The impact of supportive intervention after second trimester termination of pregnancy for fetal abnormality
Elder, S.H.; Laurence, K.M.
Prenatal Diagnosis 11(1): 47-54
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0197-3851 PMID: 2027854 DOI: 10.1002/pd.1970110109Document Number: 575702
The reactions of women who had had a termination of pregnancy for fetal abnormality in the second trimester have been studied retrospectively using a semi-structured questionnaire. The severity of the grief reaction was measured and the outcome at 6 months was compared with the findings from a previously study in South Wales [UK] which had led to the introduction of skilled support from genetic field workers and formal genetic counselling after the termination. Of the 69 women interviewed, 55 (80 per cent) experienced an acute grief reaction and 17 (25 per cent) had not resolved their grief 6 months after the termination, compared with 37 (77 per cent) and 22 (46 per cent) out of 48 respectively in the previous study. Fifty-seven (83 per cent) women had found the fieldworker's intervention useful or very useful, some describing her support as essential. An association between poor resolution of the grief reaction with increasing maternal age and with poor perceived support from partners was noted. Improved follow-up support and counselling have lessened the adverse emotional consequences and support should therefore be offered to all women undergoing termination for fetal malformation.
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