Information needs among Italian abortion patients.

Controversy still surrounds abortion and abortion care in many countries. Information for women who seek abortion is not always as objective and complete as desired. In Italy abortion has been legal for the last decades. The overall purpose of this study was to investigate general information needs among patients in a hospital in Rome. A questionnaire concerning information needs, opinions on information to include in a booklet, and methods of information was distributed among 212 women in a public hospital in Rome. Women answered the questionnaire very differently, and general information needs were not shown to be as essential as expected; their present needs seemed especially underestimated. However, a booklet with information as objective and complete as possible is suggested as a way of giving information to abortion patients.