title: One voice regarding the legalisation of abortion. Nurses who experience discomfort.
abstract: The legalisation of abortion has been implemented since February, 1997. No research has been conducted on the effects of abortion on nurses. The objectives of this project were: 1. to explore and describe nurses' experience of abortion, and 2. to describe guidelines to support nurses. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual research design was used. The research was conducted in two phases, i.e., the exploration of nurses' experience, and description of guidelines. Trustworthiness measures as well as ethical measures were applied. Five themes were identified from the result of the interviews with nurses: freedom of choice of nurses to provide support; negative perceptions regarding the women who requested the abortion and staff providing the abortion; need for information; turmoil regarding life versus death, and recommendations from nurses regarding the management of abortion. Guidelines to support nurses were deducted from the identified themes.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Poggenpoel
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Myburgh
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Gmeiner
mesh_terms: D000029:Abortion, Legal; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000523:psychology*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D013019:South Africa; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires