Photo By Savannah Blackstock | Catherine Witkop, M.D., discusses the digital health tools that are available to...... read more read more
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Most servicewomen are of reproductive age, and on top of managing their challenging jobs, they sometimes experience heavy menstrual bleeding, other gynecologic conditions, and unplanned pregnancy. Dealing with these difficulties is even harder during deployments to austere locations with limited health care and communications capabilities. Having up-to-date information and tools can help servicewomen make the right decisions about their health and also when they might want to have children, especially in the context of their military careers.
To help servicewomen maintain their health, ensure readiness, and manage their personal and professional lives, the Defense Health Agency offers Decide + Be Ready, an evidence-based mobile health app. Available for free for iOS and Android, Decide + Be Ready provides servicewomen with regularly updated clinical information and decision-making aids to encourage healthy and educated choices on contraception, gynecologic health, and family planning – particularly in deployed environments.
Decide + Be Ready puts a wealth of information literally in the hands of servicewomen members that they can access almost anywhere, anytime, and even offline when the internet is unavailable – an important factor in many deployed locations and on ships. The app offers a personal, private way for each user to learn about birth control methods, including managing periods or skipping them altogether through menstrual suppression.
More importantly, the app actively helps servicewomen improve their ability to proactively collaborate with Military Health System clinicians on shared decision making, an approach to clinical collaboration that accounts not only for medical evidence but also the patient’s preferences and values around key treatment decisions. Decide + Be Ready enables servicewomen to identify their preferences and then share their thoughts with clinicians before or during appointments, highlighting what's most important to them.
Delivering these health care capabilities in a digital health format is particularly useful and timely for servicewomen. The Defense Health Board’s November 2020 report Active Duty Women’s Health Care Services, found that servicewomen often lack access to – and even awareness of – products and services for self-diagnosis and self-care of treatable and preventable women’s health issues, particularly in operational environments.
The DHB report endorsed using digital health technology as a scalable, low-cost way to deliver health information and services to women in the military at the point of need, especially in remote and resource-constrained environments. In fact, the report listed Decide + Be Ready as a Department of Defense best practice and recommended that as many servicewomen use the app as possible.
App Features
The Decide + Be Ready app has two parts. The first part presents each available method of birth control for women and describes each option in terms of effectiveness, how it’s used, and side effects both good and bad. The app explains the potential impact of each method on breastfeeding, life postpartum, and the return to fertility. It also explores the unique considerations for servicewomen, such as potential impacts on future deployment.
The second part of the app asks the user to apply what she learned in the first through a series of questions about her own preferences and priorities. For example, one servicewoman may want a very effective method for contraception, while another may care more about managing her periods, particularly on deployment. The app also asks about any medical conditions the user may have that may influence her use of contraception.
Based on all that information, the app recommends the two or three contraceptive methods that best align with the user’s answers to the questionnaire. The user can then compare the suggested methods and can make notes within the app of any questions she has for her health care provider.
When the servicewoman has finished, she can download her questions, questionnaire results, and the app’s recommendations and can go to her next appointment more confident about her understanding of the options and her personal preferences. Alternatively, she can also email the app’s output to herself, her provider, or both before an appointment. The provider can use the advance information to drive a deeper conversation focusing on the methods that best align with the servicewoman’s needs and values.
Looking Ahead
Ensuring women’s health capabilities is essential for servicewomen’s health, well-being, and readiness and is a growing priority for the DHA. The DHB report states that currently more than four in 10 MHS active-duty and active-duty family member beneficiaries are women, and that women have emerged as the fastest-growing active-duty population.
Digital health tools will become an increasingly important element of meeting servicewomen’s health needs going forward. In addition to Decide + Be Ready, the MHS offers a breadth of evidence-based digital health resources for women’s health. Improving delivery of women’s health care not only helps servicewomen more effectively serve our nation – it also directly supports the DHA’s primary goals of great outcomes, a ready medical force, satisfied beneficiaries, and fulfilled staff. By meeting servicewomen where they are with tools that work best for them, we can empower them to make informed choices that improve their lives and reinforce their liberty to pursue personal and professional happiness.
| Date Taken: | 11.01.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 11.08.2021 18:44 |
| Story ID: | 408943 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 132 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, MHS app helps servicewomen proactively manage contraception options, by Savannah Blackstock, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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