The needs of women who have experienced pregnancy termination due to fetal anomalies: A literature review

Abstract

Background: Pregnancy termination due to fetal anomalies is associated with emotional, psychological, and social injuries for women. Determining the needs of women with these experiences is the key for programming to provide high quality and desirable care. Hence, the present study was conducted to determine the needs of women who have experienced pregnancy termination due to fetal anomalies. Materials and Methods: The present literature review was conducted in March 2018 by searching databases such as Irandoc, SID, MagIran, Iranmedex, Cochrane, Science Direct, ISI Web of science, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus. The used keywords for the search included “fetal anomalies,” “pregnancy termination due to fetal anomalies,” “therapeutic abortion,” “need assessment,” and “care program.” Publication date was restricted to 2004–2017, and publication language was restricted to English and Farsi. Article search was conducted by two independent reviewers, and all of the studies were evaluated by these two individuals. The searches resulted in finding 88 articles related to the subject from which 16 articles that had more appropriately covered the topic were selected for the present study. Results: From the results, the needs of these women could be categorized into two groups of “needs related to the care system” and “needs related to the husband, family members, friends, and peers.” Conclusions: Considering that women who have experienced pregnancy termination due to fetal anomalies have different needs, educating healthcare providers and husbands, family members, friends, and peers for providing comprehensive care tailored to the needs of these individuals seems necessary.

Keywords

• Birth defects
• congenital abnormalities
• induced abortion
• therapeutic abortion