Exploring Consumer Preferences for Pharmacy Provision of Mifepristone in the Human-centered Design Discovery Phase.

Objective: We used human-centered design to explore preferred consumer experiences for obtaining mifepristone for medication abortion care from a pharmacy.

Methods: We conducted a two-part virtual workshop series with the same 10 participants in March and April of 2022 to initiate the discovery phase of a human-centered design process. Most participants were residents of Illinois and all participants had uteruses and had either sought abortion care or supported someone who had. Co-developed and co-facilitated with a local abortion fund, workshops engaged participants to provide formative data for the development of recommendations for community health center clinicians and pharmacists. A simulated medication abortion care counseling session grounded group activities and discussions that explored the experience of filling a medication abortion prescription at a pharmacy or by mail. Data were analyzed for key themes and recommendations. Qualitative data were collected from the workshops. Data analysis was conducted in three iterative, parallel stages: 1) virtual whiteboard results from both workshops were analyzed deductively through spreadsheets and visualizations; 2) close reading was conducted for workshop transcripts and participant evaluations; and 3) document analysis was used to triangulate data across formats. Data were discussed periodically among the research team until consensus was reached.

Results: Five primary categories of questions and preferences emerged from workshop data concerning: logistics, privacy, cost, pharmacist refusal, and follow-up care. Researchers found that participants desired certain questions and concerns to be answered by specific provider types. Participants indicated a desire for further research and opportunities that prioritize lived experience and use storytelling and/or design methods to collect data.

Conclusions: Despite existing patient-oriented medication abortion resources, there is a need for patient resources to support pharmacy dispensing, and a corresponding need for clinician and pharmacist resources. These can help in-person and mail-order pharmacy dispensing to be as consumer friendly as possible.