J Nurs Acad Soc.  1994 Jun;24(2):157-174.

Women's Experience of Abortion: Phenomenological Perspectives

• Lee KH
• Koh MS

Abstract

Women's experience of abortion are not only widespread but also significant event in their lives. But this experience has not been a concern for professional care by health care providers, especially nurses. As professional nurses should have holistic approaches to clients, need to understand the lived experience of abortion from women's perspectives. These Nurses must identify unique means for improving the quality of life of women. This study identified the meaning and structure of the lived experience of abortion. The participants were residents of Seoul and Kwang ju who were recruited through personal recommendation. Colaizzi's method was used for the phenomenological analysis. The research question was aimed at revealing the covert meaning of abortion. The 14 women who had a spontaneous abortion and/or an artificial abortion and who argeed to participate in the study were informed of the purpose of the study, the possible risks and benefits of participation, the data generation method and they were assured of privacy and confidentiality. The investigator conducted in-depth unstructured interviews which were audiotaped with the permission of the participants. The investigator read the data repeatdly to identify and categorize themes and basic structural elements. Eight themes of abortion as experienced by these participants were: 1) complicated feelings about the anticipated abortion 2) feelings of fear and anxiety about the operation and complications 3) grieving related loss and injury 4) feelings of lonliness in perceiving no supportive person, 5) attributing the cause of the abortion to siginificant others or to self, 6) guilt feelings and resentment, 7) vacillating between regretting and not regretting, 8) struggling to a responsible person. Five basic structures identified were: 1) Complicated feelings 2) Feelings of loss and need for caring 3) Attributings to cause to significant others 4) Paradoxical emotion 5) Struggling to be a responsible being The significes of this study for nursing are: 1) It enables nurses and other health care providers understand more clearly the lived experience of abortion 2) It provides information which can be used in for women who experience abortion.

MeSH Terms

Abortion, Spontaneous
Anxiety
Confidentiality
Female
Guilt
Gwangju
Health Personnel
Humans
Nursing
Pregnancy
Privacy
Quality of Life
Research Personnel
Risk Assessment
Seoul