Methodological and conceptual issues in measuring the long term impact of disability: The experience of poliomyelitis patients in Manitoba

This paper is based on a Canadian study which is examining the long term impact of disability among people who developed respiratory or non-respiratory polio during the epidemics of the 1950s and who were admitted to the same Manitoba hospital, the centralized treatment centre for the Province. This research is exploring change in the lives of these individuals by focusing on three conceptually distinct, although empirically overlapping areas or dimensions. The first is called the 'trajectory of disability' and refers to changes in functional status. The second includes those changes which are the product of the interaction between the normal processes of aging and the long term impact of poliomyelitis. The third is changes in the context of disability. This refers not only to changes in medical and technological knowledge, but sociopolitical developments including the emergence of a Disabled Rights Consumer Movement. This paper discusses the methodological and conceptual issues involved in the study, particularly its combination of different methods of data collection and the value of its historical-prospective design for capturing the effects of change over time in each of these different dimensions.

Health policy and the new genetics

The purpose of this paper is to stimulate debate on the implications of the new genetics for health policy. Although there are different streams within the social science literature on the new genetics, the primary focus has been on the meaning of genetic testing from the perspective of the individual tested. While essential to understand, it does not add much to the health policy debate. A very different type of information has been produced by the public health and epidemiological literature, focused on screening for genetic disease and concerned with rates of detection, costs and benefits, and evaluation criteria. These data are very important to planning and implementing the type of prenatal screening program already in existence; they do not deal with issues central to the new genetics, such as commercialization, patenting and insurance. The problem is how best these topics should be researched. The final section of the paper suggests that given a phenomenon -- the new genetics -- which is both multifaceted and very complex, very new and yet with strong historical and cultural roots, we need a matching research agenda. One that breaks out of traditional paradigms separating one method from another and seeks information on the new genetics wherever it may be found.New genetics Health policy Research

The context of menopause: Psychotropic drug use and menopausal status

The menopause has been cited as a causal factor in psychotropic drug use among women in midlife. This paper first examines the stereotype of the menopausal woman and the theories which can be used to predict that she will be a high user of psychotropic medication. It then examines the actual use of psychotropics and the relationship between use and menopausal status using data from a study of 2500 women, aged 40-59, living in the Province of Manitoba, Canada.psychotropics midlife menopause women

Menopause research: The Korpilampi workshop

A workshop on menopause research focused on three topics: (1) problems and issues in the definition of menopausal status: (2) problems and issues in cross-cultural research: (3) the contributions which research in the behavioural sciences can make to clinical research and practice. Among the conclusions reached by the workshop was the recommendation that researchers should adopt a standard definition of menopause based on the cessation of menses. Yet, while standard definitions are essential to scientific comparison, it is also important to determine how women decide on their own status, particularly when working cross-culturally.menopause women health middle age