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New South Wales law on abortion was liberalized by judicial interpretation in 1971. This paper describes the characteristics of the first 1007 women attending a free-standing clinic for induced abortion after it opened in 1974. Compared with Census data for New South Wales females of child-bearing age, the sample contained an over-representation of women who were relatively younger at conception, never married, divorced or separated, born outside Australia, of Catholic religious background, and worked as nurses or in factories. In comparison with background information about abortion experience before 1971, the clinic sample appeared to feel less anxiety and distress during the abortion sequence. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

ABSTRACTObjective:The provision of psychological support to caregivers is an important part of the role of the clinical staff working in palliative care. Staff knowledge and attitudes may determine their openness to referring caregivers to a psychological intervention. We recently developed a self-help intervention for grief and psychological distress among caregivers and were interested in exploring the extent to which staff knowledge and attitudes might affect future implementation. The aims of our study were to: (1) examine the acceptability of self-help psychological intervention for caregivers among palliative care clinical staff; (2) examine potential attitudinal barriers toward prolonged grief disorder (PGD) as a diagnosis and interventions for grief; and (3) bolster staff confidence in skills and knowledge in identifying and managing caregiver psychological distress.Method: An anonymous survey was distributed among clinical staff at two inpatient units and two community health services that assessed the acceptability of self-help interventions for caregivers, attitudes about PGD diagnosis and grief intervention, and staff confidence in skills and knowledge in assessing caregiver psychological distress.Results: Overall, clinical staff were positively oriented toward self-help for caregivers and intervention for grief. They were also basically confident in their skills and knowledge. While it was positive PGD attitudes that were associated with acceptability of self-help for caregivers, it was both positive and negative PGD attitudes that were associated more specifically with a willingness to refer caregivers to such an intervention.Significance Of Results: Our findings are useful in highlighting the issues to be considered in the implementation of a self-help intervention within the healthcare service. Clinical staff seemed positively oriented toward engaging with a psychological intervention for caregivers and likely to act as key allies in implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]