Tuuned in: use of an online contraceptive decision aid for women increases reproductive self-efficacy and knowledge; results of an experimental clinical trial

Abstract Background Digital decision aids are becoming increasingly common in many areas of healthcare. These aids are designed to involve patients in medical decision making, with the aim of improving patient outcomes while decreasing healthcare burden. Previously developed contraceptive-based decision aids have been found to be effective at increasing women’s knowledge about reproductive health and contraception. Here, we sought to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel contraceptive-based decision aid at increasing women’s self-efficacy and knowledge about their reproductive health and contraceptive options, as well as their perceptions of their learning. This study was registered as a clinic trial at ClinicalTrials.gov (Contraception Decision Aid Use and Patient Outcomes, ID# NCT05177783) on 05/01/2022. Methods The Tuune® contraceptive decision aid’s effectiveness was evaluated by conducting an experiment in which 324 women were assigned to use the Tuune® decision aid or a control decision aid. Primary outcomes included reproductive health self-efficacy, reproductive health and contraceptive knowledge, and perceptions of learning. Secondary analyses examined whether prior experience using hormonal contraceptives moderated the relationship between decision aid and each outcome measure. Results Women assigned to use the Tuune® decision aid exhibited greater reproductive health self-efficacy, greater knowledge about reproductive health and contraception, and perceived having learned more than women assigned to use the control decision aid ( p s ≤ .029). This pattern was also observed in women with previous contraceptive use experience, where women using Tuune® reported better outcomes than women using the control aid, regardless of their history of hormonal contraceptive use experience, although this interaction was not significant ( p = .089). Conclusions Use of the Tuune® contraceptive-based decision aid improved each of the predicted outcomes relative to a control decision aid. This suggests that use of the Tuune® contraceptive-based decision aid is well poised to increase women’s confidence and knowledge about contraceptive use and may also reduce burden on healthcare systems.