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Stigmatized by association: challenges for abortion service providers in Ghana

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Health Services Research, September 2016
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About this Attention Score

  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (66th percentile)
  • Above-average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (52nd percentile)

Mentioned by

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6 X users

Citations

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36 Dimensions

Readers on

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291 Mendeley
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Title
Stigmatized by association: challenges for abortion service providers in Ghana
Published in
BMC Health Services Research, September 2016
DOI 10.1186/s12913-016-1733-7
Pubmed ID
Authors

Patience Aniteye, Beverley O’Brien, Susannah H. Mayhew

Abstract

Unsafe abortion is an issue of public health concern and contributes significantly to maternal morbidity and mortality globally. Abortion evokes religious, moral, ethical, socio-cultural and medical concerns which mean it is highly stigmatized and this poses a threat to both providers and researchers. This study sought to explore challenges to providing safe abortion services from the perspective of health providers in Ghana. A descriptive qualitative study using in-depth interviews was conducted. The study was conducted in three (3) hospitals and five (5) health centres in the capital city in Ghana. Participants (n = 36) consisted of obstetrician/gynaecologists, nurse-midwives and pharmacists. Stigma affects provision of safe-abortion services in Ghana in a number of ways. The ambiguities in Ghanaian abortion law and lack of overt institutional support for practitioners increased reluctance to openly provide for fear of stigmatisation and legal threat. Negative provider attitudes that stigmatised women seeking abortion care were frequently driven by socio-cultural and religious norms that highly stigmatise abortion practice. Exposure to higher levels of education, including training overseas, seemed to result in more positive, less stigmatising views towards the need for safe abortion services. Nevertheless, physicians open to practicing abortion were still very concerned about stigma by association. Stigma constitutes an overarching impediment for abortion service provision. It affects health providers providing such services and even researchers who study the subject. Exposure to wider debate and education seem to influence attitudes and values clarification training may prove useful. Proper dissemination of existing guidelines and overt institutional support for provision of safe services also needs to be rolled out.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 6 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 291 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 1 <1%
Unknown 290 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 57 20%
Student > Bachelor 45 15%
Student > Ph. D. Student 22 8%
Researcher 19 7%
Student > Postgraduate 12 4%
Other 36 12%
Unknown 100 34%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Nursing and Health Professions 75 26%
Medicine and Dentistry 35 12%
Social Sciences 31 11%
Psychology 12 4%
Economics, Econometrics and Finance 6 2%
Other 25 9%
Unknown 107 37%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 12 January 2020.
All research outputs
#7,153,027
of 22,888,307 outputs
Outputs from BMC Health Services Research
#3,506
of 7,655 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#109,248
of 325,675 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Health Services Research
#106
of 223 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,888,307 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 68th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 7,655 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.7. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 53% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 325,675 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 66% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 223 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 52% of its contemporaries.