Ten Swedish Midwives’ Lived Experiences of the Care of Teenagers’ Early Induced Abortions

Abstract

This phenomenological hermeneutic study of 10 Swedish midwives illuminates the internal conflicts of values that arise when midwives’ professional and personal belief systems clash in encounters with teenagers. Midwives may react emotionally in situations where teenagers ignore advice on contraception by rejecting the use of contraceptives and preferring early abortions as a contraceptive method. The results strengthen the suggestion that caregivers need support in reflecting on how to deal with conflicts of values that may otherwise hinder them in communicating effectively with teenagers and encounter their life-worlds and in challenging their individual assumptions on the shortcomings of using contraceptives.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the midwives who participated. We thank Frances Hultgren and Linda Lovecraft at the University of Borås for revising the English. The research was supported by the School of Health Sciences, University of Borås.