Senior Women Research Articles

Omega-3 Fatty Acid Intake by Age, Gender, and Pregnancy Status in the United States: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2003⁻2014.

Despite the importance of n-3 fatty acids for health, intakes remain below recommended levels. The objective of this study was to provide an updated assessment of fish and n-3 fatty acid intake (i.e., eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and EPA+DHA) in the United States using the 2003–2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data (n = 45,347)). Over this survey period, toddlers, children, and adolescents (aged 1–19) had significantly lower n-3 fatty acid intake (p < 0.001) compared to adults and seniors, which remained significant after adjusting for caloric intake. Females demonstrated lower n-3 fatty acid intake than males (p < 0.001), with adult and senior women having significantly lower intakes compared to men in the same age categories (p < 0.001) after adjustment for energy intake. Women also consumed less fish than men (5.8 versus 6.1 servings/month, p < 0.001). The estimated intakes of n-3 fatty acids in pregnant women did not differ from non-pregnant women (p = 0.6 for EPA+DHA), although pregnant women reported consuming less high n-3 fatty acid-containing fish than non-pregnant women (1.8 versus 2.6 servings/month, p < 0.001). Our findings indicate that subgroups of the population may be at higher risk of n-3 fatty acid intakes below recommended levels.

Every Woman Has a Story to Tell: Experiential Reflections on Leadership in Higher Education

This study explores and shares key professional development advice related to career paths, challenges faced, and lessons learned from senior women leaders at a public, urban, research university. Interviews were conducted as part the NASPA Alice Manicur Symposium, a national student affairs leadership development program for women. Findings identified two themes at the personal and institutional levels. Sub-themes included strategies for career advancement in higher education, such as accepting opportunities, being visible, understanding the business of higher education, and obtaining a terminal degree. Aspiring women should be ready to navigate institutional challenges, often outside of their control, such as bureaucracy and politics, budgetary constraints, forces impacting student affairs, and institutional change. Participants shared perspectives on addressing institutional change including assessing needs and affect, exploring perceptions of change, gaining buy-in, and leveraging the change. Because emerging women leaders in higher education are often overwhelmed and confused in the realm of career assessment, findings from this study address the problem. The needle can move for women in higher education leadership positions if women identify themselves as aspiring leaders, create time for career assessment reflection, and take action to implement strategies for advancement endorsed by successful senior women.

Self-perceived health among adult and elderly users of Primary Health Care.

A cross-sectional study was conducted with 1,246 adults and senior men and women in Pelotas (RS), Brasil to evaluate the negative self-perception of health among Primary Health Care users. The prevalence of negative self-perception of health was reported by 41.6% of respondents. Women, those who were unemployed, who reported a diagnosis of three or more chronic noncommunicable diseases, who were food insecure and did not engage in physical activity reported a higher proportion of negative self-perceived health. Users with at least higher education level and those whose households had four or more residents were less predisposed to the outcome. The high prevalence of negative self-perceived health in this population, as well as the associations found, indicate the need for a better understanding of the influence of these factors on the search for care and, consequently, on adherence to treatment.

Factorial Invariance of the Abbreviated Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale among Senior Women in the Nurses’ Health Study Cohort

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to examine the factorial invariance of the Abbreviated Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS-A) across subgroups based on demographic, health-related, behavioral, and environmental characteristics among Nurses’ Health Study participants (N = 2,919; age M = 73.0, SD = 6.9 years) living in California, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. A series of multigroup confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to evaluate increasingly restrictive hypotheses of factorial invariance. Factorial invariance was supported across age, walking limitations, and neighborhood walking. Only partial scalar invariance was supported across state residence and neighborhood population density. This evidence provides support for using the NEWS-A with older women of different ages, who have different degrees of walking limitations, and who engage in different amounts of neighborhood walking. Partial scalar invariance suggests that researchers should be cautious when using the NEWS-A to compare older adults living in different states and neighborhoods with different levels of population density.

Exploring self-medication practices and managing health among Pakistani immigrant women in the United States

Literature has explored self-medication practices and its health implications with focus on immigrants, mostly Latinos in the United States, paying less or no attention to other minority population in particular Pakistani community. This study explores the self-medication practices among Pakistani immigrant women in Houston, Texas, and describes reasons associated with it, to better understand their culture, beliefs and patterns. Qualitative methods were utilized including nineteen in-depth interviews with married immigrant Pakistani women, between the age of 25-39 years and five key-informant interviews with senior women of the community. After capturing the participant women stories, data was analyzed using narrative and thematic content analysis. Results show that immigrant Pakistani women adopt various approaches to meet their own and families’ health needs including self-medication with either over-the-counter or non-prescribed antibiotics, which may have serious public health implications. There are gaps in knowledge and perceptions especially antibiotic use among this community. Future research to extend on the findings from this study for adaptation or development of a culturally appropriate program to slow down this practice and increase utilization of healthcare is strongly recommended.

Biobehavioral differences, women and leadership

To explore the biobehavioral differences between women and men with implications for the stress and distress they experience as well as for their roles in leadership. While most research in these domains focuses on the differences between women and men, we bring the focus to the within‐group among women. We explore the asymmetry between men and women, attending to the implications for leadership and followership, with particular emphasis on the work–family boundary. Our method was biographical inquiry using a standard interview protocol to explore the challenges, work–family balance, and identities of three women leaders. The original biographic data come from two senior women C‐level leaders and one successful woman entrepreneur. These original data also explore their simultaneous roles as wives and mothers. The results provided insight into the identity of women leaders who do not necessarily define themselves by their professional and leadership roles despite being successful and accomplished within those roles. A defining identity for all three leaders was their roles as mothers. We conclude that women are capable of being successful leaders while at the same time being wives and mothers if they so choose. These intractable roles are not mutually exclusive.

Deciding to lead: a qualitative study of women leaders in emergency medicine

BackgroundThe aim of this study is to highlight career paths of senior women leaders in academic emergency medicine (EM) to encourage younger women to pursue leadership.MethodsThis was a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with female EM leaders. We interviewed 22 recognized female leaders selected using criterion-based sampling and a standardized script of open-ended questions derived from the Intelligent Career Model. Questions were related to job purpose, skills, and networking. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and three trained reviewers analyzed transcripts following grounded theory principles and using Dedoose®. Researchers used an iterative process over several meetings to produce the final set of codes and themes.ResultsOur iterative process identified four themes: women leaders made an intentional decision to pursue opportunities to influence emergency medicine, women sought out natural mentors and sponsors to facilitate career development, women leaders intentionally planned their out of work life to support their leadership role, and an important focus for their work was to help others achieve excellence.ConclusionsOur study provides insights from senior female leaders in EM; supporting the value of women pursuing leadership. There is a widely acknowledged need to diversify leadership and support gender-specific needs to develop women leaders in medicine. Becoming a woman leader in EM means making intentional decisions and taking risks. Leaders found benefits in natural mentors and sponsors. Those relationships have power to change the trajectory of emerging women leaders by identifying and reinforcing potential. Work/life balance remains an area which requires intentional planning. Woman leaders encourage succession planning and corroborate the need for increasing the percentage of women leaders to benefit the organizational culture. Leadership in academic medicine is changing with reorientation of a largely autocratic, vertically oriented hierarchy into a more democratic, consensus-driven, and horizontally organized management structure which should complement the strengths women bring to the leadership table.

Advancing Women Leaders in Global Health: Getting to Solutions

Background:Women comprise 75% of the health workforce in many countries and the majority of students in academic global health tracks but are underrepresented in global health leadership. This study aimed to elucidate prevailing attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs of women and men regarding opportunities and barriers for women’s career advancement, as well as what can be done to address barriers going forward.Methods:This was a convergent mixed-methods, cross-sectional, anonymous, online study of participants, applicants, and those who expressed an interest in the Women Leaders in Global Health Conference at Stanford University October 11–12, 2017. Respondents completed a 26-question survey regarding beliefs about barriers and solutions to addressing advancement for women in global health.Findings:405 participants responded: 96.7% were female, 61.6% were aged 40 or under, 64.0% were originally from high-income countries. Regardless of age or country of origin, leading barriers were: lack of mentorship, challenges of balancing work and home, gender bias, and lack of assertiveness/confidence. Proposed solutions were categorized as individual or meta-level solutions and included senior women seeking junior women for mentorship and sponsorship, junior women pro-actively making their desire for leadership known, and institutions incentivizing mentorship and implementing targeted recruitment to improve diversity of leadership.Interpretation:This study is the first of its kind to attempt to quantify both the barriers to advancement for women leaders in global health as well as the potential solutions. While there is no shortage of barriers, we believe there is room for optimism. A new leadership paradigm that values diversity of thought and diversity of experience will benefit not only the marginalized groups that need to gain representation at the table, but ultimately the broader population who may benefit from new ways of approaching long-standing, intractable problems.

Advancing Women Leaders in Global Health: Getting to Solutions.

Women comprise 75% of the health workforce in many countries and the majority of students in academic global health tracks but are underrepresented in global health leadership. This study aimed to elucidate prevailing attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs of women and men regarding opportunities and barriers for women's career advancement, as well as what can be done to address barriers going forward. This was a convergent mixed-methods, cross-sectional, anonymous, online study of participants, applicants, and those who expressed an interest in the Women Leaders in Global Health Conference at Stanford University October 11-12, 2017. Respondents completed a 26-question survey regarding beliefs about barriers and solutions to addressing advancement for women in global health. 405 participants responded: 96.7% were female, 61.6% were aged 40 or under, 64.0% were originally from high-income countries. Regardless of age or country of origin, leading barriers were: lack of mentorship, challenges of balancing work and home, gender bias, and lack of assertiveness/confidence. Proposed solutions were categorized as individual or meta-level solutions and included senior women seeking junior women for mentorship and sponsorship, junior women pro-actively making their desire for leadership known, and institutions incentivizing mentorship and implementing targeted recruitment to improve diversity of leadership. This study is the first of its kind to attempt to quantify both the barriers to advancement for women leaders in global health as well as the potential solutions. While there is no shortage of barriers, we believe there is room for optimism. A new leadership paradigm that values diversity of thought and diversity of experience will benefit not only the marginalized groups that need to gain representation at the table, but ultimately the broader population who may benefit from new ways of approaching long-standing, intractable problems.

Implications of police occupational culture in discriminatory experiences of senior women in police forces in England and Wales

ABSTRACTPerceptions of police occupational culture were measured in a sample of senior women in policing (N = 169) through an online survey conducted late 2017/early 2018 to explore the occurrence of sexual harassment and sex discrimination. Negative aspects of ‘cop’ culture are associated with greater rates of harassing and discriminatory experiences. Social Identity Theory (SIT) examined the salience of role, gender and seniority as factors relevant to those experiences. Conclusions discuss implications for reform and cultural change.

Profiles of women in science: Prof. Marina Picciotto of the Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.

Profiles of women in science: Prof. Marina Picciotto of the Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.

Sexual Desire and Related Factors in Middle-Aged and Elderly Married Women: A Cross-Sectional Study in Iran

BACKGROUND:The sexual desire in the middle-aged and senior women is one of the factors affecting their quality of life and psychological well-being.AIM:The present study was aimed to assess the sexual desire and related factors among married women aged 50-70 years.MATERIALS AND METHODS:In this descriptive-analytical study, 210 married menopausal women aged 50-70 years were selected by cluster sampling method. Data were collected using a demographic profile questionnaire and Sexual Desire Inventory (SDI), and analysed by SPSS version 22 software using descriptive statistics and independent t-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient tests.RESULTS:The mean age of women was 59.40 ± 5.93 years, and the mean sexual desire score was 22.66 ± 17.78 (out of 112). There was a significant relationship between sexual desire score and age, educational level, occupation of women and spouses, age of menopause, marital history, number of pregnancies and children, individual health and pain level (P < 0.001). The sexual desire score had a significant association with diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, high cholesterol, chronic pain, gastrointestinal problems, chronic ulcers, bladder and intestinal problems, joint and bone disorders, taking cardiac medications, antihypertensive, anticoagulant, insulin, cholesterol-lowering drugs (P < 0.001).CONCLUSION:The low sexual desire score and its reduction with age and the presence of various diseases and factors affecting sexual desire highlight the importance of diagnostic screening, family related educational planning and the role of health care providers in the health status of the older adults.

A first step to improving maternal mortality in a low-literacy setting; the successful use of singing to improve knowledge regarding antenatal care

Preventable maternal mortality is related to delays in recognizing the problem, transport to a facility, and receiving appropriate care on arrival. Reducing maternal mortality in low-literacy settings is particularly challenging. In the rural villages of Nepal, the maternal mortality rate is among the highest in the world; the reasons include illiteracy and lack of knowledge of the needs of pregnant women. Culturally, singing and dancing are part of Nepalese daily life and present an opportunity to transmit knowledge of antenatal care and care at birth with a view to reducing the first 2 delays. We hypothesized that health messages regarding the importance of antenatal care and skilled birth assistance would be effectively transmitted by songs in the limited literacy environment of rural Nepal. We randomly grouped 4 rural village development committees comprising 36 villages into 2 (intervention and control) clusters. In the intervention group, local groups were invited to write song lyrics incorporating key health messages regarding antenatal care to accompany popular melodies. The groups presented their songs and dances in a festival organized and judged by the community. The winning songs were performed by the local people in a song and dance progression through the villages, houses, and fields. A wall chart with the key health messages was also provided to each household. Knowledge of household decision makers (senior men and women) was assessed before and after the intervention and at 12 months using a structured questionnaire in all households that also assessed behavior change. Structured interviews were conducted at baseline, immediately postintervention in the control and intervention areas (intervention n= 735 interviews, control n= 775), and at 12 months in the intervention area only (n= 867). Knowledge scores were recorded as the number of correct items out of 36 questions at baseline and postintervention, and of 21 questions at follow-up. Postintervention, test score doubled in the intervention group from a mean of 11.60/36-22.33/36 (P < .001), with no practically significant change in the control population (17.48/36-18.26/36). Improvement was greatest among the most illiterate members of the community (6.8/36-19.8/36, P < .001). At 12 months follow-up, a majority of the participants (63.9%) indicated that they provided information learned from the songs to their neighbors and friends, and 41.3% reported still singing the songs from the intervention. The use of songs bypassed the limitations of literacy in communicating health messages that are key to improving maternal care in this low-literacy rural setting within a developing country. The improvements were maintained without further intervention for 12 months. With appropriate sociocultural adaptation to local contexts, this low-cost method of community education may be applicable to improving maternal health knowledge and behavior change in other low-resource and limited literacy settings that may lead to reductions in maternal mortality.

KlimaSeniorinnen: lessons from the Swiss senior women's case for future climate litigation

As older women are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts, a group of senior women in Switzerland founded the association KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz (Senior Women for Climate Protection Switzerland) in order to fight for ambitious climate action by legally challenging the Swiss government's inadequate climate policies and mitigation measures. The KlimaSeniorinnen filed a legal request with the authorities, claiming that the Swiss authorities are failing to fulfil their duty to protect them as required by the Swiss Constitution and by the European Convention on Human Rights. This article provides a detailed analysis of the KlimaSeniorinnen case within the context of climate litigation worldwide. It argues that the case's human rights arguments, which are grounded in climate science, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Agreement, environmental principles and international law, are generally transferable to almost any country. Therefore, vulnerable individuals and groups can learn from the KlimaSeniorinnen litigation that there are strong legal grounds to bring human-rights-based climate lawsuits against governments and thus governments should expect more litigation if their climate actions or omissions contravene international law and violate constitutional principles.

Do Brokerages Benefit From All-Star Females?

This paper studies whether senior women's representation in the workplace leads to positive outcomes. I find that all-star female analysts positively affect the performance of their peers. Specifically, an increase in the number of all-star females in a brokerage spurs the future performance of other analysts in that brokerage. These results are not explained by unobserved factors that may affect analysts’ sorting behavior and performance. Analysts who cover firms in the same industry as all-star females experience a larger boost in their outcomes, suggesting that knowledge spillover is an economic channel through which all-star females affect their cohorts' performance. Moreover, the timeliness of analysts' forecasts improves following a higher representation of all-star females in their brokerages.

Women’s roles in women’s career advancement: what do women expect of each other?

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to better understand women’s working relationships and career support behaviors, by investigating expectations women have of other women regarding senior women’s roles in (and motivations for) helping junior women succeed, and junior women’s engagement in their own career advancement behaviors.Design/methodology/approachThe authors surveyed self- and other-reports of senior women’s engagement in career assistance behaviors on behalf of junior women colleagues, and junior women’s engagement in their own career advancement behaviors. One sample of respondents indicated to what extent they believed senior women did engage in career assistance toward junior women, and to what extent they believed junior women did engage in career advancement. Another sample indicated to what extent they believed senior women should engage in career assistance, and to what extent they believed junior women should engage in their own career advancement.FindingsResults suggest a disconnect between the expectations and perceptions junior and senior women have of each other. Junior women expect senior women to engage in career assistance behaviors to a greater degree than they believe senior women are engaging in such behaviors, and junior women think they are doing more to advance their careers than senior women are expecting them to do. The authors examine individual and organizational implications of these unmet expectations and perception mismatches.Originality/valueWomen-to-women working relationships are under-studied, and typically viewed in either/or terms – good or bad. The findings provide a more nuanced understanding of women’s perceptions and expectations and offer suggestions for how women can influence female career advancement.

Body adiposity indicators and cardiometabolic risk: Cross-sectional analysis in participants from the PREDIMED-Plus trial

Excess adiposity is associated with poor cardiometabolic (CM) health. To date, several techniques and indicators have been developed to determine adiposity. We aimed to compare the ability of traditional anthropometric, as well as standard and novel DXA-derived parameters related to overall and regional adiposity, to evaluate CM risk. Using the cross-sectional design in the context of the PREDIMED-Plus trial, 1207 Caucasian senior men and women with overweight/obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) were assessed. At baseline, anthropometry- and DXA-measured parameters of central, visceral, peripheral and central-to-peripheral adiposity together with comprehensive set of CM risk factors were obtained. Partial correlations and areas under the ROC curve (AUC) were estimated to compare each adiposity measure with CM risk parameters, separately for men and women, and in the overall sample. DXA-derived indicators, other than percentage of total body fat, showed stronger correlations (rho-0.172 to 0.206, p<0.001) with CM risk than anthropometric indicators, after controlling for age, diabetes and medication use. In both sexes, DXA-derived visceral adipose tissue measures (VAT, VAT/Total fat, visceral-to-subcutaneous fat) together with lipodystrophy indicators (Trunk/Legs fat and Android/Gynoid fat) were strongly and positively correlated (p<0.001) with glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), the triglyceride and glucose index (TyG), triglycerides (TG), the ratio TG/HDL-cholesterol (TG/HDL-C), and were inversely related to HDL-C levels (p<0.001). Furthermore, in AUC analyses for both sexes, VAT/Total fat showed the highest predictive ability for abnormal HbA1c levels (AUC=0.629), VAT for TyG (AUC=0.626), both lipodystrophy indicators for TG (AUCs=0.556), and Trunk/Legs fat for HDL-C (AUC=0.556) and TG/HDL-C (AUC=0.581). DXA regional adiposity measures offer advantages beyond traditional anthropometric and DXA overall adiposity indicators for CM risk assessment in senior overweight/obese subjects with MetS. In particular, in both sexes, visceral adiposity better stratifies individuals at risk for glucose abnormalities, and indicators of lipodystrophy better predict markers of dyslipidemia.

Empirical Evidence Illuminating Gendered Regimes in UK Higher Education: Developing a New Conceptual Framework

Debates on the absence of women in senior organizational roles continue to proliferate but relatively little attention is paid to the Higher Education (HE) context in which women in leadership roles are seriously under-represented. However, higher education is now central to UK political discourse given the growing controversy around student fees, vice chancellors’ remuneration’ and Brexit. This paper draws on a collaborative research study on the experiences of 105 senior women leaders across 3 UK Universities, which elicited accounts of constraints, successes and career highlights. Our research findings present empirical insights that expose the continuing gender inequalities most notable in senior Higher Education roles. Women’s accounts include stories of diverse experiences, on-going discriminatory practices and a failure to recognise the embedded gendered inequalities that continue to prevail in these institutions. Through a critical interrogation of the narratives of female professors and building on insights from a seminal paper by Broadbridge and Simpson a conceptual framework is offered as a heuristic device to capture critical and reflexive data in future studies of equality and inequality in leadership roles.

Family networks and infant health promotion: a mixed-methods evaluation from a cluster randomised controlled trial in rural Malawi

ObjectiveParents may rely on information provided by extended family members when making decisions concerning the health of their children. We evaluate whether extended family members affected the success of an...

Racing against age? Gender, age, and body among senior participants in women-only sports races

The purpose of this study is to investigate experiences and meaning-making of exercise and participation in races for women-only among Swedish senior women. Positioned within the framework of discourse theory, post-structuralism, and feminism, the article contains an analysis of how the intersection of gender, age, and the aging body affects articulations of meaning among senior participants in written accounts, interviews, and ethnographical fieldwork on women-only races in Sweden. The study shows that the senior women participate in women-only races in relation to (1) an aging, deteriorating body, (2) a health and exercise trend in Western society, (3) a desire for a single-gendered social context, (4) their own imagined physical (in)capability, (5) male-connoted capacities of physical strength, speed, and stamina, and (6) other senior female athletes who function as role models.