Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health articles from June 2005

Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health archives from June 2005

In this issue.
June 1, 2005... How many parents have tried to talk to their teenager about sexuality-related issues, only to be met with the kind of look you see on the face of the youngster on our cover? Both parents and their children want to be able to have these talks,...

The medium muddles the message.(FYI)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Confusion about the relationship between emergency contraception and medical abortion plays a substantial role in debates about emergency contraception. The media, it turns out, are not helping. (1) In a review of newspaper coverage that...

Abortion not taught here.(FYI)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Medical students in the United States who wish to receive abortion education may have a hard time finding it. (1) Of the 62% of accredited U.S. medical schools represented in a 2003 survey, four in 10 do not offer formal education on abortion...

STD test just a click away.(FYI)(sexually transmitted diseases)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... With the number of early syphilis cases in San Francisco skyrocketing (mainly among men who have sex with men), the city's public health department and a community-based organization have developed an innovative way to offer confidential...

Abortion support slipping.(FYI)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The proportion of Americans who support Roe v. Wade declined from 57% in 1998 to 52% in February of this year, results of an online Harris poll indicate. (1) Meanwhile, the proportion who oppose the decision rose from 41% to 47%, its highest...

The human costs of sex.(FYI)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Although most adverse health outcomes of sexual behavior are preventable, sexual activity takes a tremendous toll on the health and lives of Americans. (1) In 1998, analysts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate, 20...

Parents say yes to vaccine.(FYI)
June 1, 2005... Parents surveyed in a clinic-based study generally said that if an STD vaccine were available, they would be willing to have their child vaccinated, regardless of the child's age or sex. (1) The 278 participants, who were parents of...

More prevention latitude.(FYI)
June 1, 2005... In late January, the federal government approved the use of antiretroviral drugs to prevent HIV infection in people who have been exposed to the virus in nonoccupational settings. (1) Prophylactic use of such drugs has been recommended since...

Presumed knowledge is not power.(FYI)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Male teenagers who think that they know more about condoms than they do are at risk of not using them. (1) In a sample of 404 males aged 15-17 participating in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the proportions correctly...

The church's holy war.(FYI)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... A new society of Catholic priests has been established for the purpose of aggressively fighting to end abortion. (1) Beginning this fall, the society will train priests and seminarians to use a variety of strategies to advance its cause,...

Worksite-based parenting programs to promote healthy adolescent sexual development: a qualitative study of feasibility and potential content.
June 1, 2005... Efforts to promote healthy sexual development and reduce sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and unintended pregnancies have frequently targeted adolescents through school or community-based programs. (1) Less effort has been focused on...

Availability of services for emergency contraceptive pills at high school--based health centers.
June 1, 2005... Emergency contraceptives are pregnancy prevention methods that can be used after unprotected vaginal intercourse has occurred. From a pregnancy prevention perspective, vaginal intercourse is considered unprotected when a contraceptive method is...

Poor knowledge regarding the Pap test among low-income women undergoing routine screening.
June 1, 2005... Women widely recognize cervical cancer screening via the Pap test as an important health behavior. In 2000, 81% of U.S. women aged 18 and older had received a Pap test within the preceding three years, although screening rates were lower among...

Evaluation of a peer provider reproductive health service model for adolescents.
June 1, 2005... National data have demonstrated declining pregnancy rates (1) and birthrates (2) among adolescents in recent years, due to increases in effective contraceptive use and reduced sexual activity. (3) However, the adolescent birthrate in the United...

Advanced practice clinicians' interest in providing medical abortion: results of a California survey.
June 1, 2005... Medical and technological advances in abortion care, including the introduction of mifepristone and the refinement of uterine aspiration techniques, have enabled earlier and simpler termination of unwanted pregnancy. These technologies are well...

Vaccine-Preventable Hepatitis (VPH) and high-risk patients with HIV.(Advertisement)
June 1, 2005... Introduction All forms of viral hepatitis cause up to 15,000 deaths annually in the United States, and it is estimated that one third of the US population will be infected with viral hepatitis at some point in their lives. (1) Nearly 90%...

Low-birth-weight risk and mother's nativity status: associations vary by race, ethnicity and education.(DIGESTS)
June 1, 2005... Immigrant women are less likely than U.S. natives to have a low-birth-weight baby, but analyses of national data show that the association varies by race or ethnicity and by educational level. (1) Overall, immigrants who gave birth in 1998 had...

Detention facilities offer a window to screen youth at high risk for STDs.(Digests)(sexually transmitted diseases)
June 1, 2005... In addition to demographic characteristics, psychological, behavioral and family characteristics are associated with the risk of current chlamydial and gonorrheal infection among incarcerated adolescents. (1) According to data from a Southern...

Many parents of teenagers think parental involvement laws will increase risks.(Digests)
June 1, 2005... Parents of adolescents in Minnesota and Wisconsin are divided in their support of laws requiring parental involvement in minors' reproductive health care, but they are nearly unanimous in expecting that such laws will breed negative...

Hospital-based clinic visits by women seldom include routine screening for STDs.(Digests)
June 1, 2005... Routine STD screening of sexually active women aged 15-24, although recommended in federal guidelines, is uncommon in primary care visits at hospital-based clinics: In 1997-2000, only 4% of such visits by women in this age-group who had no...

Teenagers' sexual behavior might become more risky if parents had to know of family planning clinic visits.(Digests)
June 1, 2005... Most U.S. teenagers younger than 18 who use clinic-based sexual health services do so with their parents' knowledge, according to an analysis of data from 79 family planning clinics across the country. (1) If parental notification were legally...

For male and female condoms, failure rates fall as users' experience grows.(Digests)
June 1, 2005... Male and female condoms have fairly low rates of slippage or breakage, and such failure declines as users' experience with the method grows, according to findings from a large observational study of women attending two Alabama STD clinics in...

Prepregnancy health status has strong associations with preterm delivery risk.(Digests)
June 1, 2005... A woman's risk of having a preterm delivery is influenced largely by conditions that occur during pregnancy, but a clinic-based longitudinal study in California demonstrates that her health status and health behaviors prior to conception also...