Experiences With the Providers Share Workshop Method: Abortion Worker Support and Research in Tandem

Abortion providers work in an environment characterized by the stresses of the helping professions as well as by the marginalization and devaluation that accompany work in a stigmatized field. We created the Providers Share Workshop (PSW), a five-session workshop carried out at seven abortion care sites around the United States, to support workers and better understand the complexities of working in abortion care. Qualitative analysis suggests that the experience of participating in the workshop fosters connection, and that the group process creates unique data about the abortion care team. Taken together, these results show that PSW fulfills the dual role of a supportive group intervention-helping create connections and foster resilience-and a research tool, producing rich, multi-perspective narratives of the abortion provision team. This method provides useful insight into supporting abortion care workers specifically, and may also prove useful in the study and support of other stigmatized workers generally.