scholarly journals “I Treat My Daughters Not Like My Mother Treated Me”: Migrant and Refugee Women’s Constructions and Experiences of Menarche and Menstruation

Author(s):  
Alexandra J. Hawkey ◽  
Jane M. Ussher ◽  
Janette Perz

Abstract Hawkey, Ussher, and Perz bring attention to the constructions and experiences of menarche and menstruation from the perspective of migrant and refugee women resettled in Australia and Canada. The authors describe how the positioning of menstruation as shameful, polluting, and something to be concealed has implications for girls’ and women’s embodied experiences, as well as for their level of knowledge about menstruation at menarche. They demonstrate how migrant and refugee women variably adopted, adapted, and questioned cultural practices and how this impacted their engagement with their daughters, showing women’s negotiation or navigation of differing cultural contexts following migration. By identifying the women’s experiences, the authors highlight details that are essential to deliver culturally appropriate medical practice, health promotion, and health education.

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Zoe Wyatt

Resilience research is currently dominated by Western theoretical frameworks, concepts, constructions, worldviews and understandings. Applying a Western construction of resilience to other global settings, is challenged by the fact that cultural practices central to different cultural identities, may not be acknowledged. This paper will present new and existing ways of conceptualising resilience and proposes that the term dynamism may be more culturally appropriate for capturing the concept of resilience in cross-cultural settings. The term dynamism has been crafted from research that initially sought to understand resilience and recovery among young Cambodian trauma survivors (See Wyatt, 2021). The research endeavoured to situate the concept of resilience within a non-Western, Cambodia-specific context. This study looked at factors that enabled young people to move forward with their lives and do remarkably well, despite significant childhood trauma (Wyatt, 2021). This paper is an extension of the key findings and will focus on the construction of the term resilience and its usefulness in cross-cultural settings. Furthermore, this article will present a model for dynamism and how this may be helpful in understanding recovery from trauma in cross-cultural contexts.


Author(s):  
Matylda Szewczyk

The article presents a reflection on the experience of prenatal ultrasound and on the nature of cultural beings, it creates. It exploits chosen ethnographic and cultural descriptions of prenatal ultrasounds in different cultures, as well as documentary and artistic reflections on medical imagery and new media technologies. It discusses different ways of defining the role of ultrasound in prenatal care and the cultural contexts build around it. Although the prenatal ultrasounds often function in the space of enormous tensions (although they are also supposed to give pleasure), it seems they will accompany us further in the future. It is worthwhile to find some new ways of describing them and to invent new cultural practices to deal with them.


2003 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 369-375
Author(s):  
O. O. Bankole ◽  
O. O. Denloye ◽  
G. A. Aderinokun ◽  
C. O. Badejo R.N. Phn

The development of photo-posters to educate the Nigerian community on the perceived problems of teething was prompted by research findings which revealed that misconceptions about teething were widespread within the populace and in particular among some health professionals. Studies have shown that 58% of ethnic Yoruba rural dwellers in Nigeria attributed ailments to the teething process, while 70% of market women in Enugu State perceived diarrhea in their children was due to teething. In a recent survey, 61.4% of nurses believed diarrhea should accompany the teething process. Furthermore 82.1%, 35.8%, and 27.9% of them implicated fever, weight loss, and boils respectively as signs of teething. Photo-posters adopt the use of visual representation of a problem and the goal of using photo-posters is to begin to create an understanding in the minds of people that babies can be healthy in spite of their erupting teeth. It is believed that using pictures of real babies who are seen to be healthy when their teeth first emerge should go a long way to reducing some of the misconceived ideas. In its development, the participatory approach was adopted involving selected members of the target population, thus making it a culturally appropriate tool. This article describes the rationale behind the choice of the photo-posters and the process of developing them.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
E Cubas-Rolim ◽  
F R Yung ◽  
M R Gripp ◽  
C L A Oliveira ◽  
L A Marques ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The region of practice of the School of Patients DF is vulnerable at health literacy and income. Audiovisual information is strategic in primary care for its great power of reach and information retention. Objectives Since 2016 videos of health education have been produced, initially technical on the Planification for hypertension and diabetes. After the focus switched to popular health education, aiming at improving communication between health professionals and patients on chronic diseases and health promotion, including testimonials. The is potential for video exhibition in qualified waiting rooms and forwarding in social network. Results There are videos from diabetes, hypertension, obesity to dengue, pre-natal care and other APS themes, which follow printed orientation with pertinent links. There are graduate and post-graduate studies in course for optimizing audio-visual content for support and capacitation of the family caregivers, especially regarding the facilitated visual model of prescription (“Illustrated Prescription”). Data until 2020-January: YOUTUBE 3146 views, 118,6 hours of exhibition, 50 videos. FACEBOOK page with a reach of 369.248 views. INSTAGRAM 10.119 followers, 193 posts, 37.800 likes and 1003 commentaries. Conclusions Modifications in lifestyle and adherence to medication are fundamental for treatment, and videos are promising for health promotion and selfcare capacitation. There is potential for reducing the hierarchy barriers (testimonials). The shared construction of knowledge and its dissemination makes the patient active part in community diffusion of information. Key messages Health professionals have a vital role as educators, including for social online networks. Patients have a protagonist role in their treatment, as well as multipliers of knowledge at their community.


2002 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana L. Dally ◽  
Wendy Dahar ◽  
Ann Scott ◽  
Douglas Roblin ◽  
Allan T. Khoury

Purpose. To determine if a mailed health promotion program reduced outpatient visits while improving health status. Design. Randomized controlled trial. Setting. A midsized, group practice model, managed care organization in Ohio. Subjects. Members invited (N = 3214) were high utilizers, 18 to 64 years old, with hypertension, diabetes, or arthritis (or all). A total of 886 members agreed to participate, and 593 members returned the initial questionnaires. The 593 members were randomized to the following groups: 99 into arthritis treatment and 100 into arthritis control, 94 into blood pressure treatment and 92 into blood pressure control, and 104 into diabetes treatment and 104 into diabetes control. Measures. Outpatient utilization, health status, and self-efficacy were followed over 30 months. Interventions. Health risk appraisal questionnaires were mailed to treatment and control groups before randomization and at 1 year. The treatment group received three additional condition-specific (arthritis, diabetes, or hypertension) questionnaires and a health information handbook. The treatment group also received written health education materials and an individualized feedback letter after each returned questionnaire. The control group received condition-specific written health education materials and reimbursement for exercise equipment or fitness club membership after returning the 1-year end of the study questionnaire. Results. Changes in visit rates were disease specific. Parameter estimates were calculated from a Poisson regression model. For intervention vs. controls, the arthritis group decreased visits 4.84 per 30 months (p < 0.00), the diabetes group had no significant change, and the hypertension group increased visits 2.89 per 30 months (p < 0.05), the overall health status improved significantly (−6.5 vs. 2.3, p < 0.01) for the arthritis group but showed no significant change for the other two groups, and coronary artery disease and cancer risk scores did not change significantly for any group individually. Overall self-efficacy for intervention group completers improved by −8.6 points (p < 0.03) for the arthritis group, and the other groups showed no significant change. Conclusions. This study demonstrated that in a population of 18 to 64 years with chronic conditions, mailed health promotion programs might only benefit people with certain conditions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 117 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Torres ◽  
Venka Simovska

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the debate concerning community participation in school-based health education and health promotion, with regard to food and nutrition. Design/methodology/approach Based on empirical data generated over the course of one year of fieldwork in three rural communities and schools in Ecuador, the study examines community participation related to the implementation of the school feeding programme (SFP) in rural schools in Ecuador. The conceptual framework for the study is shaped by the concepts of student and community participation within the health promoting school (HPS) paradigm. Findings The findings help identify and portray different forms of community participation, ranging from a total absence of meaningful participation, though very limited, to consequential participation determined as community influence on the SFP practices to meet the community needs, priorities and systems of meanings. Research limitations/implications The study shows that the meaningful participation of the parents and community members in small rural schools in a low- to middle-income country such as Ecuador can be linked to an empowered stance towards the SFP so that it is better tuned to local conditions, priorities and systems of meaning. School leadership, geographical characteristics and internal community organization seem to influence how participation is valued and enacted. Challenges remain in the interpretations of community participation, including counter- and non-participation of members. Originality/value The study contributes to an understanding of policy implementation and the implications of a HPS approach to health education and health promotion in small rural schools.


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