Determinant factors of health in rural women in their perimenopausal period

The environment and lifestyle are known to exert an essential influence on the health of rural women in their perimenopausal period. Objective: To assess the determinant factors of health in rural women in their perimenopausal period. Material and methods: The study was carried out in 150 patients of the Gynecological Clinic of the Independent Public Heath Care Team (IPHCT) in Tomaszów Lubelski, southestern Poland, between 1 August 2010 – 30 April 2011. The women, aged 40-60 years, lived in a rural environment or villages. The study used a Menopause Health Questionnaire (MHQ) and Menopause Symptom Scale (MSS). Statistical analysis was based on Chi-Square Test, as well as U Mann-Whitney test, with a pertinence level of p<0.05. Data basis and statistics were collected using computer software STATISTICA 9.0 (StatSoft, Poland). Results: More than a half of the investigated patients lived in the country (60.00%), with the remainder coming from villages (40.00%). About two-thirds of the patients (66.00%) had completed college education, and the majority stated that their financial situation was bad (30.00%), or average (32.00%). Only every fifth woman (19.33%) regularly had a gynecological check-up each year. Signs of anxiety or a depressive mood appeared to depend essentially (respectively: p = 0.000; p = 0.02) on the professional status of the women. Only every fifth woman (20.7%) showed an appropriate weight. Just over a half of the rural women (50.67%) declared having a job. Conclusions: The professional status of rural women has a notable influence on their general well-being in the menopausal period. The majority of rural women hardly took care of their health or well-being. Worse (depressive) mood, irritability, frequent signs of anxiety, palpitation, heat strokes, and sexual disorders become important problems faced by women in the menopausal period

Medical and psychosocial factors conditioning development of stress urinary incontinence (SUI)

Introduction: Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is the most frequent type of urinary incontinence among adult women. Objective: The objective of the study was evaluation of the effect of environmental, systemic and obstetrical factors on the development of stress urinary incontinence, and diagnosing and determination of areas in which changes could be made. Material and method: The study covered 313 females aged 30-75 living in the Lublin Region. The respondents were divided into two groups according to the clinical diagnosis, occurrence of symptoms of SUI or lack thereof: Group I – women with SUI symptoms (119), Group II – women without SUI (194). A diagnostic survey was conducted with the use of a self-designed research instrument based on the Gaudenz questionnaire, data from relevant literature and the ‘competent judges’ test. The following statistical tests were used to compare two structure indicators (fraction, frequency); chi-square test and t-Student test. Statistical analysis was performed by means of STATISTICA 9 (StatSoft) software. Results and conclusions: Statistically significant differences were found between the group of patients with SUI and the control group, with respect to the number of deliveries and their duration. The study showed that there is a statistically higher probability of the development of SUI in the case of surgical delivery, or natural childbirth of a baby with a birth weight of 4000 g or more. The study showed that hard physical work and past gynaecological surgeries are risk factors of urinary incontinence. Barriers of a psychosocial nature were also found (feeling of shame and embarrassment accompanying disclosure of the SUI), which minimized the respondents’ participation in urinary incontinence prophylactic actions

Self-reported preparation of Polish midwives for independent performance of prophylactic activities within the scope of women’s diseases and obstetric pathologies

objective. The objective of the study is an attempt to recognize self-reported preparation of midwives for an independent performance of prophylactic activities within the scope of women’s diseases and obstetric pathologies. material and methods. The study was conducted in a representative all-Polish population sample of 3,569 midwives, by the method of a diagnostic survey using a questionnaire technique. The research instrument was a questionnaire form designed by the author containing items concerning the characteristics of respondents and the object of the study, constructed based on the 5-point Liker scale. The relationships between the variables were verified using chi-square test (χ [sup]2[/sup] ) of independence. The p values p<0.05 were considered statistically significant. results. Analysis of results allows the presumption that in the opinions of midwives the majority of them are prepared for the independent performance of prophylactic activities in the area of women’s diseases (84.28%) and obstetric pathologies (77.95%). However, nearly every tenth midwife, irrespective of the region of Poland where she lives, age, and participation in post-graduate training, is not prepared for an independent performance of the prevention of women’s diseases. In turn, the lack of preparation for carrying out prevention of women’s diseases was admitted mainly by midwives from the northern and central regions of Poland, aged 31–40, possessing post-secondary school education, who did not participate in any form of post-graduate training. conclusions. The results of studies and analysis of the relevant literature indicate that it is necessary for midwives to improve their qualifications in the area of prophylaxis of women’s diseases and obstetric pathologies through participation in various forms of post-graduate educatio