Perceived quality of care of medical abortions in the public health system in Catalonia (Spain).

BACKGROUND

In Spain, induced abortions are covered by the public health system. In the region of Catalonia, under the scope of Primary Care, the Sexual and Reproductive Health Care Units (ASSIR) attend to women who choose to have a medical abortion (MA) up to 9.6 weeks of gestation.

AIM: To determine the perception of the quality of care received by women who have undergone a MA in the ASSIR.

METHODS

Multicentre cross-sectional study, in collaboration with all of Catalonia's ASSIR units. At the follow-up visit after the MA, the women completed the SERVPERF (SERVice-PERFormance) Perceived Quality Satisfaction Scale, validated in Spanish, to evaluate the quality of care received in the dimensions of health professionals, administrative staff, organization, information, clinical aspects, impact of the process, and satisfaction.

RESULTS

Eight hundred and five (86.6%) women completed the SERVPERF MA questionnaire. The mean total SERVPERF score of participants' assessment of care was 96.68 (SD 15.6), with a maximum possible score of 130. The mean score per question across the entire scale was 3.72 (SD 0.6), with a maximum score of 5. The questions with the lowest scores were related to clinical aspects (pain, anxiety, bleeding), with a mean of 2.26 (SD 0.8), and the impact of the process (on life and family relationships), with a mean of 3.25 (SD 1). In contrast, satisfaction (I would use the service again or recommend it to a friend) obtained the highest mean score: 4.47 (0.8). Women who had previously had an abortion reported higher perceived quality (M = 98.54, SD = 14.52) than women without past abortions (M = 95.67, SD = 16.21), p = 0.013.

CONCLUSION

The overall satisfaction score falls within a favourable range. The clinical aspects of pain, anxiety, and bleeding scored the lowest but did not correlate with a decrease in user satisfaction; participants would return to the center and recommend it to others.