Women's Health Experiences Research Articles

Black college women's preventive health behaviors: Applications of a Black Feminist-Womanist research paradigm

ObjectiveThe researchers applied Lindsay-Dennis' Black Feminist-Womanist research paradigm to Andersen's Behavioral Model for Health Service Use to guide initial research about Black American women's preventive health behaviors. MethodsThis article highlights this application, using interpretive phenomenological analysis for qualitative questions assessing how 40 Black college women define health and their experiences in health care. This was part of a larger convergent parallel mixed-methods approach in a 2022 cross-sectional online survey. ResultsParticipants defined health as a concept involving health literacy, physical and mental health, and being free from health conditions or disease. Regarding health-related lived experiences, negative experiences were more frequently reported than positive experiences. However, many participants reported both positive and negative health care related experiences. Predisposing, enabling, and need factors were all present in qualitative responses. ConclusionsThis article highlights the fit of a Black Feminist-Womanist research paradigm to Andersen's model to better understand Black women's health experiences and illustrates ways that medical mistrust, health literacy, and past experiences with health care can influence health service use. Areas for future research on barriers and facilitators to preventive care and implications for reducing health disparities are also discussed.

Troubling Design

The euphemism “female trouble” (discreetly referring to women's health experiences) suggests that trouble is linked to women and bodily transitions women can go through. However, trouble is not only a noun; it is also a verb with a strong feminist tradition. In this article, I present troubling design ; a theoretically grounded and practice-oriented design program for designing with women's health. Troubling design brings to matter how trouble is an implicit condition of designing ethical and responsible technologies for women's health. By designing with trouble, troubling design encourages designers and researchers to develop knowledge embedded in criticality and questioning status quo, in order to expand their perspectives on designing with intimate and tabooed bodily experiences. Grounded in feminist theory and research-through-design, troubling design contributes with analytical and generative design knowledge articulated through design examples and three practices: staying with the wrong, curious visiting, and collective imagining.

Reviewing Chinese immigrant women's health experiences in English-speaking Western Countries: a postcolonial feminist analysis

Considering the growing size and diversity of Chinese immigrant populations in English-speaking Western countries, as well as the socioeconomic vulnerability of immigrant women, this integrative review aims to provide a critical analysis of research on the health experiences of the recent wave of Chinese immigrant women. Fifty-six peer-reviewed research articles, written in English and published between 2000 and 2014, formed the sample for this review. Four themes emerged through postcolonial feminist analysis: (1) dichotomy between Chinese “culture” and Western medicine, (2) essentialization of health beliefs and practices, (3) critique of Western healthcare services delivery from Chinese immigrant women's perspectives, and (4) erasure of institutional responsibilities. The conclusion points out some limitations of this review and discusses the implications these themes suggest for strengthening healthcare systems in English-speaking Western countries where Chinese immigrant women's health experiences are shaped.

Men's health promotion: a new frontier in Australia and the UK?

The field of men's health has grown markedly over the past few decades. Increased activity specifically relating to men's health promotion in both Australia and the UK has been noted during this period. There has, however, been a reticence to critically examine men's health promotion work within a broader discourse relating to gender and gender relations. Indeed, the vast majority of health-related gender discussion to date has been focused on women's health experiences and their health practices. In this paper, we argue that grounding men's health within this broad gender discourse is important for building an evidence base in, and advancing, men's health promotion work at a range of levels. We specifically explore the research, practice and policy contexts relating to men's health in Australia and the UK, and describe the facilitators for, and barriers to, promoting men's health. We conclude by suggesting that a critical gender lens ought to be applied to current men's health promotion work and provide strategies for researchers, practitioners and policy makers to move towards this new frontier.

Medical potential of plants used by the Q’eqchi Maya of Livingston, Guatemala for the treatment of women's health complaints

Investigation on the medical ethnobotany of the Q’eqchi Maya of Livingston, Izabal, Guatemala, was undertaken in order to explore Q’eqchi perceptions, attitudes, and treatment choices related to women's health. Through participant observation and interviews a total of 48 medicinal plants used to treat conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, menstruation, and menopause were collected and identified followed by the evaluation of 20 species in bioassays relevant to women's health. Results of field interviews indicate that Q’eqchi cultural perceptions affect women's health experiences while laboratory results (estrogen receptor and serotonin receptor binding assays) provide a scientific correlation between empirical medicinal plant use among the Q’eqchi and the pharmacological basis for their administration. These data can contribute to Guatemala's national effort to promote a complementary relationship between traditional Maya medicine and public health services and can serve as a basis for further pharmacology and phytochemistry on Q’eqchi medicinal plants for the treatment of women's health conditions.

A symptomatic approach to understanding women's health experiences

To determine patterns of symptoms across age groups, identify symptom groups associated with ovarian hormonal depletion or other variables, and develop a prediction model for each symptom. This was a cross-sectional survey of 4,517 women ages 20 to 70 years recruited from market research panels in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy using a self-report questionnaire that included general health information and a checklist of 36 symptoms. Stepwise regression was used to determine for each symptom how prevalence varied with age, indicators of menopausal hormonal changes, and the effects of other explanatory variables, including body mass index, morbidity, and country. Hierarchical clustering was used to group symptoms. Six groups of symptoms were found, of which two groups, with seven symptoms in total, were related to markers of menopausal hormonal change: a group consisting of hot flashes and night sweats and a second group including poor memory; difficulty sleeping; aches in the neck, head, and shoulders; vaginal dryness; and difficulty with sexual arousal. Physical and mental morbidity affected estimates of the prevalence of all symptoms. Psychological symptoms declined with age from a maximum prevalence before age 40. Certain physical symptoms increased with age and body mass index. Clustering identified three country groups: (1) US and UK women; (2) French and Italian women; and (3) German women. There were marked differences in prevalence between countries for certain physical and psychological symptoms. The seven symptoms most linked to menopausal hormonal change should form part of any future menopause symptom list. Physical and mental morbidity affect symptom prevalence and should be measured.

Theories on Immigrant Women's Health

Our purpose in this article is to review theories critically that have been used to explain immigrant women's health based on 4 case studies of Korean immigrant women's experiences in the United States and suggest directions for future development of theories on immigrant women's health. First, 3 existing theories on immigration and health (selective migration, negative effect of immigration, and acculturation) are concisely described. Then, the daily experiences of 4 low-income Korean immigrant women are described in a narrative mode, and the 3 existing theories are critiqued in terms of how they can explain the women's narratives. Finally, implications for future theory development on immigrant women's health experience are proposed based on the discussion.

Pain in women’s health: A multi-Faceted approach toward understanding

Pain has always been a part of women's health experiences, inherent to such physiologic processes as menstrual cramping, labor contractions, and uniquely female illnesses, such as cervical or ovarian cancer. However, the understanding of pain—its nature, its purpose, and its sometimes debatable need for removal—remains elusive. Pain's origins are in the physical realm, but it is manifested through an array of psychological, social, and cultural factors. The concept of pain is explored using an evolutionary approach to understanding the mechanisms associated with the physiologic, psychological, developmental, and sociocultural aspects of this phenomenon. The relevance of this exploratory look at pain as it relates to offering health care to women is discussed. The manner in which pain affects individuals and the methods with which it can be treated are critical elements in the provision of quality health care.

ILLUMINATING SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF WOMEN'S HEALTH USING GROUNDED THEORY

Emphasis in health policy has shifted from curative intervention to prevention and health promotion through personal responsibility for lifestyle choices and, most recently, to the social determination of health. These shifts draw attention to and legitimize women's health research that moves beyond biomedical, epidemiological, and subjective knowledge to question previously unquestioned societal norms and structures that influence women's health. The challenge is to avoid relying solely on population-based studies that support relationships between social determinants and indicators of women's health and to find ways to illuminate the processes by which social determinants interact with the health of specific groups of women. Without such research, our knowledge of how social factors that underpin women's health interact will be faceless and will not address the interplay of health and social policy within women's lives. One research method that may be useful for exploring the interplay between such policies and women's health is grounded theory. Grounded theory is a widely used approach in women's health research. The goal of grounded theory is the discovery of dominant social and structural processes that account for most of the variation in behavior in a particular situation. Despite the usefulness of this method for capturing the interaction between social conditions and women's health experiences, many grounded theory researchers restrict themselves to women's subjective experiences as a source of data for theory development. Consequently, the resultant theory's capacity to illuminate the effects of the social determinants of health is limited. The purpose of this article is to discuss how the grounded theory method can be used in a participatory way to theoretically sample structural conditions at many levels. Using examples from completed and ongoing women's health research where data have and have not been collected primarily from women themselves, we outline the benefits and process for using grounded theory to influence health and public policy in women's health.

Women's Health in Israel

SUMMARY This paper draws on feminist health scholarship to provide critically needed tools for conceptualizing women's health care and health status in Israel. It explores the links between inequities in gender roles and the health experiences of women, as patients and caregivers. The critique points to the consequences of defining women's health in relation to men. In an attempt to chart directions for fundamental change in the approach to women's health in Israel, the author underscores the relevance of sociocultural environments in accounting for female well-being and for women's illnesses. Women professionals, particularly in the social health sciences, are identified as a key to adapting health care to women's unique needs within a woman-centered and egalitarian delivery system.

Challenges for Teachers of Womenʼs Health

Until recently, nursing literature had not addressed feminist issues and nurse educators have had little experience in programs of women's studies. The author discusses some implications for nurse educators as they relate to the new scholarship of women and a new consciousness of women's health. Factors contributing to the need for particular ways of teaching when dealing with women as students and with women's health experiences as subject matter are addressed. Using specific examples from her experience in teaching an open enrollment course in women's health, the author describes the use of some feminist pedagogical approaches and the students' response to them.

Women, Health, and Medicine in America: A Historical Handbook

This book is a collection of 20 essays by contemporary historians and sociologists designed to provide an overview of the available literature dealing with the health experiences of women in America. It was conceived to be a single source to which historians and other scholars could turn for a survey of current concepts in women's health history. The book succeeds in providing a descriptive anthology of important historical papers, books, and monographs on varied subjects including orthodox health care (chapters on women and mental illness, gynecology, obstetrics, and reproductive health) and health care providers (chapters on midwives, nurses, physicians, and pharmacists). The extensive Bibliography by Topic chapter will be of special use to scholars. Among the contributors, 22 of 26 are female. The majority of the chapters contain social comment, which seems to me not directly pertinent to the stated purpose of the book. The chapter on nurses, a well-written