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Biomedical subjects

P R Ulin

Publications and source records attributed to P R Ulin.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

A qualitative study of clandestine contraceptive use in urban Mali.

This prospective study uses qualitative methods to examine the social and economic impact of family planning on women's lives in the district of Bamako, Mali. Fifty-five first-time users of contraceptives were interviewed in October 1996. Of particular interest is the high proportion (17/55) of those who had hidden their use of a birth-control method from their husbands. Substantial collusion is found to have occurred between sisters-in-law in assisting each other to gain and hide methods of family planning and to keep their use secret from their spouses and older marital relatives. The main reason for discontinuation among the clandestine users was menstrual disruption, which they feared would make their husbands aware of their contraceptive use. By the end of the study, women were aware that their use of contraceptives had increased their mobility and available time, enabling them to enhance the quantity and efficiency of their work activities. Contraception, therefore, appears to be a valuable resource, permitting women to improve their economic and social status. In settings where clandestine use is prevalent, at least in the short term involving men in family planning programs may not always be beneficial, nor may considering the couple as the unit of intervention and analysis always be appropriate. In the long term, however, the underlying causes of men's objections to contraceptive use need to be addressed so as to facilitate communication and joint decisionmaking about family planning.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

African women and AIDS: negotiating behavioral change.

Trends in the incidence of HIV/AIDS infection among women in Sub-Saharan Africa suggest this population is increasingly at risk. Many of the same factors that have predisposed rural African women to ill health in the past now increase their vulnerability to AIDS, including poverty and malnutrition, uncontrolled fertility, and complications of childbirth. As men travel out from rural communities to urban centers in search of employment, their sexual contacts multiply; many will acquire the HIV virus and carry it back to infect wives at home. Women, too, are leaving rural areas for the promise of a better life in cities and commercial centers along the way. Their struggle for economic survival and personal autonomy has led many to form relationships with new sexual partners, with a consequent increase in HIV seroprevalence among women once considered at low risk of infection. This paper argues that AIDS prevention campaigns have not yet taken into account the cultural, social, and economic constraints on most African women's ability to comply with advice to limit partners and use condoms. The author proposes a research agenda to explore the meaning of AIDS and AIDS prevention in the sociocultural context of women's lives. A better understanding of how women, themselves, perceive and respond to current attempts to prevent the transmission of AIDS is an increasingly critical factor in the intervention process. Most important, it is a necessary first step toward their effective participation with men in the development of culturally relevant strategies for protecting themselves and their families.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1981

The use and non-use of preventive health services in a southern African village.

This study investigates the relationship between the health beliefs of mothers in a Botswana village and their utilization of available maternal and child health resources, specifically immunizations, antenatal care, and clinic delivery. The two-pronged methodology includes (1) a household survey of 620 mothers of children under the age of five and (2) a series of intensive but informal, loosely structured interviews with 19 village women. Results show that a majority of the children had received one immunization but that few had ever had more. Most of their mothers had attended the antenatal clinic, but fewer than 30% had made use of the village maternity service in childbirth. As predictors of these kinds of preventive behaviour, mother's age, education, use of the radio, participation in voluntary women's organizations, and material consumption were, for the most part, unimpressive. On the other hand, qualitative data from the survey and intensive interviews revealed that women were confused between curative and preventive health measures. Few respondents linked immunization with prevention of specific diseases; half the women expressed concern that the immunizations were dangerous, while others indicated lack of knowledge about the desired number; still others believed that immunizations "made the children grow". As for maternity services, the majority of women who attended the antenatal clinic had actually done so for a somatic complaint. They were responding to their perception of the clinic as a place that cures, rather than prevents, illness. This was consistent with the finding that few used the clinic delivery service: most women saw no reason to seek professional help in the absence of perceived problems. The authors point out implications of this study for community-centred, in contrast to disease-centred, health education.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The dialectic of freedom and accountability: balancing faculty work load.

A work load standard for faculty assignments was developed and described in the previous article by Freund. In this article, the authors discuss use of the standard for distributing the work of the school while allowing time for service activity and faculty scholarship. While allocating responsibility according to a formula is a rational approach to work load assignment and evaluation, it raises a number of issues which the authors discuss in relation to individual freedom and organizational accountability.

Employee Performance Appraisal↗