ARTICLE Contraceptive counselling and factors affecting women’s contraceptive choices: results of the CHOICE study in Austria Christian Egarter a, * , Christoph Grimm a , Kazem Nouri a , Hans-Joachim Ahrendt b , Johannes Bitzer c , Christine Cermak d a Medical University of Vienna, Department of Gynaecological Endocrinology and Reproduction, Wa¨hringer Gu ¨rtel 18–20, 1090 Vienna, Austria; b Praxis fu ¨r Frauenheilkunde, Klinische Forschung und Weiterbildung, Halbersta¨dter Straße 112, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany; c Universita¨tsspital Basel, Frauenklinik, Spitalstrasse 21, CH-4031 Basel, Switzerland; d MSD, Am Euro Platz 2, A-1120 Vienna, Austria * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: christian.egarter@meduniwien.ac.at (C Egarter), christoph.grimm@meduniwien.ac.at (C Grimm), kazem.nouri@meduniwien.ac.at (K Nouri), h.-j.ahrendt@t-online.de (H-J Ahrendt), BitzerJ@uhbs.ch (J Bitzer), christine.cermak@merck.com (C Cermak). Prof Dr Christian Egarter was appointed as a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Vienna in 1988. During 1991–1993, he was head of obstetrics and gynaecology in Vo ¨cklabruck, Upper Austria. Thereafter, he returned to Vienna to become deputy head of the university department. He served as deputy head of gynaecological endocrinology since 2007 and became head of the department in 2011. Christian has published more than 250 papers in national/international journals and obtained research grants from, amongst others, the Japanese Society for Promotion of Science and a Concerted Action of the EU Commission. Abstract Empirical evidence of the impact of contraceptive counselling and factors affecting women’s contraceptive choices are limited. CHOICE (Contraceptive Health Research Of Informed Choice Experience) was a large-scale study in 11 European countries. Women in Austria aged 15–40 years considering a short-acting, reversible form of combined hormonal contraceptive were eligible to participate. The choices included the combined daily pill, weekly transdermal patch, and monthly vaginal ring. This study assessed and compared 2478 women’s original preferences with their post-counselling choices and evaluated their perceptions and criteria for their choice. Women who were ‘undecided’ decreased from 18.1% pre-counselling to 3.2% post-counselling; significantly more women post-counselling chose the monthly ring (8.7% to 23.8%; difference 15.1%, 95% CI 13.3–16.8%; P < 0.0001) or the weekly patch (6.2% to 7.8%; difference 1.7%, 95% CI 0.5–2.9%; P = 0.0014). Women’s primary reasons for choosing a method included ‘easy to use’ (daily pill, weekly patch and monthly ring) and ‘still effective if I experience vomiting, diarrhoea’ (weekly patch and monthly ring). Structured and balanced counselling led to changes in the method chosen. RBMOnline ª 2011, Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. KEYWORDS: contraception, counselling, daily pill, monthly ring, weekly patch, Austria 1472-6483/$ - see front matter ª 2011, Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.rbmo.2011.12.003 Reproductive BioMedicine Online (2012) xxx, xxx– xxx www.sciencedirect.com www.rbmonline.com Please cite this article in press as: Egarter, C et al. Contraceptive counselling and factors affecting women’s contraceptive choices: results of the CHOICE study in Austria. Reproductive BioMedicine Online (2012), doi:10.1016/j.rbmo.2011.12.003