Journal of women's health
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Journal of women's health · Mar 2010
Comparative StudyRacial disparities in contraceptive use between student and nonstudent populations.
In order to explore opportunities for eliminating the persistent racial disparities in contraceptive use between Caucasian and African American young adults, we examined whether student populations display a reduced racial disparity in overall contraceptive use and use of highly effective contraceptives. ⋯ Although race is not significant for predicting overall use of contraceptives among students, racial disparities are magnified among student populations with regard to use of highly effective contraceptives. Contraceptive counseling for African American young adults should focus on method effectiveness and consider additional issues, such as insurance coverage for contraceptives. For students, targeted counseling or interventions may be required.
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Concurrent with the evolving role of the department chair in academic medicine is the entry of women physicians into chair positions. Because implicit biases that stereotypically masculine behaviors are required for effective leadership remain strong, examining faculty members' perceptions of their chair's leadership in medical school departments with women chairs can provide insight into the views of women leaders in academic medicine and the complex ways in which gender may impact these chairs' leadership style and actions. ⋯ This exploratory study suggests that the culture of academic medicine has moved beyond questioning women physicians' competence to lead once they are in top organizational leadership positions. The findings are also consonant with experimental research indicating that women leaders are most successful when they pair stereotypic male (agentic) behaviors with stereotypic female (communal) behaviors. All three chairs exhibited features of a transformational leadership style and characteristics deemed essential for effective leadership in academic medicine.
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Journal of women's health · Mar 2010
Evidence-based intervention to reduce access barriers to cervical cancer screening among underserved Chinese American women.
The primary objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of a community-based pilot intervention that combined cervical cancer education with patient navigation on cervical cancer screening behaviors among Chinese American women residing in New York City. ⋯ Community-based programs that provide combined education and patient navigation may be effective in overcoming the extensive linguistic and access barriers to screening faced by Chinese American women.
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Journal of women's health · Mar 2010
Lifestyle factors, hormonal contraception, and premenstrual symptoms: the United Kingdom Southampton Women's Survey.
To estimate the prevalence of premenstrual symptoms in women from the general population in Southampton, U.K., and examine their association with lifestyle factors and contraceptive use. ⋯ Premenstrual symptoms were common in this cohort. Use of hormonal contraceptive methods was associated with a lower prevalence of these symptoms.
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Journal of women's health · Mar 2010
Identification of ovarian cancer symptoms in health insurance claims data.
Women with ovarian cancer have reported abdominal/pelvic pain, bloating, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly, and urinary frequency/urgency prior to diagnosis. We explored these findings in a general population using a dataset of insured women aged 40-64 and investigated the potential effectiveness of a routine review of claims data as a prescreen to identify women at high risk for ovarian cancer. ⋯ These results support previous findings that ovarian cancer symptoms were reported in health insurance claims and were more prevalent before diagnosis, but the symptoms may occur too close to the diagnosis date to provide useful diagnostic information. The passive screening approach should be reevaluated in the future using electronic medical records; if found to be effective, the method may be potentially useful for other incident diseases.