title: Outcome and management of crisis pregnancy counselling.
abstract: Between October 1989 and April 1991, 215 women were seen in the pregnancy centre. Of these women, 139 were in crisis pregnancy situations. Of the remaining 76 women, 42 attended for pregnancy education, 10 for counselling regarding adoption options, eight for postabortion counselling, and 10 for other reasons. All 139 women in crisis pregnancy situations received counselling and assistance with the resolution of the specific life crises that the pregnancy precipitated and were informed about the physical and emotional effects of pregnancy, normal fetal development, and the options that were available to them. These 139 women were divided into three groups at the start of their initial interview, according to whether they planned to continue with the pregnancy (18), seek termination of pregnancy (72), or were ambivalent (49). The outcome for each of these groups has been evaluated separately. Overall 65 (47%) of the women changed an initial decision or reached their final decision regarding the future of their pregnancy during the time of counselling, and 64 (46%) ultimately continued with their pregnancies. These outcomes support the need for a specific approach to crisis pregnancy situations such as that provided at the pregnancy centre and provide support for considering the crisis pregnancy an obstetric emergency.
authors.affiliation: Pregnancy Centre, Auckland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brett
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Brett
mesh_terms: D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003376:Counseling; D003419:Crisis Intervention / Q000379:methods*; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011275:Pregnancy, Unwanted / Q000523:psychology*