Empowering Women in the Face of Body Ideals: A Scoping Review of Health Promotion Programs

2021 ◽  
pp. 109019812110505
Author(s):  
Victoria Chinn ◽  
Eva Neely ◽  
Sarah Shultz ◽  
Rozanne Kruger ◽  
Roger Hughes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Women’S Health ◽  
Women's Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Holistic Health ◽  
Global Priority ◽  
Health Promotion Programs ◽  
Health Domains ◽  
The Face

Achieving women’s health equity and empowerment is a global priority. In a Western context, women are often disempowered by the value society places on body size, shape or weight, which can create a barrier to health. Health promotion programs can exacerbate women’s preoccupations with their bodies by focusing outcomes toward achieving an “ideal” body size. Women’s health promotion activities should be empowering if the desired outcomes are to improve their health and well-being long-term. This review sought to identify key elements from health promotion programs that aimed to empower women. A search was conducted in PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus, CINAHL complete, and Academic Search Premiere databases. The search yielded 27 articles that collectively reported on 10 different programs. Through thematic synthesis, each article was analyzed for (1) key program features employed to empower women and (2) how such programs evaluated women’s health. Seven themes resulted, of which five describe key empowering features ( active participation, social support, sustainable change, holistic health perspective, strength-based approach) and two evaluation characteristics ( assessment across multiple health domains and a mixed-method design). The findings from this review can assist health promoters to design and improve initiatives that aim to empower women.

scholarly journals Translating Social Ecological Theory into Guidelines for Community Health Promotion

1996 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 282-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Stokols
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Community Health ◽  
Lifestyle Modification ◽  
Ecological Theory ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Health ◽  
Community Health Promotion ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Health Promotion Programs ◽  
Social Ecological Theory

Health promotion programs often lack a clearly specified theoretical foundation or are based on narrowly conceived conceptual models. For example, lifestyle modification programs typically emphasize individually focused behavior change strategies, while neglecting the environmental underpinnings of health and illness. This article compares three distinct, yet complementary, theoretical perspectives on health promotion: behavioral change, environmental enhancement, and social ecological models. Key strengths and limitations of each perspective are examined, and core principles of social ecological theory are used to derive practical guidelines for designing and evaluating community health promotion programs. Directions for future health promotion research are discussed, including studies examining the role of intermediaries (e.g., corporate decision-makers, legislators) in promoting the well-being of others, and those evaluating the duration and scope of intervention outcomes.

scholarly journals Role of Globalisation in Women’s Health: A Key Issue

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Neelesh Pandey
Keyword(s):  
Infant Mortality ◽  
Women’S Health ◽  
Labor Force ◽  
Women's Health ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Son Preference ◽  
Poor Health ◽  
Infant Mortality Rate ◽  
Indian Women

The health of Indian women is intrinsically linked to their status in society. Research on women’s status has found that the contributions Indian women make to families often are overlooked, and instead they are viewed as economic burdens. There is a strong son preference in India, as sons are expected to care for parents as they age. This son preference, along with high dowry costs for daughters, sometimes results in the mistreatment of daughters. Further, Indian women have low levels of both education and formal labor force participation. They typically have little autonomy, living under the control of first their fathers, then their husbands, and finally their son. All of these factors exert a negative impact on the health status of Indian women. Poor health has repercussions not only for women but also their families. Women in poor health are more likely to give birth to low weight infants. They also are less likely to be able to provide food and adequate care for their children. Finally, a woman’s health affects the household economic well-being, as a woman in poor health will be less productive in the labor force. While women in India face many serious health concerns, this profile focuses on only five key issues: reproductive health, violence against women, nutritional status, unequal treatment of girls and boys, and HIV/AIDS. Because of the wide variation in cultures, religions, and levels of development among India’s 25 states and 7 union territories, it is not surprising that women’s health also varies greatly from state to state. To give a more detailed picture, data for the major states will be presented whenever possible. The discrimination against the girl child is systematic and pervasive enough to manifest in many demographic measures for the country. For the country as a whole as well as its rural areas, the infant mortality rate is higher for females in comparison to that for males. Usually, though not exclusively, it is in the northern and western states that the female infant mortality rates are higher, a difference of ten points between the two sexes specific rates not being uncommon.

Interprofessional Intervention to Support Mature Women: A Case Study

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 134-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith M. Pechacek ◽  
Diana Drake ◽  
Carrie Ann Terrell ◽  
Carolyn Torkelson
Keyword(s):  
Women’S Health ◽  
Women's Health ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Interprofessional Education ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Collaborative Practice ◽  
Health Needs ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
The Impact

Understanding the impact interprofessional teamwork has on patient outcomes is of great interest to health care providers, educators, and administrators. This article describes one clinical team, Women’s Health Specialists, and their implementation of an interprofessional health intervention course: “Mindfulness and Well-being: The Mature Woman” (MW: MW) to support mature women’s health needs in midlife (age 40–70 years) and empower patient involvement in self-care. The provider team works to understand how their interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP) interventions focused on supporting midlife women are associated with improved quality and clinical outcomes. This case study describes the work of the Women’s Health Specialists clinic in partnership with the National Center for Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice to study the impact an interprofessional team has on the health needs of women in midlife. This article summarizes the project structure, processes, outputs, and outcomes. Data collection, analysis, strategy, and next steps for future midlife women’s projects are also discussed.

scholarly journals Beyond Workers’ Compensation

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Oliffe ◽  
Christina S. E. Han
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Indirect Costs ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mental Health Promotion ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Workplace Mental Health ◽  
Health Promotion Programs

The mental health of men is an important issue with significant direct and indirect costs emerging from work-related depression and suicide. Although the merits of men’s community-based and workplace mental health promotion initiatives have been endorsed, few programs are mandated or formally evaluated and reported on. Conspicuously absent also are gender analyses detailing connections between masculinities and men’s work-related depression and suicide on which to build men-centered mental health promotion programs. This article provides an overview of four interconnected issues, (a) masculinities and men’s health, (b) men and work, (c) men’s work-related depression and suicide, and (d) men’s mental health promotion, in the context of men’s diverse relationships to work (including job insecurity and unemployment). Based on the review, recommendations are made for advancing the well-being of men who are in as well as of those out of work.

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