Introduction: Abortion is a difficult and traumatic experience for a woman, so more
attention is paid to the psychological and emotional consequences of abortion. The health
condition after the procedure can be linked to various mental conditions, so it is important
that women receives quality and comprehensive treatment. Here, the role of the nurse is
crucial, as the nurse is the first person with whom a woman has contact before and after an
abortion. Purpose: The purpose of this diploma work is to define the mental health of a
woman after an abortion and the role of a nurse. In addition, we want to define and describe
the most common mental health disorders, define the meaning of grieving and appropriate
communication of a nurse to a woman after a spontaneous or artificial termination of
pregnancy. Methods: In this dipoma work we used a descriptive work method, which is
based on a review of professional literature in the field of women’s mental health after an
abortion. The literature was searched in English and Slovenian in the databases: CINAHL,
Medline, Pubmed, Google Scholar and COBISS.SI. The literature search was conducted
from November 2022 to January 2023. We used articles that are freely available, review or
original articles, and full-text articles published from 2012 to 2023. The articles were
evaluated according to hierarchy of evidence according to Polite and Beck (2008). Results:
After an abortion, women face various personal hardships and emotions as well as mental
disorders such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic syndrome and post-abortion syndrome.
Losing a desired pregnancy means a great loss for a woman, so she experiences deep sadness
and despair. The loss can also affect her partner and family, so it is important for the nurse
to include other members in the treatment, forming a therapeutic relationship based on trust.
It is important that the nurse provides support to the couple, gives effective information,
provides resources of help and informs parents about stages of grieving. In addition, the
nurse must know and recognize possible signs of mental disorders, have good
communication skills and treat each case individually and holistically. Discussion and
conclusion: Abortion can have negative consequences on mental health and emotional area.
Nursing is an important part of the holistic treatment of women after abortion, which is still
a stigmatized procedure and a taboo topic, which can further affect women. Nurses play an
important role, as they contribute to quality medical treatment with their professional work,
support, understanding and accurate information.
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