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  • Title: Coping with abortion.
    Author: Cohen L, Roth S.
    Journal: J Human Stress; 1984; 10(3):140-5. PubMed ID: 6520395.
    Abstract:
    This study evaluated individual differences in coping style in response to an abortion procedure. The 55 subjects displayed a wide range of responses, although the average level of distress was fairly high. These women were quite similar to other stressed populations in their response to the Impact of Event Scale, providing evidence for a generalized stress response syndrome. When divided into groups based on coping style, "avoiders" were found to experience more distress that "nonavoiders," and "approachers" decreased in distress over time while "nonapproachers" did not. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of the interaction between coping styles and counseling strategies. The coping styles 55 women who underwent abortion at the Fleming Center in North Carolina were assessed in reference to their use of avoidance and approach mechanisms. A 15-point denial subscale from the Impact of Even Scale was used to determine their dependence on avoidance mechanisms. The scale contained items such as "I tried to remove it from memory." The intrusion subscale of the Impact of Event Scale was also used. A 6-point scale, designed for the study, was used to assess their reliance on approach mechanisms and contained items such as "I tried to deal with my feelings." Anxiety and depression levels were measured by the self-rating Symptom Checklist-90, which is often used to assess depression and anxiety levels in psychiatric outpatients. The 55 women were asked to rate themselves in reference to these scales a few hours before they were scheduled for abortion and then again about 1 hour following abortion. The mean age of the women was 23.2 years, the majority were single, and 39% had 1 or more previous abortions. All the pregnancies were aborted during or before the 181th gestation week. Prior to abortion the patients showed fairly high levels of denial, anxiety, and depression. Levels of denial and intrusion were similar to those observed for bereaved individuals in other studies. Their anxiety levels were slightly higher and their depression levels slightly lower than those observed for populations of psychiatric outpatients. The reduction may have been due to relief or to the coping mechanisms used by the women. The women could not be neatly divided into avoiders and approachers; however those who tended to be high deniers were more distressed initially than low deniers. High approachers were initially more distressed than low approachers. Distress was significantly decreased after the abortion for high approachers, but not for low approachers. Following abortion, both high approachers and low approachers had similar levels of distress, ie., anxiety and depression. Perhaps the type of counseling provided for the patients immediately before abortion helped high approachers reduce their anxiety and depression level. The counselors provided the patients with abortion and birth control information and gave patients an opportunity to discuss their discision to have an abortion. This counseling approach was consistent with an approach coping style, and probably was more helpful for high approachers than for low approachers. Counseling strategies should be adapted to the coping styles of individual patients.
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