Women's health: perspectives for nursing research

Area of Science:

• Nursing Research
• Women's Health
• Health Sciences

Background:

• The field of women's health research is extensive and multifaceted.
• Nursing research in women's health considers diverse health variables within social and biophysical contexts.
• These variables are examined across different developmental stages of women's lives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To delineate the scope of women's health research within the nursing discipline.
• To establish a framework for understanding the boundaries of systematic study in women's health.
• To identify potential deficits in empirical and theoretical work and stimulate new research questions for nurse investigators.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis of the scope of women's health research.
• Application of a framework to define research boundaries.
• Identification of areas for future empirical and theoretical investigation.

Main Results:

• The scope encompasses health variables within social and biophysical contexts, influenced by developmental stages.
• The woman, as an individual or population, is the central unit of analysis.
• The proposed framework aids in identifying research gaps.

Conclusions:

• A clear framework is essential for systematic women's health research in nursing.
• This framework can guide nurse researchers in exploring under-researched areas.
• It encourages the generation of novel empirical and theoretical contributions to women's health.