University College London Medical School, London, UK.
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK.
BMC Med Educ. 2021 Jan 4;21(1):4. doi: 10.1186/s12909-020-02414-9.
One in three women in the United Kingdom (UK) will have an abortion before age 45, making abortion provision an essential aspect of reproductive healthcare. Despite this, abortion remains ethically contested and stigmatised, with variable teaching in UK medical schools and concerns about falling numbers of doctors willing to participate in abortion care. University College London Medical School (UCLMS) has designed practical, inclusive, teaching that aims to give students an understanding of the importance of abortion care and prepare them to be competent practitioners in this area. This study aimed to determine students' opinions of this teaching and their wider attitudes towards abortion.
We invited all 357 final-year UCL medical students to complete an online survey consisting of closed-ended questions, exploring their opinions on their abortion teaching, their personal beliefs about abortion and their future willingness to be involved in abortion care. We analysed responses using non-parametric tests.
One hundred and forty-six questionnaires (41% response rate) showed 83% of students identified as pro-choice (agree with the right to choose an abortion). Fifty-seven percent felt they received the right amount of abortion teaching, 39% would have liked more and 4% stated they received too much. There was no correlation between students' attitudes to abortion and the rating of teaching; both pro-choice and pro-life (opposed to the right to choose an abortion) students generally rated the teaching as important and valued the range of methods used. Students requested more simulated practice speaking to patients requesting an abortion. Students with pro-life beliefs expressed lower willingness to discuss, refer, certify and provide future abortions. Students interested in careers in specialties where they may encounter abortion were more likely to be pro-choice than pro-life.
The majority of participating UCL medical students were pro-choice and willing to be involved in future abortion care. Efforts to make teaching on abortion practical, engaging, sensitive and inclusive were appreciated. As well as preparing students to be competent and caring practitioners, the teaching appears to contribute towards them viewing abortion as an essential aspect of women's healthcare, and may contribute to destigmatising abortion.
英国（UK）每三名女性中就有一名在 45 岁之前会进行堕胎，这使得堕胎服务成为生殖保健的重要组成部分。尽管如此，堕胎仍然在道德上存在争议和污名化，英国医学院的教学内容也存在差异，并且人们担心愿意参与堕胎护理的医生人数正在减少。伦敦大学学院医学院（UCLMS）设计了实用、包容的教学，旨在让学生了解堕胎护理的重要性，并为他们在该领域成为有能力的从业者做好准备。本研究旨在确定学生对这种教学的看法以及他们对堕胎的更广泛态度。
我们邀请了 UCL 医学院的所有 357 名应届毕业生完成了一份在线调查，其中包括封闭式问题，以探讨他们对堕胎教学的看法、他们对堕胎的个人信仰以及他们未来是否愿意参与堕胎护理。我们使用非参数检验分析了这些回应。
146 份问卷（41%的回复率）显示，83%的学生认为自己是选择堕胎的一方（支持选择堕胎的权利）。57%的学生认为他们接受了适量的堕胎教学，39%的学生希望有更多的教学，4%的学生表示他们接受的教学过多。学生对堕胎的态度与教学评价之间没有相关性；选择堕胎和反对选择堕胎（反对选择堕胎的权利）的学生通常都认为教学很重要，并重视所使用的各种方法。学生希望有更多模拟练习与要求堕胎的患者进行沟通。持反对选择堕胎的学生表示，他们将来更不愿意讨论、推荐、认证和提供堕胎服务。对从事可能会遇到堕胎的专业工作感兴趣的学生比持反对选择堕胎的学生更倾向于选择堕胎。
参与 UCL 医学院的大多数学生都是选择堕胎的一方，并愿意参与未来的堕胎护理。努力使堕胎教学具有实践性、吸引力、敏感性和包容性得到了学生的赞赏。这种教学不仅使学生成为有能力和关爱患者的从业者，还使他们将堕胎视为女性保健的重要组成部分，可能有助于消除堕胎的污名化。
