Contraceptive Care in the Peri-Abortive Context

Abstract

Despite the availability of contraception in Canada, almost half of pregnancies are unintended and account for approximately 95% of elective, induced abortions. Nearly one-third of Canadian women will access an elective abortion in their lifetime and 30-40% of these women will access at least one further termination. Although contraceptive counselling is generally provided as part of abortion care, there is a paucity of research about the effectiveness of peri-abortive counselling methods or women’s experiences with this care. This research was designed to better understand peri-abortive contraceptive decision-making through the lens of the Ottawa Decision Support Framework and addressed gaps in previous research. The thesis was completed in two parts, a literature review and the first Canadian qualitative study on this topic. Unlike most of the available research that focused on typical outcomes such as contraceptive uptake or continuation, the data from the interpretive descriptive study described women’s informational needs, desired supports, and preferences for peri-abortive contraceptive care. The literature review described the current research and the findings from the qualitative study demonstrated that Canadian women’s experiences with peri-abortive contraceptive care are similar to those in studies published in other countries. This thesis contributes to the limited body of knowledge in understanding what women need and want when receiving contraceptive care as part of abortion services.