Improving Person Centered Care for Post Abortion Patients in Kenya

Strengthening Patient-Centered Accessibility, Respect, and Quality of Care for Post Abortion Care Through Peer and Nurse Based Phone Support

The purpose of this study is to understand the effect of a phone based post-abortion intervention on the experience of post-abortion care.

This study evaluates whether personalized text messages and phone calls to post abortion women can improve post abortion person-centered care, perceived social support, post-abortion family planning, and reduce perceptions of social stigma and stress. Women were randomized to one of three study arms: personalized communication with a peer counselor or nurse who received person-centered care (PCC) training, or a control arm where participants received the standard of care.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Women of reproductive age
• Had an Safe Abortion (SA)/Post Abortion Care (PAC) procedure at one of six private clinics that day
• Has her own cellphone that is WhatsApp compatible and will have access to this phone for the next four weeks
• Willing to receive receive short message service (SMS) messages and phone calls from an Marie Stopes Kenya (MSK) or Innovation for Poverty Action (IPA) professional
• Able to communicate in English and/or Swahili
• Willing and able to comprehend and give informed consent
• Willing to participate in a baseline survey immediately after providing consent
• Willing to be followed up by phone at two weeks and four weeks post procedure for a 15-minute survey at each time-point
• Has not already participated in this study

Exclusion Criteria:

• Is not a women of reproductive age
• Did not have an SA/PAC procedure at one of six private clinics that day
• Does not have her own cellphone that is WhatsApp compatible and will have access to this phone for the next four weeks
• Is not willing to SMS messages and phone calls from an MSK/IPA professional
• Is not able to communicate in English and/or Swahili
• Is not willing or is not able to comprehend and give informed consent
• Is not willing to participate in a baseline survey immediately after providing consent
• Is not willing to be followed up by phone at two weeks and four weeks post procedure for a 15-minute survey at each time-point
• Has already participated in this study