care providers if used as an adjunct to contraception counseling in waiting room settings.