Harm Women Research Articles

Gloomy Actuality of the Feeble Fragment of Indian Society

Studying about women movement, feminist thories, contribution of women in Indian National Movement and a number of scholarly publications about the condition of women in 19th and 20th century is just the fulfilment of the formal educational agenda. These things have largely been theoretical as the objectives are never practically realised. In the prevailing time of insecurity and male dominance, apart from financial or any kind of autonomy, self-defense has also become an inexplicable parameter of women empowerment. Since harm for women is possible to become the outcome of any kind of male grudge, intention or superiority, every women - literate or illiterate working or home maker, students as well should learn the art of protection. It is extremely significant for the maintenance of female dignity and social status. Nature has given equal opportunities to the female to utilise its resources like men. Anyways, the preceding incidents or occurrences against the women with the target of their victimisation have made it a compulsion for them to develop a harsh and challenging attitude against the opposite sex for a secure and tension free existence.

The panopticon looms: A gendered narrative of the interlocking powers of welfare intervention and criminalization

AbstractThis paper presents a case study narrative of one woman. Drawing on her storied recollections, from infancy into childhood through young motherhood into adulthood, we trace the interlocking relationship between policies and practices intended to offer welfare support facilitating her criminalization. A collaborative approach to producing knowledge, representing 8 years of narrative, dialogue and reflection surfaces a looming panopticon. The gendered power of the state to intervene across the life course is revealed, as is the failed and harmful nature of this panopticon. Three distinct themes emerge from the analysis: the power to define and the fixing nature of gendered policy and practice narratives; the gendered control strategies that reproduce harms in women's lives; and the lifelong nature of the panopticon for some girls and women. Cutting across these experiences are processes of silencing and ultimately resistance, strategies for surviving the enduring forms of institutional surveillance and intervention. The paper closes with clear implications for the hegemonic trio of social science research and social work and criminal justice policy and practice. We must confront and dismantle our complicity in the silent silencing and gendered harms of the panopticon.

Designing Guidelines for Those Who Do Not Follow Them: The Impact of Adherence Assumptions on Optimal Screening Guidelines

ObjectivesModel-based cost-effectiveness analyses can inform decisions about screening guidelines by quantifying consequences of alternative algorithms. Although actual screening adherence is imperfect, incorporating nonadherence into analyses that aim to determine optimal screening may affect the policy recommendations. We evaluated the impact of nonadherence assumptions on the optimal cervical cancer screening in Norway. MethodsWe used a microsimulation model of cervical carcinogenesis to project the long-term health and economic outcomes under alternative screening algorithms and adherence patterns. We compared 18 algorithms involving primary human papillomavirus testing (5-yearly) that varied follow-up management of different human papillomavirus results. We considered 12 adherence scenarios: perfect adherence, 8 high- and low-coverage “random-complier” scenarios, and 3 “systematic-complier” scenarios that reflect conditional screening behavior over a lifetime. We calculated incremental cost-effectiveness ratios and considered a strategy with the highest incremental cost-effectiveness ratio < 55 000 US dollars/quality-adjusted life-year as “optimal.” ResultsUnder perfect adherence, the least intensive screening strategy was optimal; in contrast, assuming any nonadherence resulted in a more intensive optimal strategy. Accounting for lower adherence resulted in both lower costs and health benefits, which allowed for a more intensive strategy to be considered optimal, but more harms for women who screen according to guidelines (ie, up to 41% more colposcopies when comparing the optimal strategy in the lowest-adherence scenario with the optimal strategy under perfect adherence). ConclusionsAssuming nonadherence in analyses designed to inform national guidelines may lead to a relatively more intensive recommendation. Designing guidelines for those who do not adhere to them may lead to over-screening of those who do.

Understanding prolific self-harm in her majesty’s women’s estate prisons, in England

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to outline qualitative research into what influences, maintains and reduces prolific self-harm within women’s prisons across England. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants who were identified as engaging in prolific self-harm. Thematic analysis was applied to two data sets, and analyses were combined to generate final themes. Findings Six overarching themes were identified which served to explain what influences the repetitive nature of prolific self-harm and also what helps to reduce it. The themes were reasons for self-harm, trauma, being in prison, support, other support and interventions: management and rehabilitative. Research limitations/implications Owing to the sensitive nature of the research a stringent exclusion criteria was applied which limited the data sample from the original pool. Variance in detail was observed from the interviewer transcripts. The data sample was not large enough to examine the influence of protected characteristics. Practical implications Responsivity in the support offered by staff is critical to a reduction in repetitive harm. A re-focus on staff training, plus support mechanisms for staff supporting people in women’s prisons who self-harm prolifically has been recommended. Originality/value This paper has focussed specifically on prolific self-harm within women’s prisons. This has not been an area that has been investigated separately to the general self-harm literature in prisons. This paper provides insight into factors which influence, maintain and reduce prolific-self harm in women residing in prison.

Occupational position and alcohol use disorders in Poland.

The following analysis covers the role of the occupational structure in the prevalence of alcohol use disorders (AUDs). The authors investigated whether the occupational position affected the prevalence of AUDs among men and women, and how this relationship varied in lifetime and past year periods. Data were taken from the General Population Survey on Mental Health in Poland (EZOP) utilizing the Composite International Diagnostic Interview questionnaire (N = 2806). Binary and multiple regression models were employed to assess the risk of AUDs adjusted for the occupational structure and socio-demographic variables. The occupational position affects the prevalence of AUDs in men, while it has no impact on AUDs in women. Skilled and non-skilled workers suffer from AUDs to a greater extent than those in higher occupational positions. However, the risk of alcohol harm in women seems to be equally distributed across the occupational structure. The uneven pattern of alcohol harm in men and women can be possibly explained by shifting working conditions and work environments, as well as traditional gender roles affecting alcohol behaviors. The findings of the study support further development of the occupational position concept in alcohol research. The problem of harmful alcohol drinking in women across the occupational structure warrants a more in-depth inquiry. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2021;34(5):591-602.

A Critical Analysis of Interventions for Women Harmed by Others’ Gambling

At present, gambling studies literature has multiple understandings of family and others affected (FAOs) by gambling harm and their support needs in play, each with different possibilities and constraints for harm reduction engagement with women. Individual psychological approaches have been privileged, eschewing the social and relational situation of gambling and harm in women’s lives. In Australasia, the majority of those seeking support in relation to a significant others’ gambling are women. Gender has been posited as a shaping force in the social stratification system, distribution of resources, and gambling and harm within society. There has been minimal engagement with the lived experiences of FAOs, which limits gambling harm reduction service development and planning. This research critically engaged with gambling harm reduction studies for FAOs, alongside interviews with eight women FAOs who presented to community services from a social constructionist perspective. The aim was to provide insight into how women FAOs position themselves and their support needs in relation to gambling harm and recovery. Data was analysed using thematic analysis informed by feminist poststructuralist theories of language. Results suggested that this small group of women were subject to intersecting patriarchal constraints and economic determinants of gambling harm. Powerful normative and moral constructions of ‘good/bad’ mothers operated to individualise some women’s responsibility for addressing harm in families and to alienate these women from gambling support services. These findings suggest that gambling services must support women and families in ways that go beyond personal functioning, extending into the social and political conditions of possibility for harm and recovery. Critical psychology and coherent gender analysis may offer opportunities to expand the role of gambling support to include advocacy, community development, and more client-led and gender-aware practice with women affected by gambling harm.

Expulsion at home for early medical abortion: A systematic review with meta-analyses.

The safety and acceptability of medical abortion using mifepristone and misoprostol at home at ≤9+0 weeks' gestation is well established. However, the upper gestational limit at which the procedure remains safe and acceptable at home is not known. To inform a national guideline on abortion care we conducted a systematic review to determine what gestational limit for expulsion at home offers the best balance of benefits and harms for women who are having medical abortion. We searched Embase, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Cinahl Plus and Web-of-Science on 2January 2020 for prospective and retrospective cohort studies with ≥50 women per gestational age group, published in English from 1995 onwards, that included women undergoing medical abortion and compared home expulsion of pregnancies of ≤9+0 weeks' gestational age with pregnancies of 9+1 -10+0 weeks or >10+1 weeks' gestational age, or compared the latter two gestational age groups. We assessed risk-of-bias using the Newcastle-Ottowa scale. All outcomes were meta-analyzed as risk ratios (RR) using the Mantel-Haenszel method. The certainty of the evidence was assessed using GRADE. Six studies (n=3381) were included. The "need for emergency care/admission to hospital" (RR=0.79, 95% confidence interval [CI]0.45-1.4), "hemorrhage requiring transfusion/≥500mL blood loss" (RR=0.62, 95% CI 0.11-3.55), patient satisfaction (RR=0.99, 95% CI 0.95-1.03), pain (RR=0.91, 95% CI 0.82-1.02), and "complete abortion without the need for surgical intervention" (RR=1.03, 95% CI 1-1.05) did not differ statistically significantly between the ≤9+0 and >9+0 weeks' gestation groups. The rates of vomiting (RR=0.8, 95% CI 0.69-0.93) and diarrhea (RR=0.85, 95% CI 0.73-0.99) were statistically significantly lower in the ≤9+0 weeks group but these differences were not considered clinically important. We found no studies comparing pregnancies of 9+1 -10+0 weeks' gestation with pregnancies of >10+0 weeks' gestation. The certainty of this evidence was predominantly low and mainly compromised by low event rates and loss to follow up. Women who are having a medical abortion and will be taking mifepristone up to and including 10+0 weeks' gestation should be offered the option of expulsion at home after they have taken the misoprostol. Further research needs to determine whether the gestational limit for home expulsion can be extended beyond 10+0 weeks.

Expedited Partner Therapy: STI Treatment for You and Your Partner

Chlamydia and gonorrhea are two common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) that can cause serious harm in women. If untreated, these infections —

Status Incongruity and Backlash against Female Legislators: How Legislative Speechmaking Benefits Men, but Harms Women

The literature on nomination procedures and intra-party politics shows that engagement in personalized parliamentary activities helps legislators get re-elected and promoted in the party list. However, as a considerable body of scholarly work suggests, women in leadership positions who are perceived to disconfirm the well-known gender stereotypes by being “too assertive” and “agentic” in the workplace may suffer from what social psychologists call the “backlash effect” (i.e., facing economic and social sanctions). Integrating insights from the literatures on perceptions of female leadership and intra-party politics, we reveal the differential effect of legislative speechmaking on the career prospects of male and female members of parliament (MPs). Specifically, using an original dataset of over thirty-five thousand parliamentary speeches and the biographies of 2,140 MPs who served in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey between 1995 and 2011, we show that the well-documented positive effect of engagement in parliamentary activities on career prospects holds for male MPs, but not for their female counterparts. In fact, we found that female MPs who were active on the legislative floor were significantly less likely to get renominated and promoted in the party rank. These results imply that the challenges facing women in leadership positions go beyond electoral competition.

Women and gambling-related harm: a narrative literature review and implications for research, policy, and practice

BackgroundWhile the prevalence of women’s participation in gambling is steadily increasing, there is a well-recognised male bias in gambling research and policy. Few papers have sought to synthesise the literature relating to women and gambling-related harm and provide practical suggestions to guide future research, policy, and practice which take into account the specific nuances associated with women’s gambling.MethodsA narrative literature review was conducted to review the evidence base on women’s gambling behaviours and experiences of harm. Drawing from strategies used effectively in other areas of public health, key elements for a gendered approach to harm prevention were identified and adapted into practical public health research, policy and practice strategies.ResultsResults indicated a lack of research that explores women’s gambling. Few studies have examined the impact of gambling on the lives of women, with limited understanding of the factors that influence women’s engagement with gambling products, and the impact of industry tactics. A gendered approach was identified as a strategy used successfully in other areas of public health to shift the focus onto women and to ensure they are considered in research. In tobacco control, increasing trends in women’s smoking behaviour were combatted with targeted research, policy and practical initiatives. These key elements were adapted to create a conceptual framework for reducing and preventing gambling harm in women. The framework provides regulatory direction and a research agenda to minimise gambling-related harm for women both in Australia and internationally. Evidence-based policies should be implemented to focus on the influence of gender and associated factors to address gambling-related harm. Practical interventions must take into account how women conceptualise and respond to gambling risk in order to develop specific harm prevention programs which respond to their needs.ConclusionA gendered approach to gambling harm prevention shifts the focus onto the unique factors associated with women’s gambling and specific ways to prevent harm. As seen in other areas of public health, such a framework enables harm measures, policies, and interventions to be developed that are salient to girls and women’s lives, experiences and circumstances.

Psychosocial consequences among women with false-positive results after mammography screening in Norway

Background: Mammography screening may cause psychosocial harm for women experiencing a false-positive screening result. Previous studies suggest long-term consequences. The aim of the present study was to assess psychosocial consequences of false-positive findings on screening mammography within a six month follow-up.Methods: A prospective matched cohort survey study using the questionnaire ‘Consequences of Screening for Breast Cancer’ (COS-BC), which was translated from Danish to Norwegian. Psychometric analyses investigated the measurement properties of the Norwegian version. Two screening clinics in Norway distributed the survey to 299 women with an abnormal mammogram and 541 women with a normal screen. Women received the questionnaire when receiving the screening result, and one and six months after screening.Results: At six months, statistically significant differences appeared in two scales: existential values and breast examination. At six-month follow-up, women with false-positive results showed no statistically significant differences from women diagnosed with breast cancer in three outcomes: sense of dejection, anxiety, and keeping my mind off things.Conclusion: Our results indicate that the psychosocial consequences from having false-positive screening mammography results diminish after six months. The results support previous research describing breast-specific outcomes. However, our results indicate that Norwegian women are less frightened than other Scandinavian mammography screening participants.

Specialised domestic violence courts in Canada and the United States: Key factors in prioritising safety for women and children

ABSTRACTThis paper reviews the response of specialised domestic violence courts in Canada and the United States to contact disputes where there are allegations of domestic violence. It begins with a discussion of legal reforms responding to domestic violence in Canada and the United States, including the different types of DV courts and their rationales, key features, merits and drawbacks. Evaluations of Integrated DV courts in the United States and Canada are then reviewed. The research shows that although IDV courts hold more promise to deal with contact disputes given their inclusion of family law matters, there are few studies analysing the impact of IDV courts on these disputes, and some suggest these courts may actually increase contact and hence the potential for safety issues to arise. The final section discusses the strengths and weaknesses of IDV courts in relation to contact disputes, identifying the factors that make these specialised courts more or less successful in prioritising safety and minimising harm for women and children.

Multi-Level Organizational Factors that Support and Harm Women’s Self- Confidence

Self-confidence has been designated a requisite individual characteristic for advancement in the workplace. Historically, self- confidence has been associated more with men than women. As a result, research on self-confidence in the workplace has been conceived within masculine behavioral paradigms under a guise of gender neutrality. The purpose of our study is to expose potential social and contextual factors not broadly examined in the extant literature on individual self-confidence in the workplace. Utilizing a problematizing approach, we developed two research questions: (1) what are the contextual and situational factors of the organizational environment that positively influence women’s self-confidence?, and (2) what are the contextual and situational factors of the organizational environment that negatively influence women’s self- confidence? In our analysis of qualitative survey results of a sample of 299 women professionals, we found that meso-level (social) and macro-level (organizational) factors contribute to women’s experience of self-confidence in the workplace, in addition to micro- level factors, that receive the bulk of scholarly attention. We propose that individual factors interact with social and organizational factors and support or impinge upon the attainment of self-confidence in the workplace. We include recommendations for further study. Keywords: Self-confidence; Gender; Women; Organizational Culture; Inclusion

Women and Alcohol Use Disorders: Factors That Lead to Harm.

Women, alcohol, and alcohol use disorders are underresearched topics when compared with the plethora of literature exploring male alcohol consumption and its related harms. It is time to change the fact that women are underrepresented in research and programs targeting alcohol use disorders. Given the changing patterns of alcohol consumption by women, coupled with the fact that women experience a telescoping effect in alcohol-related harms, it is time that increasing attention be paid to the way gender influences the experience of alcohol-related harms, including the development of alcohol use disorders. Recovery-orientated systems are not possible without the voices of the consumers being heard. With this in mind, the purposes of this article are to explore factors that lead to alcohol-related harm in women and to highlight the gender-specific barriers to service engagement.

Abstract 15997: The Effect of Combined Statin/Fibrate Therapy on Cardiovascular Disease is Influenced by Sex and Dyslipidemia: ACCORDION-Lipid Long-Term Follow-up

Introduction: In the long-term ACCORD-Lipid trial of 5,518 high risk patients with type 2 diabetes, combined statin+fibrate therapy failed to reduce the composite outcome of nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), nonfatal stroke or cardiovascular (CV) death. Pre-specified subgroup analyses identified heterogeneity in treatment effect according to gender, with a benefit for men and possible harm for women, and possible benefit for patients with both high triglyceride and low HDL-C at baseline. At trial end, 4,644 ACCORD-Lipid Trial participants consented to be followed post-trial in the passive ACCORD Follow-On (ACCORDION) Study. Hypothesis: Does a therapeutic strategy that initially used a fibrate to raise HDL-C/lower triglyceride levels and a statin for treatment of LDL-C for a mean of almost 5 years reduce the long-term (mean 9+ years) risk of major CVD events after 4+ more years of follow-up compared to a strategy that only used a statin for treatment of LDL-C? Results: During about 9 years of follow-up (from ACCORD randomization to the end of ACCORDION), the hazard ratios between participants originally randomized to statin+fibrate versus statin alone were 0.93 (0.83-1.05 95%CI, p=0.25) for the primary outcome (nonfatal MI, nonfatal stroke or CV death); 0.94 (0.84 -1.06, p=0.32) for all-cause mortality, 0.93 (0.78-1.10, p=0.37) for nonfatal MI, and 0.84 (0.69-1.01, p=0.07) for cardiovascular mortality. These hazards are similar to those observed during the trial portion of follow-up. The heterogeneity of response for gender and presence of dyslipidemia observed in ACCORD-LIPID continued to be observed after the addition of post-trial events during the extended follow-up period with hazard ratios of 0.84 (0.73-0.96) for men and 1.30 (1.01-17) for women (interaction P=0.003) and 0.73 (0.56-0.95) for dyslipidemic and 0.99 (0.86-1.13) for non-dyslipidemic subgroups (interaction P=0.048). Conclusions: Additional post-trial follow-up of ACCORD participants for a total of about 9 years of total follow-up did not alter the original ACCORD findings that in people with type 2 diabetes and other cardiovascular risk factors, long-term treatment with a fibrate+statin (compared to a statin alone) did not reduce the rate of CV events or all-cause mortality.

Book Review: General Politics: He Runs, She Runs: Why Gender Stereotypes Do Not Harm Women Candidates

Book Review: General Politics: He Runs, She Runs: Why Gender Stereotypes Do Not Harm Women Candidates

Quelle place encore pour le traitement de ménopause ?

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) remains the most efficient treatment to alleviate climacteric symptoms. The drastic decline in their prescription following the WHI is not fully justified. Benefits might be more important than harm in women 50-60 years. French way of treatment does not increase the risk in thrombosis nor stroke and breast cancer risk is less important than with other regimen. One of the major benefits of HRT is the decrease in type 2 diabetes with all the treatments including the French ones. The results of the American randomized trials cannot be fully extrapolated to young postmenopausal women with less cardiovascular risk factors.

Oxytocin indexes relational distress following interpersonal harms in women

The hypothalamic neuropeptide oxytocin, known for its involvement in social affiliation and bonding in animals, has recently been associated with a host of prosocial behaviors that are beneficial for maintaining positive social relationships in humans. Paradoxically, however, people with high endogenous levels of oxytocin also tend to report relational distress and interpersonal difficulties in their everyday lives. To address these contradictory findings, oxytocin reactivity was measured in response to a well-defined laboratory task in young adult women following recent interpersonal harms. Elevated mean peripheral oxytocin reactivity (but not baseline levels of oxytocin or cortisol reactivity) was associated with increased post-conflict anxiety and decreased levels of forgiveness. These results corroborate previous research implicating oxytocin as a neuroendocrine marker of relational distress, but not general stress, and demonstrate the utility of studying oxytocin in response to naturally occurring relational events.

Effects of combination lipid therapy in type 2 diabetes mellitus.

We investigated whether combination therapy with a statin plus a fibrate, as compared with statin monotherapy, would reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who were at high risk for cardiovascular disease. We randomly assigned 5518 patients with type 2 diabetes who were being treated with open-label simvastatin to receive either masked fenofibrate or placebo. The primary outcome was the first occurrence of nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or death from cardiovascular causes. The mean follow-up was 4.7 years. The annual rate of the primary outcome was 2.2% in the fenofibrate group and 2.4% in the placebo group (hazard ratio in the fenofibrate group, 0.92; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.79 to 1.08; P=0.32). There were also no significant differences between the two study groups with respect to any secondary outcome. Annual rates of death were 1.5% in the fenofibrate group and 1.6% in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.75 to 1.10; P=0.33). Prespecified subgroup analyses suggested heterogeneity in treatment effect according to sex, with a benefit for men and possible harm for women (P=0.01 for interaction), and a possible interaction according to lipid subgroup, with a possible benefit for patients with both a high baseline triglyceride level and a low baseline level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P=0.057 for interaction). The combination of fenofibrate and simvastatin did not reduce the rate of fatal cardiovascular events, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke, as compared with simvastatin alone. These results do not support the routine use of combination therapy with fenofibrate and simvastatin to reduce cardiovascular risk in the majority of high-risk patients with type 2 diabetes. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00000620.)

Metabolic diseases and associated complications: sex and gender matter!

Clinicians and health professionals are increasingly challenged to understand and consider the different health needs of women and men. The increase of gender awareness and the expanding science of gender medicine will affect more and more clinical practice. This review addresses gender-specific aspects in metabolic disorders and related complications, which represent an increasing burden of this century and a great challenge to public health. There is increasing evidence of gender-related differences in risk factors, clinical manifestation and sequelae of obesity and diabetes and increasing knowledge that prevention, detection and therapy of illness affect men and women differently. Some gender-specific aspects, especially regarding cardiovascular disease, have been studied in more detail, but for many complications sex-related analyses of the results of both clinical trials and basic science are still missing or disregarded. Impaired glucose and lipid metabolism as well as dysregulation of energy balance and body fat distribution have a great impact on overall health via neuroendocrine changes and inflammatory pathways and deteriorate the course of many diseases with particular harm for women. Metabolic diseases dramatically affect life of men and women from infancy up to old age and are a major challenge for women during pregnancy. Great impact is attached to the intrauterine period and the lifelong implications of fetal programming. Initiation of prospective studies on the impact of gender as primary outcome and investigation of gender-related pathophysiological mechanisms of chronic diseases will help to improve patient care and to implement evidence-based gender-specific prevention programs and clinical recommendations in future.