Inclusion of women in nursing research: 1995-2001

Although the inclusion of women in research has been examined in medical publications, little is known about how federal mandates have influenced the inclusion of women in research published in nursing journals.

This study aimed to examine the inclusion of women in published nursing research from 1995 to 2001, with a focus on the leading causes of mortality.

All the articles in each journal were reviewed, and all the research articles that focused on the top 10 causes of death were sampled to measure the inclusion of women, the characteristics of the women included, the funding source, and the topic.

Of the 1,149 studies reviewed, 139 met the inclusion criteria, and 117 of these studies included women. Only 15 of the studies reported the age of the women in their samples, and 10 of these included women between the ages of 35 and 64 years. The most frequently reported race was White (n = 21), followed by African American (n = 17), Hispanic (n = 6), and Asian (n = 2). There were no associations among year of publication (p =.62), federal funding (p =.30), and inclusion of women. Among the studies including women, heart disease was the most frequent topic (n = 52), followed by Alzheimer's disease (n = 21), cancer (n = 14), respiratory illness (n = 14), and diabetes (n = 8).

Although the majority of the research included women, continuing efforts must be made to include sufficient numbers of women.