Midwifery management of second-degree perineal tears in New Zealand: A cross-sectional survey of practice

Background

Second-degree tears are the most common form of perineal trauma occurring after vaginal birth managed by New Zealand midwives, although little is known about midwives’ perineal practice.

Sexual Hookups and Adverse Health Outcomes: A Longitudinal Study of First-Year College Women

“Hookups” are sexual encounters between partners who are not in a romantic relationship and do not expect commitment. We examined the associations between sexual hookup behavior and depression, sexual victimization (SV), and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among first-year college women. In this longitudinal study, 483 women completed 13 monthly surveys assessing oral and vaginal sex with hookup and romantic partners, depression, SV, and self-reported STIs. Participants also provided biological specimens that were tested for STIs. During the study, 50% of participants reported hookup sex and 62% reported romantic sex. Covariates included previous levels of the outcome, alcohol use, impulsivity, sensation seeking, and romantic sex. Autoregressive cross-lagged models showed that, controlling for covariates, hookup behavior during college was correlated with depression, Bs = .21, ps < .05, and SV, Bs = .19, ps < .05. In addition, precollege hookup behavior predicted SV early in college, B = .62, p < .05. Hookup sex, OR 1.32, p < .05, and romantic sex, OR 1.19, p < .05, were associated with STIs. Overall, sexual hookup behavior among college women was positively correlated with experiencing depression, SV, and STIs, but the nature of these associations remains unclear, and hooking up did not predict future depression.     

Do Alcohol and Marijuana Use Decrease the Probability of Condom Use for College Women?

Alcohol and marijuana use are thought to increase sexual risk taking, but event-level studies conflict in their findings and often depend on reports from a limited number of people or on a limited number of sexual events per person. With event-level data from 1,856 sexual intercourse events provided by 297 college women (M _age = 18 years; 71% White), we used multilevel modeling to examine associations between alcohol and marijuana use and condom use as well as interactions involving sexual partner type and alcohol-sexual risk expectancies. Controlling for alternative contraception use, partner type, regular levels of substance use, impulsivity and sensation seeking, and demographics, women were no more or less likely to use condoms during events involving drinking or heavy episodic drinking than during those without drinking. However, for drinking events, there was a negative association between number of drinks consumed and condom use; in addition, women with stronger alcohol-sexual risk expectancies were marginally less likely to use condoms when drinking. Although there was no main effect of marijuana use on condom use, these data suggest marijuana use with established romantic partners may increase risk of unprotected sex. Intervention efforts should target expectancies and emphasize the dose-response relationship of drinks to condom use.     

Mothers, daughters and midlife (self)-discoveries: Gender and aging in the Amanda Cross' Kate Fansler series

In the same way that many aspects of gender cannot be understood aside from their relationship to race, class, culture, nationality and/or sexuality, the interactions between gender and aging constitute an interesting field for academic research, without which we cannot gain full insight into the complex and multi-faceted nature of gender studies. Although the American writer and Columbia professor Carolyn Gold Heilbrun (1926-2003) is more widely known for her best-selling mystery novels, published under the pseudonym of Amanda Cross, she also authored remarkable pieces of non-fiction in which she asserted her long-standing commitment to feminism, while she also challenged established notions on women and aging and advocated for a reassessment of those negative views. To my mind, the Kate Fansler novels became an instrument to reach a massive audience of female readers who might not have read her non-fiction, but who were perhaps finding it difficult to reach fulfillment as women under patriarchy, especially upon reaching middle age. Taking her essays in feminism and literary criticism as a basis and her later fiction as substantiation to my argument, this paper will try to reveal the ways in which Heilbrun's seemingly more superficial and much more commercial mystery novels as Amanda Cross were used a catalyst that informed her feminist principles while vindicating the need to rethink about issues concerning literary representations of mature women and cultural stereotypes about motherhood.     

Evaluation of a Training to Reduce Provider Bias Toward Pregnant Patients With Substance Abuse

The objective of this article is not to present a scientific or systematic study, but to provide an initial framework for designing a training workshop to enhance health practitioners’ (nurses, social workers, physicians, etc.) knowledge regarding substance abuse treatment and to decrease their bias toward substance-abusing women, particularly pregnant women in rural communities. We incorporated the 4 Transdisciplinary Foundations from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Competencies Model, with specific competencies targeted that related to provider bias. After the conference, 52 of the 70 participants completed a questionnaire to self-assess knowledge level and confidence in skill related to substance abuse management. Participant mean scores were statistically significantly higher following the conference than 1 week prior (p < .001) in the area of “gender difference with substance abuse,” moving from an average of 2.6 to 4.5 on a 5-point Likert scale. Our conference was successful in increasing attendees’ knowledge about gender difference and substance abuse among pregnant patients.     

Agency and fatalism in older Appalachian women’s information seeking about gynecological cancer

Researchers consider older women in rural Appalachia to have low levels of agency and high levels of fatalism regarding decision making about cancer treatment. Using the life course perspective, we examined older women’s agency with information seeking about gynecological cancer. Semistructured interviews with 20 White women living in central Appalachia revealed four trajectories: Surrendering Control, Accepting Death, Self-Care, and Advocacy, each with its own forms of agency. Some women experienced personal transformation, increased self-efficacy, and a passion for community empowerment. Fatalism was not understood apart from placing trust in medical expertise. We implore researchers to further explore rural expressions of agency.     

Using counter-stories to challenge stock stories about Traveller families

Abstract

Critical Race Theory (CRT) is formed from a series of different methodological tools to expose and address racism and discrimination. Counter-stories are one of these tools. This article considers the potential of counter-stories as a methodological, theoretical and practical tool to analyse existing educational inequalities for Traveller communities. Although discrimination towards Traveller communities is well documented, there has been limited use of CRT to examine this position and challenge the social injustice they experience. In this article ‘stock stories’, or commonly held assumptions and stereotypes about Traveller communities are highlighted and refuted with Travellers’ own accounts. It is hoped this article will dispel stock stories, raise awareness of the real inequalities Travellers face and inform methodological debate.     

Engaging with Comparative Risk Appraisals: Public Views on Policy Priorities for Environmental Risk Governance

Communicating the rationale for allocating resources to manage policy priorities and their risks is challenging. Here, we demonstrate that environmental risks have diverse attributes and locales in their effects that may drive disproportionate responses among citizens. When 2,065 survey participants deployed summary information and their own understanding to assess 12 policy‐level environmental risks singularly, their assessment differed from a prior expert assessment. However, participants provided rankings similar to those of experts when these same 12 risks were considered as a group, allowing comparison between the different risks. Following this, when individuals were shown the prior expert assessment of this portfolio, they expressed a moderate level of confidence with the combined expert analysis. These are important findings for the comprehension of policy risks that may be subject to augmentation by climate change, their representation alongside other threats within national risk assessments, and interpretations of agency for public risk management by citizens and others.