Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: The INFO Project

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New Counseling Resource: Decision-Making Tool for Family Planning Clients and Providers

The Decision-Making Tool for Family Planning Clients and Providers promotes high-quality family planning counselling. The Tool supports client and provider through deciding on a contraceptive method and learning to use it. The Tool is one cornerstone in the World Health Organization’s series, Four Cornerstones of Family Planning Guidance. (The other WHO cornerstones are the Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use, the Selected Practice Recommendations for Contraceptive Use, and Family Planning: A Global Handbook for Providers.)

The Decision-Making Tool was developed by the World Health Organization, Department of Reproductive Health and Research, and the INFO Project at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs. (Also, see below counseling tool about reproductive choices and family planning for people living with HIV.) 

The Decision-Making Tool  is now available in French and Spanish 

Decision-Making Tool—Not Your Ordinary Flipchart

• Multipurpose: A decision-making aid for clients, a job-aid and reference manual for providers; a training resource.
• Interactive: One page for the client, with helpful pictures and key points, and a corresponding page for providers with key points and also reference information.
• Evidence-based: Includes evidence-based technical information on 14 family planning methods, including medical eligibility criteria, side effects, when to start, and how to use each method.
• Structured counseling process: Guides health care providers step-by-step to help clients make informed choices that suit their needs.
• Tailored counseling: Responds to the differing needs of different clients, including clients choosing a method, returning clients, and clients with special needs.
• Adaptable: Easily revised to suit different program and country contexts.

Research on the Decision-Making Tool

Kim YM, Kols A, Martin A, Silva D, Rinehart W, Prammawat S, Johnson S, and Church K. Promoting informed choice: evaluation a decision-making tool for family planning clients and providers in Mexico. International Family Planning Perspectives. 2005 Dec;31(4):162-171.

This study examines the tool's usability and its impact on counseling and decision-making processes during family planning consultations. Results indicate the decision-making tool was useful both as a job aid for providers and as a decision aid for clients.

 Kim YM, Davila C, Tellez C, Kols A. Evaluation of the World Health Organization's family planning decision-making tool: Improving health communication in Nicaragua. Patient Education and Counseling. 2007 May;66(2):235-242

This study investigates the DMT's impact on health communication in Nicaragua. Fifty nine service providers in Nicaragua were videotaped with 426 family planning clients 3 months before and 4 months after attending a training workshop on the DMT. After the intervention providers increased their efforts to identify and respond to client needs, involve clients in the decision-making process, and screen for and educate new clients about the chosen method.

Downloading the Decision-Making Tool

Adaptable PowerPoint files of the Decision-Making Tool are available at the WHO Web site in English, French, and Spanish.

Do you need a sample printed copy?

A limited number of printed copies are available as samples or for program use. Please contact the INFO Project via e-mail to orders@jhuccp.org. 

HIV/AIDS Counseling Tool

(Also available for downloading: WHO Counseling Tool—Reproductive Choices and Family Planning for People Living with HIV.  Designed to help health workers counsel people living with HIV on sexual and reproductive choices and family planning. It also is meant to help people living with HIV make and carry out informed, healthy, and appropriate decisions about their sexual and reproductive lives.)

Disclaimer: The information provided on this web site is not official U.S. Government information and does not represent the views or positions of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Government or The Johns Hopkins University.