• Editors' Summary
• Credits

1. Why Informed Choice Matters
• Understanding Informed Choice
• Benefits of Informed Choice
• Evolution of Informed Choice
2. Making Family Planing Decisions
3. Policies for Informed Choice
4. Communication for Choice
5. Improving Access
6. Managing for Informed Choice
7. Client-Provider Communication

• Figures
• Table
• Side-bars
• Bibliography

• What can be done?
• Women know what they want
• Why communities matter
• Eliminating targets
• More methods, more choices
• "Your health is in your hands"
• Do clients have choices?
• Please Ask!
• How much guidance?
• Active clients, better choices
• Counseling continuing clients

• POPLINE
• Media/Materials Clearinghouse
• Other Reports
• To Order
• CCP Home Page

Published by the Population Information Porgram, Center for Communication Programs, The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202, USA.

Why Informed Choice Matters

Choices about childbearing and contraceptive use are among the most important health decisions that many people make (162). They are most likely to meet a person's needs when they reflect individual desires and values, are based on accurate, relevant information, and are medically appropriate—that is, when they are informed choices (22).

“The process by which an individual arrives at a decision about health care” is an informed choice when it is “based upon access to, and full understanding of, all necessary information from the client's perspective,” according to one definition by EngenderHealth, formerly AVSC International. “The process should result in a free and informed decision by the individual about whether or not she or he desires to obtain health services and, if so, what method or procedure she or he will choose and consent to receive” (22).

The concept of informed choice can be applied to a wide range of sexual and reproductive health decisions. This issue of Population Reports focuses on informed choice in family planning—including whether to seek to avoid pregnancy, whether to space and time one's childbearing, whether to use contraception, what family planning method to use, and whether and when to continue or switch methods.

The term “informed choice” refers to a decision that a person can make for herself or himself—not to a process that a family planning provider carries out. Nonetheless, policy-makers, program managers, and service providers have important roles to play (see Encouraging Informed Choice—What Can Be Done?). Family planning programs can help people make informed choices best by adopting a strategy that covers five areas: policy, communication programs, access, leadership and management, and client-provider communication (see Informed Choice Strategy).

JHU/CCP

Danielle Baron, JHU/CCP

Mrudula Amin, JHU/CCP

In Egypt (top), Senegal (middle), and India (bottom), people obtain information about family planning from family, friends, and community workers as well as from service providers. Many people make their decisions long before they seek contraception itself.