Meeting the Late-Career Needs of Faculty Transitioning Through Retirement: One Institution's Approach.

Problem: Medical school faculty are aging, but few academic health centers are adequately prepared with policies, programs, and resources (PPR) to assist late-career faculty. The authors sought to examine cultural barriers to successful retirement and create alignment between individual and institutional needs and tasks through PPR that embrace the contributions of senior faculty while enabling retirement transitions at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, 2013-2017.

Approach: Faculty 50 or older were surveyed, programs at other institutions and from the literature (multiple fields) were reviewed, and senior faculty and leaders, including retired faculty, were engaged to develop and implement PPR.

A qualitative study of the meaning of fatherhood among young urban fathers.

Objective: To explore the beliefs, attitudes, and needs young men have regarding their role as a father.

Design And Sample: Exploratory, descriptive, qualitative design. Young fathers/young expectant fathers were recruited from service sites within a city in Massachusetts.

Adolescent medicine training in pediatric residency programs.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to provide an assessment of pediatric residency training in adolescent medicine.

Methods: We conducted 2 national surveys: 1 of pediatric residency program directors and the other of faculty who are responsible for the adolescent medicine block rotation for pediatric residents to elicit descriptive and qualitative information concerning the nature of residents' ambulatory care training experience in adolescent medicine and the workforce issues that affect the experience.

Results: Required adolescent medicine topics that are well covered pertain to normal development, interviewing, and sexual issues.

Adolescent mothers' attitudes toward contraceptive use before and after pregnancy.

Study Objective: To understand attitudes and beliefs influencing use and nonuse of contraceptive methods pre- and postpartum among a group of adolescent mothers.

Design And Setting: Qualitative descriptive study utilizing focus groups conducted between May, 2005 and January, 2006 in Central Massachusetts.

Participants: Adolescent mothers attending a federally funded multi-professional medical program.

The body mass index of teen mothers and their toddler children.

Objectives: To evaluate: change in Body Mass Index (BMI) of adolescent mothers (14-19 years of age) from pre-pregnancy to 36 months postpartum; BMI of their children age 2 or older; relationship between maternal BMI and children's BMI.

Methods: Retrospective medical record abstraction of adolescent mothers attending a medical program in Massachusetts between 2001 and 2005 who had self-reported pre-pregnancy BMI data at first prenatal visit, at least one BMI measure 12 or more months postpartum, and who did not experience a repeat pregnancy (n = 52). Children of adolescent mothers were included if they had received their 2 (n = 41) and/or 3 (n = 28) year physical.

Adolescent pregnancy.

Teen birth rates have decreased steadily over the past decade, but the United States still has the highest birth rates among all developed countries. Young women who give birth as adolescents are likely to have poor school performance, and come from families with low socioeconomic status, a history of teen pregnancies, and low maternal education. The fathers of babies who are born to teen mothers are likely to be unsuccessful in school, have limited earnings, have high rates of substance use, and have trouble with the law.

Sisters' and Girlfriends' Sexual and Childbearing Behavior: Effects on Early Adolescent Girls' Sexual Outcomes.

This study examined three key issues related to the effects of sisters' and girlfriends' sexual and childbearing behavior on early adolescent girls' sexual outcomes. Subjects were 455 girls from predominantly minority racial backgrounds. Results indicated that number of sexually active girlfriends, number of sexually active sisters, and presence of an adolescent childbearing sister were positively associated with permissive sexual attitudes, positive intentions for future sexual activity, and a greater likelihood of being a nonvirgin.