ReviewBMJ open2022
Improving experience of medical abortion at home in a changing therapeutic, technological and regulatory landscape: a realist review.
Review in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Regulatory Policy Changes and Mifepristone Access Through Pharmacies in Australia.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- "It's Not a One Size Fits All": Service Users' Views on How Service Structure Shapes Quality of Abortion Care in Britain. Findings from the SACHA Study.Studies in family planning · 2026Article
- Perceived quality of care of medical abortions in the public health system in Catalonia (Spain).BMC women's health · 2026Article
- "I'm Pregnant, What Do I Do?": Exploring How People Having Abortions in Britain Find and Use Online Sources of Information.Perspectives on sexual and reproductive health · 2025Article
- Time trends and characteristics associated with abortion method used by young Australian women.International journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- User-Centered Development of a Patient Decision Aid for Choice of Early Abortion Method: Multi-Cycle Mixed Methods Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- How can patient experience of abortion care be improved? Evidence from the SACHA study.Women's health (London, England)Article
- Canada leads international movement to enhance accessible, safe abortion services.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadienArticle
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Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo inform UK service development to support medical abortion at home, appropriate for person and context.
designRealist review SETTING/
participantsPeer-reviewed literature from 1 January 2000 to 9 December 2021, describing interventions or models of home abortion care. Participants included people seeking or having had an abortion.
interventionsInterventions and new models of abortion care relevant to the UK. OUTCOME MEASURES: Causal explanations, in the form of context-mechanism-outcome configurations, to test and develop our realist programme theory.
resultsWe identified 12 401 abstracts, selecting 944 for full text assessment. Our final review included 50 papers. Medical abortion at home is safe, effective and acceptable to most, but clinical pathways and user experience are variable and a minority would not choose this method again. Having a choice of abortion location remains essential, as some people are unable to have a medical abortion at home. Choice of place of abortion (home or clinical setting) was influenced by service factors (appointment number, timing and wait-times), personal responsibilities (caring/work commitments), geography (travel time/distance), relationships (need for secrecy) and desire for awareness/involvement in the process. We found experiences could be improved by offering: an option for self-referral through a telemedicine consultation, realistic information on a range of experiences, opportunities to personalise the process, improved pain relief, and choice of when and how to discuss contraception.
conclusionsAcknowledging the work done by patients when moving medical abortion care from clinic to home is important. Patients may benefit from support to: prepare a space, manage privacy and work/caring obligations, decide when/how to take medications, understand what is normal, assess experience and decide when and how to ask for help. The transition of this complex intervention when delivered outside healthcare environments could be supported by strategies that reduce surprise or anxiety, enabling preparation and a sense of control.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.