Open AccessKnowledge and Attitude of Midwives and Obstetricians Towards Therapeutic Abortion Law and its Ethical Pitfalls
Author(s) -
Shabnam Bazmi,
Mehrzad Kiani,
Mahdieh Saidi,
Forouzan Akrami
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of medical toxicology and forensic medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2251-8770
pISSN - 2251-8762
DOI - 10.32598/ijmtfm.v11i1.31958
Subject(s) - medicine , abortion , shahid , cronbach's alpha , family medicine , therapeutic abortion , unsafe abortion , alternative medicine , obstetrics , nursing , family planning , pregnancy , population , law , clinical psychology , research methodology , environmental health , genetics , pathology , political science , biology , psychometrics
Background: Despite the implementation of a safe motherhood program in many countries, unsafe abortion continues to be a matter of reproductive health. Thus, urgent efforts to make abortion legal and safe have been recommended in developing countries. The present study was done to determine the knowledge of midwives and obstetricians about the therapeutic abortion law as well as their attitude about the ethical pitfalls. Methods: In this descriptive knowledge and attitude study, a researcher-made questionnaire was used to gather data, after estimating the appropriate Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient. A total of 162 midwives and obstetricians working in public and private medical centers affiliated to Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in 2018 were included in the study by convenience sampling method. Results: According to the results, 9.3% of participants had a low level, 72.8% had a moderate level, and only 17.9% had a good level of knowledge. The total mean score of knowledge was 7.17±1.7. The mean score of knowledge in the group of obstetricians (7.60±1.74) was significantly higher than midwives (6.94±1.54), (t=2.29, p=0.024). There was a significant correlation between participants’ age and their knowledge (r=0.912, p=0.001). Also, 47.53% of the participants believed that the therapeutic abortion law has some pitfalls. The most frequent attitude was about the restriction of the therapeutic law up to 19 weeks for fetal indications. Conclusion: The level of participants’ knowledge was low to moderate. The findings indicated the need for training the professional standards related to prenatal genetic screening and therapeutic abortion.