Reducing Unintended Pregnancies Through Web-Based Reproductive Life Planning and Contraceptive Action Planning among Privately Insured Women: Study Protocol for the MyNewOptions Randomized, Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND

The Affordable Care Act mandates that most women of reproductive age with private health insurance have full contraceptive coverage with no out-of-pocket costs, creating an actionable time for women to evaluate their contraceptive choices without cost considerations. The MyNewOptions study is a three-arm, randomized, controlled trial testing web-based interventions aimed at assisting privately insured women with making contraceptive choices that are consistent with their reproductive goals.

METHODS

Privately insured women between the ages of 18 and 40 not intending pregnancy were randomly assigned to one of three groups: 1) a reproductive life planning (RLP) intervention, 2) a reproductive life planning enriched with contraceptive action planning (RLP+) intervention, or 3) an information only control group. Both the RLP and RLP+ guide women to identify their individualized reproductive goals and contraceptive method requirements. The RLP+ additionally includes a contraceptive action planning component, which uses if-then scenarios that allow the user to problem solve situations that make it difficult to be adherent to their contraceptive method. All three groups have access to a reproductive options library containing information about their contraceptive coverage and the attributes of alternative contraceptive methods. Women completed a baseline survey with follow-up surveys every 6 months for 2 years concurrent with intervention boosters. Study outcomes include contraceptive use and adherence. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02100124.

DISCUSSION

Results from the MyNewOptions study will demonstrate whether web-based reproductive life planning, with or without contraceptive action planning, helps insured women make patient-centered contraceptive choices compared with an information-only control condition.