Journal of women's health
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Journal of women's health · May 2009
Comparative StudySelf-reported medication and herb/supplement use by women with and without fibromyalgia.
Using a telephone survey of 434 women who self-reported having and 198 women, who denied having fibromyalgia (FM) (aged 18-80 years), we compared women on self-reported number, major types, and effectiveness of currently taken conventional medications and herbs/supplements. ⋯ Substantial numbers of women with FM were taking pain medications that often lacked evidence for effectiveness. The variety of medications being taken by women with FM compared with women without FM indicates that there are few medications that consistently provide symptom alleviation for this condition.
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Journal of women's health · May 2009
Intimate partner violence and functional health status: associations with severity, danger, and self-advocacy behaviors.
To assess physical and mental functional health status as associated with the severity of intimate partner violence (IPV) and perceived danger. ⋯ These findings suggest that IPV takes a greater mental than physical toll (for both sexes) and that as IPV severity increases, mental health functioning diminishes and self-advocacy behaviors increase. Additionally, as perceived danger increases, both physical and mental health status worsens. This has important implications for clinicians to assess and consider IPV victims' perceptions of their situations relative to danger, not just the levels of abuse they are experiencing.
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Journal of women's health · May 2009
Addressing social determinants of health to improve access to early breast cancer detection: results of the Boston REACH 2010 Breast and Cervical Cancer Coalition Women's Health Demonstration Project.
The Boston Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) 2010 Breast and Cervical Cancer Coalition developed a case management intervention for women of African descent to identify and reduce medical and social obstacles to breast cancer screening and following up abnormal results. ⋯ Case management was successful at promoting mammography screening uptake, although no change in longitudinal patterns was found. Housing concerns and lacking a regular provider should be addressed to promote mammography uptake. Future research should provide social assessment and address social obstacles in a randomized controlled setting to confirm the efficacy of social determinant approaches to improve mammography use.
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Journal of women's health · May 2009
Compliance with mandated emergency contraception in New Mexico emergency departments.
New Mexico enacted a law in 2003 requiring that emergency departments (EDs) offer emergency contraception (EC) to survivors of sexual assault and that both doses be administered in the ED. This investigation sought to examine practices and knowledge of ED providers about EC in the setting of sexual assault. ⋯ EDs in New Mexico are not universally complying with the law. Better dissemination of the law and education about EC could improve care of sexual assault survivors in New Mexico.
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Journal of women's health · Apr 2009
Breast cancer screening in women exposed in utero to diethylstilbestrol.
To determine if women exposed in utero to diethylstilbestrol (DES) are more likely than unexposed women to receive recommended or additional breast cancer screening examinations. ⋯ The majority of DES-exposed women receive breast cancer screenings at least at recommended intervals, but over two thirds do not perform monthly BSEs. Future efforts should be focused on further educating this and other at-risk populations through mailed reminders and during patient consultations on the benefits of screening examinations.