Journal of women's health
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Acculturation may influence women's perceptions of health care experiences and may explain the epidemiologic paradox, whereby foreign-born women have lower rates of adverse birth outcomes than United States (US)-born women. We evaluated the relationship between maternal acculturation and specific dimensions of prenatal interpersonal processes of care (IPC) in ethnically diverse women. ⋯ In a large and ethnically diverse sample of childbearing women in Northern California, less acculturated pregnant women reported better prenatal care experiences than more acculturated and US-born women, another dimension of the "epidemiologic paradox." However, the relationship between acculturation and IPC, as reported during the postpartum period, differed according to infant outcomes.
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Journal of women's health · Aug 2014
Contraceptive counseling by general internal medicine faculty and residents.
Almost half of US pregnancies are unintended, resulting in many abortions and unwanted or mistimed births. Contraceptive counseling is an effective tool to increase patients' use of contraception. ⋯ In prevention-focused visits with reproductive-age women, a minority of internal medicine faculty and residents reported routine contraceptive counseling. Future efforts to increase contraceptive counseling among internists should include interventions that increase provider contraceptive counseling self-efficacy and ensure that providers obtain an abbreviated sexual history.
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Journal of women's health · Aug 2014
Is chronic stress during childhood associated with adult-onset vulvodynia?
Vulvodynia is an unexplained chronic vulvar pain condition. Case-control studies provide opportunities to examine potential mechanisms by which vulvodynia may develop. Findings inform etiological models that can be tested in subsequent prospective studies. ⋯ Our findings suggest that affect-based chronic stressors may be important to the psychobiological mechanisms of vulvodynia. Prospective studies are recommended to test biopsychosocial models of the etiology of vulvodynia.
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Journal of women's health · Aug 2014
Improving the quality of family planning services: the role of new federal recommendations.
This article provides a brief overview of Federal guidelines developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United States Office of Population Affairs on how to deliver quality family planning services. This article describes how the recommendations were developed, summarizes key points, and outlines steps that will be taken to disseminate and increase the use of the recommendations by primary care providers.