Women's Health Website Research Articles

Accessibility of web‐based health information for women in midlife from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds or with low health literacy

ObjectiveTo measure the accessibility of Australian web‐based health information for midlife women including those from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds or with low health literacy. MethodsSearch terms relating to midlife health were entered into Google Australia to identify health information websites. The content of the first two results pages was assessed using the European Commission's quality criteria for health websites. Readability was assessed using the Flesch Readability Ease Score with Grade 8 accepted as the average Australian reading level. ResultsSixteen websites were evaluated. Accessibility scores ranged between 0 and 8. The Victorian Government's health website Better Health Channel and the Jean Hailes for Women's Health website contained the most accessible information, each scoring 8, but were both ‘difficult to read’ on the readability test. Four websites included written resources in languages other than English and two had information in audio‐visual format in languages other than English. ConclusionsThere is a gap in accessible online health information for Australian women from CALD backgrounds or those with low health literacy. Implications for public healthHealthy behaviour changes in midlife may lead to better health in older age. More accessible health information resources are needed for women in midlife from CALD backgrounds and those with low health literacy.

Developing Sexual and Reproductive Health Educational Resources for Young Women with Cystic Fibrosis: A Structured Approach to Stakeholder Engagement.

Stakeholder engagement, specifically integration of patient and family perspectives about what matters, is increasingly recognized as a critical component of patient-centered healthcare delivery. This study describes a structured approach to and evaluation of stakeholder engagement in the development of novel sexual and reproductive health (SRH) educational resources for adolescent and young adult (AYA) women with cystic fibrosis (CF). Key stakeholders participated in a systematic series of steps to iteratively develop and adapt patient educational resources. Process measures (stakeholder recruitment, composition, co-learning, and transparency) and proximal outcomes of stakeholder involvement (impact on the development process and satisfaction) were measured via recorded stakeholder recommendations and a stakeholder survey. Seventeen stakeholders participated in seven group and two patient-only conference calls. The majority of stakeholders understood their roles, had their expectations met or exceeded, and were satisfied with the frequency and quality of engagement in the project. All stakeholders in attendance provided multiple concrete recommen-dations during the development process. Stakeholders explored the motivations of AYA women with CF related to SRH and agreed that the ideal resource should be online. After reviewing the design of existing resources, stakeholders decided by consensus to partner with a pre-existing young women's health website and created 11 CF-specific SRH guides. This study illuminates a path for a formal process of stakeholder engagement and evaluation in educational resource development centered on the SRH care needs of AYA women with CF. Similar systematic, planned processes could be extended to other populations and aspects of healthcare.

A systematic review of pregnancy exposure registries: examination of protocol-specified pregnancy outcomes, target sample size, and comparator selection.

Our study sought to systematically evaluate protocol-specified study methodology in prospective pregnancy exposure registries including pre-specified pregnancy outcomes, power calculations for sample size, and comparator group selection. U.S. pregnancy exposure registries designed to evaluate safety of drugs or biologics were identified from www.clinicaltrials.gov, the FDA's Office of Women's Health website, and the FDA's list of postmarketing studies. Protocols or similar documentation were obtained. We identified 35 U.S. registries for drugs or biologic use during pregnancy. All registries assessed risk for overall major congenital malformations. Pre-specified target enrollment was stated for 18 (51%) registries, and ranged from 150 to 500 exposed pregnancies (median 300). Thirty-two (91%) registries identified at least one comparison group, but only nine (26%) planned to use an internal comparator. The most common external comparator group (n = 24, 69%) was the Metropolitan Atlanta Congenital Defects Program (MACDP). No registries were designed to have sufficient power to assess specific malformations, despite the plausibility that most teratogens cause specific defects. Only half of the registries included a power analysis. Despite their common use, external comparators, including MACDP, have important limitations. In the absence of randomized controlled trial data in pregnant women, pregnancy registries remain an important tool as part of a comprehensive pregnancy surveillance program; however, pregnancy registries alone may not be sufficient to obtain adequate data regarding risks of specific malformations. Published 2016. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Center for Young Women's Health

The Center for Young Women's Health Web site is an educational resource for teenage girls, young women, their parents, and health care providers. Through Health Guides, quizzes, online chats, and a blog, the Center for Young Women's Health Web site educates users on a wide variety of health and safety related topics. It is a site that young adult librarians should bookmark for up-to-date health information on topics relevant to young adults and teenagers.

Dimensions of postpartum psychiatric distress: Preliminary evidence for broadening clinical scope

BackgroundPerinatal psychiatric disturbances afflict a significant number of women sometimes with tragic consequence. Yet, the range and characteristics of these disturbances are poorly understood. The goals of this research were to characterize a broader range of postpartum psychiatric symptoms and to identify their inherent structure using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). MethodsAn Internet-based survey with 142 Likert-type questions, covering nine dimensions of postpartum mental health was constructed and posted on women's health websites. Data collected from 215 respondents was analyzed in three steps: (1) inter-item correlations were used to reduce the total number of variables by eliminating items that provided redundant information; (2) an EFA using a principal components extraction and VARIMAX rotation was performed and factors loading with Eigenvalues >1.0 were retained; (3) internal consistency was measured with Cronbach's alpha. ResultsThe 10 factors retained accounted for 58% of the variance and included: mental status (28%), psychoticism/morbid thoughts (6%), generalized anxiety (6%), panic (3%), guilt/self-criticism (3%), compulsive behavior (3%), hyper-vigilance (2%), contentment (2%), negative body-image (2%), and manic behavior (2%). There was strong (>0.8) internal consistency in all but the mania factor (0.6). LimitationsThe study was retrospective and respondent demographics were homogeneous. ConclusionPostpartum psychiatric disturbances are not limited to depressive symptoms. In the current study, cognitive difficulties, psychotic-morbid thoughts and anxiety symptoms accounted for the preponderance of variance while depressive symptoms did not form a cohesive factor and accounted for minimal variance. These results suggest postpartum screening tools should assess a broader array of symptoms.

Women's Health Web Site Unveiled

Women's Health Web Site Unveiled

Women's Health Web Site Unveiled

Women's Health Web Site Unveiled

Women's Health on the Internet

Wood, M.S. and Coggan, J.M. (eds) Women's Health on the Internet. New York: The Haworth Press Inc, 2000 1–53pp. 20.70 (pbk) ISBN 0 7890 1300 2 This reference book contains 11 contributions, from female librarians and information specialists, aiming to help those navigating the plethora of women's health websites. Most of the annotated sites (over 100) refer to well–established organisations such as the American Diabetics Association and the National Institutes of Health. Judkins (Chapter 1) provides a useful categorisation based on website maintenance and ownership. The major question here is who is responsible for the website's administration (i.e. universities, organisations, individuals etc.). This categorisation is also followed by Boyer, in Chapter 3, who looks into sites belonging to teaching hospitals, foundations, governmental institutions, whilst simultaneously providing her readers with site-based subject lists on abortion, AIDS, domestic violence, osteoporosis and female reproduction. The main aim of this reference book is to aid consumers in making health-related decisions by facilitating the dissemination of information. Chapters 7 to 11 deal with specific issues impacting on female health. Cunningham and Ohles (Chapter 7) explore websites dealing with female fitness whilst Blook (Chapter 11) suggests references for diabetes. Crum (Chapter 8) provides the reader with a list of annotated sites on pregnancy, childbirth, and early parenting. Gross and Hall (Chapter 10) offer a list of useful internet references on menopause. In Chapter 9, Sobczak is concerned with aiding caregivers in their health-related decisions. To the credit of all the authors most of the ‘webliography’ annotated here is still valid today two years after the publication of the book. This is also another indicator of the credibility of these sites. Yet, due to the fast evolving nature of the web there are instances where one must stop at the first ‘/’ of the address and continue searching in the particular portal, as the full address has changed. Some of the websites mentioned also refer you to the new address were they have moved. Chapters 2, 4 and 5 deal with the mining and evaluation of websites and are the biggest asset of this reference book. Chapters 2 and 4 use women's health as a paradigm through which the criteria for successful internet navigation are explored. More specifically, Connor (Chapter 4) provides us with tips for mining women's heath information via search engines. This chapter could be used as a guide by a relatively amateur internet user wishing to dig out all kinds of web–based information. Access to the world wide web is relatively easy and accords a great deal of privacy but the bulk of disseminated information is of little use unless its validity and reliability is assessed. Detlefsen and Tanney (Chapter 2) offer diachronic advice to those internet consumers (i.e. researchers and academics etc) who are concerned with the reliability and validity of the acquired web information. This chapter is supplemented by Fisher's work (Chapter 5) that discusses the development of the bilingual NOAS (New York Access to Health) website which first appeared in 1995. In using it as an example she also shows how website administrators deal with issues of authority, accuracy bias and readability with regard to websites. This reference book undoubtedly achieves its aim of helping those navigating through the plethora of women's health websites for whatever reason. However, as a medical anthropologist who is working and simultaneously doing research on Greek health internet sites, I am sceptical about the book's assumption ‘that it is mostly women who use internet health sites’ and think that this may need re-evaluation in the future to keep up with potential change. Hence, the exclusion of male sites on health is regrettable particularly as some of the annotated sites also pertain to men or have male health sections.

Evaluating the Women's Health Matters Website

This article reports on the findings of two evaluation sessions for the Women's Health Matters (WHM) website, a women's health website developed by Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre and The Centre for Research in Women's Health. Participants were women, primarily between the ages of 20 and 29, well educated, and enrolled in university degree programs. They have been using the computer and Internet for years, in particular, E-mail andthe World Wide Web. While they conduct web searches, most are not health information seekers on the web. However, they have positive attitudes toward the delivery of health information on the Internet. Participants viewed the WHM website prototype in a computer laboratory. They then completed several search tasks and a questionnaire, and discussed their perceptions of the website in a moderated focus group setting. They found the text-based content on the WHM website interesting, easy to understand, and useful. However, they experienced difficulty navigating the website using the website's navigational elements - hypertext links and search engine. They wanted to see more graphical elements added to the website, as well as communications channels, such as newsgroups, listserves and chatrooms, provided they are moderated by health care practitioners. They were not favorably disposed toward advertising on health websites.

Evaluating and Choosing Web Sites on Women's Health

Abstract This article, in two parts, presents information on the evaluation of Web sites in general and the choice of women's health Web sites in particular. A review of studies and tools for Web site evaluation is followed by a core list of women's health Web sites, from the perspective of the academic health sciences library.

Women's Health on the Web

Abstract The concept of women's health is discussed, along with its origin and its varying interpretations. Some different types of women's health Web sites are outlined, as defined by their sponsorship and purpose, and examples are given. As a specific example, the Women's Health section of HealthWeb is described in greater detail.

Women's Health Websites: Increasing Access to Quality Health Information

This paper outlines some of the problems facing women as Internet users. In the context of exponential growth of the Internet, issues of access and motivation, content and quality are examined. Recent studies on gender and equity and the relevance of the Internet to women, particularly rural and remote women, are considered. As women will only get 'a fair go' on the Internet when they know how to use the technology and participate in the areas that matter, this paper concludes with practical guidelines for setting up a website.