Women's support-seeking for reproductive decision-making in Australia: rationales and socio-demographic contexts

While a positive relationship between social support and women's reproductive decision-making outcomes exists, little is known about the reasons why women engage supporters to assist them when making reproductive decisions. This study explores Australian women's reasons for engaging supporters for reproductive decision-making and whether women's socio-demographic characteristics are suggestive of any such reasons. A modified content analysis approach, combining directed and summative analysis methods, was applied to data from two qualitative Australian studies exploring women's support-seeking for reproductive decision-making. Findings suggest that the most important rationales for engaging supporters were 'understanding or empathy', 'informed or educated', 'on the same page', 'little interference', 'close' and 'stake in the decision'. Some socio-demographic characteristics, particularly regional area and partner status, helped to explain some reasons, while other reasons were better explained by the nature of the decision being made. Further research is required to enhance our understanding of reproductive decision-making processes and enable women to access support that facilitates decisions appropriate to their bodies and life circumstances.