Disability in female immigrants with ritually inflicted genital mutilation.

Abstract

The issues and concerns of old women as a group tend to have been overlooked by clinicians and academics who otherwise are committed to improving the quality of women's mental health care. In particular, the rich knowledge, experiences, and needs of women in nursing homes has largely been ignored. Our central goal in this project is the empowerment of women residents in nursing homes through self-esteem work, reminiscence, peer networking, and staff training, as well as the articulation of needs and choices and the initiation of self-identified institutional changes. We emphasize the intimate connections between the control that women have over the material conditions of their everyday lives and their mental health generally. We encourage clinicians and academics to work as advocates for old women in the nursing home in order to preserve the dignity deserving of all.