High rates of abortion in the United States can be discussed as a challenge. The authors of the article “Reasons U.S. Women Have Abortions: Quantitative and Qualitative Perspectives” aim to answer the question about the reasons causing U.S. women to end a pregnancy while using the advantages of quantitative and qualitative analysis (Finer, Frohwirth, Dauphinee, Singh, & Moore, 2005, p. 110). The research conducted by Finer et al. is rather outdated, and it can present the discussion of only basic factors that influence U.S. women’s decisions regarding abortion. Thus, the research’s significance for the nursing practice is limited because the focus on the contemporary data is important and required.
Still, the authors’ statement of the problem is efficient. Finer et al. note that they need to conduct new research in the area because only the data for 1987 were available during the period of the study’s development (Finer et al., 2005, p. 110). Furthermore, changes in the demographic characteristics and the abortion rate were observed, and a scientific explanation was necessary to address the issue. Thus, the discussion of the previous data associated with the issue’s analysis could result in misperceptions regarding the women’s motivation.
The research question proposed by Finer et al. is effective to study the reasons causing U.S. women to end a pregnancy because the main focus was on personal, familial, social, and economic factors that could influence the women’s decision (Finer et al., 2005, p. 110). The research question is appropriate because the detailed answers regarding direct factors affecting the women’s decision-making process are expected.
The choice of methodology is a strength of the research because both quantitative and qualitative components are presented. The survey can provide the actual quantitative data regarding the women’s perceptions of the role of different factors to influence the vision of abortion. Moreover, in-depth interviews are effective to provide additional comments regarding the women’s choices (Finer et al., 2005, p. 111). However, the design of the survey questionnaire is rather weak because it includes open-ended questions that are usually measured with difficulties.
The data analysis used in the research is effective because chi-square tests were used to interpret the quantitative data and coding was used to analyze the qualitative data (Finer et al., 2005, p. 111). The discussed approaches are rather efficient to be utilized for analyzing the mentioned research tools.
The authors provide a careful discussion of the researched data stating that the main factors affecting the abortion rates are financial situation, lack of the partners’ support, and the lack of emotional responsibility (Finer et al., 2005, p. 117). The authors’ conclusions regarding the role of limited financial resources for influencing the women’s decision are reasonable, but the provided recommendations to address the problem of unwanted pregnancy are not directly associated with the problem of financial constraints accentuated in the study.
Even though the study presents important information on the main factors influencing U.S. women’s decisions regarding abortions, the research is not recent, and its results cannot be actively used in the nursing practice today. Thus, the research provides only the basic discussion of the problem, but further investigation is necessary in order to state how the situation has changed and what factors are important to be taken into account today.
Reference
Finer, L., Frohwirth, L., Dauphinee, L., Singh, S., & Moore, A. (2005). Reasons U.S. women have abortions: Quantitative and qualitative perspectives. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 37(3), 110-118.