Rated helpfulness and partner-reported smoking cessation support across the pregnancy-postpartum continuum.

Support interventions have not changed smoking cessation rates significantly. The pregnancy-postpartum continuum presents a unique opportunity to examine patterns of support. Expectant couples (N = 477) were surveyed twice during pregnancy and 3 times postpartum. Partners reported positive and negative smoking-specific support; women reported the helpfulness of partner support. Linear trends suggest that women viewed support as more helpful during pregnancy than during postpartum. Partners' provision of positive support across the continuum depended on their smoking; provision of negative support depended on women's smoking. Partners who smoked provided lower levels of both positive and negative support, especially postpartum. Women who smoked throughout the pregnancy perceived their partner's negative support as helpful. Implications are that partners who smoke may need help staying engaged in the support process. Partners may provide negative support in response to women's smoking cues. Women who are struggling with cessation may not view negative support as negative.     

Growing awareness of gender in urban policies

This article discusses issues from the Women in the City Conference held in October 1994 in Paris. The conference was organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Urban Affairs of the Territorial Development Service. An OECD report "Shaping Structural Change--The Role of Women" was published in 1991. This report argued that economies were not benefiting fully from women's contributions to economic growth and social development. Also, the "systemic nature of gender-based inequalities and the need for systemic solutions" was encouraged. The Secretary General urged OECD work groups to include the issue of the role of women. The conference was organized to this end. The conference demonstrated the progress made in women's international leadership and policy participation. However, the conference also indicated that the representation of women in urban decision making and planning groups was too low in member countries. Some urban changes involving urban women were a concern. 1) Women's participation in the labor force increased to 60%, and these women are required to provide the household budget. 2) Two parent households declined and single parent households, mostly women, increased. 3) Single person households increased and many were elderly and female. 4) OECD country populations were aging. These aforementioned trends place greater responsibilities on women. Urban policies impact on women's daily lives. Women are seeking policy changes related to women's transportation needs, access to affordable housing, improved house and community environments, security, more responsive services, economic development for women, and culture and leisure. Women's participation in public life can be improved through the expansion of child care facilities, legal changes, provision of gender-sensitive information, and new forms of urban governance that are more responsive and accessible to women.     

An advocacy intervention program for women with abusive partners: Initial evaluation

Experimentally tested the hypotheses that (1) battered women are in need of numerous community resources upon exit from a domestic violence shelter, (2) working with advocates increases women's effectiveness in obtaining needed resources and social support, and (3) success in obtaining resources and social support increases women's levels of life satisfaction and decreases their risk of further abuse. The initial findings of a short-term intervention project designed to provide postshelter advocacy services to women with abusive partners are presented. One-hundred forty-one battered women were interviewed immediately upon their exit from a domestic violence shelter as well as 10 weeks thereafter. Half the sample was randomly assigned to receive the services of trained advocates who assisted them in accessing needed community resources. Women who worked with advocates reported being more effective in accessing resources and had higher levels of social support and overall quality of life postintervention. Although all women reported some decrease in postshelter abuse, there were no differences between those with and those without advocates, and abuse continued to be a problem for many women.     

A History of Women and Feminist Perspectives in Community Psychology

Using an historical framework, we document and assess efforts to include women, women's issues, and feminism in community psychology and in the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA). Initiatives of the SCRA Task Force/Committee on Women are traced from its inception to present. We also chronicle the dilemmas and difficulties of moving toward a feminist community psychology. The history is divided into five phases. Each phase is described in terms of women's involvement in the field and efforts to integrate feminist content into research and practice of the field. Reflections on the qualities of contexts that have both supported and inhibited inclusion are identified. We look to this history to try to understand the observation that while women have been increasingly visible in leadership roles and women's professional development has been encouraged, less progress has been made toward building a feminist community psychology.     

The provision of advocacy services to women leaving abusive partners: An examination of short-term effects

Examined the short-term impact of providing advocacy services to women leaving battered women's shelters. The study employed a true longitudinal experimental design. Women in the advocacy condition received intensive one-on-one services with trained paraprofessional advocates. Advocates assisted women in accessing needed community resources. Women in the control condition received no additional postshelter services. Findings corroborated earlier research suggesting that battered women lack many resources necessary for independent living and that working with advocates produced greater effectiveness in accessing needed resources. Ongoing research will examine the long-term impact on life satisfaction, future victimization, and living arrangements.     

Women And Depression: Introduction

Although women's 2 to 1 likelihood of developing a depressive disorder is a well-established fact, research over the last decade has expanded our knowledge of risk factors and issues of treatment and service delivery. The American Psychological Association convened an interdisciplinary Summit in 2000 on Women and Depression to examine these findings and to make recommendations on future research and policy needs, and to highlight treatment implications. This special section contains five articles from the Summit addressing a range of issues, including the relationship between women's depression and their lesser power and status in society (resulting in physical and sexual abuse and poverty), and the menstrual cycle and depression. Additionally, the special section includes articles on the rehabilitation of women with depression and treatment of depressed women in primary care settings.     

Attitudinal differences between full-time homemakers and women who work outside the home

Data from a national probability sample were used to examine differences in attitudinal variables and self-concept between full-time homemakers (N=485) and women employed outside of the home (N=354). The homemakers held more conservative values and a more traditional view of women's roles, reported experiencing a more supportive family life, expressed lower self-esteem, and were less dissatisfied than women who work outside the home. Women who are employed outside the home rated themselves as more aggressive, ambitious, and intelligent than did homemakers. The discussion focuses on the surprising finding that the women who work outside the home were more dissatisfied than homemakers. Crosby's (Relative Deprivation and Working Women, New York: Oxford University Press, 1982) model of relative deprivation, which emphasizes wanting and deserving as preconditions of felt deprivation, helps explain the dissatisfaction among women employed outside the home.We thank the research department of Leo Burnett Company, especially Melody Douglas-Tate, vice-president and group research director, for making this project possible. Thanks also to an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments and suggestions.     

Experimental Evidence that Theistic-Religious Body Affirmations Improve Women's Body Image

We examined in a random-assignment, pretest-posttest design whether college women's body image would improve after reading religious and spiritual affirmations about their bodies. The sample was predominantly white and Christian. In a pretest, women completed measures of religiosity and body esteem (how they felt about their weight and appearance) and were then assigned via matched random assignment to three different groups for a treatment and posttest one week later. In the Religious group, women read affirmations with a theistic and Christian-based tone that emphasized God's love and acceptance of their bodies; in the Spiritual group, women read body affirmations with a more positive secular tone and no mention of God; Control group women read random statements about campus issues. After reading the affirmations, women then viewed photos of "thin ideal" fashion models to activate body image concerns. Women next completed the posttest body esteem measures. Women in the Religious group increased significantly compared to Control women (who declined) in how they felt about their appearance and looks. Women in the Spiritual condition improved marginally compared to the Control condition.     

Mental health and well-being of black women: Toward strategies of empowerment

This review of the literature on Black women's mental health has three goals: 1) to describe the mental health issues, needs, and adaptive behaviors of Black women; 2) to discuss the research, intervention, and public policy efforts of mental health professionals and Black women's groups to address the multiple needs of this population; and 3) to identify effective strategies by which community psychologists can improve the mental health status of Black women through efforts to reduce their environmental stressors, to increase their resources and access to services, and to facilitate their empowerment in American society. The authors propose a number of recommendations to improve Black women's mental health, including changes in research paradigms, changes in education and training programs, and the development of culturally competent service delivery systems.     

Jeopardy Not Bonus Status for African American Women in the Work Force: Why Does the Myth of Advantage Persist?

African American women in the United States have a long history of employment outside of their homes. Their experiences are unique from other groups of majority and minority men and women due to the interaction of race, gender, and class. Despite long-standing and continuing struggles against discrimination, harassment, low pay, tokenism, and stereotypes, a myth that African American women enjoy a bonus or advantaged status in the work force has developed and persisted. In this article, Black women's work force experiences are examined from a social constructionist framework, misperceptions of Black women are critiqued, explanations are developed that explain the unique status of African American women and recommendations are proposed to eradicate the discrimination and marginal status that Black women have endured in the work force.     

Injecting a Woman's Voice: Conservative Women's Organizations,Gender Consciousness,and the Expression of Women's Policy Preferences

Scholars have argued that gender consciousness may be the important link between gender identity and the expression of political interests. Ultimately, however, these studies explain feminist political behavior and leave the impression that only feminist women articulate a woman's perspective on policy issues. In this article I demonstrate the coherence between gender identity and policy preferences for two national conservative women's organizations, the Concerned Women for America and the Independent Women's Forum. I show that conservative women are also gender conscious public-policy advocates. Using data gathered from organizational literature, participant observation, and in-depth interviews with organizational leaders, I show how conservative women have collectively organized as women and framed their policy goals in terms of women's interests. As such, I demonstrate a clear and profound link between gender identity and politicization among conservative women activists, suggesting the need to reconsider how we understand and define gender consciousness and women's policy activism.     

PERSONAL ATTITUDES OR STRUCTURAL FACTORS? A CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF BREASTFEEDING DURATION

A personal attitudes model (i.e., infant feeding choices are based on personal attitudes primarily) and a structural factors model (i.e., feeding choices are shaped by the structural contexts of women's lives, as much as personal attitudes) of women's breastfeeding behavior were tested by surveying a longitudinal sample of 548 mostly European American women recruited for the Wisconsin Maternity Leave and Health Project. Personal attitudes (enjoyment of breastfeeding, gender-role attitudes, and work and family salience) accounted for half as much variance in breastfeeding duration for women who were employed outside the home compared to those who were not. For women employed outside the home, both structural variables (length of maternity leave and workplace flexibility) and personal attitudes predicted duration. These results have implications for how we construct the issue of women's breastfeeding decisions.     

Women,Ethnicity, and AIDS: What's Love Got to Do with It?

This paper examines the usefulness of relationships as the critical factor in preventing AIDS for women of color. An analysis is offered of the conceptualization of issues, as well as the prevention measures and safe-sex strategies developed for gay men versus women's HIV/AIDS incidence rates. The discussion of similarities demonstrates that gender and culture play a role in the disproportionate negative impact affecting the health status of women of color. The compounding factor of poverty is considered essential to the complex situation in the ethnic minority community, resulting in a lack of public concern and a lack of community responsiveness to these women. Finally, several challenges for health researchers are presented including the need to adopt cultural sensitivity in research efforts, include researchers with an understanding of the ethnic community's perspective, and develop clearer guidelines for risk assessment.     

How do women experience myocardial infarction? A qualitative exploration of illness perceptions, adjustment and coping

While UK Department of Health policy recognizes the importance of secondary prevention and rehabilitation following a cardiac event, there still appears a dearth of research addressing women's needs. This study aimed to explore adjustment in terms of women's perception of their cardiac event, impact on relationships and coping strategies employed. Five women suffering first time MI were interviewed, using a semi-structured format and were telephoned 2 months later. Data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Perceptions included: Making Sense of the Event, Cognitive and Emotional Responses and Self-beliefs. Relationships issues were: Others' Reactions and Change in Relationships and Roles. Cognitive and Behavioural strategies and Support from others (including cardiac rehabilitation) formed coping strategies. For most participants, the event was unexpected evoking uncertainty and later, emotions extending beyond the more widely accepted depression and anxiety. Women tended to minimize severity of symptoms and impact of event (perhaps as a way of coping and protecting others), displaying a strong sense of optimism and hope that life would soon return to "normal". However, it appeared this was difficult to maintain and the experience seemed to challenge relationships and roles. The findings suggest recommendations for further research with possible implications for clinical practice.     

Rural Ugandan women and the technological race to the 21st century

This article discusses the needs in developing countries for simple and inexpensive technological devices to improve communications and transportation and to reduce time and energy spent on housework. Manufacturers in the developed world continue to export expensive technological products that ignore the lack of access to electricity among a large consumer population. Individuals and organizations can help developing country women by engaging in conversations with their counterparts and determining the nature and extent of assistance that is needed. Products, such as old computers, spare parts, and computer books, can be donated to organizations, such as the YWCA, which provide training to girls and women. Industry can produce and market technologically appropriate implements and appliances. Individuals and women's groups can lobby industrialists and manufacturers for initiatives that improve living conditions for millions in developing countries. Groups can mobilize financial resources for local and international projects. Partnerships can be formed between cities, local universities, nonprofit organizations, individual school classes, or individuals. Governments need to ensure that the educational system is producing skilled workers and to modify imported technologies for local development. In the race to the 21st century, there is a need for deliberate social action to make technology accessible to women, men, and children in remote rural communities in developing countries. The gain for women in developing countries would be substantially reduced time and energy expended in daily chores. In developing countries, most of the agricultural and domestic work is carried out by women. These women are not even at the starting gate, while women in developed countries are way ahead in the race for modernization and technological development.     

Women,ectogenesis and ethical theory

ABSTRACT The nature of two influential theories on the moral status of abortion logically commits them to welcoming the advent of ectogenesis (the gestation of human beings outside the womb) as a solution to the abortion conflict. However, qualitative research into women's response to ectogenesis reveals that both women in favour and women opposed to abortion rights reject the technology on surprisingly similar grounds. The abortion framework which led women to reject ectogenesis as an ethical resolution to unwanted pregnancy is contrasted with the moral framework which shapes formal ethical discussions of abortion. It is argued that the need for ethical relevance requires the views of ethicists to move closer to those of women [1].     

Working wives and women's rights: The connection between the employment status of wives and the feminist attitudes of husbands

Women in the labor force tend to have more profeminist attitudes on women's rights and sex roles than women working in the home. In turn, the husbands of wives employed outside the home are more supportive of feminist positions than the husbands of wives working in the home. The difference is greater on attitudes relating to employment and traditional roles in the home and family but also occurs on some items dealing with political rights and general sexual equality. The causal connection between the attitude of husbands and the labor-force status of their wives can not be demonstrated, but causation is believed to work in both directions.This research was done for the General Social Survey project directed by James A. Davis and Tom W. Smith (GSS Technical Report No. 41). The project is funded by National Science Foundation Grant SES-8118731.     

Seeking Balance: Decision Support Needs of Women Without Cancer and a Deleterious BRCA1 or BRCA2 Mutation

Recommendations for women with a deleterious BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation include complex medical approaches related to cancer risk reduction and detection. Current science has not yet fully elucidated decision support needs that women face when living with medical consequences associated with known hereditary cancer risk. The purpose of this study was to describe health communication and decision support needs in healthy women with BRCA1/2 gene mutations. The original researchers completed an interpretive secondary qualitative data analysis of 23 phenomenological narratives collected between 2008 and 2010. The Ottawa Decision Support and Patient Centered Communication frameworks guided the study design and analysis. Women described a pattern wherein breast and ovarian cancer risk, health related recommendations and decisions, and personal values were prioritized over time based on life contexts. Knowing versus acting on cancer risk was not a static process but an ongoing balancing act of considering current and future personal and medical values, further compounded by the complexity of recommendations. Women shared stories of anticipatory, physical and psychosocial consequences of the decision making experience. The findings have potential to generate future research questions and guide intervention development. Importantly, findings indicate a need for ongoing, long-term, support from genetics professionals and decision support interventions, which challenges the current practice paradigm.     

Sexual submissiveness in women: costs for sexual autonomy and arousal

Women are bombarded with images of women's sexual submission and subservience to male partners. The authors argue that women internalize this submissive role, namely, they associate sex implicitly with submission. The authors propose that this association leads to submissive sexual behavior, thereby reducing sexual autonomy and arousal. Study 1 found that women implicitly associated sex with submission. Study 2 showed that women's implicit association of sex with submission predicted greater personal adoption of a submissive sexual role. Study 3 found that men did not implicitly associate sex with submission. Study 4 demonstrated that women's adoption of a submissive sexual role predicted lower reported arousal and greater reported difficulty becoming sexually aroused; sexual autonomy mediated these effects.