Factors Affecting Abortion From the Perspective of Health Visitors Working at the Family Protection Services

OBJECTIVES: Almost 22,000 women in crisis decide to undergo abortion in Hungary annually, often turning to health visitors (HVs) at the Family Protection Services (FPS) before the procedure, often imposing a significant burden on healthcare providers. The aim of our research was to assess the professional dedication, attitudes, psychosocial factors at the workplace, and opinions of FPS HVs towards women in crisis situations.

METHODS: A quantitative, cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted between October 2023 and January 2024. Our target group consisted of FPS HVs (N=52) selected through a comprehensive purposive sampling method. Those who filled out the questionnaires incompletely were excluded. A questionnaire focusing on professional dedication, attitudes, opinions regarding women in crisis, and the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire II on Workplace Psychosocial Factors were used for data collection. In addition to descriptive statistics, we used independent samples t-test with Microsoft Office Excel 2016 (p<0.05).

RESULTS: A significant portion of FPS HVs (36.92%) consider professional dedication to represent commitment and dedication to their profession. 55.77% describe themselves as fully accepting towards women in crisis, while 44.23% believe that women seeking abortion are greatly concerned about stigma from the outside world. The average scores for burnout (average=41.83), stress (average=38.10), and sleep disorders (average=32.45) among FPS HVs are high. No significant differences were observed in the levels of stress and burnout between FPS HVs who also hold leadership roles alongside their FPS work and those who only perform FPS work (p=0.158).

CONCLUSIONS: Certain parts of society judge abortion negatively, and women in crisis situations often face stigmatizing behaviour. A significant portion of FPS HVs demonstrate exemplary professional dedication and place great emphasis on maintaining women’s mental well-being. However, they also experience high average scores of burnout, stress and sleep disorders, indicating a significant psychological burden in their work.