Journal of women's health
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Journal of women's health · Apr 2024
A Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Cervical Cancer Screening and Prevention Interventions for African American Women: Implications for Promoting Health Equity.
African American women suffer under the burden of cervical cancer as they are first in mortality, diagnosed at later stages, and have a survivorship rate that is lower than the national average. The aim of our review is to evaluate the effectiveness of cervical cancer screening and prevention interventions for African American women living in the United States and to assess their commitment to health equity. A literature search was conducted using PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and Scopus using MeSH terms related to cervical cancer, human papillomavirus (HPV), screening and prevention, and African Americans. ⋯ There were mixed results regarding the incorporation of health equity principles. This review supports the importance of incorporating health equity principles and community based methods in screening and prevention interventions. Future research and practice should incorporate African American women's perspectives in intervention development and implementation.
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Women now make up more than half of the physician workforce, but they are disproportionately plagued by burnout. Medicine is a fast-paced stressful field, the practice of which is associated with significant chronic stress due to systems issues, crowding, electronic medical records, and patient case mix. Hospitals and health care systems are responsible for mitigating system-based burnout-prone conditions, but often their best efforts fail. ⋯ The individual self-care required to maintain health and raise stress thresholds is not widely ingrained in provider practice patterns or behavior. However, the successful long-term practice of high-stress occupations, such as medicine, requires that physicians, especially women physicians, attend to their wellness. In this article, we address one aspect of health, resilience, and review six practices that can create additional stores of personal resilience when proactively integrated into a daily routine.
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Journal of women's health · Mar 2024
Gender Inequality Improvement in Medical School Admissions in Japan.
Purpose: To investigate the effects of gender discrimination in Japan's medical school admission process and to assess whether the situation has improved since the disclosure of such discrimination in 2018. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using secondary data from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. The proportions of male and female applicants vis-à-vis all successful candidates admitted from 2016 to 2021 were analyzed; four medical schools were found to be systematically guilty of discriminatory admission practices. ⋯ DID analysis revealed a statistically significant estimated average treatment effect on the treated of 0.25148 (95% confidence interval [0.00455-0.49840]), indicating a 0.25-point increase in ARRs relative to the other 75 medical schools. Conclusions: Discriminatory practices against female applicants have decreased since the disclosure in 2018, with the acceptance rate of female students exceeding that of male students for the first time in 2021. In response to these findings, we propose recommendations to further promote gender equality in medicine.
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Journal of women's health · Mar 2024
Clinical, Sociodemographic, and Neighborhood Characteristics Associated with Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes.
Background: Cardiovascular risk is increased by a history of adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs). Efforts to understand and prevent these adverse outcomes may improve both fetal and birthing persons' outcomes in the peripartum period, and over the patient's lifetime. This study aims to assess the association of clinical, sociodemographic, and economic neighbor-hood factors with preterm birth (PTB) and APOs (the composite of stillbirth, small for gestation age, and low birthweight). ⋯ In addition, living in a zip code within the second quintile of unemployment was associated with lower odds of APOs (OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.84-0.99). Conclusions: Numerous sociodemographic and clinical factors are associated with both PTB and APOs. Tailored programs addressing these disparities may improve outcomes in pregnant persons.