Paper
Thursday, July 22, 2004
9:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Thursday, July 22, 2004
2:30 PM - 3:00 PM
This presentation is part of : Posters I
Inclusion of Women in Nursing Research 1995-2001:
Ellen Jones, ND, APRN-BC1, Patricia Crane, PhD, RN2, Lynne Porter Lewallen, RN, PhD3, Susan Letvak, PhD, RN1, and Jie Hu, PhD, RN3. (1) Department of Community Practice, School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA, (2) Adult Health, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA, (3) School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA
Objective: Women’s health has received increased attention over the past two decades. Although statistics indicate that women have higher mortality rates than men, few research studies have included women. The purpose of this study was to examine the inclusion of women in published nursing research from 1995 to 2001 focusing on the leading causes of mortality. The nursing journals chosen for review were Nursing Research, the Journal of Nursing Scholarship, Research in Nursing and Health, the Western Journal of Nursing Research, and Applied Nursing Research.

Methods: Data were collected using a standardized instrument. Studies concerning children, reproductive issues, sex-specific cancers, and instrumentation studies were excluded. Data were analyzed using SPSS 11.0.

Findings: Of the 1149 studies reviewed, 139 met inclusion criteria, and 117 included women. The number of women in samples ranged from 1 to 1945 (mean =97; SD =220: median=40). After removing five outliers, the range was 1 to 310, with a mean of 60 (SD = 63). Only 15 studies reported the age of the women in their samples, and 29 studies reported race. Caucasian was the most frequently reported race (n=21) followed by African American (n=17), Hispanic (n=6), and Asian (n=2). Most of the studies were federally funded (59%). There were no associations between year of publication (p=0.616), federal funding (p=0.302), design (p=0.606) and the inclusion of women.

Conclusions: During 1995-2001, nursing research has shown an exemplary effort to include women as participants in research. While many nursing studies do not address the top 10 causes of death, research is addressing psychosocial issues and other health problems important to the health of women. However, further research on the top 10 causes of death must be conducted to impact women’s morbidity and mortality.

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Back to 15th International Nursing Research Congress
Sigma Theta Tau International
July 22-24, 2004