Evaluating What's My Method? in Barbados

Quinnipiac University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Contraception Behavior

Treatments: Other: Playing a contraception education videogame

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06307002

CAS_EB_2024

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to measure the impact of the What's My Method game on participants' sense of agency, education, and empowerment around contraceptive decision-making. Patients receiving standard of care contraceptive counseling will be compared to those who play the game in addition to counseling.

Full description

Contraceptive self-care has been identified by the WHO as critical to achieving milestones for female empowerment and well-being. This focus reflects a shift in global public health attitudes regarding contraceptive provision from a top-down approach, where childbearing persons receive directives from medical providers, towards an approach that encourages self-determination and individual agency. Implementing contraceptive counseling and education through the lens of reproductive empowerment requires that the focus of the intervention be on the childbearing persons and their needs. There is a clear need for improvement in contraceptive counseling in Barbados. As per the United Nations dashboard, the modern contraceptive prevalence rate is 49% and providers report that abortion is often used as birth control.

Digital health interventions have been validated as successful high-impact practices to support healthy reproductive behaviors. These interventions include SMS campaigns , artificial intelligence-based chatbots, and interactive websites which provide information and offer tools to help choose appropriate methods. These studies demonstrate that digital media are an effective way to reach the target audience and communicate information about reproductive health. Barbadian clinics have not yet integrated digital technology to support CC; they rely on pamphlets and posters for information dissemination.

This study seeks assess the impact of supplementing SOC counseling with a digital game that provides detailed information about family planning methods, their benefits and side effects. The information is communicated through using animations and images and reinforced through experimentation and context.

Enrollment: 70 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 18 to 48 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• • English-speaking
• Capable of using a tablet
• Childbearing individuals
• Individuals/Couples seeking family planning counseling (one response collected per couple)

Exclusion criteria

• Unable to provide informed consent due to intellectual or physical impairment - Under the age of 18 unless accompanied by a parent

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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70 participants in 2 patient groups

Control Arm

No Intervention group

Description:

The control group will receive SOC counseling, defined as the current practice at our partner institutions. Patients presenting for contraceptive counseling are given informational pamphlets and have the option to review additional materials posted on the clinic walls and on a rotating slide deck on a digital screen. During their counseling session with a provider, they review eligible methods and can make a decision about whether or not to adopt a method, and to select and initiate the contraception of their choice.

WMM Arm

Experimental group

Description:

The intervention group will be provided with a tablet loaded with the WMM game which will be played in the waiting room prior to their visit. They will then receive SOC counseling, defined as the current practice at our partner institutions. Patients presenting for contraceptive counseling are given informational pamphlets and have the option to review additional materials posted on the clinic walls and on a rotating slide deck on a digital screen. During their counseling session with a provider, they review eligible methods and can make a decision about whether or not to adopt a method, and to select and initiate the contraception of their choice.

Treatment:

Other: Playing a contraception education videogame