Fetal Anomaly: Family Experiences and Preferences for Care: An Integrative Review.

Background: The prenatal diagnosis of a fetal anomaly is unexpected, creating a family crisis. Expectant parents are at an increased risk for perinatal depression and traumatic stress. Prior reviews examined parents' experiences when terminating but not continuing the pregnancy.

Paving the Way: A Grounded Theory of Discovery and Decision Making for Individuals With the CDH1 Marker.

Purpose: To understand the process of discovery and decision making for adults with the CDH1 marker for hereditary diffuse gastric cancer and inherited breast cancer.

Participants & Setting: Purposeful sampling included 20 participants.

Methodologic Approach: Grounded theory with constant comparison was used.

Working hard: women's self-care practices in Ghana.

Women's health care providers have noted an increased infant mortality rate among Ghanaian immigrants. We conducted focus groups with 17 women in Ghana. We asked them how they maintained their health both before and during pregnancy.

Women's decision making during the menopausal transition.

Purpose: To describe women's experiences during decision making about hormonal and nonhormonal therapies during the menopausal transition.

Data Sources: Transcripts from 21 semi-structured audio taped interviews with seven peri- and postmenopausal women who had a recently visited a nurse practitioner (NP) and were making a decision about menopausal management.

Conclusions: Decision making was a nonlinear process in which women considered available options, weighed benefits and risks and likely outcomes.

The hysteroscopic approach to sterilization.

Permanent sterilization is the most common form of contraception in the United States today. Previously, this was accomplished via the laparoscopic method. A new less invasive method has been developed, in which the Essure microinsert is inserted through a hysteroscope into the fallopian tubes.

Graduate students' experiences with standardized patients as adjuncts for teaching pelvic examinations.

Purpose: To explore graduate nurse practitioner students' perceptions of their experiences when learning to perform pelvic examinations in the laboratory and performing them in subsequent clinical rotations. One group was taught by faculty with voluntary peer examination, and the other two groups were taught by standardized patients (SPs).

Data Sources: Surveys with open- and closed-ended (responses on Likert scales) items administered twice during 3 consecutive years to students enrolled in an advanced health assessment course.

Factors influencing women's decisions to self-treat vaginal symptoms.

Purpose: To review the research on women's self-treatment of vaginal symptoms, describe factors influencing this phenomenon, identify evidence-based interventions, and suggest strategies for nurse practitioners (NPs) to promote safe and effective self-treatment decisions by women.

Data Sources: Research articles identified through Medline and CINAHL databases.

Conclusions: The primary factors influencing women's decisions to self-treat vaginal symptoms were personal (attitudes, beliefs, values, knowledge and experience, and emotions) and environmental (culture, social networks and norms, media, and life context).