Knowledge, attitude and practice towards abortion and post abortion care among Egyptian private obstetricians and gynaecologists

Abstract

Objective

To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of private obstetricians and gynaecologists towards abortion, post-abortion care, and post-abortion family planning.

Patients and methods

A cross-sectional study, from June 2017 to May 2018, using a self-administered questionnaire of 150 obstetricians/gynaecologists at private clinics, centres, hospitals in Ismailia, Egypt. The questionnaire was composed of four broad sections: section one was about the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants; section two was about physicians’ knowledge, attitude and practices regarding abortion; section three was about their attitudes and practices regarding post-abortion family planning and screening for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in patients presenting for induced abortion; and section four was about the socio-demographic characteristics of women seeking induced abortion taken from the physicians’ views.

Results

Only 15.2% of participants had performed an abortion for unwanted pregnancies at ≤12 weeks vs. 3.8% for unwanted pregnancies >12 weeks’ gestation. The most common reason for not performing an abortion was religious prohibition (80.35% vs. 86.6% for unwanted pregnancy ≤12 and > 12 weeks, respectively). Social causes were the most common reason for seeking an induced abortion. None of the physicians used manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) for abortion or had received training in MVA. Post-abortion family planning counselling was offered by 20.5% of physicians, while 13.6% screened for STDs.

Conclusions

The majority of private obstetricians/gynaecologists in Ismailia, Egypt, do not perform abortions for unwanted pregnancies because of their religious beliefs. Post-abortion screening for STDs and family planning services are not sufficiently integrated into post-abortion care.

摘要

目的：评估私人妇产科医生对流产、流产后护理和流产后计划生育的知识、态度和做法。

患者和方法：一项横断面研究, 从2017年6月至2018年5月对埃及伊斯梅利亚私人诊所、中心和医院的150名产科/妇科医生进行自填式问卷调查。问卷由四大部分组成：第一部分是参与者的社会人口学特征；第二部分是医生对流产的知识、态度和做法；第三部分是医生对人工流产患者流产后计划生育和筛查性传播疾病的态度和做法；第四部分是从医生的角度看寻求人工流产的女性的社会人口学特征。

结果：只有15.2%在意外怀孕≤12周时做流产手术, 意外怀孕>12周时流产的比例为3.8%。不流产的最常见原因是宗教禁忌（意外怀孕≤12周和>12周分别为80.35%和86.6%）, 社会因素是寻求人工流产的最常见原因。没有一名医生采用手动真空吸引术（MVA）进行人工流产, 也没有接受过MVA培训。20.5%的医生提供流产后计划生育咨询, 而13.6%的医生提供性病筛查。

结论：埃及伊斯梅利亚的大多数私人产科/妇科医生, 因为他们的宗教信仰, 不会因为意外怀孕而流产, 流产后的性病筛查和计划生育服务没有充分纳入到流产后护理。

Keywords:

• Abortion care
• knowledge
• attitude
• practice

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Director of the non-governmental sector of health, Directorate of Health Affairs for his help & valuable information about the list of obstetricians in Ismailia, Egypt.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).