Approaches to Women's Health

Question 1

Women’s health from a biopsychosocial perspective

Answer 1

• Influenced by feminist perspective
• Women have unique physiological, psychological and social context and influenced by gender, race, and social class
• How to view women’s health:
• 1 way is holistically through an ecological lens

Question 2

Gender

Answer 2

• NOT synonymous with sex
• Set of qualities and behaviors expected from women or men by society
• Sex = biologically determined
• Gender = socially determined
• Self-representation as man or woman
• Influences how social institutions respond to that person

Question 3

Gender can lead to…

Answer 3

• Disadvantage
• Disparity
• Discrimination

Question 4

Feminine Communication Rules

Answer 4

• Include others: Use talk to show interest in others and respond to their needs; connection and intimacy
• Use talk cooperatively: Communication is a joint activity, so people have to work together.
• Use talk expressively: talk should deal with feelings, personal ideas, and problems, and should build relationships w/others

Question 5

Masculine Communication Rules

Answer 5

• Assert yourself
• Use talk competitively
• Use talk instrumentally

Question 6

Ecological Modal

Answer 6

• Health, illness, and disease occur in the context of the social and physical environment
• Model is an image of the context of health problems and allows us to think theoretically about our patients
• Organized by levels: Micro-, Meso-, Exo-, and Macro- levels or systems

Question 7

Race

Question 8

Class

Question 9

1) Microsystem

Answer 9

• Personal behaviors
• Emotional health
• Physical health
• Internal biology, physiology, and genetics

Question 10

2) Mesosystem

Answer 10

• Immediate environment
• Social network
• Family & Social interactions

Question 11

3) Exosystem

Answer 11

• Community
• Institutions (school, church, larger social networks, internet community)
• ## Health care providers

Question 12

4) Macrosystem

Answer 12

• Socio-political context

Question 13

Conflict Theories

Answer 13

• Conflict is a part of society
• Power increases control of resources
• Unequal distribution of power
• Society induces social problems through this unequal power (race, class, gender)
• How a social problem is viewed depends on the viewer
• Dominant group blames the victim and says fix the oppressed or deviant people
• Oppressed group is silent or suppressed

Question 14

Conflict theory says…

Answer 14

Fix the society NOT the people

Question 15

Common concepts of conflict theories

Answer 15

• Inequality
• Power/authority
• Domination/subjugation
• Interests
• Conflicts

Question 16

2 Conflict theories often used in nursing

Answer 16

• Feminist theories: Nightingale (gender role, right to education)
• Critical social theory: Marx, Habermas

Question 17

Feminism Facts

Answer 17

• Acknowledges oppression (“not having a choice”) of women within patriarchal society
• Critical analysis questions assumptions about societal expectations and value of roles on political and individual levels (Acknowledges power imbalances)
• Health: Influenced by intersection of sexism, race, class, nation, and gender