Snapshots

A randomized, six month study has explored whether skills training on how to use female condoms increased sustained use of the barrier method and resulted in more protected sex acts overall. Half of the 409 participants received brief instructions on using the female condom to promote women’s health; half received intensive skills training sessions focusing exclusively on the female condom, including self-insertion and removal. Researchers found that the intensive skills training group used female condoms more consistently, but both the experimental and comparison groups also continued to use male condoms consistently. For the women in the intensive skills training group, a much higher percentage of sex acts were protected by the female condom at the end of the study: 15% of sexual acts were protected by the female condom for women in the experimental group, versus 7% for the comparison group. This study indicates that knowledge about the female condom increases favorable attitudes about, and greater use of, the device. And, introducing different barrier methods does not threaten the gold-standard practice (i.e. male condom), but increases the number of overall protected sex acts.
American Journal of Public Health, October 2008

Researchers evaluating race and hysterectomy have found that Black women in the U.S. are nearly four times more likely than White women to have had a hysterectomy. The increase holds even when adjusting for age, education level, perceived barriers to medical care, body mass index, polycycstic ovarian syndrome, tubal ligation, depressive symptoms, age at menarche, and geographic location. Participants were part of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study, a population-based observational study that followed participants from four geographic locations. Investigators collected data at baseline and during follow-up exams at 2, 5, 7, 10, and 15 years. At the 15-year follow-up, women were invited to participate in the CARDIA Women’s Study. While researchers did not account for this disparity, it is likely that nonclinical factors (patient education about alternatives to hysterectomy, provider communication) or other psychosocial aspects of care were contributing factors. American Journal of Public Health, February 2009

New research from the British Women's Heart and Health Study shows that both childhood and current socioeconomic status (SES) influence healthful eating and physical activity. Participants completed questionnaires about diet, smoking, and physical activity and used 10 indicators to construct a "life course SES score" on which a score of 10 indicated the greatest level of hardship. Not surprisingly, women with SES scores of 9 or 10 had poorer diets than those with lower scores. Both childhood and adult indicators of lower SES were associated with unhealthy diets and practices. These results indicate a need for public health practitioners to address behavior change with policies that affect root causes, such as poverty, in addition to educational activities targeting individuals.
American Journal of Public Health, February 2009