Early Options: The Importance of Counseling

Early Options - A Provider's Guide to Medical Abortion

In a study published by the Picker Institute¹ involving 2,215 women who had abortions at 12 clinics in the United States, 94% were satisfied with the information and counseling they received. Especially interesting was the finding that women's feelings about the counseling they received correlated with their satisfaction with the procedure.

In fact, in this survey, information and counseling were ranked highest among all of the factors influencing women's satisfaction with their abortion care. (Note: While this study included both women who underwent medical abortion and those who underwent surgical abortion, the vast majority had a surgical abortion.)

After reading this page, you should be able to answer the following question:
Which counseling techniques are NOT recommended?

General Counseling Techniques
A nonjudgmental and empathetic approach will encourage open communication and help to develop a sense of rapport with the patient. In addition to this general guiding principle, there are a number of specific techniques that can make counseling efforts more effective:

Ask open-ended questions; this will provide more information than simple "yes or no" queries.
Encourage patients to ask questions. The nature of the questions posed can guide the counseling session by revealing the patients' level of understanding.
Try to use "if/then" or "what if" statements since they convey the rationale behind specific instructions and can communicate to the client that she has some control or influence over outcomes: "If you want the medications to work, then you need to make sure you take them as directed."
Provide empathetic feedback by validating emotions - your responses should let patients know that their feelings are normal and that they make sense.
This technique gives patients permission to explore their feelings in more detail. "Reflecting" is a related technique in which the provider mirrors the thoughts and feelings that patients have expressed.

Click here to check your understanding.

Proceed to Features of Medical Abortion and Vacuum Aspiration.

References for this module