Knowledge and Attitudes regarding Abortion of Students of Nursing in Cyprus

Background: The largest number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions are recorded in women aged between 18 and 30 years. Few researchers have examined the views and attitudes of young people or explored and evaluated the barriers that discourage women from taking appropriate precautions during sexual contact. Aim: To examine the knowledge and attitudes of Cypriot nursing students with respect to abortion. Specific objectives were to examine knowledge of methods of contraception and methods of abortion, and the impact an unwanted pregnancy may have. Method: The study population comprised 151 students of nursing in Cyprus. A specially designed anonymous questionnaire was used, which included 32 questions of the closed type. Statistical analysis was performed using the programme Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) v. 16. For continuous variables, the Mann Whitney-U test, One Way ANOVA and Kruskal Wallis test were used and for categorical variables the x2 test. Multivariate analysis was performed for checking the factors that better predict correct knowledge about abortion. The significance level for all tests was set at 0.05. Results: Of the total respondents 127 (84.1%) reported that they believe that abortion is murder. Most students (90.7%) did not believe that abortion can be seen as a type of contraception. However, 101 (66.9%) students answered that abortion is the right of every woman, while 110 (72.8%) students claimed that the father should participate in the decision for abortion. Friends (43.7%), relatives (43.7%), personal experience (15.2%), media (25.8%), religion (37.7%) and education (43.7%) are factors that affect the view of students about abortion. The students considered that the sex education of young people should be primarily from the family (85.4%) and school (79.5%). Conclusions: Cypriot nursing students disagree with abortion and some believe that abortion is murder. They consider that the main causes leading a woman to abortion are the influence of the partner, when the pregnancy is a result of rape and if the woman is unmarried. Sex education should be made by the school as an educational course and the family should be closer to the children in these matters.