Background <p>Appropriate perinatal mental health care is an important public health concern as mental health disorders are common pregnancy complications. Perinatal and mental health care providers’ competencies in meeting mental health needs of perinatal individuals can increase access to appropriate mental health care. Despite the importance, perinatal and mental health care providers report discomfort in treating perinatal individuals with mental health needs due to the lack of evidence-based guidance for mental health treatment decisions, differences in beliefs and attitudes, and concerns about adverse effects on mental health and pregnancy outcomes. The proposed study aims to adapt the DECIDE provider training to improve care providers’ competencies in effectively engaging and communicating with perinatal individuals for shared decision making across pregnancy and postpartum stages in perinatal care settings. DECIDE stands for Decide the problem; Explore the questions; Closed or open-ended questions; Identify the who, why, or how of the problem; Direct questions to your health care professional; Enjoy a shared solution.</p> Methods <p>The proposed study with a single-arm prospective design will make content adaptation (i.e., adding topical training content to fit perinatal mental health care) and process adaptation (i.e., creating asynchronous training modules to reduce the burden for care providers) to the DECIDE provider training. The acceptability, appropriateness, and usability of adapted DECIDE provider training for wide dissemination and rapid implementation in health systems will be assessed.</p> Discussion <p>DECIDE teaches healthcare providers skills for perspective-taking, reducing attributional errors, and increasing receptivity to the client population. An adapted DECIDE provider training is expected to be an effective guiding tool for perinatal and mental health providers in delivering competent care for perinatal individuals with mental health disorders. This study will determine the acceptability, appropriateness, and usability of the adapted DECIDE provider training to support high quality perinatal mental health care delivery.</p> Trial registration <p>ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07098260. Registered on 17 August 2025. <a href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07098260">https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07098260</a></p>