The aim of this study was to investigate the sexual health needs of undergraduate women aged 18-25 years old who were sexually active but not married or cohabiting; in order to put forward recommendations for a health promotion intervention which may be applied in the practice setting. The thesis consists of three linked qualitative studies. The Part 1 study was an in-depth exploration of the women’s sexual lifestyles and behaviours to identify their health promotion needs. This study was conducted using a phenomenological approach employing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The Part 2 study was the systematic development of theoretically robust, evidence based intervention to respond to the health promotion needs identified in the Part 1 study. The third study was a consultation review of the initial materials with focus groups of undergraduate women aged 18-25 years old. The aim of which was to refine and amend the intervention to reflect the women’s perspectives. To undertake these tasks Intervention Mapping (IM) (Bartholomew et al., 2006) a health promotion programme planning framework was used as a guiding framework for the thesis. This study revealed the women traversed different types of sexual relationships. Within all types of relationships the women reported being risk averse and valued positive sexual health. Where a threat to sexual health was identified, they took action to reduce the threat. The threats identified differed depending on the relationship type. The distinct relationship types presented differing patterns of decision making, influenced by their values, emotional salience of the relationships and perception of sexual health risk. As such the different sexual health practices presented differing sexual health challenges and health promotion needs. This thesis suggests a quaternary model of female sexual agency outlining four distinct types of relationships - type (1) sexual debut and initial relationships, characterised by high emotion, type (2) casual sexual relationships, characterised by increasing sexual confidence and hedonistic attitudes, type (3) established but not permanent relationships, characterised by relationship stability but not sexual exclusivity (i.e. biological concurrency/behavioural concurrency) and type(4) marriage/cohabitation type relationships, characterised by increased sexual exclusivity. Many women described moving from type 1 relationships into type 2 relationships and then onto a type 3 relationship. However, once beyond type 1 the relationship types were not linear, the women described movement back and forth between type 2 and type 3 relationships. These were frequently with different partners, but could be with the same partner, for example; previous type 3 partners (established) could become a type 2 (casual partner). The study brought to light differing social constructs and expressions of female sexuality and sexual agency within the different relationship types. This enabled the identification of risk behaviours and their determinants, which in turn facilitated the process of intervention development. This enabled the creation of a tailored response to the women’s sexual health needs; thereby assisting the women to make fully informed contraceptive and sexual health choices. The study revealed how each step of the IM process contributes to the whole, augmenting the potential efficacy of the health promotion tools produced.

The aim of this study was to construct a theory for women's managerial career development that explained how women in health care services and health science faculties achieved senior management positions and developed their careers. It sought to discover the main barriers to career progress and achievement of senior level positions by women in health related organisations and to identify how women managers dealt with obstacles. In-depth interviews with 35 women managers in senior positions in 19 different organisations from three different cultural regions formed the major data source; observations, field notes, personal and operational journals, documents, and literature supplemented this data.This research was conducted in two phases. In phase one a descriptive approach was used to develop propositions about women managers and their careers. These propositions formed the guidelines for phase two. The second phase used grounded theory methods, incorporating feminist and interpretative perspectives to identify the previously inarticulated core problem shared by participants. The barriers that women encountered were the contradictory, inconsistent and incompatible assumptions about their potential to have long term careers and ability to move into senior level management positions.These assumptions had been received during their life and educational experiences, as well as from their organisations. The gendered context of health care organisations and university educational institutions contributed to the limited career aspirations and career progress of women with health professional qualifications. By applying grounded theory strategies for analysis of the data, it was discovered that the women managers dealt with this problem through a core process, labelled metamorphosis, a four stage process for overcoming assumptions. This core variable was the way these women ++ / managers moved from managing without confidence to managing with confidence and assurance.This process occurred over time having four stages, each involving different activities and strategies. The progressive spiral stages were: being in a quandary (struggling with incompatible and contradictory assumptions); observing, examining and reflecting (on the impact of internal and external assumptions on their behaviour in organisational contexts, then realising that opportunities existed); learning and reframing (the managerial skills in order to re-frame their assumptions about the traditional characteristics of a manager); and finally change and transformation into being confident managers, so developing women's presence in management.The findings generated a theory which proposed a managerial career development model for enabling women to manage with confidence and assurance. The outcome was a theoretical model which recognised the dynamic interaction between contexts (professional, organisational, political, economic, cultural, and research); a picture of women managers (personal beliefs, skills, characteristics, attributes of life long learning, relationship between life and career roles, and ways of changing contexts); and the inner energy force creating women's presence in health related organisations (core process and power of their metamorphosis).Contributing to the development of this theory of metamorphosis was the recognition that being and doing research with women involved valuing the personal learning process. This thread has been integrated into the research fabric to strengthen the reflective and personal experiences of research. Using and valuing women's stories enabled their voices and visibility to be taken out of the shadows and demonstrated that they can be pioneers in their own lives. The sense of collaboration in research, education, and community ++ / healing will gain from encouraging women to aspire to leadership and management positions.

Graduation date: 1994

Health communication has become a popular way for health promotion. Public service advertisements of disease prevention construct the understanding of disease and actions toward caution and healing. However, the health messages provided by mass media are not neutral and value-free information; instead, they imply with domestic cultural values, moral regulation, and social order by framing people who affect a disease as lack of self-control, self-surveillance, and negligent behavior. A series of cervical cancer preventing advertisements long-term sponsored by P&G is selected for studying samples. The aims of this research are to discover the power, ideology and dominant discourse about women's health in advertisements. Semiotic theory is adopt as analyzing methodology in exploring mainstream discourse about women's health and body regulation in Taiwan, through voice-over, story, and images in advertising. This research finds that information for preventing cervical cancer appeared through media is full of patriarchy ideology. The perception of "healthy" women body is shaped to fit social expectations in female characters, as well-controlled, fragile and protection needed, as well as capability for giving birth of a child. The advertising represents social construction of illness, and defines women's health problems as individual and private responsibility. The importance of national health policy and the force of social control are absent and ignore. Thus, to disclose how patriarchy, dominant ideologies which undermines women's health are implemented in health communication is the main purpose of this paper.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--York University, 2002. Graduate Programme in Education. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-103). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ71582.

Objective: Pregnancy has been recognized as a risk factor for severe pandemic influenza illness and this “vulnerable” group is suggested to be heightened alertness to the disease by WHO. This systemic review aims to identify the factors affecting the uptake of influenza vaccination among pregnant women as the immunization uptake among this particular group of population is low or suboptimal worldwide. Methods: Systematic literature reviews were conducted by using MEDLINE and PubMed with the key words: “influenza vaccination uptake” and “pregnant women” in the period of January 2004 to January 2013. It was further supplemented by a manual search for literatures and articles on the WHO website, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, Google Scholar, and reference lists of reviews captured by initial searches. Results: Of the 222 articles identified, 10 studies were found to be relevant in this system literature review. Influenza vaccine coverage among pregnant women was highly diverse (6.2-76%) among the 10 studies. Overall, pregnant women were more likely to take the vaccination against influenza if they: (1) believed the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the potential barriers, (2) believed the influenza was severe and they were highly susceptible to the disease, and (3) were influenced by the positive cues to action such as recommendation from health care professionals and the experience of the influenza vaccination uptake. Conclusion: Overall, greater emphasis on vaccine effectiveness and safety, and the recommendation from health care providers is needed to increase the number of pregnant women influenza immunization in the future public health campaigns. / published_or_final_version / Medicine / Master / Master of Public Health

Despite the World Health Organization identifying pregnant women as the highest priority group for seasonal influenza vaccination, many pregnant women remain unaware of the recommendation and have substantial concerns about the adverse effects of the vaccine on them and their unborn foetuses. Few interventions have been conducted to improve influenza vaccine uptake among pregnant women. Among these studies, the results are inconsistent and the quality is generally low. Brief education has been previously shown to improve women’s health practices during pregnancy. An open-label randomized control trial was conducted to assess the effect of providing brief education on influenza vaccine uptake among pregnant women. A total of 163 unvaccinated pregnant women in at least their second trimester were recruited from antenatal clinics of four public hospitals in Hong Kong. They were randomized to receive standard care or a one-to-one brief education session that provided an overview of the safety and benefits of the vaccine to both pregnant women and their foetuses. Participants were followed up by telephone at two to three weeks postpartum to ascertain vaccination status. The primary study outcome was the influenza vaccine uptake rate and the second study outcomes were the proportion of participants initiating discussion about influenza vaccine with their health care providers, the proportion attempting to be vaccinated, and their knowledge of influenza infection and vaccination. A total of 163 participants were recruited with 155 (95%) participants completing follow-up. The overall influenza vaccine uptake rate was 17.8%. When compared with those receiving standard care, the vaccination rate was higher among participants who received the intervention (23.5% vs. 12.2%; p=0.06). In addition, the increase in the rate of self-initiated discussion with HCPs before and after the intervention was significantly higher in intervention group (26.7% vs. 9.3%; p<0.001) but not in standard care group (13.3% vs. 8%; p=0.481). Among participants who did not receive influenza vaccine, pregnant women in intervention group were substantially more likely to have made an unsuccessful attempt to be vaccinated (39.3% vs. 9.2%; p<0.001). Almost one-third of the pregnant women who had attempted to receive the vaccine (n=13) reported they received advice against vaccination during pregnancy from HCPs. If participants had not been advised against influenza vaccine and were successfully vaccinated, the overall difference in the vaccine uptake rate between the two treatment groups would have been statistically significant (34.6% vs. 18.3%; p=0.02). Brief education can be one strategy to improve vaccination uptake rates among pregnant women. In addition, it is clear from this and other studies that recommendations from HCPs substantially influence vaccination behaviours among pregnant women, both positively and negatively. Therefore, multicomponent approaches should be considered in future vaccination programmes and the synergistic effect of both brief education and HCP recommendations should be further evaluated. / published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Philosophy

Not available / text

Not available / text

Not available / text