Obstetrics and Gynecology Commons^™

Country Mapping: Nigeria, Salisu Mohammed Ishaku, Saumya Ramarao

Reproductive Health

The Population Council conducted a three-year acceptability study of the progesterone vaginal ring (PVR) in three sub-Saharan African countries. This technical report presents results from Nigeria, laying out the country’s demographics and high fertility rates; describing the family planning program and policy context; and, finally, revealing the stakeholder support thus far with a discussion on how best to proceed with introduction activities. This country mapping confirms the likelihood that the PVR would be well received in Nigeria and fill a large need in family planning. The PVR is a safe, long-acting, user-controlled product that can be easily inserted and removed …

Country Mapping: Senegal, Babacar Mane, Nafissatou Diop, Nancy Termini Lachance, Saumya Ramarao, Heather Clark

Reproductive Health

The Population Council embarked on a three-year project to explore the acceptability of the progesterone vaginal ring (PVR) among women in sub-Saharan Africa and its potential introduction. This technical report presents results from assessments undertaken to map the existing landscape of family planning programs and new contraceptive technologies in Senegal in an effort to identify national priorities and assess the level of interest in the PVR among stakeholders and to design appropriate preintroductory activities. This country mapping exercise confirms that Senegal is a promising context for the introduction of the PVR: the government is committed to repositioning family planning and …

Increasing Parity Is Associated With Cumulative Effects On Memory, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this investigation was to determine if reproductive experience is associated with cumulative effects on human memory performance during pregnancy and if these effects persist into the postpartum period.

METHODS: Verbal recall memory performance was assessed in 254 women four times during pregnancy and at 3 months postpartum. The relation between parity and memory function was evaluated with hierarchical linear modeling and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).

RESULTS: The data indicate that the previously documented adverse effects of pregnancy on memory performance are compounded with successive pregnancies. During gestation and postpartum, multiparity was associated with poorer memory function, …

Pregnancy Loss And Distress Among U.S. Women, Karina M. Shreffler, Arthur L. Greil, Julia Mcquillan

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Although pregnancy loss—especially miscarriage— is a relatively common experience among reproductive-aged women, much of our understanding about the experience has come from small clinic-based or other nonrepresentative samples. We compared fertility-specific distress among a national sample of 1,284 women who have ever experienced a stillbirth or miscarriage. We found that commitment/attachment to pregnancy that ended in loss as well as current childbearing contexts and attitudes were associated with distress following pregnancy loss. Practitioners working with women or couples who have experienced pregnancy loss should be aware of the importance of characteristics associated with higher distress, such as whether the pregnancy …

Expanding Access To Safe Abortion And Post-Abortion Care: Recommendations Of A South Asia Regional Consultation, Population Council

Reproductive Health

A South Asia Regional Consultation, organized by the Population Council with representation from governments and key stakeholders of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan, was held in New Delhi, to discuss ways of expanding women’s access to safe abortion services. The Consultation deliberated on ways of expanding the provider base for safe induced abortion so as to overcome inadequate and inequitable access to safe abortion. They also looked to expand access to services for the management of incomplete abortion and complications of unsafe abortion that persist in the region and, thereby, to reduce morbidity and mortality resulting from unsafe abortion. In …

Introduction Of Medical Abortion In Ghana, Emmanuel Kuffour, Selina F. Esantsi, Placide Tapsoba, Gloria Quansah Asare, Ian Askew

Reproductive Health

To significantly expand women’s access to modern family planning and comprehensive abortion care services a provisional license was awarded to Marie Stopes International-Ghana by the Ghana Food and Drugs Board for the introduction and provision of the first medical abortion regimen (mifepristone and misoprostol) in Ghana. The Population Council conducted this study to document the introduction process; findings from the study will provide much needed evidence to inform policy decisionmaking and the scale-up phase. Overall the study has shown that medical abortion is a viable option for Ghanaian women--an overwhelming number of those who have benefitted from the procedure are …

Increasing Institutional Delivery And Access To Emergency Obstetric Care Services In Rural Uttar Pradesh: Implications For Behavior Change Communication, Population Council

Reproductive Health

The Population Council conducted a formative in rural Uttar Pradesh (UP), India to determine the impact of the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) scheme on the current status of institutional delivery in the region, to understand the facilitating factors and barriers in delivering in a health facility, and to identify programmatic and behavior change communication (BCC) initiatives that could accelerate the adoption of institutional delivery. JSY was launched as an intervention to address the barriers to institutional delivery, through the introduction of community-based women volunteers. The study shows that with the introduction of the JSY the rate of institutional delivery jumped …

Assessing Abortion-Related Experiences And Needs In Four Districts Of Maharashtra And Rajasthan, 2006, Shireen J. Jejeebhoy, A.J. Francis Zavier, Shveta Kalyanwala

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Recognizing the urgent need to enable rural women to acquire accessible and high-quality abortion services in India, a consortium of organizations—including the Population Council—has come together with the goal of increasing access to legal, safe, and comprehensive abortion services, including postabortion family planning, in the public health system, especially among the rural poor. One of its key activities was to develop a comprehensive and evidence-based abortion care model suitable for rural women. The aim of this report is to shed light on community-level perspectives about abortion services and probe the experiences of women who had undergone abortion, to better understand …

Increasing Postpartum Contraception In Rural Uttar Pradesh: Implications For Behavior Change Communication, Population Council

Reproductive Health

The Population Council conducted a formative study in rural Uttar Pradesh, India to assess the level of adoption of postpartum contraception for spacing among low parity women, identify the facilitating factors and barriers to the adoption of this target behavior, and identify programmatic and behavior change communications (BCC) initiatives that could accelerate the adoption of postpartum contraception for spacing and improve the service delivery system, if required, to facilitate the process. Barriers included low awareness of consequences of closely spaced births, misconceptions about contraceptive methods, lack of counseling by health workers, reluctance to include husbands, and programmatic emphasis on limiting …

Assessing The Feasibility Of Home Administration Of Misoprostol In The Prevention Of Postpartum Hemorrhage In Rural Pakistan, Ali M. Mir, Abdul Wajid, Sadaf Gull

Reproductive Health

This report details an operations research project carried out by the Population Council as part of the Pakistan Initiative for Mothers and Newborns. The overall goal of the project was to test the feasibility of administering misoprostol for the prevention of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) in a home setting through community‐based healthcare providers, including traditional birth attendants (TBAs), or family members, in two districts of Pakistan. Furthermore, it aimed to identify common side effects of misoprostol and determine the reduction in demand for referral due to PPH after oral ingestion of misoprostol. The results provide a useful addition to the literature …

Communalism Predicts Prenatal Affect, Stress, And Physiology Better Than Ethnicity And Socioeconomic Status, Cleopatra M. Abdou, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Belinda Campos, Clayton J. Hilmert, Tyan Parker Dominguez, Calvin J. Hobel, Laura M. Glynn, Curt A. Sandman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

The authors examined the relevance of communalism, operationalized as a cultural orientation emphasizing interdependence, to maternal prenatal emotional health and physiology and distinguished its effects from those of ethnicity and childhood and adult socioeconomic status (SES). African American and European American women (N = 297) were recruited early in pregnancy and followed through 32 weeks gestation using interviews and medical chart review. Overall, African American women and women of lower socioeconomic backgrounds had higher levels of negative affect, stress, and blood pressure, but these ethnic and socioeconomic disparities were not observed among women higher in communalism. Hierarchical multivariate regression analyses …

The Role Of Abortion In The Last Stage Of Fertility Decline In Vietnam, Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, Sajeda Amin

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Vietnam’s rapid fertility decline can be explained by very high rates of contraceptive use and induced abortion, but despite the overall decline, fertility rates vary considerably across the country’s 54 ethnic groups. To explore the prospects for further fertility decline through use of abortion among high-fertility minority populations, this study analyzes unique data from the Vietnam National Health Survey to examine ethnic differentials in prevalence and determinants of abortion and contraception, using a new classification system for ethnicity. The report concludes that providing improved abortion services alone is unlikely to reduce fertility among high-fertility minority groups. Service provision needs to …

Contributing Towards Efforts To Abandon Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting In Kenya: A Situation Analysis, Humphres Evelia, Maryam Sheikh Abdi, Carolyne Njue, Ian Askew

Reproductive Health

The Kenyan Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services, with support from UNFPA/Kenya, commissioned the Population Council to conduct a situation analysis of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) programs in Kenya, with the overall objective of documenting the current status of and trends in FGM/C programming and to help identify crucial elements that need to be prioritized for support. Results show marked declines in prevalence nationally between generations, suggesting a decline in the practice as well as trends toward “medicalization” in recent years. The practice still continues for different reasons, such as rite of passage, for marriageability, controlling sexuality, religious …

In Our Own Hands: Swaa-Ghana Champions The Female Condom, Kathleen Cravero, Michelle Skaer, Victoria Ebin, Martha Brady

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This issue of Quality/Calidad/Qualité describes the vital role played by the Ghana branch of the Society for Women and AIDS in Africa (SWAA) in introducing the female condom, the only female-controlled method for protection from HIV. By addressing issues of gender inequity and communication within relationships, SWAA used the female condom to empower women to regain control of their bodies. Also in this issue are profiles of three other approaches to programming for the female condom from Brazil, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

Coping Processes Of Couples Experiencing Infertility, Brennan Peterson, Christopher R. Newton, Karen H. Rosen, Robert S. Shulman

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

This study explored the coping processes of couples experiencing infertility. Participants included 420 couples referred for advanced reproductive treatments. Couples were divided into groups based on the frequency of their use of eight coping strategies. Findings suggest that coping processes, which are beneficial to individuals, may be problematic for one's partner. Couples where men used high amounts of distancing, while their partner used low amounts of distancing, reported higher levels of distress when compared to couples in the other groups. Conversely, couples with women who used high amounts of self-controlling coping, when paired with men who used low amounts of …

Gender Differences In How Men And Women Referred With In Vitro Fertilization (Ivf) Cope With Infertility Stress, Brennan Peterson, C. R. Newton, K. H. Rosen, G. E. Skaggs

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Men and women use a variety of coping strategies to manage stress associated with infertility. While previous research has helped us understand these coping processes, questions remain about gender differences in coping and the nature of the relationship between coping and specific types of infertility stress. Methods: This study examined the coping behaviors of 1,026 (520 women, 506 men) consecutively referred patients at a Universityaffiliated teaching hospital. Participants completed the Ways of Coping Questionnaire, Fertility Problem Inventory, and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Results: Women used proportionately greater amounts of confrontive coping, accepting responsibility, seeking social support, and escape/avoidance when compared …

Using Operations Research To Strengthen Programmes For Encouraging Abandonment Of Female Genital Cutting. Report Of A Consultative Meeting On Methodological Issues For Fgc Research, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

The Population Council’s Frontiers in Reproductive Health program, with funding from USAID, organized a consultative meeting on the practice of female genital cutting (FGC) in Nairobi, Kenya in April 2002. The meeting brought together a small group of researchers and program managers who are actively undertaking operations research and systematic program evaluations to review the state of the art concerning intervention research design and measurement issues. The deliberations at this workshop should stimulate interest both in undertaking operations research more routinely when programming anti-FGC activities and in furthering the development and application of research methods appropriate for this subject. Several …

West Bank And Gaza: Stress The Importance And Cost-Effectiveness Of Postpartum Care, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

To assess maternal health care in the West Bank and Gaza, the Health, Development, Information, and Policy Institute conducted a study from May to August 2000. This study served as a baseline for the Pilot Health Project (PHP), which seeks to improve antenatal and postpartum services in three areas of the West Bank and Gaza. Seven local and international agencies are implementing PHP in collaboration with the Palestinian Ministry of Health and with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development. Data sources for the baseline study consisted of service statistics, interviews with health-care providers, and exit interviews with antenatal, …

Cisjordania Y Gaza: Subraye La Importancia De La Atención Postparto Y Su Cost-Efectividad, Frontiers In Reproductive Health

Reproductive Health

El Instituto de Salud, Desarrollo, Información y Políticas realizó un estudio de mayo a agosto de 2000 para evaluar la atención a la salud materna en Cisjordania y Gaza. Dicho estudio sirvió de línea basal para el Proyecto Piloto de Salud (PHP, por sus siglas en inglés), cuyo objetivo es mejorar los servicios prenatales y postparto en tres áreas de esa región. Siete agencias locales e internacionales implementan el PHP con la colaboración del Ministerio de Salud palestino y el patrocinio de la Agencia de los Estados Unidos para el Desarrollo Internacional. Las fuentes de la información para el estudio …

Rapport Du Seminaire National [Au Mali] Pour La Definition D'Une Strategie D'Eradication De L'Excision, Population Council

Reproductive Health

This is a report on a workshop for the eradication of female genital mutilation (FGM) held in Bamako, Mali. The workshop presented the results of a literature review on FGM and the actions taken to counter the practice in Mali; provided updates on the activities of six national NGOs working on issues surrounding FGM; and developed a Plan of Action for activities aimed at reducing the practice. The workshop brought together 85 participants, including policy- and decisionmakers from the government, NGOs, and religious groups. The workshop led to the finalization of a national Plan of Action to the Year 2000 …

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 …

Low Income Women's Perception Of Preparedness For Self Care And Infant Care Following Discharge From A Less Than Forty-Eight Hour Hospitalization For Birth, Patricia M. Ritola

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to describe perceptions of preparation for self care and infant care of new mothers of low income following a short hospitalization for childbirth. Orem's nursing model was used as the conceptual framework for the study. A descriptive correlational, cross sectional design was used to examine preparedness for self care and infant care. The sample (N = 50) consisted of women who were served by Michigan Medicaid, 18 years or older and were hospitalized less than 48 hours. A telephone interview was conducted seven days after discharge.; Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Findings identified …

Ua68/10/1 Sociological Symposium No. 8 – Childbirth & Infancy Life Cycle Series, Wku Sociology

WKU Administration Documents

Table of Contents:

• Hernandez, Pedro F. Catholic Church & Birth Control in Latin America
• Kovit, Leonard. Labor is Hard Work: Notes on the Social Organization of Childbirth
• McNurlen, Lewis J. Childbirth: A Family Affair
• Miller, Rita Seiden & Ron Miller. Social Values Supporting Pregnancy: Dilemma for Population Control
• Newman, John F. & William L. Graves. Neo-Natal Mortality & Socio-Economic Status
• Newman, Lucille F. The Anthropology of Birth
• Rutzen, S. Robert. Urban Life & Breast Feeding: A Sociological Analysis
• Schulz, Barbara & Richard Schulz. Family Size Preferences & Sex Composition
• Steinhoff, Patricia G., Roy G. Smith & Milton Diamond. Characteristics & …

Types Of Behavior During Labor And Delivery And Scores On The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Bette Gloria Winthers

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Purpose of the Study

The thesis of this study is that personality characteristics can be shown as factors in the variation of behavior which occurs during labor and childbirth. It is felt that if personality traits can be measured by a standard device they will correlate with various types of behavior expressed during labor. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory is one instrument which tests all of the more important phases of personality. This test was chosen as the device to be used in this study to determine the personality traits of the women involved. Therefore, the purpose of this study …