Abortion learning mechanisms for nurses and midwives: a scoping review of evidence

Access to safe, affordable, and supported abortion care is a crucial component of reproductive justice and human rights. Abortion seekers consider nurses and midwives to be more supportive than other health professionals. Nurses and midwives have long been recommended providers of comprehensive abor...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Martha Nicholson, Lesley Hoggart
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-06-01
Series:Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/26410397.2025.2518672
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1839649196378947584
author Martha Nicholson
Lesley Hoggart
author_facet Martha Nicholson
Lesley Hoggart
author_sort Martha Nicholson
collection DOAJ
description Access to safe, affordable, and supported abortion care is a crucial component of reproductive justice and human rights. Abortion seekers consider nurses and midwives to be more supportive than other health professionals. Nurses and midwives have long been recommended providers of comprehensive abortion care, including second trimester care. This iterative scoping review aimed to explore the evidence on abortion learning mechanisms available to nurses and midwives and what can be improved about abortion training. Using the Arksey and O’Malley (2005) and Levac et al (2010) scoping review frameworks, four databases were searched, resulting in 879 articles published in English from 01.01.2010- 01.08.2024. The authors included 43 studies and identified five learning mechanisms. The evidence is presented under three themes: 1) the adequacy of abortion learning mechanisms for nurses and midwives, 2) listening to nurses and midwives’ experiences, and 3) barriers to abortion training. This review found that in almost all legal and practice contexts, abortion training may be de-prioritised and hard to access because of institutional barriers, especially in centres of education. In conclusion, there is a low investment in abortion training for nurses and midwives. Policy makers, health care systems and educators should consider ways to continuously instil nurses and midwives with skills, confidence, and social authority to provide person-centred abortion care to combat harmful bias and mitigate the risk of reproductive coercion.
format Article
id doaj-art-d6c79f076b28495cb83eb66f74429b05
institution Matheson Library
issn 2641-0397
language English
publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher Taylor & Francis Group
record_format Article
series Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters
spelling doaj-art-d6c79f076b28495cb83eb66f74429b052025-06-27T10:35:05ZengTaylor & Francis GroupSexual and Reproductive Health Matters2641-03972025-06-0112710.1080/26410397.2025.2518672Abortion learning mechanisms for nurses and midwives: a scoping review of evidenceMartha Nicholson0Lesley Hoggart1PhD Researcher, The International Planned Parenthood Federation, London, UKProfessor, Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UKAccess to safe, affordable, and supported abortion care is a crucial component of reproductive justice and human rights. Abortion seekers consider nurses and midwives to be more supportive than other health professionals. Nurses and midwives have long been recommended providers of comprehensive abortion care, including second trimester care. This iterative scoping review aimed to explore the evidence on abortion learning mechanisms available to nurses and midwives and what can be improved about abortion training. Using the Arksey and O’Malley (2005) and Levac et al (2010) scoping review frameworks, four databases were searched, resulting in 879 articles published in English from 01.01.2010- 01.08.2024. The authors included 43 studies and identified five learning mechanisms. The evidence is presented under three themes: 1) the adequacy of abortion learning mechanisms for nurses and midwives, 2) listening to nurses and midwives’ experiences, and 3) barriers to abortion training. This review found that in almost all legal and practice contexts, abortion training may be de-prioritised and hard to access because of institutional barriers, especially in centres of education. In conclusion, there is a low investment in abortion training for nurses and midwives. Policy makers, health care systems and educators should consider ways to continuously instil nurses and midwives with skills, confidence, and social authority to provide person-centred abortion care to combat harmful bias and mitigate the risk of reproductive coercion.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/26410397.2025.2518672abortionscoping reviewtrainingEducationnursingmidwifery
spellingShingle Martha Nicholson
Lesley Hoggart
Abortion learning mechanisms for nurses and midwives: a scoping review of evidence
Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters
abortion
scoping review
training
Education
nursing
midwifery
title Abortion learning mechanisms for nurses and midwives: a scoping review of evidence
title_full Abortion learning mechanisms for nurses and midwives: a scoping review of evidence
title_fullStr Abortion learning mechanisms for nurses and midwives: a scoping review of evidence
title_full_unstemmed Abortion learning mechanisms for nurses and midwives: a scoping review of evidence
title_short Abortion learning mechanisms for nurses and midwives: a scoping review of evidence
title_sort abortion learning mechanisms for nurses and midwives a scoping review of evidence
topic abortion
scoping review
training
Education
nursing
midwifery
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/26410397.2025.2518672
work_keys_str_mv AT marthanicholson abortionlearningmechanismsfornursesandmidwivesascopingreviewofevidence
AT lesleyhoggart abortionlearningmechanismsfornursesandmidwivesascopingreviewofevidence