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Biomedical subjects

P S Matteson

Publications and source records attributed to P S Matteson.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

What family planning methods women use and why they change them.

Each woman in a sample of 800 women from a nonprofit, private family planning clinic reported using at least one contraceptive method at some time in her life. Over the 15-year period that the sample represented, women made from 1 to 26 family planning visits. The women reported using as many as eight different methods and making up to 11 changes in method. The reasons for changing methods were, for the most part, logically related to the method, at least as far as common user complaints and side effects were concerned, but they also reflected misperceptions regarding relative risk of methods and a low tolerance for a method's disadvantages. A lack of congruence between choice and use was revealed, as women returned for care and reported that they had not used the contraceptive method they had chosen at the last family planning visit or had changed methods one or more times since that visit.

Adolescent↗

Women's patterns of contraceptive use.

Our purpose in conducting this research was to examine women's patterns of contraceptive use. Records for 800 women receiving care at a private, nonprofit agency providing well-woman and contraceptive care over a 15-year period constitute the data set. The records were examined for patterns of reported method choice and use, method destinations, first method choice, and demographic variables. Women reported making 1,889 method choices from among 16 different methods. Seventy-five percent of the women changed methods at least once and the women gave 1,036 reasons for changing methods. Oral contraceptives and condoms were the methods most commonly tried by the women. The women's patterns of contraceptive use were very individualized, were neither linear nor predictive as other investigators have reported, and method destinations could not be predicted from previous method use.

Adolescent↗

Abnormal Papanicolaou smears, genital tract infections, and contraception.

Cervical cancer ranks second among all cancers in women world-wide, and the rate of invasive cervical cancer among women under 50 is rising in the United States. Risk factors for abnormal Papanicolaou (Pap) smears and invasive cervical cancer include genital tract infections. This study was designed to compare the rates of genital tract infections and the contraceptive choices of a random sample of 800 women, using an ex post facto design. The Pap positive women had a significantly higher rate of genital tract infections than did the Pap negative women but did not differ significantly in use of contraceptive methods. Findings support those of other researchers suggesting genital tract infections as risk factors for abnormal Pap smears and are consistent with the literature in suggesting a role for oral contraceptive pills (OCPs) in acquisition of the human papillomavirus (HPV). Caregivers can help empower women to reduce their risks through informed choices about protection and sexual behaviors.

Adolescent↗

Developing a clinical site at a day camp.

In response to the changing focus of the healthcare delivery system, nursing educators have broadened clinical experiences to prepare students to deliver healthcare in community systems. Finding sites during the months of July and August is difficult because elementary and secondary schools are closed and healthcare agencies have decreased staffing because of vacations. When the philosophy of the college of nursing and the course objectives require that the clinical site must be within a specific community, the task is more difficult. The use of an inner city day camp is one way to successfully address this situation.

Adolescent↗

Facilitating the nurse practitioner's research role: using a microcomputer for data entry in clinical settings.

Data coding and entry can be a tedious and error-prone component of research. Statistical packages for a microcomputer are now available that enable the researcher to create data entry forms in a spread sheet format. In this article the use of software that can be used for data entry, manipulation, and analysis is discussed. In a practice setting these features are particularly useful, because the nurse practitioner can take the microcomputer to the clinical facility and enter data directly from client-provider interactions or from records. In clinical settings where client data are entered directly into a computer database as part of assessment and care giving, data can be downloaded onto this or similar programs for manipulation and analysis.

Humans↗