"I should live and finish it": A qualitative inquiry into Turkish women's menopause experience

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>While bio-medically, menopause could be treated as an illness, from a psychosocial and cultural perspective it could be seen as a "natural" process without requiring medication unless severe symptoms are present.</p> <p>Our objective is to explore the perceptions of Turkish women regarding menopause and Hormone Therapy (HT) to provide health care workers with an insight into the needs and expectations of postmenopausal women.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A qualitative inquiry through semi-structured, in-depth interviews was used to explore the study questions. We used a purposive sampling and included an equal number of participants who complained about the climacteric symptoms and those who visited the outpatient department for a problem other than climacteric symptoms but when asked declared that they had been experiencing climacteric symptoms. The interview questions focused on two areas; 1) knowledge, experiences, attitudes and beliefs about menopause and; 2) menopause-related experiences and ways to cope with menopause and perception of HT.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Most of the participants defined menopause as a natural transition process that one should go through. Cleanliness, maturity, comfort of not having a period and positive changes in health behaviour were the concepts positively attributed to menopause, whereas hot flushes, getting old and difficulties in relationships were the negatives. Osteoporosis was an important concern for most of the participants. To deal with the symptoms, the non-pharmacological options were mostly favoured.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>To our knowledge, this is the first qualitative study which focuses on Turkish women's menopausal experiences. Menopause was thought to be a natural process which was characterised by positive and negative features. Understanding these features and their implications in these women's lives may assist healthcare workers in helping their clients with menopause.</p

I don’t mind being a diabetic but not every day!:learning to live with a chronic condition

Chronic conditions and their management have become a major global publichealth problem which poses a serious challenge for both health care systemsand affected individuals. Type 2 diabetes is one such condition affecting almost200 million people around the world, a number that is expected to double by2020. As with most chronic conditions its management requires significant andpermanent changes in people’s daily life practices as well as a strict medicationregimen.Recent research demonstrates that it is possible to control the complications ofdiabetes, and even to prevent its development in predisposed individuals byfollowing recommended treatments. Yet studies show that only 2% of peopleliving with diabetes heed their treating team’s advice. This signals a seriousdiscordance between scientifically generated information and its place in thedaily lives of people living with diabetes.This study sought to discover how to change the factors that prevent peoplewith type 2 diabetes from following their recommended treatments. Firstly aparticipant observation process in four diabetes education centres was used todefine the characteristics of the context in which people with diabetes and theirtreating teams interacted. This was followed by a nine-month participatoryaction process in two of the four centres in which participants defined theproblematic areas in the management of their diabetes and devised plans totackle these problems. They then attempted to implement these plans whileexploring how and why their plans did or did not work.The findings indicate that the decision to follow recommended treatments is farfrom being a matter of individual choice. Rather it is heavily influenced by acomplex interaction of numerous factors that people with diabetes have limitedpower to change. This study reveals that the management of chronic conditionssuch as diabetes could be enhanced where operational and practicalknowledge about the condition is provided to people living with the disorder byhealth care providers responsive to patients’ perspectives, and where patients,providers and policy-makers recognise that health is a resource constructed inthe wider social context, whose every element needs to be harnessed inencouraging people to make healthier life decisions

Prediction and optimization of tribological behavior of nylon composites using Taguchi analysis method

In this study, the tribological performance of graphite and wax filled nylon composites was predicted and optimized with the assistance of the Taguchi analysis method. Experimental data from our previous published work are handled. The experimental results are transformed into a signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio using the Taguchi method. This ratio presents the quality characteristics of the experimental results. Tribological performance of nylon 6 (polyamide 6) composites was predicted and optimized. The type of material, applied load, and sliding speed exert effects on the specific wear rate, at 85.06, 2.17, and 3.26, were obtained, respectively. Furthermore, the estimated S/N ratio using the optimum testing parameters for specific wear rate was calculated and a good agreement was observed between the predicted and experimentally determined values for a confidence level above 90