"Since I'm a little bit more mature": contraception and the arc of time for women in midlife.

Background: Contraceptive methods have rapidly evolved over the past several decades, but little research has explored how women interact with contraception over time. Exploring contraceptive beliefs, perceptions, and attitudes of women in midlife can reveal much about how lived experience affects contraceptive decisions and reproductive health choices.

Methods: Individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 women between the ages of 40 and 55 who had not reached menopause and did not have a permanent method of sterilization.

The Reproductive Health Priorities, Concerns, and Needs of Women in Midlife: A Feminist Poststructuralist Qualitative Analysis.

Reproductive health research rarely involves the inclusion of women over 40, creating a large knowledge gap regarding women in midlife. Women continue to have reproductive health needs, concerns, and priorities up to the point of menopause that should be examined to improve reproductive health outcomes and provide individualized care. In-depth, individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 women between the ages of 40 and 55 who had not reached menopause and did not have a permanent method of sterilization.

The Role of Helplessness in the Appraisal of Illness Uncertainty in Women With Fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain disorder characterized by uncertainty in etiology, symptomatology, diagnosis, treatment, and outcome. The high level of illness uncertainty that results from fibromyalgia is a risk factor for maladjustment to illness. A cross-sectional survey design was used to examine the relationships among illness uncertainty, helplessness, and subjective well-being in 138 women with fibromyalgia.