Journal of women's health
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Journal of women's health · Nov 2006
Women's experiences with emergency contraception in an internal medicine practice.
Emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) are effective for preventing unintended pregnancy. Whether patients in primary care settings receive physician counseling regarding ECPs has not been evaluated. ⋯ Only a fraction of women seeing internists for their primary care are receiving counseling about ECPs, irrespective of receiving care from an obstetrician/gynecologist. As primary care physicians, internists should determine risk for unintended pregnancy, assess patients' knowledge and attitudes toward ECPs, and provide counseling about this effective therapy.
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Journal of women's health · Nov 2006
Quality of life and menopause in women with physical disabilities.
The goal of this cross-sectional study was to explore quality of life (QOL) in a sample of postmenopausal women with physical disabilities due to polio contracted in childhood. A structural equation model was used to confirm that menopause symptoms will have a minimal effect on QOL when disability-related variables are taken into account. ⋯ When the effects of postpolio sequelae and functional status are included in the structural equation model, only the psychological symptoms of menopause play a prominent role in explaining QOL in this sample. The clinical implications of these findings suggest that attention to psychological symptoms and an exclusive focus on the physical aspects of menopause to the exclusion of other midlife life stressors and influences on a woman's psychological well-being ignore the larger context of life in which they live. In particular, many women with disabilities may contend with additional or exacerbated stressors related to their disability.