Women Health and Social Issues - Annotated Bibliography Example

Annotated Bibliography: Women Health and Social Issues Name of student Institution Instructor Date This paper seeks to present annotated bibliographies on women health and social problems from five scholarly articles. The aim of the bibliographies is to explore various research methods utilized in researching women health issues as well as the findings. The finding of the studies valuable in the quest of identifying the women health issues, their impacts and potential solutions in tackling them. In this context, the finding of each article will help in formulating study variable and conceptual framework for research. Dillon, G., Hussain, R., Loxton, D., & Rahman, S. (2013). Mental and physical health and intimate partner violence against women: a review of the literature. International journal of family medicine, 2013. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/313909 This article is a review of quantitative and qualitative studies seeking to determine the consequences of intimate partner violence (IPV) against women on their mental and physical health. The authors are renowned scholars, affiliated with the various accredited university in Australia, with distinctive knowledge on public health and social issues. Seventy-five research papers published between 2006 and 2012 from developing and developed countries. The research focused on full-text research articles from original research published in peer-reviewed journal. The author argues IPV is a social and public health problem, which is associated with numerous mental and physical health issues among women across all cultures. The authors found out that IPV against women varies across different cultures and regions in the world. However, the existence of mental and physical health problems was common in all cultures and countries. The most common mental consequences of IPV were depression, sleep disorders, suicidal ideations, self-harm, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). IPV was also associated with poor physical health, which manifested into sexually transmitted diseases, gynecological problems, chronic pain, somatic disorders and poor functional health. The article also reports increased risk of HIV for women who have a history of violence and sexual abuse. The authors argue that knowledge of IPV and its consequence if essential in preventing it. The finding of the study is generalized across the world thus cannot be used to imply the exact situation in Australia or any specific culture in the world. However, the article is relevant when researching women's health and social issues because it provides a source of study variables on health issues among women as well as a conceptual framework for research. Retrieved 2 October 2015 from http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijfm/2013/313909/ Schmied, V., Johnson, M., Naidoo, N., Austin, M. P., Matthey, S., Kemp, L., ... & Yeo, A. (2013). Maternal mental health in Australia and New Zealand: A review of longitudinal studies. Women and Birth, 26(3), 167-178. doi:10.1016/j.wombi.2013.02.006 This article is a systemic search of 45-research articles from different databases such as Medline, Psycho info, Scopus and health source on longitudinal studies focusing on emotional and social health issues among women. The authors who have extensive knowledge on maternal health sought to determine the impact of perinatal mental health on women in Australia and New Zealand. The article analyzes unique information on midwifery, depression postpartum, women health, maternal health, and longitudinal studies The study determined that approximately 10-20% of women in both countries experience postnatal depression and anxiety. The study also identified the predictors of postnatal depression and anxiety, which included poor partner relationship, history of mental illness, and history of depression. Prim gravid women who are 25 years and below are more likely to have emotional and social issues during pregnancy and within one year after delivery. The study also determined that the mood disorders increases with age, and number of children. Intimate partner violence is also a key factor that leads to depression and anxiety among women of childbearing age. The researchers determined that midwives have a critical role in alleviating mental health problems among women. However, the authors note that the most women do not report their worries, and thus midwives and other health workers should utilize their competencies in identifying potential indications. The key determinant of effective alleviation includes competencies in identifying, managing and referring the patient for further management. This article provides the quest for knowledge on women health and social issue with a valuable source of research variables and conceptual framework. The article is unique because in addition to tackling women health issues it explores the role of health workers and midwives in addressing women and social issues. Retrieved 3, October 2015 from http://www.womenandbirth.org/article/S1871-5192%2813%2900037-1/fulltext van der Sluijs, C., Lombardo, F. L., Lesi, G., Bensoussan, A., & Cardini, F. (2013). Social and cultural factors affecting complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use during menopause in Sydney and Bologna. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2013. The article highlights the social and cultural factors that affect utilization of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to manage effects of menopause in Australia and Italy. The authors are derived from Australia and Italy and have extensive experience in geriatrics, epidemiology, and health surveillance. The authors meta-analyzed two similar independent surveys that were conducted in Sydney and Bologna. The main aim of the analysis was to compare the social and cultural determinants that influence utilization of CAM. The authors found out that despite CAM being popular in both study areas, Sydney (53.8%) had more users compared to Bologna (33.5%) despite the two cities having similar number of consultations (p.2). Most women who used CAM in Sydney utilized the services of naturopath and acupuncturist while those from Bologna visited nutritionist and herbalists. The study also determined that Sydney women preferred primrose oil and dietary soy compared to those from Bologna, who preferred using pills and soy capsule. The authors also discovered that in both study areas CAM was utilized more for management of other conditions such as hypertension and weight reduction compared to menopause. Factors that influenced the use of CAM in both countries included occupation, marital status, peer influence, and culture. Availability of the services, as well as educational status, was the key determinant of usage in both countries. The study subjects also reported that dissatisfaction with conventional medicine led them in seeking CAM. Since the study subjects in both studies were recruited through medical clinics, (p.5) the finding cannot be generalized to imply the exact utilization of CAM in both cities. However, the assumption can be made to suggest that the usage is higher than revealed by the study. This topic is relevant when studying women health and social issues because it illustrates the increased use of CAM secondary to inadequate health literacy and culture. Menopause is a one of the women's lifetime condition and thus forms a potential study subject for research. Retrieved 2 October 2015 from http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/836234/ Brown, S. J., Yelland, J. S., Sutherland, G. A., Baghurst, P. A. & Robinson, J. S. (2011). Stressful life events, social health issues, and low birth weight in an Australian population-based birth cohort: challenges and opportunities in antenatal care. BMC Public Health, 11(196):1-13. This article describes the methodology and results of a population-based survey in Victoria and South Australia on the social determinant of low-birth weight and its implication for health care/policy system. Even though the article focuses on infants, it touches on significant social and health issues that are unique to women in Australia. The authors are known specialists in maternal and children health in Australia. The authors sent self-administered questionnaires to women six months postnatal seeking to examine a number of social and life health issues as well as perceived health care barriers experienced by women. The study determined that two-thirds of the women who returned their questionnaire experienced at least one or more stressful event or social health issue during pregnancy. Approximately 18% of the total study subject reported having more than three stressful events or social health problems. Several factors were associated with stressful life events, and social health problems include maternal factors such age, the level of education, lifestyle, marital status, and culture (p.5). Discrimination in hospitals contributed significantly to the failure or low turnout for antenatal clinics. The consequences of more than three stressful life events include low-birth-weight, increased rate of postnatal infection, halo effects, and psychosis (p. 5). In this context, pregnant women in Australia are prone to stressful life events or social health issues that hinder their health perspective leading to poor mental and physical health. The stressful and social health problems also have dire consequences the health of the infant. In conclusion, pregnancy results in health and social issues that are unique to women. This article is very useful because it provide women health and social problems from primary researchers on study various aspects. The article also provides a potential methodology that can be used in studying different aspects of women health and social issues. Retrieved October 1, 2015, from http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/11/196 Burns, J., MacRae, A., Thomson, N., Anomie, Catto, M., Gray, C., Levitan, L., McLoughlin, N., Potter, C., Ride, K., Stumpers, S., Trzesinski, A. & Urquhart, B. (2013). Summary of Indigenous women's health. This article provides a summary of various reports on the plight of health among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. The article is based on extensive analysis of health reports dated from 2006 up to 2013. The authors are composed of various health professionals from numerous department of health in Australia. According to the authors, the indigenous women require a special care secondary to a variety of factors. The special care is needed because they have a higher rate of preventable mortality and poor health seeking behaviors compared to other populations in Australia. The authors found out that indigenous women experience poor health compared to other women in Australia. Some of the major factors that led to this disparity includes exposure to violence, racism, cultural practices, marginalization, and dispossession among others. Other factors include poor nutrition status, inadequate physical activities, and drug abuse. Levels of education, employment, and income were significantly low among the indigenous compared to other Australians. The women have a lower expectancy rate, fertility rate, and high death rates compared to other Australian women. The rate of hospitalization was also higher among Indigenous women compared to their counterparts. The researcher noted that the rate of lifestyle-related diseases was higher among Indigenous women compared to other Australian women. The lifestyle illnesses examined by the report include diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, physical injury, and sexually transmitted diseases. This report is relevant to the study of health and social issues among women because it provides a source of various national reports finding for both Indigenous and other Australian women. In this context, the paper a variable source of research variables on women health issues. The article does not describe the methodology used to achieve the result making it hard to validate the results. However, the article provides a list of all 28-research articles utilized in generating the report. Retrieved 3 October 4, 2015, from http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/women-review Read More