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Research Agenda for Psychosocial and Behavioral Factors in Womens Health: Guiding Principles
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The research agenda was
guided by the following principles:
- The focus of research
should be on understanding how the experiences of groups affect health-related
issues, rather than on simply documenting group differences or differences
between women and men. Women are a heterogeneous group whose experiences may
vary with ethnicity and race, marital status, parental status, education,
income, occupation, sexual orientation, labor force participation, and geographic
location (e.g., urban vs. rural). Health needs, barriers to obtaining services,
styles of coping or bases for well-being may vary among diverse cultural and
socioeconomic groups.
- Gender-related psychological,
behavioral, and social factors, and their interrelationships with biomedical
factors, are important to consider in understanding disease and health. Like
ethnic status, social class, and age, gender is associated with social realities
that are different for women and men. Social and psychological experiences
that are significantly related to health outcomes are important components
of a research agenda in women's health.
- Psychological and behavioral
factors are important predictors of well-being, vulnerability to disease,
and disease outcomes. Research is needed on the psychological factors that
influence health, including risk reduction, coping behavior, self-efficacy,
perceptions of control, social support, and depression.
- Quality of life is an
important outcome measure and includes a sense of well-being, functional health,
and engagement in the psychological and social world.
- A life span-developmental
approach is important in understanding health practices and outcomes. The
stage of a woman’s life influences behavior and also provides a context within
which health-related behavior and illness can be understood.
- Contextual factors represent
cross-cutting issues that must be considered in designing, implementing, and
interpreting research results in order to enhance traditional biomedical research
and offer new insights. Thus, women’s health issues should be studied within
the following contexts:
- Relationships:
How do women’s relationships affect health status, health behaviors, and health
attitudes? How do health behaviors, attitudes, and health status affect women's
relationships?
- Ethnicity: How
do women’s ethnic backgrounds shape their health, health behaviors, and attitudes?
- Resources: How
do financial and structural resources enhance or limit women’s health options?
- Status and power:
How do women’s social status, work status, and power within relationships
limit health options or affect health status?
- Gender expectations:
How is health status affected by gender expectations, such as expectations
for mothering/primary parenting and care giving for others who are sick or
in need, expectations to serve as an emotional support system for others,
and expectations for housework and other household tasks.
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