No description available.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

This thesis draws on twenty-three women's retrospective accounts of their abortion experiences to examine the course of their feelings and the social, situational and personal contexts in which these feelings arose. Their experiences and feelings were affected by abortion's morally ambiguous status; its quasi-legal status (particularly between 1969 and 1988); its provision in medical settings in ways that differ significantly from the provision of other health services; and the on-going polarized ideological conflict over its acceptability. The experiences and feelings of the women interviewed were also affected subtly and profoundly by widely held expectations about how women in such situations normally do and should feel. The thesis examines the "feeling rules" (Hochschild, 1979) women encountered in interactions with others (confidants and health-care providers, notably abortion counselors) and how women's actual feelings, especially after the abortion, became problematic.

No description available.

Photocopy of typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1974. / Bibliography: leaves 131-137. / vii, 137 leaves ill

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Thesis (DPhil (Social Work))--University of Pretoria, 2001. / Social Work and Criminology / DPhil / unrestricted

Every year in America, nurses provide care to 1.5 million women before during and after abortions. While the procedure continues to be legal, the experience for women often remains secret, unshared and unexplored. A grounded theory approach was used to explore women's perceptions of the abortion experience and to investigate the processes women use to create meaning from the abortion experience over time. Parse's Man-Living-Health Model provided a theoretical orientation for this research. Subjects included six nulliparous women aged 25 to 37 who experienced a legal abortion between 1 and 12 years ago. Using grounded theory methodology, a phenomenon of Integrating Ambivalence was developed to describe the circular process by which women are reminded of the abortion experience, and re-evaluate their decision within the context of their lives. Using a variety of strategies, the women moved toward increasing integration of the experience while remaining, to varying degrees, ambivalent about the abortion decision and its consequences.

The incidence of congenital anomalies or potential congenital anomalies of fetuses is two to three percent. Most women who have a positive diagnosis of a congenital anomaly choose to terminate the pregnancy. A review of the literature identifies conflict preabortion and grief postabortion as key variables for women terminating pregnancies for genetic indications. The purpose of this study was to study the degree of conflict in the decision-making process preabortion and the intensity of grief six weeks postabortion and to determine if a relationship exists between the conflict and grief variables. This was a descriptive, correlational study which used summary statistics to analyze the data. Women responded to a questionnaire six weeks postabortion about conflict experienced pretermination and current grief experienced. The sample included nine women who aborted in the second trimester of pregnancy following either ultrasound, chorionic villi sampling, or alpha-fetoprotein analysis of the fetus. The findings indicated that the women experienced conflict while deciding whether or not to abort the fetus and that at six weeks posttermination the intensity of grief experienced was still high. A scatter plot revealed a curvilinear relationship showing grief plateauing and then decreasing as the conflict scores rose. Recommendations were that objective counselling in the decision-making period prior to the termination be provided, and grief counselling should continue longer than six weeks posttermination for those who need counselling. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Nursing, School of / Graduate

D.Cur. / This research aims to develop a model for debriefing for the advanced psychiatric nurse practitioner to enable her to support the nurse involved in the termination of pregnancy. This research also aims to generate guidelines for the operationalising of the developed model. The model developed is envisaged to enhance the development of the nurse involved in the termination of pregnancy into a reflexive and mentally healthy person. The transition for a minority government and "Apartheid" regime in South Africa to a democratically elected government in 1994 required the revision of health practices. The World Health Organisation adheres to a strong ethical frame of reference, which includes respect for individuals' choices regarding their personal health. To promote and enhance the health and quality of life for women in South Africa, the Bill on the Freedom of Choice to Terminate a Pregnancy (Bill no. 92 of 1996) was promulgated. The nurse involved in the termination of pregnancy, experiences inner powerlessness and tiredness because of internal conflict and loss of internal control. These feelings are centred around the inability to convince women, who decide to terminate a pregnancy, not to continue with the procedure. She is continually confronted with feelings of sadness and anger. She does not allow herself to give vent to these feelings, nor does she share them with other people. The nurse involved in the termination of pregnancy continuously contests her own religious beliefs, which thus result in feelings of guilt. She copes with these feelings by using ineffective psychological defence mechanisms, such as rationalisation with regard to the involvement with the termination of pregnancy, distancing herself from the situation by facilitating inadequate interpersonal skills, and the repression of her feelings concerning the termination of pregnancy.

Thesis (MA (Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / The South African government has legalised abortion with the intention of reducing deaths from clandestine and illegally performed abortions. With this Act came the freedom of choice regarding termination of pregnancies for most women who found themselves in the midst of unintended pregnancies and could not carry them to term. The aims of this study were to examine the process of decision making, the role of perceived support and women's psychological outcomes to abortion taking into consideration the accessibility to psychological interventions and mental stability prior to the procedure. Personal, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five women aged between 22 and 24 years who had legal, induced abortions within the first trimester of their pregnancies. Interviews were conducted within at least two months after the abortion had been performed. A qualitative analysis of the findings revealed that responses to abortion are influenced by the decision-making process, perceived social support, and the dynamics of the relationships in which the child is conceived. These factors play a vital role in the ultimate psychological outcome and adjustment to the abortion process. The women's responses involved negative and positive emotions towards the resolution of the unintended pregnancy. Negative emotions included among others, feelings of shame, embarrassment, guilt and sadness. These were associated with the loss. The predominantly expressed positive emotion was relief. The conclusion yielded was that the relationship between the two consenting adults is significant and it is influential in the decision making, perceived support and therefore the response to abortion.