A Narrative Intervention to Decrease Abortion Stigma

The proposed study will be a two‐arm, non‐blinded, 1:1 randomized controlled trial of a narrative intervention to reduce individual level abortion stigma that will be conducted at Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PPIL). The narrative intervention combines exposing patients to a digital narrative and then asking them to respond to a writing prompt, aiming first to normalize the abortion experience and then to help frame it in positive terms. Women randomized to the intervention will view a story created by the research team on a tablet using headphones. The story will be read by an actor and digitally recorded for playback by the participant. The narrative will combine a fictional patient's abortion story with basic medical and social facts regarding abortion. After viewing the narrative, the participant will be asked to write a narrative either on a tablet provided or on paper with the prompt: "Patients have different thoughts and feelings about their experiences when they have this procedure. Tell a story (about yourself or someone else, real or imaginary) that might help another patient feel supported." The goal behind this prompt is to allow the participant to write a narrative that is based in personal experience, but that provides the opportunity to mentally join a "virtual community" through the act of speaking to and helping another (theoretical) patient. Participants randomized to the intervention will complete the intervention during the visit, prior to meeting with an educator. Participants randomized to the control arm will receive regular care in the abortion clinic. Stigma will be measured at baseline and 2‐4 weeks following the intervention with the Individual Level Abortion Stigma Scale (ILAS), a scale that was developed to measure the impact of abortion stigma interventions. Four items from The Profile of Mood States‐ Short Form (POMS‐SF) will be used to assess psychological distress at the abortion visit and again at follow‐up. Pre‐ and post‐intervention test scores between groups will be compared in the final analysis.