PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Brigid Dineley
AU  - Sarah Munro
AU  - Wendy V. Norman
AU  - Boris Zevin
AU  - Dennis Hong
AU  - Babak Katiraee
AU  - Brian Fitzsimmons
AU  - Regina Renner
TI  - Contraceptive counselling in 3 Canadian bariatric surgery clinics: a multicentre qualitative study of the experiences of patients and health care providers
AID  - 10.9778/cmajo.20200304
DP  - 2022 Jan 01
TA  - CMAJ Open
PG  - E255--E261
VI  - 10
IP  - 1
4099  - http://www.cmajopen.ca/content/10/1/E255.short
4100  - http://www.cmajopen.ca/content/10/1/E255.full
SO  - CMAJ2022 Jan 01; 10
AB  - Background: Evidence suggests an increase in fertility and unintended pregnancy after bariatric surgery; contraceptive counselling, traditionally defined as a discussion of contraception options, is therefore an important facet of surgical planning. Our aim was to investigate patient experiences of contraceptive counselling, the attitudes of health care providers (HCPs) toward contraceptive counselling, and their perceptions of the facilitators and barriers to contraceptive counselling in bariatric surgery clinics.Methods: We conducted a qualitative study using semistructured interviews with patients and HCPs at publicly funded Canadian bariatric surgery clinics from May 2018 to February 2019. We recruited bariatric HCPs from across Canada using snowball sampling, and recruited patient participants from 3 Canadian bariatric surgery programs. Patient participants had to be at risk of pregnancy in the postoperative period, aged 18–45 years old and have completed all preoperative counselling. We included HCPs who delivered care in a publicly funded, hospital-affiliated bariatric surgery clinic in Canada. Team members analyzed transcripts thematically.Results: We completed 27 interviews (patient n = 16, HCP n = 11). Our analysis identified 3 separate themes: missing information in contraception counselling, making assumptions about who would benefit from counselling and strategies for improving contraception counselling. We found patients and HCPs wanted more resources on the safety and efficacy of contraceptive methods.Interpretation: Our study showed a need for structured contraceptive counselling in bariatric surgery clinics. Information resources that support patients and HCPs who provide counselling are needed.