Pitt Medicine researchers created a tool to help patients make informed decisions about sterilization

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have developed a simple, web-based decision aid that helps empower pregnant individuals considering tubal sterilization make informed decisions about their reproductive health. Their findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

With significant misunderstandings surrounding sterilization, My Decision/Mi Decisión can offer comprehensive, engaging and accessible information to help support individuals as they make the best contraceptive decisions for themselves.

“When patients are making decisions about their health and fertility, we want to make certain they make them based on facts,” said Sonya Borrero, professor of medicine and founding director of the Center for Innovative Research on Gender Health Equity (CONVERGE) at the School of Medicine.  “From there, they can take the step most aligned with their preferences and values.”

Borrero and her team developed My Decision/Mi Decisión, which is available in English and Spanish, with input from people with lived experience, bioethicists and reproductive health advocates. The decision aid includes written, audio and video information about tubal sterilization, an interactive table comparing contraceptive options, values-clarifying exercises and knowledge checks.

Additional Pitt authors of the study include Elizabeth A. Mosley, Michaella Wu, Kaleab Z. Abebe and Catherine Wright.