1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The primary purpose of this study was to determine the treatment preferences for post-abortion psychological services, which are targeted at university students who experience psychological distress after abortion. More specifically, it aimed to: (a) identify the preferred content, timing and format of post-abortion psychological services; and (b) determine the feasibility of delivering these services within the university student health care setting. A secondary purpose of the study was to validate the Post Abortion Intervention Questionnaire (PAQ) as a measure of abortion interventions preferences.» (p. 306)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«This study reports on the results of the 45 participants who had an abortion, desired treatment, and completed the PAQ. […] Participants were university students at McGill University and Concordia University, in Montreal, Canada and at the University of Vermont in the United States.» (p. 306-308)

Instruments :
- Demographic Questionnaire
- Reproductive History Questionnaire
- Post Abortion Intervention Questionnaire

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique

3. Résumé

«The young women in this study who preferred treatment after abortion readily identified their desire for an intervention that appeared to be feasible and timely. Assistance with unexpected guilt was the most important component that participants desired in an intervention. Assistance with feelings of guilt stemming from their abortion experience indicated that some participants may not have been prepared for the presence, degree or persistence of guilt that they experienced. […] The desire for assistance with reproductive mastery may have reflected a sense of increased personal responsibility after the abortion among participants in order to ensure that they not incur a repeated unintended pregnancy as well as repeated abortion. In that sense, the pregnancy and abortion have represented a maturing experience and the developmental learning from past mistakes. Indeed, the experience of being pregnant can actualise the realities of sexual behaviour as well as heighten awareness of their own womanhood, fertility and capacity for motherhood, concepts which may have seemed abstract to some before the pregnancy. […] Participants desired assistance with coping and preferred services that fostered independent coping, as opposed to relying on others for support. This may have reflected a need for privacy surrounding their abortion experience, which they had not yet resolved.» (p. 316-318)