Cargando…

Triangular Assessment of the Etiology of Induced Abortion in Iran: A Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND: About 46 million induced abortions occur in the world annually. The studies have reported 80000 cases of induced abortions in Iran annually. OBJECTIVES: This qualitative study was conducted to identify the causes of unsafe abortion in Iran from the standpoint of three groups of experts,...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Motaghi, Zahra, Keramat, Afsaneh, Shariati, Mohammad, Yunesian, Masud
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Kowsar 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3971786/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24719694
http://dx.doi.org/10.5812/ircmj.9442
_version_ 1782309523350880256
author Motaghi, Zahra
Keramat, Afsaneh
Shariati, Mohammad
Yunesian, Masud
author_facet Motaghi, Zahra
Keramat, Afsaneh
Shariati, Mohammad
Yunesian, Masud
author_sort Motaghi, Zahra
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: About 46 million induced abortions occur in the world annually. The studies have reported 80000 cases of induced abortions in Iran annually. OBJECTIVES: This qualitative study was conducted to identify the causes of unsafe abortion in Iran from the standpoint of three groups of experts, women with a history of abortion or unwanted pregnancy and service providers. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 72 in-depth semi structured interviews were conducted in 2012 in Tehran and Shahroud. After coordination with 8 experts, sampling from them was done using the Snowballing method in their offices. Sampling from 28 married and 10 engaged women with a history of unwanted pregnancy or unsafe abortion and 12 providers was done in health care centers and a in number of gynecologists’ and midwives’ offices. Sampling from women with a history of unwanted pregnancy or unsafe abortion such as single women, HIV positive women and drug users, and women who had sexual intercourse for money was started by referring to the social rehabilitation center for women and continued using the snowballing method due to difficulties in accessing them. Participants were from different ethnic groups including Fars, Gilaks, Mazandarani, Arab, Azerbaijani, and Lor. Content analysis was performed on collected data. RESULTS: Based on the results of the interviews, participants have abortion for following reasons: 1. Wanted pregnancy (sub categories: fetal abnormalities, Concern about fetal health and lack of trust to prenatal diagnostic methods, Fetal sex, Lack of independent and free decision making regarding pregnancy in women, 2. Unwanted pregnancy (sub-categories: Socio-economic factors, Beliefs and feelings, Lack of information about family planning) 3. Predisposing factors (sub-categories: Lack of information on religious aspects of abortion, Easy access to easy abortion methods). Some people, despite having unwanted pregnancy due to social, economic, cultural and family grounds, continued their pregnancy and did not have an abortion for the following reasons: Religious beliefs, Beliefs (fear of punishment in the afterlife and believing in fate) , Attachment to the unborn baby, Influence of the other people’s opinions (physician, mother or spouse) Late diagnosis of pregnancy, Unsuccessful abortion attempts (Self-treatment, Unsuccessful medical abortion), Economic weakness and arbitrary treatment. CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, women who continued their pregnancy despite being unwanted were also interviewed. Although they had the same social, economic, cultural, and family problems as women with a history of unsafe abortion and had easy access to abortion, analysis showed that the difference in religious beliefs between the two groups was the most important factor that led women to choose two different approaches. The authors believe that in-depth analysis of people’s beliefs and opinions in this regard and correction of false beliefs plays a crucial role in decreasing the rate of unsafe abortion.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-3971786
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2013
publisher Kowsar
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-39717862014-04-09 Triangular Assessment of the Etiology of Induced Abortion in Iran: A Qualitative Study Motaghi, Zahra Keramat, Afsaneh Shariati, Mohammad Yunesian, Masud Iran Red Crescent Med J Research Article BACKGROUND: About 46 million induced abortions occur in the world annually. The studies have reported 80000 cases of induced abortions in Iran annually. OBJECTIVES: This qualitative study was conducted to identify the causes of unsafe abortion in Iran from the standpoint of three groups of experts, women with a history of abortion or unwanted pregnancy and service providers. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 72 in-depth semi structured interviews were conducted in 2012 in Tehran and Shahroud. After coordination with 8 experts, sampling from them was done using the Snowballing method in their offices. Sampling from 28 married and 10 engaged women with a history of unwanted pregnancy or unsafe abortion and 12 providers was done in health care centers and a in number of gynecologists’ and midwives’ offices. Sampling from women with a history of unwanted pregnancy or unsafe abortion such as single women, HIV positive women and drug users, and women who had sexual intercourse for money was started by referring to the social rehabilitation center for women and continued using the snowballing method due to difficulties in accessing them. Participants were from different ethnic groups including Fars, Gilaks, Mazandarani, Arab, Azerbaijani, and Lor. Content analysis was performed on collected data. RESULTS: Based on the results of the interviews, participants have abortion for following reasons: 1. Wanted pregnancy (sub categories: fetal abnormalities, Concern about fetal health and lack of trust to prenatal diagnostic methods, Fetal sex, Lack of independent and free decision making regarding pregnancy in women, 2. Unwanted pregnancy (sub-categories: Socio-economic factors, Beliefs and feelings, Lack of information about family planning) 3. Predisposing factors (sub-categories: Lack of information on religious aspects of abortion, Easy access to easy abortion methods). Some people, despite having unwanted pregnancy due to social, economic, cultural and family grounds, continued their pregnancy and did not have an abortion for the following reasons: Religious beliefs, Beliefs (fear of punishment in the afterlife and believing in fate) , Attachment to the unborn baby, Influence of the other people’s opinions (physician, mother or spouse) Late diagnosis of pregnancy, Unsuccessful abortion attempts (Self-treatment, Unsuccessful medical abortion), Economic weakness and arbitrary treatment. CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, women who continued their pregnancy despite being unwanted were also interviewed. Although they had the same social, economic, cultural, and family problems as women with a history of unsafe abortion and had easy access to abortion, analysis showed that the difference in religious beliefs between the two groups was the most important factor that led women to choose two different approaches. The authors believe that in-depth analysis of people’s beliefs and opinions in this regard and correction of false beliefs plays a crucial role in decreasing the rate of unsafe abortion. Kowsar 2013-11-05 2013-11 /pmc/articles/PMC3971786/ /pubmed/24719694 http://dx.doi.org/10.5812/ircmj.9442 Text en Copyright © 2013, Kowsar Corp.; Published by Kowsar Corp. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Motaghi, Zahra
Keramat, Afsaneh
Shariati, Mohammad
Yunesian, Masud
Triangular Assessment of the Etiology of Induced Abortion in Iran: A Qualitative Study
title Triangular Assessment of the Etiology of Induced Abortion in Iran: A Qualitative Study
title_full Triangular Assessment of the Etiology of Induced Abortion in Iran: A Qualitative Study
title_fullStr Triangular Assessment of the Etiology of Induced Abortion in Iran: A Qualitative Study
title_full_unstemmed Triangular Assessment of the Etiology of Induced Abortion in Iran: A Qualitative Study
title_short Triangular Assessment of the Etiology of Induced Abortion in Iran: A Qualitative Study
title_sort triangular assessment of the etiology of induced abortion in iran: a qualitative study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3971786/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24719694
http://dx.doi.org/10.5812/ircmj.9442
work_keys_str_mv AT motaghizahra triangularassessmentoftheetiologyofinducedabortioniniranaqualitativestudy
AT keramatafsaneh triangularassessmentoftheetiologyofinducedabortioniniranaqualitativestudy
AT shariatimohammad triangularassessmentoftheetiologyofinducedabortioniniranaqualitativestudy
AT yunesianmasud triangularassessmentoftheetiologyofinducedabortioniniranaqualitativestudy