Interoceptive Awareness Is Important for Relapse Prevention: Perceptions of Women Who Received Mindful Body Awareness in Substance Use Disorder Treatment.

Background: It is postulated that interventions aimed at facilitating interoceptive awareness (i.e., awareness of inner body sensations) may facilitate regulation and improve substance use disorder (SUD) treatment outcomes.

Developing Compassionate Self-care Skills in Persons Living with HIV: a Pilot Study to Examine Mindful Awareness in Body-oriented Therapy Feasibility and Acceptability.

Background: Self-care skills for persons living with HIV (PLWH) are needed to better cope with the common symptoms and emotional challenges of living with this chronic illness.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility and acceptability of Mindful Awareness in Body-oriented Therapy (MABT) for individuals receiving medical management for HIV at an outpatient program.

Setting: A nonprofit outpatient day program that provided medical management to low-income individuals with HIV.

The shaping of midlife women's views of health and health behaviors.

The menopausal transition is a marker of aging for women and a time when health professionals urge women to prevent disease. In this research we adopted a constructivist, inductive approach in exploring how and why midlife women think about health in general, about being healthy, and about factors that influence engaging in healthy behaviors. The sample constituted 23 women who had participated in a women's wellness program intervention trial and subsequent interviews.

Sustainability of a multimodal intervention to promote lifestyle factors associated with the prevention of cardiovascular disease in midlife Australian women: a 5-year follow-up.

We evaluated sustainability of an intervention to reduce women's cardiovascular risk factors, determined the influence of self-efficacy, and described women's current health. We used a mixed method approach that utilized forced choice and open-ended questionnaire items about health status, habits, and self-efficacy. Sixty women, average age 61, returned questionnaires.

Cortisol levels during the menopausal transition and early postmenopause: observations from the Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study.

Objective: Cortisol levels rise among some women during the late stage of the menopausal transition (MT), but we know little about changes in cortisol levels in relation to menopause-related factors (MT stage, urinary estrone glucuronide [E1G], testosterone, follicle-stimulating hormone [FSH]), stress-related factors (epinephrine, norepinephrine, and perceived stress), symptoms (hot flashes, mood, memory, and sleep), social factors (income adequacy, role burden, social support, employment, parenting, and history of sexual abuse), and health-related factors (depressed mood, perceived health, physical appraisal, body mass index, and smoking). The aim of the study was to examine the influence of menopause-related factors, stress-related factors, symptoms, social factors, and health-related factors on cortisol levels during the MT.

Methods: Participants were a subset of Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study who provided data during the late reproductive, early and late MT stages, or early postmenopause and who were not using hormone therapy or corticosteroids (N = 132 women, up to 5,218 observations).

Is the menopausal transition stressful? Observations of perceived stress from the Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study.

Objective: To describe changes in the levels of perceived stress in relation to menopausal transition (MT)-related factors (MT stage, hot flash severity, urinary estrone glucuronide, urinary follicle-stimulating hormone, hormone therapy), aging and age-related changes, and psychosocial factors (income adequacy, role burden, social support, parenting, employment, history of sexual abuse, depressed mood).

Design: A subset of participants (N = 418) in the longitudinal Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study provided data during the late reproductive and early and late MT stages or early postmenopause (PM) from 1990 to 2005, including menstrual calendars for staging the MT, annual health reports, and first morning urine specimens (assayed for estrone and follicle-stimulating hormone). Multilevel modeling was used to test patterns of perceived stress related to MT-related and aging-related factors and psychosocial factors with as many as 1,814 observations from 418 women per factor.

Well-being during the menopausal transition and early postmenopause: a longitudinal analysis.

Objective: To examine relationships between well-being and the menopausal transition (MT) to determine (1) whether women's well-being varies over the course of the MT and early postmenopause (PM) and (2) whether any observed variation is predicted by MT variables, other midlife transitions, or personal resources.

Design: Women from the Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study (N = 334) provided data for these analyses from at least one annual health questionnaire and a menstrual calendar. A subset of women provided a first morning voided urine specimen from 1997 through 2005.

Well-being during the menopausal transition and early postmenopause: a within-stage analysis.

Purpose: To identify whether menopausal transition (MT)-related factors--including MT stage, hot flash severity, levels of estrone glucuronide (E1G) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH); number of negative life events; or personal resources of mastery and social support--are associated with stage specific well-being.

Methods: Women from the Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study (N=334) provided at least one annual health questionnaire and a menstrual calendar; a subset provided first morning voided urine specimens assayed for E1G and FSH. Descriptive statistics were calculated and Pearson's product-moment correlations were estimated.

Depressed mood during the menopausal transition and early postmenopause: observations from the Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study.

Objective: To characterize patterns of depressed mood during the menopausal transition (MT) in relation to age and MT-related factors and to assess the contribution of factors related to depressed mood at earlier points in the life span.

Design: Women (N = 508) were recruited from 1990 to 1992 from multiethnic neighborhoods and followed annually through 2005: 302 met the eligibility criteria for analyses reported here. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D) and a menstrual calendar were completed annually throughout the study.

Hot flash severity in hormone therapy users/nonusers across the menopausal transition.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine the pattern of and factors that influence hot flash severity across the menopausal transition (MT) and early postmenopause (PM).

Methods: Women from the Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study (N=302) provided data for these analyses: at least one annual health questionnaire and a menstrual calendar. A subset of women provided a first morning voided urine specimen from 1997 through 2005.

Symptoms during the menopausal transition and early postmenopause and their relation to endocrine levels over time: observations from the Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study.

Objective: To determine whether hot flashes, depressed mood, sleep, cognitive and sexual symptoms correlate with urinary follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), estrone (E(1)G), and testosterone (T) and with each other during the menopausal transition and early postmenopause (PM).

Methods: Forty-one women who transitioned from middle or late transition stage to PM rated symptoms and provided monthly urine specimens as part of a longitudinal study of the menopausal transition.

Results: Correlations between endocrine levels and symptom severity ratings over time revealed that hot flash severity was significantly and positively related to FSH and negatively to E1 G.

Association of estrogen-related polymorphisms with age at menarche, age at final menstrual period, and stages of the menopausal transition.

Objective: To explore the association of estrogen-related polymorphisms with age at menarche, age at onset and duration of stages of the menopausal transition, and age at final menstrual period (FMP).

Design: A total of 152 white women were genotyped for CYP17, CYP19 3-untranslated region, CYP19 TTTA7-13, HSDB1, CYP1A1, CYP1B1, and ESR1 polymorphisms. Analysis of variance was used to test a nonspecific model for differences among genotypes associated with each polymorphism.