Nurses' attitudes towards termination of pregnancy

This questionnaire study (n = 84) investigated several aspects of the attitudes of nurses of various grades and clinical settings towards termination of pregnancy (TOP). The majority of nurses had attitudes which lay within the undecided to positive range of the continuum, similar to findings from previous North American and British research. Very few were found to have extremely positive or negative attitudes. Several factors were significantly associated with negative attitudes towards TOP: frequency of involvement in TOP, length of time spent working on a gynaecology ward, religious affiliation, and ethnicity. Some discrepancy in nurses' attitudes was found with respect to both the length of a woman's gestation and the circumstances for which the procedure was being performed. In view of these findings, the implications for nursing practice are discussed.