A Qualitative Exploration of Self-Advocacy Experiences of Black Women in the Perinatal Period: Who Is Listening?

Introduction: Black women face poor maternal health outcomes including being over 3 times more likely to die from pregnancy complications than White women. Yet the lived experience of how these women self-advocate has not been clearly explored. The goal of this cross-sectional qualitative study was to describe the lived experiences of Black women advocating for their needs and priorities during the perinatal period.

Preventing adverse health outcomes among children and adolescents by addressing screen media practices concomitant to sleep disturbance.

In today’s digital age, screen media use is prevalent in the daily life and functioning of children and adolescents. Sleep disturbance and adverse health outcomes related to screen media practices are on the rise affecting physical, cognitive, and behavioral health outcomes. Mounting evidence from studies worldwide support the following recommendations addressing practice, research, and policy: (a) All practitioners are encouraged to assess youth and their families at each health encounter for screen media practices, sleep disruption and daytime sleepiness, and be able to refer to specialists or be trained on interventions to address problems; (b) Children and families are encouraged to seek information about and take responsibility for screen media use practices, effective sleep habits, and signs and symptoms of adverse health outcomes; (c) Policy makers are encouraged to promote public awareness and provide funding for further research into screen media practices, sleep disturbance, and adverse health outcomes.

Promoting Healthy Eating Among African-American School-Aged Girls in a Community Setting.

The prevention of obesity is vital to the health of American children. In the urban African-American community, the health of school-aged children is in particular jeopardy due to the high prevalence of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and poor dietary choices such as the purchase of sugary drinks, salty snacks, low consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, and reliance on fast food meals. African-American girls are at a higher risk for obesity and early puberty before age 10, placing them at a greater risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease in adulthood.

Exploring the Experiences, Challenges, and Approaches of Parish Nurses in Their Community Practice.

Purpose: To explore the personal experiences, challenges, and practices of parish nurses in their communities.

Method/design: The overall study used a mixed methods concurrent embedded design to describe parish nurses' experiences with diabetes education and preconception counseling in their practice. Also included were descriptions of generalized practices.

"Sex Will Make Your Fingers Grow Thin and Then You Die": The Interplay of Culture, Myths, and Taboos on African Immigrant Mothers' Perceptions of Reproductive Health Education with Their Daughters Aged 10-14 Years.

This paper examines the convergence of culture, myths, and taboos surrounding reproductive health issues African immigrant women, living in the United States, learned during childhood in their countries of origin. We also discuss how mothers' perceptions of reproductive health education (RHE) influenced the education of their own daughters aged 10-14 years. This was a qualitative descriptive study.

Experiences of Parish Nurses in Providing Diabetes Education and Preconception Counseling to Women With Diabetes.

Objective: To explore the role and experiences of the parish nurse in providing diabetes education and preconception counseling to women with diabetes.

Design: Mixed-methods concurrent embedded design.

Setting: Focus groups of community-based parish nurses accessed from a regional database (Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, New York, Arizona, and Minnesota).

Exploring the Experience of African Immigrant Mothers Providing Reproductive Health Education to Their Daughters Aged 10 to 14 Years.

Introduction: Adolescents have disproportionate rates of unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections when compared with all other age groups. Mothers are gatekeepers and providers of reproductive health education, which can prevent teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Reproductive health education provided by African immigrant mothers is influenced by cultural experiences and cultural contexts that are not well understood and have not been studied.

Attitudes and Beliefs of African Immigrant Mothers Living in the US Towards Providing Comprehensive Sex Education to Daughters Aged 12-17 Years: A Pilot Study.

The literature currently contains no comprehensive sex education (CSE) interventions targeting the African immigrant population. African immigrant mothers have been inhibited by several factors from providing their daughters with CSE. The primary aim of this study was to identify attitudes and beliefs of Sub-Saharan immigrant mothers living in the United States towards providing comprehensive sex education to their daughters aged 12-17 years.

Comparing Online with Face-to-Face HELPP Intervention in Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health problem. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of the HELPP (Health, Education on Safety, and Legal Support and Resources in IPV Participant Preferred) intervention among IPV survivors. A sequential, transformative mixed-methods design was used.

Spirituality moderates the relationship of psychosocial stress to metabolic risk factors among Afro-Caribbean immigrants in the US Virgin Islands.

Objective: Spirituality may contribute to the health advantage of foreign-born blacks compared to United States (US)-born blacks. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that spirituality attenuates the association of psychosocial stress to stress-associated metabolic risk factors among foreign-born Caribbean blacks living in a US jurisdiction.

Methods: Data on demographic factors, anthropometric measurements (height, weight and waist), fasting glucose and insulin, lifestyle behaviors (smoking and alcohol use), psychosocial stress and spirituality were collected from a population-based sample of 319 Afro-Caribbean immigrants, ages 20 and older, who were recruited between 1995 and 2000 in the Virgin Islands of the United States (USVI).

Testing the theory of reasoned action in explaining sexual behavior among African American young teen girls.

This study tested the Theory of Reasoned Action to examine the prediction of early sexual behavior among African American young teen girls. Baseline data from a longitudinal randomized clinical trial were used. Between 2001 and 2005, 198 middle-school girls aged 11 to 14 years were recruited.

Evaluating the mental health of Jordanian women in relationships with intimate partner abuse.

This study evaluated the mental health consequences of abuse among Jordanian women and tested the effectiveness of using cognitive behavioral interventions to change the level of depression and level of stress among Jordanian women experiencing intimate partner abuse (IPA). A mixed methods design using phenomenology and quasi-experimental research data collection and analysis was implemented. The most commonly reported form of abuse was psychological abuse.

Another look at heterosocial behaviors: one side of the early intimate sexual behaviors coin.

The number of adolescent births is once again on the rise. Heterosocial competence described as successful interactions (i.e.

Implications of type 2 diabetes on adolescent reproductive health risk: an expert model.

Purpose: The purpose of this article was to summarize scientific knowledge from an expert panel on reproductive health among adolescents with type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Methods: Using a mental model approach, a panel of experts--representing perspectives on diabetes, adolescents, preconception counseling, and reproductive health--was convened to discuss reproductive health issues for female adolescents with T2D.

Results: Several critical issues emerged.

Tales from the "hood:" placing reproductive health communication between African American fathers and children in context.

Objective: To evaluate reproductive health communication between African American fathers and their children.

Design: In this qualitative ethnographic study, data were collected through tape-recorded individual interviews about the content and timing of reproductive health communication, the reproductive health values fathers intended to impart to their children, and their comfort level in doing so.

Sample: A total sample of 19 African-American fathers participated.

Exploring the relationship among weight, race, and sexual behaviors among girls.

Objective: The relationship between weight and sexual behavior among adolescents is poorly understood. We examined this relationship in a nationally representative sample of high school girls.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of self-reported data from 7193 high school girls who completed the 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance survey.

Influence of the parent-adolescent relationship on condom use among South Korean male college students.

This study examined the mediating role of condom self-efficacy between the parent-adolescent relationship and the intention to use condoms with a submodel based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. Male students aged 18-25 years (n = 176) were recruited from a university in Seoul, South Korea, using a flyer and self-referral in 2004. A sample of 170 male students was retained for the final data analyses as six subjects had incomplete data on more than one instrument.

Evaluating the Theory of Planned Behavior to explain intention to engage in premarital sex amongst Korean college students: a questionnaire survey.

Background: To reduce risky adolescent sexual behavior, education programs must be tailored to specific cultures and stage of adolescence.

Objectives: This study describes the self-reported sexual behavior of Korean college students and examines the efficiency of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TpB) in explaining intention of engaging in premarital sex in order to provide insights for a potential sex education program designed to reduce risky sexual behavior.

Design: A cross-sectional, correlational design using an exploratory survey method was used.

The NIA Group. Building a sense of purpose in preadolescent African American girls: a novel approach to nursing leadership in community health.

Many African American girls experience pubertal development early. Earlier pubertal development may place these girls at greater risk of exposure to or engagement in early sexual behavior. Young girls facing this societal context need interventions to help them develop healthy self-esteem, pride in their cultural heritage, good decision-making skills and a sense of purpose.

Overview of female middle childhood in societal context: implications for research and practice.

Preadolescence represents a time of becoming and of change less emphasized in popular and empirical literature than adolescence. Yet it is an important period and a critical time to teach children, while they are still sufficiently adult-dependent and adult-centered, to help that learning to persist. These are formative years during which children experience marked increases in development (physical, cognitive, and psychosocial) and knowledge and an incremental shaping of values, attitudes, and behaviors that they will carry into adulthood.

Risk-taking behaviors in early adolescent minority women: implications for research and practice.

Adolescence is a time of biologic, intellectual, and psychosocial transition for young women. For an African American or Hispanic girl, the challenge of being female is compounded by the challenge of being a member of a minority group. In this article, the authors present the reproductive health challenges faced by African American and Hispanic girls and suggest research-based programs and nursing practice interventions to address these challenges.