Women's experiences of self-referral to an abortion service: qualitative study

Guidelines from the UK recommend that women should be able to self-refer to abortion services. In 2016, a self-referral system was introduced to the abortion service in Edinburgh, Scotland, as an option for women. Women could telephone a dedicated phone line during office hours and speak to an administrative assistant working in the abortion service who provided them the next available appointment to be seen in the service. This study aimed to evaluate a self-referral service to abortion by investigating its impact on women's experiences of the referral process.

21 semistructured interviews of women attending a specialist abortion service in Edinburgh, Scotland, were conducted. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. The interviews focused on women's experience of the referral process.

Three main themes arose from the interviews, including reasons for choosing self-referral, experience of self-referral and challenges to using self-referral. Reasons for choosing self-referral were related to convenience, privacy and autonomy. Women found the experience of self-referral to be pleasant, non-judgemental and patient-centred, and self-referral prepared them for the appointment at the specialist abortion service. However, some women felt rushed, and self-referral made them anxious to attend the appointment. Challenges were difficulty with getting through on telephone lines, varying levels of support required for different individuals and awareness about the option of self-referral.

Women valued the option of self-referral. Women felt that the service should be expanded to increase availability,and promoted to women more widely within the community .