Spiritual Well-Being, Self-Esteem and Intimacy Among Couples Using Natural Family Planning

Making decisions about achieving and avoiding pregnancy and the methods used to attain those ends are some of the most central decisions during a couple\u27s reproductive life. Health professionals (especially professional nurses) are often consulted to aid couples in their reproductive decisions and provide couples with choices of reproductive control. Information provided on family planning choices, however, is often limited and usually involves issues of effectiveness to avoid pregnancy, convenience, health risks, and life-style preferences.1,2 Little information is provided on how family planning methods compare on psychological, spiritual, and social well-being variables. One method of family planning that needs further study on these variables is Natural Family Planning (NFP). The purpose of this study was to describe how NFP influenced the intimacy, self-esteem, and the spiritual well-being of couples who used NFP to avoid pregnancy for at least a one year period. A secondary purpose was to describe and compare the intimacy, self-esteem and spiritual well-being of couples who stopped using NFP and who have used contraception for at least a year

Use Effectiveness of the Creighton Model Ovulation Method of Natural Family Planning

OBJECTIVE: To determine the use effectiveness of the Creighton model ovulation method in avoiding and achieving pregnancy. DESIGN: Prospective, descriptive. SETTING: A natural family planning clinic at a university nursing center. PARTICIPANTS: Records and charts from 242 couples who were taught the Creighton model. The sample represented 1,793 months of use of the model. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Creighton model demographic forms and logbook. RESULTS: At 12 months of use, the Creighton model was 98.8% method effective and 98.0% use effective in avoiding pregnancy. It was 24.4% use effective in achieving pregnancy. The continuation rate for the sample at 12 months of use was 78.0%. CONCLUSION: The Creighton model is an effective method of family planning when used to avoid or achieve pregnancy. However, its effectiveness depends on its being taught by qualified teachers. The effectiveness rate of the Creighton model is based on the assumption that if couples knowingly use the female partner\u27s days of fertility for genital intercourse, they are using the method to achieve pregnancy

Self-Esteem, Spiritual Well-Being, and Intimacy: A Comparison among Couples Using NFP and Oral Contraceptives

The purpose of this study was to compare the intimacy, spiritual well being (SWB), and self-esteem of couples using natural family planning (NFP) with those couples using oral contraceptives (OCs). 22 couples who were using the Creighton Model Ovulation Method of NFP for 1 year to avoid pregnancy were matched with 22 couples who were using OCs for a least a 1-year period and administered a SWB, self-esteem, and intimacy inventory. Student t-tests were calculated to determine differences in the mean scores of the 3 inventories between the 2 groups. The results showed that the NFP couples had statistically higher self-esteem (T=3.15, p0.01), SWB (T=4.25. p0.001), and intellectual intimacy (T=2.53, p0.05) than the OC couples. There were no differences in emotional, social, recreational, and sexual intimacy between the groups. Although the results provide some evidence that NFP can enhance a couple\u27s relationship, other factors such as a sampling bias and educational levels could explain the difference

Détresse psychologique chez les personnes atteintes du VIH à Montréal

Le présent article décrit les préoccupations psychologiques reliées au VIH dans un échantillon montréalais de 128 personnes atteintes du virus, qui ont participé à une enquête nationale plus large sur les besoins et les services en santé mentale en rapport avec cette infection au Canada. Nous avons examiné les problèmes psychologiques causés par le VIH à Montréal, en comparaison d'autres villes du Canada, et dans divers sous-groupes définis selon le sexe, l'âge, le diagnostic et le facteur de risque. Les résultats montrent que même si l'infection au VIH a de fortes et profondes incidences sur la santé mentale, il existe des différences dans les genres de préoccupations et de problèmes qui affligent des groupes particuliers de répondants montréalais. L'incertitude de l'avenir et l'incapacité de réaliser ses buts dans la vie, ainsi que des sentiments d'impuissance et de peur face aux conséquences neurologiques virtuelles du VIH, étaient des sources majeures de détresse psychologique. Les sentiments de dépression, d'anxiété et de colère, de même que les inquiétudes soulevées par une détérioration physique croissante, la douleur, le danger d'infecter autrui, la confidentialité et la situation financière, étaient des sujets d'angoisse prédominants parmi les sous-groupes étudiés. Les différences entre les répondants en termes de sources de revenu, d'âge et de sexe et, dans une moindre mesure, de diagnostic et de facteur de risque, étaient associées à des niveaux variables de détresse psychologique. Bien que les répondants de Montréal (et de Vancouver) étaient moins angoissés que ceux de Toronto et de Halifax, cette divergence semblait tenir principalement à des différences d'âge et de revenu. Les données de l'enquête pourront servir aux décideurs et aux planificateurs du domaine de la santé à mettre au point les services nécessaires pour répondre aux besoins psychologiques des adultes atteints du VIH.This paper describes the HIV-related mental health concerns of a sample of 128 persons with HIV infection in Montréal who participated in a larger national survey of HIV-related mental health needs and services in Canada. We examined mental health distress in persons with HIV infection in Montréal compared to other cities in Canada, and in subgroups of HIV-infected Montrealers defined on the basis of sex, age, diagnosis, and risk factor status. Results demonstrate that although HIV infection has a strong and far reaching impact on mental health, there are differences in the types of concerns and issues that are distressing to specific groups of Montréal respondents. Uncertainty about the future and not being able to realize life goals, as well as feelings of helplessness and fears about potential adverse neurological consequences of HIV disease, were major sources of psychological distress. Feelings of depression, anxiety, and anger, as well as concerns about increasing physical disability, pain, infecting others, confidentiality, and finances were predominant concerns among specific subgroups. Differences between respondents in terms of source of income, age, and sex, and to a lesser extent diagnosis and risk factor status, were associated with varying levels of mental health distress. Although respondents in Montréal (and Vancouver) were more distressed than respondents in Toronto and Halifax, these differences appear to be due primarily to differences in age and source of income. Findings from this study will be useful to policy makers and health planners in developing services to meet the mental health needs of HIV infected adults

The impacts of commercial woodland management on butterfly biodiversity.

Although the effects on biodiversity in woodland managed for conservation have been studied for a range of species, there is very little empirical data on the potential impacts of commercial woodland management on biodiversity in the UK. This study measured species richness and abundance of diurnal butterflies as a proxy for the habitat quality of three different woodland management techniques in the Morecambe Bay limestone woodland region. Butterflies were sampled at two sites; Gait Barrows and Witherslack, where three woodland management techniques were carried out: low management woodland (woodland with no recent intervention); traditional coppice management for conservation; and commercial woodland management. Both coppice management for conservation and commercial management had significantly higher butterfly species richness and abundance when compared to low management woodland; neither butterfly species richness nor abundance were significantly different between the traditional coppice management for conservation and commercial woodland management. UK Biodiversity Action Plan fritillary species (high brown fritillary Argynnis adippe; pearl bordered fritillary Boloria euphrosyne; and small pearl bordered fritillary Boloria selene) were not significantly different between the traditional coppice management for conservation and commercial management.UKER

COVERS Neonatal Pain Scale: Development and Validation

Newborns and infants are often exposed to painful procedures during hospitalization. Several different scales have been validated to assess pain in specific populations of pediatric patients, but no single scale can easily and accurately assess pain in all newborns and infants regardless of gestational age and disease state. A new pain scale was developed, the COVERS scale, which incorporates 6 physiological and behavioral measures for scoring. Newborns admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or Well Baby Nursery were evaluated for pain/discomfort during two procedures, a heel prick and a diaper change. Pain was assessed using indicators from three previously established scales (CRIES, the Premature Infant Pain Profile, and the Neonatal Infant Pain Scale), as well as the COVERS Scale, depending upon gestational age. Premature infant testing resulted in similar pain assessments using the COVERS and PIPP scales with an r = 0.84. For the full-term infants, the COVERS scale and NIPS scale resulted in similar pain assessments with an r = 0.95. The COVERS scale is a valid pain scale that can be used in the clinical setting to assess pain in newborns and infants and is universally applicable to all neonates, regardless of their age or physiological state

Remarkable transmission of microwaves through a wall of long metallic bricks

Copyright © 2001 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. The following article appeared in Applied Physics Letters 79 (2001) and may be found at http://link.aip.org/link/?APPLAB/79/2844/1The transmitted intensity of a microwave beam through a thick continuous metal wall will be effectively zero due to the almost complete exclusion of the electric field from the metal. However, it is shown here that by removing less than 20% of the wall material to produce a regular array of bricks, up to 90% of the radiation is transmitted, despite the gaps between the bricks being less than 5% of the incident wavelength. This result is attributed to the excitation of a set of resonant waves along the cavity length through the coupling together of surface–plasmon modes across its width

Prospectus, November 27, 1996

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1996/1031/thumbnail.jp