Aspects Of Reproductive Health Research Articles

Different Systems of Knowledge Found in the Reproductive Health of Ashaninka Women from the Peruvian Amazon

Indigenous Ashaninka people from the Peruvian Amazon operate within their communal reserve and autonomous native communities, where biomedical health posts and biomedical practitioners are present. This article analyses how the two systems of knowledge and practice i.e., indigenous medicine and biomedicine, coexist in the Ashaninka territory and how they are articulated in childbirth, birth control and other aspects of reproductive health. Their medicinal cosmology privileges the medicinal plant use and midwifery. At the same time, these practices are compatible with biomedical thinking. The childbirth techniques widely shared by the Ashaninka women and midwifes do not change substantiallyafter biomedical training. Instead, Ashaninka women complementarily add new practices to their own pre-existing array of contraceptive and labour techniques, without shifting their ontological basis. The Ashaninka seem a resilient society, one which is capable of “absorbing” novel biomedical knowledge, practices and technology into their medical landscape, while remaining within their cultural boundaries and thus preserving their specific features.

Reproductive health knowledge of married women in the rural community of Udaipur

Rural women experience poorer health outcomes and have less access to health care than urban women. Many rural areas have limited numbers of health care providers, especially women’s health providers. Reproductive health has been a great concern for every woman as majority of rural women living in rural locality are not aware of the importance of reproductive health. It is a crucial part of general health and a central feature of human development. Reproductive ill-health among rural women have been a apprehension to many stakeholders as maternal mortality and morbidity are very high in developing countries, especially in India compared to the developed world. The present study was conducted with an aim to evaluate the knowledge and practices regarding reproductive health of rural Indian married women. For this purpose, 300 rural married women from five operational villages of All India Co-ordinated Research Project (AICRP) between the age group of 18-24 years were selected. A checklist was used to assess the knowledge regarding reproductive health. Results revealed that majority of the respondents were having average knowledge regarding different aspects of reproductive health.

Ambiguities in Washington State hospital policies, irrespective of Catholic affiliation, regarding abortion and contraception service provision

BackgroundIn 2014, the governor of Washington State mandated that all hospitals publically post a reproductive health policy amidst concerns about the lack of clarity among the public how hospitals handled various aspects of reproductive health care.MethodsThe objective of this study is to assess the clarity of abortion and contraception service provision in the hospital reproductive health policies for the public in Washington State. All Washington State hospital reproductive health policies (n = 88) were analyzed in 2016 using content analysis. Results were stratified by Catholic religious affiliation of the hospital.ResultsThere were more similarities than differences between the non-Catholic and Catholic hospital reproductive health policies; however, there were a few differences. Non-Catholic hospitals were more likely than Catholic hospitals to use legal language (except for emergency contraception), include conscientious clause for providers (44% vs. 0%), and were less likely to specify that emergency contraception use was available for sexual assault victims only (16% vs 54%). Most hospital reproductive health policies, regardless of Catholic affiliation, provided more confusion than clarity in terms of abortion and contraception service provision.ConclusionsThe impact of Catholic, and non-Catholic, affiliated hospital care on patients who need abortion and contraceptive services is concerning. Given the difficulties in meeting the goals of increased transparency for the public through hospital policy language, the government should instead mandate hospitals use a standardized checklist. Additionally, patients are in dire need of positive rights to information about and services to avoid the potential gap in care that the negative rights afforded to providers and facilities to opt-out of providing abortion and contraceptive services have created.

THE ROLE OF BREASTFEEDING VIS-À-VIS CONTRACEPTIVE USE ON BIRTH SPACING IN INDIA: A REGIONAL ANALYSIS

Abstract Birth spacing is one of the important aspects of reproductive health. Therefore, it is felt by demographers that birth spacing needs to be studied from time to time in view of the epidemiological transition taking place worldwide. Using the third round of National Family Health Survey-3 data, the central hypothesis of this paper is to find out the relative advantages of breastfeeding over other methods of contraception among non-sterilized women by using simulative approach of the Cox regression analysis in India and its regions. The results show that if women were not having amenorrhea period and had a high level of breastfeeding, the chance of not having next live birth was only two percent lower than those women who were using spacing methods in India. This pattern was found to be almost similar in all the regions of India except central and southern regions. There is no significant gain in postponing the next live birth has been observed in using the contraceptives than breastfeeding. An effort has also been made to apprise the policymakers of the interrelation between breastfeeding, postpartum amenorrhea, contraceptive use and birth spacing. Nonetheless, policymakers should promote programs that encourage both breastfeeding and contraceptive use. Breastfeeding has direct benefits for infant health in addition to its role in lengthening birth intervals beyond postpartum amenorrhea.

SOCIAL ASPECTS OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AMONG THE FEMALE POPULATION IN RUSSIA

The article is devoted to the analysis of reproductive health among Russian women of childbearing age as one of the main components of population’s health and demographic development of Russia. The aim of the article is to assess the most important indicators of women’s reproductive health in Russia, such as the sickness rate preceding and during the pregnancy, the level of infertility, the prevalence of abortions and its dynamics, infant, perinatal and maternal mortality. Artificial termination of pregnancy is considered as the main indicator of reproductive health. Noting the positive trend in reducing the number of abortions, the author shows the differences in this indicator between Russia and other developed countries with a similar legislation on abortion. The article also touches the dynamics of infant and maternal mortality, and the problem of infertility. The author notes that it is necessary to predict, diagnose and correct the reproductive health of women of childbearing age by improving the culture of health with the aim of increasing the reproductive potential of the population of Russia. The empirical base is the data of the Federal State Statistics Service, the Public Opinion Foundation, the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center and the World Health Organization concerning the reproductive health of Russian women. This article will be of interest to specialists in the field of the sociology of medicine, the sociology of the family and demography, as well as readers interested in the social aspects of reproductive health in Russia. The materials of the article will be useful for healthcare professionals, social workers, sociological and demographic community, university students.

Knowledge and attitude of the first year student at Faculty of Medical and Applicable Sciences at Yanbu governorate about some aspects of reproductive health.

The aim of this study was to identify the knowledge and attitude of the first year students at Faculty of Medical and Applicable Sciences at yanbu governorate about some aspects of reproductive health .Subjects and method ; An exploratory study and a Convenience sample ware used (all the students in first year of the faculty ). Data collection tools: A structured / questionnaire was used to collect students Knowledge about reproductive health and a likert - like scale was adopted to assess their attitudes towards reproductive health. Scores of knowledge and attitude were done. The result: reveled most of the study subjects shocked and cried as reaction during menarche. Also said that menstruation is spoiled blood the body get mid of it. There is a need for more improving student knowledge and attitude regarding RH through the following Recommendation Strengthen the RH component in the school curricula, the role of the families ,mass media ,and school accurate information about RH must be enhanced, a program to educate parents on RH issues should be carried out, teachers should be well informed about RH issues , so they can prevent some of the problems by means of carful and open education.

Knowledge and attitude of the first year student at Faculty of Medical and Applicable Sciences at Yanbu governorate about some aspects of reproductive health.

Knowledge and attitude of the first year student at Faculty of Medical and Applicable Sciences at Yanbu governorate about some aspects of reproductive health.

The Implementation of Reproductive Health Aspects of Global Strategy of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Health in Iran

According to the World Health Organization report, the mortality and morbidity associated with non-communicable diseases is about60% that it included about47% of burden of diseases in the world. It is predicted that by 2020 this amount will increase to 73% and 60% respectively. Sixty percent of these deaths are happen in developing countries where the population is younger than developed countries. Due to the increase in these diseases in the world, the World Health Organization formulated and approved the global strategy of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Health. On the other hand, sexual and reproductive health problems provide 20% of the global burden ofdiseaseforwomenand14% for men. In this paper, a comparative study of reproductive health aspects in this global strategy in Iran will be discussed.

The Sexual Health Needs of Women with Spinal Cord Injury: A Qualitative Study

Sexual health as an important aspect of reproductive health, is a foundation for physical and emotional health which also affects couples and families’ wellbeing. Furthermore, disability could impact couple’s sexual relationships. Studies show that people with physical disability receive less sexual education which in turn exposes them to a higher risk for sexually transmitted infections. This qualitative study explored the sexual needs of women with spinal cord injury (SCI) aged 18–55 years old living in Tehran. In depth and individual semi-structured interviews were hold for data collection until data saturation was reached. They were recruited from the Organization of Welfare and Protection Center of Spinal Cord Disables of Iran. In this study 23 individuals were chosen using purposive sampling. The collected data was analyzed using the content analysis approach suggested by Graneheim and Lundman. The sexual health needs of women with SCI was explained in two themes and nine categories. The themes were “physical rehabilitation” and “couples’ sexual consultation”. The categories of the first theme were “resolving physical problems contributing to sexual relationships” and “complementary medicine application”. The categories of the second theme were “the husband’s emotional support”, “concentration”, “protecting sexual health”, “the need for having sexual relationships”, “diminishing factors for unpleasant sexual relationships”, “paying attention to wife’s readiness to start sexual relationships” and “decreasing factors that suppress spouse’s sexual desire”. This study showed that women with spinal cord injury require sexual rehabilitation. They overcome their physical problems with the help of complementary medicine and sexual counselling around the aforementioned categories for promoting the quality of their sexual health.

Interventional study to assess knowledge and practice among rural adolescent girls regarding menstruation and their perception of taboos

Adolescence in girls is a turbulent period, which includes stressful events like menarche, considered as a landmark of female puberty. Menstruation is generally considered as unclean in the Indian society particularly in rural areas. Menstrual practices are still shrouded by taboos and socio-cultural restrictions. Isolation of the menstruating girls and restrictions being imposed on them in the family, have reinforced a negative attitude towards this phenomenon. Adolescent girls remain ignorant of the scientific facts and hygiene practices which sometimes result into adverse health consequences. There is a substantial lacuna in the knowledge towards menstruation among adolescent girls. Thus the present study was undertaken to assess the awareness of rural adolescent girls regarding menstruation and reproductive health aspects through an intervention study. A total of 200 adolescent girls in the age group of 12 to 16 years were selected randomly from four government schools from Badgaon village of Rajasthan. The study adopted a pretest – post test design with an intervention for a period of five days. Post testing was done after the intervention and data was analyzed using using SPSS version 11.0 windows. Results revealed that the knowledge of girls regarding menstruation and reproductive health aspects improved significantly after intervention. Thus the study clearly showed that educational intervention programme can bring about a desirable change in the knowledge among adolescent girls regarding reproductive health.

Oncocontraception in cancer care.

e18018 Background: Focus on fertility preservation has overshadowed other aspects of reproductive health including sexuality and contraception in cancer care. Regardless of future childbearing interest, the first 18-months post-diagnosis of cancer are considered suboptimal for childbearing. We have coined the term, oncocontraception, for the application of contraception in cancer care. To address this need at our institution, we used the novel Family Planning Quotient/Reproductive Life Index (FPQ/RepLI) which allows providers to better understand patients’ reproductive health goals and counsel them towards appropriate family planning services. These tools aid providers in implementing clinical care to prevent pregnancy during this critical time. They are routinely utilized at Stroger Hospital in the Family Planning Clinic for women within the reproductive age, between the ages of 18 and 55. Methods: FPQ and RepLI were adapted for use with oncology patients. They were used to visually depict and quantify a woman’s reproductive life plan and assist health care providers in speaking to a woman regarding family planning as it pertains to and aligns with her cancer treatment. Results: During our study period, 36 reproductive aged women were seen in our family planning clinic after a cancer diagnosis. Our study population was comprised of mostly Hispanic/Latino women (58.3.0%) and 50.0% were between the ages of 31-40. The majority of the study group had breast cancer (77.8%) and were being treated with chemotherapy (52.8%). Among the study population, 80.6% received a form of contraception (44.8% short-term, 55.2% long-term). Conclusions: We established a link between the Oncology and Family Planning Clinics to incorporate contraceptive counseling as an essential piece of comprehensive cancer care. Approximately 45% of the women newly diagnosed with cancer are in the reproductive age range. With improvements in treatments and prognosis, quality of life factors are of increasing importance for these women. With this essential clinical relationship, patient counseling and provider-patient communication regarding contraceptive care in the context of cancer diagnosis will continue to grow and improve.

A study on knowledge about various aspects related to reproductive health among school going adolescent boys

Background: World Health Organization defines adolescence as the period of life between 10 - 19 years of age. In India they represent over 1/5th of total population. A large number of them aren’t aware about the knowledge regarding reproductive health, contraception, HIV/AIDS etc. These factors have serious social, economic & public health implications. According to study conducted by UNESCO, Sexually Transmitted Diseases are a major health problem among adolescence, especially in Asia. The risk increases if they lack the knowledge & are unaware about different aspects of reproductive health. Hence it was decided to conduct a study in this issue, to assess the knowledge about various aspects related to reproductive health among school going adolescents in Surendranagar city. Objectives: To determine the level of knowledge regarding various aspects of reproductive health among school going adolescent boys & to correlate the findings with their various socio-demographic factors. Materials & Methods: After enlisting all the schools of Surendranagar city, 2 govt. & 2 non govt. schools were selected by simple random sampling. All the boys of standard 10th & 11th of selected schools present on the day of study were included. Final sample size was 268. The information was gathered by using a pre tested, semi-structured self-administered questionnaire. Results: Majority (62%) knew the changes occurring during puberty, 67% knew about family planning methods, 77% knew about STDs and its transmission. There was a significant difference in awareness regarding family planning & STDs amongst the students of govt. (77.34% & 80.47%) & non-govt. (55.71% & 71.43%) school respectively. The study showed lack of awareness regarding Adolescent Friendly Clinic (25%) & only 13% had visited among the study group. Friends (64.34%) & teachers (58.19%) appeared as a leading source of information regarding reproductive health awareness. Most of the students (70.02%) knew that treatment of HIV/AIDS is possible. Conclusion: Awareness about adolescent friendly clinic needs to be improved through various means. There is a need for appropriate information, education and communication strategies for increasing awareness about family planning and STDs among the students of non-govt. schools.

Socioeconomic and Reproductive Health Outcomes of Female Genital Mutilation.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is one of the important aspects of reproductive health. The economic, social and health consequences of FGM threaten the achievement of sustainable development goals. The purpose of this study was to assess the economic, social and reproductive health consequences of FGM from the perspective of individual, family, community and health system. In this study, we reviewed 1536 articles from 1979 to 2015. Fifty-one studies were directly related to our goal. Research papers, review articles, case studies and books on the research topic were used. The results of this review showed that most studies on FGM, have investigated health complications of FGM, and few studies have addressed its socioeconomic aspects. The complications from the FGM can impose a significant economic burden on individuals, society and health system. Social consequences of FGM are more irritating than health consequences, so to tackle this practice; its social aspects should be more emphasized. Significant short and long term consequences of FGM threaten women's reproductive health; Reproductive health is one of the essential prerequisites of sustainable development. Sustainable development will be achieved if women are healthy. This practice can threaten achieving sustainable development. In Iran, FGM is performed in some areas, but there are no official statistics about it and there has yet been no plan to deal with FGM. FGM is a form of social injustice which women suffer. Ending FGM requires a deep and long-term commitment. Knowing its consequences and its effects on individual, families, the health system and community will help supporters to continue fighting this practice. Any money spent on eliminating this harmful practice, compared with the costs of complications, would not be wasteful. It seems that further studies are needed to assess socioeconomic effects of FGM and the relationship between type of FGM and induced complications. Such studies will help policymakers to tackle this practice.

Indian folklore medicine in managing men's health and wellness.

India is a home for a large variety of plants with remarkable medicinal and pharmacological value. Traditional medicine in the form of Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani has used many of these plants since ancient days for treating and curing various ailments of the body. When it comes to issues related to reproductive health, people still hesitate to discuss and/or accept it openly and hence look for alternate and natural remedies. The various tribal populations distributed across different parts of the country still use these plant extracts in various formulations for maintenance of good health. The medical utilities of several of these plants have been documented; however, there are many more, whose potential is yet to be explored. This review discusses the role of various plants grown in the Indian subcontinent that have been widely used in maintaining various aspects of reproductive health in men such as infertility, aphrodisiac, contraception, libido, sexually transmitted infections and reproductive tract cancers as well as in treating chronic disorders.

Reproductive Health Issues—Who to Discuss With? A Qualitative Study to Address Unmet Needs of Adolescent Boys

In India, less research has been dedicated to reproductive health needs of boys as compared to girls. Various sociocultural aspects hinder the caregiving process towards adolescent boys. Our aim was to assess the views and perceptions of adolescent boys and their caregivers about reproductive health (RH) for adolescent boys. This qualitative study was conducted in rural urban settings of an entire Taluk (sub-district). It examined the perception and expectations of RH and the services that would cater their unmet needs. The perceptions of parents, teachers and clinicians who interacted with adolescent boys were also taken in to account. RH issues of boys were considered to be completely neglected by all caregivers. The boys felt ‘only girls have all sort of facilities and help’. Masturbation and wet dreams were considered as ‘problems’. Pornography and Internet influenced young minds negatively. Awareness about HIV/AIDS and premarital sex were good among the boys. Boys stressed on ‘counselling’ and ‘online services’ that would help them to discuss their RH issues with experts. Parents and teachers highlighted the importance of ‘sex education’. Doctors mentioned the problems they face to address the boys in community settings. It could be concluded that RH aspects of adolescent boys need further research.

KAJIAN HUKUM TERHADAP PERMOHONAN DISPENSASI KAWIN PADA PEREMPUAN DI BAWAH UMUR DI PENGADILAN AGAMA SEMARANG (Studi Kesehatan Reproduksi)

This study aimed to analyze the factors underlying the filing of application for a dispensation to marry the underage girls in Semarang Religion Court and analyze the legal considerations in Semarang Religion Court to request a dispensation to marry the underage girls in terms of aspect on reproductive health. This study using sociological juridical approach. Specification of research is analytic descriptive. There are four factors behind the filing of application for a dispensation to marry in the Religion Court of Semarang, which is already pregnant, religious and cultural factors, economic factors, and educational factors. Legal considerations of the judges in Religion Court of Semarang in setting request dispensation to marry not consider aspects of woman's reproductive health yet. The judges in Religion Court of Semarang in setting request dispensation to marry should consider women’s reproductive health aspects, age of marry should be upgrade based on woman’s reproductive health age being 20 years old. Key words: the application, marriage dispensation, healthy Â

Ambivalence, outcome of childbearing decision making among women

Background and objectives: Currently childbearing is recognized as an experience with contradictoryfeelings for women. Knowing the decision making process of childbearing is an important aspect ofreproductive health. This study aimed to explain the experiences of ambivalence after making decision forchildbearing in Iranian women.Materials and methods: This qualitative study was conducted using conventional content analysis approachwith 32 married women from Tehran who were pregnant for the first time or were using contraceptivemethods. Purposeful sampling was used and continued until data saturation. In-depth unstructured interviewswere used to collect the data. Analysis of the data occurred simultaneously with data collection using contentanalysis based on Graneheim and Lundman method in MAXQDA 2007 software.Findings: The analysis of the data led to extraction of 3 themes of certainty and satisfaction versusuncertainty and indecision, decision making in silence, and bargaining. Women feel ambivalent after makingdecision for childbearing because of the manner they make the decision, persistence of uncertainties andworries along with satisfaction and peace.Conclusion: Ambivalence in childbearing decision making is a prevalent and challenging phenomenon, andis potentially important for realizing pregnancy behavior and providing appropriate interventions in preconceptionconsultations.Keywords: decision making, childbearing, ambivalence, qualitative study

Editorial

Editorial

Unmet need of sex education among adolescents in urban slum area: An interventional study

Context: Adolescents comprise one-fifth of India’s total population. There is widespread ignorance associated with unprotected sex, contraceptives, among young people. As majority adolescents in slum areas have illiterate and ignorant family backgrounds; they are misguided by the myths. Hence providing sex education for them is the need of the hour. Aims: 1) To assess the knowledge and awareness of adolescents in an urban slum area regarding some aspects of reproductive health. 2) To assess the need of sex education among them. 3) To study the impact of sex education on their knowledge Material and Methods: An interventional study was done on 132 adolescents of urban slum area, selected by simple random sampling. Informed consent was obtained from the participants. Data was collected with the help of structured questionnaire prepared by literature search. Response of adolescents was recorded through questionnaires. A sensitization workshop was organized as intervention. The same questionnaire was given to them and the effect of intervention was assessed. Statistical analysis of data was done using percentage, proportion and appropriate tests of significance. Result and Conclusions: Only 31.06% adolescents had discussed the topic of reproductive health with some or other person and out of them friends were the major sources (39.2%) of information. Only 38.63% knew the hazards of teenage pregnancy which significantly rose to 89.4% after intervention workshop. The study concludes that the slum adolescents profoundly lack adequate knowledge of sexuality related matters. Even before intervention workshop, unmet need of reproductive health education was 59.1% and 93.93% was the felt need in the post test.

Impact of Health Education on The Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Teachers Regarding Reproductive Health of Adolescents of Amritsar, Punjab.

Teachers play an important role in guiding the adolescents. Adolescents are ill equipped to deal with the impending changes in their body which makes them vulnerable to STDs, HIV/AIDS and premarital sex. This study attempts to study the impact of reproductive health education on the knowledge, attitude and practices of teachers, about which only a few studies are available. To study the impact of health education on the knowledge, attitude and practices of teachers regarding reproductive health of adolescents. Senior Secondary schools of Amritsar and Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Amritsar, Punjab, India. Male teachers of senior secondary schools of Amritsar teaching class 9th-12th. Educational intervention study. Purposive sampling. The study was started with 155 teachers (teaching class 9th -12th) who willingly participated from 50 senior secondary schools of Amritsar district. It was carried out in three phases. In first phase, after taking informed consent, the teachers filled a pretested questionnaire which was followed by an interactive session on reproductive health in second phase. In third phase, to study the impact of the interactive session and the sustainability of knowledge gained, they were again administered the same questionnaire after a period of 3 months. Microsoft Excel, SPSS, Chi-square test. Maximum 74 (47.7%) teachers were aware of the psychosocial problems of adolescents. Majority 110 (71%) of the teachers had only partial knowledge about pubertal changes. 117 (75.5%) teachers were unaware about genital hygiene. Only 33 (21.3%) teachers had adequate knowledge about different STDs. 91 (58.7%) and 54 (34.8%) of teachers had adequate knowledge about routes of transmission and prevention of AIDS respectively. Only 37 (23.9%) teachers were imparting sex education to students. After intervention significant favorable changes were seen in their knowledge, attitude and practices regarding most of above mentioned topics. Although the baseline knowledge of teachers in most aspects of reproductive health of adolescents was found to be low, significant favourable changes were observed after health education.