Student midwives' perspectives of women's sexual and reproductive health literacy in Turkey.

OBJECTIVE: This study focused on the issues surrounding health literacy in the context of women's sexual and reproductive health (SRH), the significance and availability of information for midwives and women; and the socio-cultural influences and barriers related to women's level of health literacy. METHODS: A cross sectional on-line survey was distributed to 280 student midwives in their 2nd 3rd and 4th year of a midwifery programme. This paper focuses on the responses from 138 students which were analysed using descriptive and non-parametric tests. RESULTS: Student midwives indicated their level of agreement regarding women's ability to access, understand, and appraise information they received verbally and in written form about the six main SRH topics (namely contraception, STIs, abortion, Pap tests and cervical cancer, and fertility and pregnancy), from their midwife but agreement was much lower regarding women's access to SRH information from peers and their families. False beliefs were ranked as the most common barrier to accessing information and services. Students ranked being a refugee, being from a rural area, being educated to a primary school level or not formally educated, as having the greatest negative impact on women's health literacy. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study indicate the role that the sociocultural background of Islamic culture plays in the disparities in sexual and reproductive health literacy (SRHL) for women from the perspective of student midwives. Our findings indicate the need for future research to focus on women as participants to gain their first-hand experiences of SRHL.

The Relationship of Females with Sexual Dysfunctions to Different Sex Positions.

The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between different sex positions and female sexual dysfunction. This comparative and descriptive study was conducted at a hospital in a province in Eastern Turkey between March 2019 - June 2019. The data were collected using the "Personal Data Form" and "Female Sexual Function Index/FSFI" via the closed envelope technique to protect the participants' privacy. The study was conducted with 184 women. Number, mean, percentage distribution, and ANOVA tests were used to evaluate the data. The total mean score of the FSFI was determined to be 18.03 ± 4.17. When examining the mean scores of the sexual function index in terms of sex position, a statistically significant difference was found between both the FSFI total score and its subscales and all positions (p = 0.00). It was observed that based on the scores of the FSFI, the women had a form of sexual dysfunction and had higher mean scores in Desire, Arousal, Lubrication, Orgasm, and Satisfaction in the overall scale of female-on-top positions, and their mean scores for pain subscale were lower.

Risk Factors for the Diagnosis of Lung Cancer in Poland: A Large-Scale, Population-Based Case-Control Study.

OBJECTIVE: Lung cancer is one of the most common and deadly malignant neoplasms. Currently, it is one of the main causes of cancer deaths worldwide. The study aimed to identify and evaluate patient characteristics, demographic and lifestyle factors that are associated with lung cancer at diagnosis. METHODS: The study included 400 patients diagnosed with lung cancer and 400 within the control group. The research was based on a clinical, direct, individual, structured, in-depth and focused interview. Assessment of activity and BMI was used according to WHO recommendations, as well as the expert system. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 74.53 ± 7.86 years, while in the control group 59.5 (7.93). There was a strong positive relationship between the incidence of tuberculosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and the risk of lung cancer (p <0.001). The risk of lung cancer was significant in the case of smoking 20 or more than 20 cigarettes a day and smoking for more than 20 years (p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Active and passive smoking, are a leading risk factor for lung cancer, which shows that understanding of the long-term and fatal effects of smoking is still very low in society.  No significant correlation has been found between lifestyle and risk of lung cancer. However, there was a strong positive correlation between tuberculosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and the risk of lung cancer. Occupation is a predisposing factor for lung cancer occurrence.

Nausea and Vomiting After Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy: Analysis of Predictive Factors.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the factors predictive of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. DESIGN: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study. METHODS: In total, 172 patients completed the study. "The Questionnaire Form," "Visual Analog Scale," "Nausea Scale," and "Anxiety Specific to Surgery Questionnaire" created by the researchers were used for data collection. FINDINGS: At the second postoperative hour, 55.8% of the patients had nausea, 20.3% had vomiting and 75% had severe pain. The severity of nausea, vomiting, and pain decreased with time. Age, gender, smoking, motion sickness, postoperative pain, opioid use, preoperative fasting time, time of first postoperative fluid intake and preoperative anxiety score were found to be among the factors predictive of PONV (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: High rates of postoperative nausea and vomiting were recorded.  The factors predictive of PONV can be evaluated in the preoperative period, and PONV can be controlled with early interventions and treatment of patients in the risk group.

Psychometric properties and cultural adaptation of Polish version of Gynecological Cancers Awareness Scale (GCAS).

OBJECTIVES: Cancer of the female genital organs is one of the most common causes of death of women in Poland. The aim of the study was to translate and analyze the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Gynecological Cancers Awareness Scale (GCAS). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Cross-sectional study and questionnaire technic were used to collect data. The study was conducted from June 10th to July10th 2021 among 443 adult women in Poland. RESULTS: The Cronbach Alpha measure was used to assess the internal consistency of the scale. Cronbach's Alpha values greater than 0.7 indicates that the scale has high reliability. CONCLUSIONS: The analysis confirms that the Polish version of Gynecological Cancers Awareness Scale has a very high reliability to assess the women's cancers awareness and knowledge of cancers.

Midwifery students' reactions to ethical dilemmas encountered in outpatient clinics.

BACKGROUND: Midwives are required to make ethical decisions with the support of respective codes of professional ethics which provide a framework for decision making in clinical practice. While each midwife should be ethically aware and sensitive to the ever-changing issues within reproduction, few empirical studies have examined the views of student midwives in relation to reproductive ethical dilemmas. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore midwifery students' reactions to a number of ethical dilemmas relating to women's experiences of reproductive decision making. DESIGN: A series of focus groups were conducted with midwifery students who were asked to discuss five culturally significant scenarios including issues of knowledge acquisition regarding methods of family planning, removal or insertion of an intrauterine device, and abortion. SETTING: A University in Turkey was the setting for this study. PARTICIPANTS: Purposeful sampling was adopted which resulted in five focus groups with a total of 57 midwifery students. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: The study was reviewed and granted formal ethical approval by an ethical committee at the Faculty of Health Science in Atatürk University. The head of the Faculty of Health Science approved the investigation. The participants received both oral and written information about the study and they gave their consent. RESULTS: Five themes were identified from the analysis of the focus group data related to all five scenarios. These themes were 'the right to information', 'choice and protection', 'parental rights and welfare of the women', 'make a decision' and 'women rights and sexual abuse'. CONCLUSION: This study has shown that while students respected women's choice, they also expressed great ambivalence in some situations when personal values conflict with dominant societal beliefs and professional ethics. A focus on ethics education to include human rights is suggested as a means to enable students to explore their own social-value judgements, and as a means to limit the possible development of ethical confusion and moral distress.

Turkish version of the childbirth perception scale: Reliability and validity study.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to adapt the Childbirth Perception Scale (CPS) to the Turkish language and to test its validity and reliability. DESIGN AND METHODS: This methodological study was conducted with 240 puerperants. FINDINGS: The confirmatory factor analysis of the index values showed a good fit. The internal consistency coefficients were 0.74 for the delivery perception, 0.65 for the first postpartum week perception and 0.70 for the total. The total correlation of the CPS items and the test-retest correlation showed high-reliability levels. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Based on the study results, the Turkish language version of the CPS is valid and reliable.

The effect of pain, stress, and cortisol during labor on breastfeeding success.

The aim of the study is to identify and compare the effect of pain, stress, and cortisol level during labor on breastfeeding success. The study was conducted with 51 pregnant women in the delivery room of Nenehatun Maternity Hospital between 15 August and 30 December 2016. The data were collected using the personal information form, visual analog scale (VAS), verbal category scale (VCS), perceived stress scale (PSS) and Breastfeeding Diagnostic and Assessment Scale (LATCH). It was determined that the total mean score of the mothers for the LATCH breastfeeding success scale was 6.56 ± 1.64, the perceived stress scale total mean score was 48.13 ± 4.09 in their active phase, and the perceived stress scale total mean score was 41.41 ± 5.78 in their postpartum period. A negative moderate significant correlation was observed between the LATCH breastfeeding success scale mean scores and the cortisol levels in the active phase and postpartum period. It was found that the LATCH had a significant correlation with the perceived stress and cortisol in the postpartum period. It was determined that the mothers had more stress in the active phase and this stress affected negatively the lactation and sucking behavior of the infant.

The Sexual Beliefs of Turkish Men: Comparing the Beliefs of Men With and Without Erectile Dysfunction.

Sexual beliefs underlying male sexual dysfunction are known to emphasize excessively high sexual performance, among other inaccuracies. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of certain sexual beliefs among Turkish men with and without erectile dysfunction. In this comparative-descriptive study, demographic data and participant views regarding 50 common sexual beliefs were collected with a questionnaire. The study was conducted at the urology clinic of a university hospital in Turkey between May 2011 and August 2013. Participants were 815 men: 304 with erectile dysfunction and 511 without. Men with erectile dysfunction endorsed 8 beliefs about sexual activity more frequently than did men without erectile dysfunction. Findings indicate the association of certain cognitions with erectile dysfunction. Most of these cognitions concerned high expectations of male sexual function.

A Sectional Study: The Relationship between Perceived Social Support and Depression in Turkish Infertile Women.

BACKGROUND: Studies conducted on infertile women in the literature investigated some features such as depression, anxiety, loneliness, and social support. However, there has been no study examining the relationship between levels of perceived social support and depression in infertile women. Considering this deficiency, the study was conducted to determine the relationship between perceived social support and depression in infertile women. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between perceived social support and depression in infertile women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This descriptive and sectional study was conducted between 16 April and 31 October 2012 in in vitro fertilisation (IVF) Centre of Firat University Re- search Hospital. Sampling formula was used in cases when the number of elements in the population was not known to calculate minimum sample size required to be included in the study. A total of 238 women who applied to the relevant centre between the specified dates constituted the sample group of the study. A Questionnaire Form, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) were used to collect the data. A pilot study was carried out on nine infertile women. As a result of the pilot study, we formed the final version of the Questionnaire Form. The data of these nine women were not involved in the research. The data obtained from the study was assessed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS; SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) version 15.0. Percentage distribution, mean, t test, one-way analysis of variance (One-Way ANOVA), and Pearson correlation analysis were used to evaluate the data. RESULTS: The women's total mean score on the BDI was 12.55 ± 8.07. Scores obtained by women on the MSPSS was 15.75 ± 8.53 for the subscale of friend, 21.52 ± 8.20 for the subscale of family, and 15.62 ± 8.45 for the subscale of significant others. The women's total MSPSS score was 52.89 ± 21.75. CONCLUSION: A significant, negative relationship was found between total BDI score with subscale and total mean scores of MSPSS (r= -0.596, p<0.01). Symptoms of depression decreased as the women's perceived social support increased.