Abortion-related worries, fears and preparedness: a Swedish Web-based exploratory and retrospective qualitative study

Georgsson, Susanne; Krautmeyer, Stina; Sundqvist, Emilia; Carlsson, Tommy

doi:10.1080/13625187.2019.1647334

Cited by 11 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…We also examine how this relates to informed consent. A qualitative study of abortion patients in Sweden described similar findings [ 34 ]. Information and preparation were closely intertwined with having choices and control over abortion options.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

It’s a small bit of advice, but actually on the day, made such a difference…: perceptions of quality in abortion care in England and Wales

et al. 2021

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Background Quality of care (QOC) is increasingly identified as an important contributor to healthcare outcomes, however little agreement exists on what constitutes quality in abortion care or the recommended indicators from the service-user perspective. Our study aimed to explore perceptions and experiences of abortion QOC in England and Wales. Methods We performed in-depth interviews (via phone or in-person) with participants who had an abortion at a nationwide independent sector provider in the previous 6 months. We explored their experiences of the abortion service at each point in the care pathway, their perspectives on what contributed to and detracted from the experience meeting their definitions of quality, and their reflections on different aspects of QOC. We used content analysis to generate themes. Results From December 2018 to July 2019, we conducted 24 interviews. Ten participants had a surgical and 14 had a medical abortion. Seventeen (71%) were treated in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and 7 (29%) beyond that, with an average gestational age of 10 weeks + 5 days (range 5–23 + 6). We identified 4 major themes that contributed to participant’s perception of high quality care: (1) interpersonal interactions with staff or other patients, (2) being informed and prepared, (3) participation and choices in care and (4) accessibility. Nearly all participants identified interpersonal interactions with staff as an important contributor to quality with positive interactions often cited as the best part of their abortion experience and negative interactions as the worst. For information and preparation, participant described not only the importance of being well prepared, but how incongruencies between information and the actual experience detracted from quality. Participants said that making choices about their care, for example, method of abortion, was a positive contributor. Finally, participants identified access to care, specifically in relation to waiting times and travel, as an important aspect of QOC. Conclusions Participants situated quality in abortion care in 4 domains: interpersonal aspects of care, information and preparation, choices, and accessibility. Indicators identified can be used to develop standard metrics to ensure care meets service-user needs.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

It’s a small bit of advice, but actually on the day, made such a difference…: perceptions of quality in abortion care in England and Wales

et al. 2021

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“…Low health literacy levels are prevalent in the general population [20], meaning that many clients may experience difficulties reading written information. This could result in a lack of psychological preparedness and an increased risk of misunderstandings when seeking an induced abortion, which has been highlighted in previous research exploring the perspectives among women with experience of an abortion [6,7,42]. Health professionals who consult clients seeking an induced abortion need to acknowledge the risk of encountering materials of difficult readability when searching for web-based information, perhaps even providing clients readable written information and offering suggestions how to identify high-quality information corresponding to their health literacy levels.…”

Section: Principal Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Those who request an abortion emphasize the importance of feeling sufficiently prepared by receiving sufficient information beforehand. Studies show that clients experience significant fears [6,7] and uncertainties [6,8] before an abortion. In order to decrease these fears and promote informed decisions, sufficient preparatory information about abortion is essential [2][3][4]6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies show that clients experience significant fears [6,7] and uncertainties [6,8] before an abortion. In order to decrease these fears and promote informed decisions, sufficient preparatory information about abortion is essential [2][3][4]6]. It is known that the public now frequently turn towards the Web to access information about induced abortions [7,9,10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Readability of web-based sources about induced abortion: a cross-sectional study

Georgsson

Carlsson

2020

BMC Med Inform Decis Mak

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Background: High-quality information is essential if clients who request an abortion are to reach informed decisions and feel prepared for the procedure, but little is known concerning the readability of web-based sources containing such material. The aim was to investigate the readability of web-based information about induced abortion. Methods: The search engine Google was used to identify web pages about induced abortion, written in the English language. A total of 240 hits were screened and 236 web pages fulfilled the inclusion criteria. After correcting for duplicate hits, 185 web pages were included. The readability of the text-based content of each web page was determined with Flesch Kincaid Grade Level, Gunning Fog Index, Coleman-Liau Index, Simple Measure of Gobbledygook, and Flesch Reading Ease. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficient and Kruskal-Wallis with Dunn's test as post hoc analysis. Results: Across all grade level measures, a small minority of the web pages had a readability corresponding to elementary school (n < 3, 1%), while the majority had readability corresponding to senior high school or above (n > 153, 65%). The means of the grade level measures ranged between 10.5 and 13.1, and the mean Flesch Reading Ease score was 45.3 (SD 13.6). Only weak correlations (rho < 0.2) were found between the readability measures and search rank in the hit lists. Consistently, web pages affiliated with health care had the least difficult readability and those affiliated with scientific sources had the most difficult readability. Conclusions: Overall, web-based information about induced abortions has difficult readability. Incentives are needed to improve the readability of these texts and ensure that clients encounter understandable information so that they may reach informed decisions and feel adequately prepared when requesting an abortion.

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“…Notably, women exposed to IRs procedures had a lower educational level as compared to unexposed ones. Thus, the high rate of elective termination of pregnancy in this group might suggest difficulties in understanding or believing the information conveyed by the experts and claims the need for improving quality of communication during counselling [23].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Birth outcomes in women exposed to diagnostic radiology procedures during first trimester of pregnancy: a prospective cohort study

Missanelli

Lombardi

Bettiol

et al. 2021

Clinical Toxicology

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Introduction: Exposure of the embryo or fetus to ionizing radiations is a potential danger since it may induce clinically relevant fetal and/or neonatal damages. The aim of the present study was to examine fetal and neonatal outcomes after maternal exposure to radio-diagnostic procedures during first trimester of pregnancy, and to evaluate whether these effects might be related to the fetal absorbed dose of ionizing radiations. Methods: A 10-year prospective cohort study was performed on 1979 pregnant women who underwent a radio-diagnostic procedure within the first trimester of pregnancy. Women were divided into two groups: those exposed to abdominal or lumbar radio-diagnostic procedure (Cohort A, n ¼ 130), and those exposed to radio-diagnostic procedures in any other body regions (Cohort B, n ¼ 415). Health physicists performed tailored fetal radiation dose calculation. Multivariate logistic regression model was used to estimate the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Results: The tailored fetal radiation dose was calculated for a total of 97 women (range 0.05-92 mSv). Major congenital malformations were detected in four infants in Cohort A, six infants in Cohort B, and 24 infants in controls (p ¼ 0.445). Multivariate analysis confirmed the negative association between age and adverse pregnancy outcomes ), and the protective role of folic acid. A higher rate of small for gestational age seems to be present in women who underwent radio-diagnostic procedures that involve maternal thyroid. Conclusion: Despite several limitations, our study confirms that exposure to radio-diagnostic procedures that may involve uterus at doses below 100 mSv does not increase the risk of embryo-fetal toxicity. The relationship between maternal thyroid irradiation and small for gestational age needs to be further investigated.

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Abortion-related worries, fears and preparedness: a Swedish Web-based exploratory and retrospective qualitative study

Cited by 11 publications

References 32 publications

It’s a small bit of advice, but actually on the day, made such a difference…: perceptions of quality in abortion care in England and Wales

It’s a small bit of advice, but actually on the day, made such a difference…: perceptions of quality in abortion care in England and Wales

Readability of web-based sources about induced abortion: a cross-sectional study

Birth outcomes in women exposed to diagnostic radiology procedures during first trimester of pregnancy: a prospective cohort study

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