2021 Volume 21 Issue 1 Pages 25-37
This study examined the factors associated with nursing professionals' attitudes toward second-trimester abortion care. A cross-sectional survey of nursing professionals working in hospitals providing birthing services in Japan was conducted. The Japanese short version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, the Professional Quality of Life Scale-Japanese version-V, and a measurement of nurses' job satisfaction with their work situation were employed. Overall, 266 nursing professionals responded (response rate 26.6%), of whom 236 (90.4%) who had experience of assistance in second-trimester abortions were included in the analysis. A logistic regression analysis identified the following factors to be associated with attitude towards the second-trimester abortion care: nursing occupational category, work position, years of experience, job satisfaction subscales including “Pay,” “Compassion Fatigue/Secondary Trauma” on the professional quality of life, and age. As compared to the nursing professionals with reluctant attitudes, those with active ones toward their role had higher work engagement, greater satisfaction with second-trimester abortion care, and lower compassion fatigue. Increasing the level of job satisfaction may prevent burnout among the nursing professionals. Furthermore, the development of well-designed training and support systems might augment active attitudes toward abortion care.
