Perceived stress and emotional social support among women who are denied or receive abortions in the United States: a prospective cohort study

BMC Women's Health

Research Article

Diana Greene Foster¹  M Antonia Biggs¹  Corinne H Rocca¹  Sarah CM Roberts¹  Laura F Harris² 

[1] Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), University of California San Francisco, 1330 Broadway, Suite 1100, 94612, Oakland, CA, USA;University of California Berkeley, University of California San Francisco, Joint Medical Program, 570 University Hall #1190, 94720, Berkeley, CA, USA;

关键词: Pregnancy;    Abortion;    Childbearing;    Perceived stress;    Social support;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6874-14-76

 received in 2014-02-08, accepted in 2014-06-16,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundExamining women’s stress and social support following denial and receipt of abortion furthers understanding of the effects of unwanted childbearing and abortion on women’s well-being. This study investigated perceived stress and emotional social support over time among women who were denied wanted abortions and who received abortions, and compared outcomes between the groups.MethodsThe Turnaway Study is a prospective cohort study of women who sought abortions at 30 abortion facilities across the United States, and follows women via semiannual phone interviews for five years. Participants include 956 English or Spanish speaking women aged 15 and over who sought abortions between 2008 and 2010 and whose gestation in pregnancy fit one of three groups: women who presented up to three weeks beyond a facility’s gestational age limit and were denied an abortion; women presenting within two weeks below the limit who received an abortion; and women who received a first trimester abortion. The outcomes were modified versions of the Perceived Stress Scale and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Longitudinal mixed effects models were used to assess differences in outcomes between study groups over 30 months.ResultsWomen denied abortions initially had higher perceived stress than women receiving abortions near gestational age limits (1.0 unit difference on 0-16 scale, P = 0.003). Women receiving first-trimester abortions initially had lower perceived stress than women receiving abortions near gestational age limits (0.6 difference, P = 0.045). By six months, all groups’ levels of perceived stress were similar, and levels remained similar through 30 months. Emotional social support scores did not differ among women receiving abortions near gestational limits versus women denied abortions or women having first trimester abortions initially or over time.ConclusionsSoon after being denied abortions, women experienced higher perceived stress than women who received abortions. The study found no longer-term differences in perceived stress or emotional social support between women who received versus were denied abortions.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Harris et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014