Problem area: It is important to understand how women view their
abortion experiences retrospectively, how they reconstruct their meaning
after undergoing personal, psychological and emotional events changes. The
central aspect of the argument is that women’s retrospective
understandings of abortion are not static and unchanging and these
meanings are not the same for all women. Retrospective meanings are when
with time women may bring new perceptions to their reflections on
the first abortion experience. After many years this process can be a
painful for women, because when they look back on something, they
might discover more options than at the time of their abortions. They might
think about their abortions as a mistake can feel varying degrees of pain,
grief and loss. However some might feel that they have made the right decision.
THE AIMS OF MASTER THESIS
The overall aim of this master thesis was to investigate and describe how women
create meaning about their experiences of first abortion.
The thesis is designed as a two parts study. Systematically review of the
literature relating to abortion and women’s experiences was used in 1st study.
A literature review based on thirty one scientific articles from 1989-2004,
from the databases of PubMed, MUSE and Elin @ Blekinge, with the purpose to
describe women’s experiences about abortion. A qualitative method with
semi-structured interviews was used in 2 study. Data collected from gynecology
units X and Y of Women’s Consulting Centers. Twelve women took part in a
semi-structured interview one-two times (about 30 min. to 1 hour). Four women
took part in interview before the abortion, then the first days following the
abortion and eight women answered questions after few (1 to 12) months after
abortion. The author was the sole interviewer to the participants and
pilot-tested the interview guide with one woman.
Data analysis. Content analysis was used to classify the answers of the semi–
structured questions. There was no specific theory used to classify
information, data was the sole source of the analysis. The content analysis
study goal is to offer knowledge of the experience relating to certain
phenomenon (first abortion) and will also give a deeper understanding of the
studied phenomenon. Through this analysis, the author tried to perceive the
themes/categories in the written material.
Results. Three themes - meaning of abortion, psychological effects of the
abortion, retrospective abortion experiences - emerged from the literature
review (I part). Results of the qualitative study (II part) will be offered
(presented) through the 4 main themes: struggling to find meaning of abortion
for self and for life, coping with emotional subsequences, keeping on being who
I was or perceiving life, wishing emotional supporting from family and friends.
The result of the study showed that most of women exper...
