Women's Health Commons^™

Passage Or Pathology: Current Attitudes Toward Women's Aging In The Literature Of Menopause, Kaaren Gearhart Ancarrow

Institute for the Humanities Theses

Menopause is currently portrayed in the medical literature as a pathological 11 process resulting from "hormone deficiency." However, feminist writers contend that the climacteric is part of the normal female aging process and oppose the medicalization of menopause and the consequent inevitable hormone replacement therapy (HR T) promoted by the hegemonic medical and pharmaceutical industries. This paper explores the historical development of these two paradigms of menopause and their manifestations in samples of three classes of contemporary literature on the subject: gynecological textbooks, popular advice books written by physicians, and women's accounts. Five major themes are investigated using quantitative and …

Behavior And Attitudes Related To The Prevention Of Sexually Transmitted Disease And Unplanned Pregnancy, J. Lee Hoover

Dissertations

A sample of 214 persons was tested to determine the impact of gender role orientation, neuroticism, extraversion, authoritarianism, race, gender, and sexual orientation on attitudes and behavior relevant to the prevention of sexually transmitted disease and unintended pregnancy. Specifically measured was the impact of these factors on attitudes toward the condom as contraceptive, attitudes toward the condom as prophylactic, and reported condom use.

Gender role orientation was measured using the short form of the Bern Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) (Bern, 1978), neuroticism and extraversion were measured using the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) (Costa & McCrae, 1992), and authoritarianism was measured …

A Correlative Study Of An At-Risk Population And Low Birth Weight/Infant Mortality In A Northeast Oklahoma City Community, Estacia D. Thrower

McCabe Thesis Collection

Studies show that numerous and complex variables influence pregnancy outcomes and infant mortality rates. These variables include demographic, medical, physical, environmental, behavioral, and attitudinal factors and prenatal care. Improving the health of mothers and infants is a national challenge. In 1987, more than 3.8 million infants were born in the United States. Of these, 38,408 died before their first birthday. Although the infant mortality rate is at an all-time low, the pace of progress has slowed. According to Dr. Robert Deppen of the Oklahoma State Health Department, "In 1992, Oklahoma ranked 29th in the United States for infant mortality and …

Short-Term Versus Long-Term Group Work With Female Survivors Of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Brief Meta-Analytic Review, Tanya L. De Jong, Kevin M. Gorey

Social Work Publications

This meta-analytic review synthesizes the findings of seven published independent studies dealing with group work with female survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and compares the effectiveness of short-term versus long-term methods. Across-study summative findings were: (1) generally, group work has large beneficial effects upon female survivors' affect and self-esteem-three-quarters of the group participants improve; (2) no extant empirical evidence supports the differential effectiveness of either short-term or long-term groups; and (3) only one study to date has reported the size of long-term methods' clinical effect. In short, the question of the differential effectiveness of short- versus long-term group work with …

Clinic-Based Investigation Of The Typology And Self-Reporting Of Fgm In Egypt, Population Council

Reproductive Health

This clinic-based study of female genital mutilation (FGM) was designed and carried out by the Egypt Fertility Care Society to gather detailed information on the types of FGM practiced in Egypt. The study involved interviews with clinic clients to elicit information about their experience and attitudes concerning FGM, and gynecological examinations by specially trained OB/GYN physicians. In all, 93% of the women in this study were found to have some type of FGM. The study's findings were incorporated in the final report of the 1995 Egyptian Demographic and Health Survey, with the aim of contributing to the scientific understanding of …

Gente Joven: Un Diálogo Sobre La Sexualidad Con Adolescentes Mexicanos, Magaly Marques, John M. Paxman, Judith Bruce

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Este número de Quality/Calidad/Qualité relata la experiencia de Gente Joven, un programa de educacion sexual para adolescentes en Mexico. Gente Joven comenzó reconociendo una realidad: que los problemas relativos a la sexualidad no desaparecen por mucho que tratemos de negar su existencia. A través de los años los dirigentes de Gente Joven han aprendido, y siguen aprendiendo, muchas lecciones sobre como diseñar un programa eficaz para adolescentes. En estas páginas ellos comparten algunas de esas experiencias y el epilogo explora con mayor detalle un tema que Gente Joven ha identificado como su próximo gran desafío: una reconsideración del programa desde …

Women's Perceptions Of Sexuality In Rural Giza, Hind Khattab

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This study on sexuality among women in rural Giza, Egypt, is part of a broader project on women's health and reproductive morbidity conducted by the Population Council’s Reproductive Health Working Group. Reproductive tract infections (RTIs) and other ailments associated with reproduction among women in the rural community surveyed suggest that a heavy burden of disease is being borne by women living in underprivileged areas in this region. This research on sexuality has been conducted within a conceptual framework that uses a socio-cultural approach to health and illness. The investigation is an assessment of women's perception of and knowledge about sexuality …

Reintroducing Dmpa To The Philippine Family Planning Program: A Longitudinal Study Of Continuing Users And Drop-Outs, Population Council

Reproductive Health

In 1994, the Population Council, Manila, conducted an operations research (OR) project entitled “DMPA Monitoring and Follow-up Studies.” The activity was undertaken to provide accurate and timely support to the DMPA Reintroduction Program of the Department of Health. Commonly known as Depo-Provera, DMPA stands for Depo-Medroxy Progesterone Acetate, an extremely effective injectable contraceptive given every three months. This report focuses on the survey component of these studies which aims to comprehensively examine the influence on DMPA use of factors classified into the following eight major areas: socioeconomic and demographic characteristics; reproductive history; contraceptive history; adoption of DMPA; quality of care …

Choice, Conscience, And Context, Mary Crossley

Articles

Building on Professor Michael H. Shapiro's critique of arguments that some uses of new reproductive technologies devalue and use persons inappropriately (which is part of a Symposium on New Reproductive Technologies), this work considers two specific practices that increasingly are becoming part of the new reproductive landscape: selective reduction of multiple pregnancy and prenatal genetic testing to enable selective abortion. Professor Shapiro does not directly address either practice, but each may raise troubling questions that sound suspiciously like the arguments that Professor Shapiro sought to discredit. The concerns that selective reduction and prenatal genetic screening raise, however, relate not to …

Dmpa Injectable Use: Findings From The 21-Month Dmpa Monitoring Study, Population Council

Reproductive Health

This report presents the results of the DMPA Monitoring Study undertaken by the Population Council, Manila, as a technical assistance project for the DMPA Reintroduction Program of the Department of Health. The primary objective is to provide data on DMPA utilization and continuation rates to project the logistical needs of the program during the next three years. Data on availability of DMPA supplies and IEC (information, education, and communication) materials relating to DMPA were also monitored to provide some measure of effectiveness of the program's distribution system. The study covers a 21-month observation period from April 1994 to December 1995 …

Biology, Justice, And Women's Fate, Dorothy E. Roberts

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

What Is The Risk Of Teratogenicity With The Use Of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors During Pregnancy?, Michael Z. Wincor, Mary Gutierrez, Ann Nguyen

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

"The lifetime prevalence of major depressive disorder in women is 10 to 25%, with an average age of onset in the mid-20s.1 Over the nine years that the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRis) have been available, for many prescribers, they have become first-line agents in the treatment of depression. In addition, sorne of them are also being used in the treatment of obsessive- compulsive disorder and panic disorder. In light of these facts, itis not unlikely that women of childbearing age would be treated with one of the SSRis. In considering the risks of exposing a fetus to an SSRI, …

Living On A Fault Line: Political Violence Against Women In Algeria, Leila Hessini

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This study raises three questions to better comprehend the crisis women face in Algeria today: how are the state and the opposition groups addressing and defining women’s contemporary status, what is the link between women’s status and violence against them, and what are the tactics both of resistance and accommodation that Algerian women are using to survive in such a context? Throughout this study, the term “Islamic Fundamentalists” refers to movements and people in Algeria who use the “recovery” of early principles of the Ideal Muslim Community to develop their idea of a future Islamic “social order,” with the ultimate …