BACCALAUREATE NURSING STUDENTS' ATTITUDES TOWARD ABORTION.
Contributors: Texas Southern University.
Published: 1985
Number of pages: 98
Subjects: Education, Higher.
Description: The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes of baccalaureate nursing students toward abortion. Specifically, the researcher was concerned with what effect age, marital status, and religious preference (as well as their separate and their combined or interactive effects) would have on baccalaureate nursing students' attitudes toward abortion.

The population of 240 nursing students enrolled in 40 National League for Nursing accredited nursing programs in the southern region of the United States was randomly selected from a total population of 2,003 nursing students. The total population was stratified according to three variables: age (under 30 years of age, 30 years of age or older), marital status (single or married), and religious preference (Protestant or Catholic). The variables were generated from the literature.

The Abortion Attitude Scale (Snegroff, 1976) was utilized to gather the data for this study. The attitude scale, a 5-point, Likert-type summated rating scale, containing 30 items and was designed to determine each subject's positive or negative attitude toward abortion. A reliability coefficient of .91 was computed for the attitude scale by the split-halves method. Subjects were asked to respond to each item by rating it on a 5-point scale whose items ranged from strongly agree to strongly disagree. A 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design was used for the study. Three-way analysis of variance was used in the analysis of data, and a .05 level of significance was chosen for rejection of null hypotheses.

The findings led to the conclusions: (1) that the age of the baccalaureate nursing students did not have a significant effect on their attitudes toward abortion, (2) that the marital status of the baccalaureate nursing students did not have a significant effect on their attitudes toward abortion, (3) that the religious preference of the baccalaureate nursing students did not have a significant effect on their attitudes toward abortion, and (4) that the interaction of age and marital status, age and religion, marital status and religion, and age, marital status, and religion did not have a significant effect on baccalaureate nursing students' attitudes toward abortion.

Recommendations for further research are: (1) to measure the effects of knowledge on the attitudes of baccalaureate nursing students toward abortion, (2) to compare the attitudes of baccalaureate nursing students before and after a clinical experience with an abortion client, (3) to conduct a follow-up study with a larger sample size, (4) to assess the attitudes of various types of medical personnel toward abortion, and (5) to determine whether professional attitudes are reflected in subsequent professional behavior.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-03, Section: A, page: 0807.

Thesis (ED.D.)--TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY, 1985.

School code: 0441.