Cognitive behavioral counselling in post abortion grief: A randomized controlled trial

Abortion is can led to certain psychological problems that may decreased self-esteem, and concerns about future fertility. Abortions have multiple psychological consequences such as grief, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of cognitive behavioral counseling intervention on women in post-abortion period.

This research was a randomized, controlled trial study that was conducted on 168 women during the post-abortion period at the Khalill Azad Center of Larestan (Iran), where the women were selected randomly from February 2019 to January 2020. Data were collected using post-abortion grief questionnaire. All women in the post-abortion period answered the perinatal grief scale questions at the beginning of the intervention, immediately after the intervention and three months after the end of the intervention. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) with time and group were used to evaluate the effect of intervention.

By using repeated measures ANOVA, the comparison of the mean score of grief in the two groups indicated that the scores decreased over time and it was lower in the intervention group. The mean score of grief between the intervention and control groups at the end of the intervention was 67.59 ± 13.21 and 75.42 ± 12.7, respectively (P < 0.001). Mean post-abortion grief score in the intervention and control groups three months after the intervention were 59.41 ± 13.71 and 69.32 ± 12.45, respectively (P < 0.001).

According to results of this study, it can be concluded that the use of cognitive behavioral counselling can reduce post-abortion grief intensity or prevent the occurrence of complicated grief. Therefore, this method can be used as a preventive or therapeutic approach to control post-abortion grief and other psychological disorders.