Women & Health

Editorial Submission, Haworth

doi: 10.1300/J013v10n02_apmid: N/A

No abstract available for this article.

Freedman, Rita Jackaway; Golub, Sharon

doi: 10.1300/J013v10n02_bpmid: N/A

No abstract available for this article.

Lewis, Myrna

doi: 10.1300/J013v10n02_01pmid: 3927595

Older women's health issues are unique. There are more older women than ever before. They are living increasingly longer than men, yet they report more acute and chronic illness and disability than men. They are disproportionally represented in nursing homes, since many women are alone: twenty-five percent aged 70 or over have no living children and over 60 percent of older women are widowed, divorced, or single. Older women have fewer personal financial resources for health care than men. Health care reimbursement does not meet their needs for financial coverage of chronic outpatient and nursing home care. They face age and sex discrimination on the part of many health care providers and are subject to a growing tendency to be seen as "burdens" and "problems" in the American health care system.

Rathbone-McCuan, Eloise

doi: 10.1300/J013v10n02_02pmid: 3895754

This article describes demographic and economic factors that impinge on the health care of elderly women. Policies that control access to and utilization of health and long term care services are discussed. Some of the shortcomings of past policies are noted and current social reform efforts aimed at greater policy equity for elder women are reviewed.

Miller, Dulcy B.

doi: 10.1300/J013v10n02_03pmid: 3927596

Women have played a significant role in long term care: formerly as volunteer caregivers and presently as volunteer and paid caretakers, as professionals working in the field and increasingly as old, old residents in nursing homes. The goal in long term care is helping people to function to their maximal level; it is based on a philosophy of care not cure. Family-patient relationships influence quality in long term facilities where nursing is the matrix of professional services. Respite care is designed to provide relief to family caretakers for time limited periods and long term home health care is a non-institutional alternative where the nursing home therapeutic regimen is brought into the patients' own home. Whatever the model, the female influence is pervasive.

Bader, Jeanne E.

doi: 10.1300/J013v10n02_04pmid: N/A

Recent respite care research is reviewed, advantages and disadvantages of respite- and home-based care are presented, and some recommendations are introduced. It may be more costeffective to invest in caregivers' physical, financial, and emotional well-being than to provide the care required when caregivers become "patients." Practical and policy issues are raised regarding the desirability of investment in respite care.

Powell, Lenore S.

doi: 10.1300/J013v10n02_05pmid: N/A

Alzheimer's Disease affects approximately two million people. It is a crippling, organic brain disorder that causes loss of recent memory, intellectual deterioration, unpredictable behavioral changes, and personality deterioration. The fourth leading cause of death among the elderly, it also affects younger people. The disease has two victims, the Alzheimer patient and the caregiver. Caregivers often experience shame, embarrassment, denial, frustration, anger, depression, and guilt as they care for an Alzheimer patient. This paper provides information about the disease and it's manifestations, along with practical suggestions to help both the Alzheimer patient and the caregiver.

Mann, William C.

doi: 10.1300/J013v10n02_06pmid: 3927597

The increasing life expectancy of our population will mean that by the year 2000 we may expect a large number of women to be in age groups at significant risk for malignancies of the female reproductive tract. It is very unlikely that we will soon understand the cause of cancer, and effective new therapies are not to be anticipated. Rather, improved survival and diminished morbidity must be obtained by insuring ready and equal access to state of the art treatment, for the patient and physician.

Krakoff, Lawrence R.

doi: 10.1300/J013v10n02_07pmid: N/A

Hypertension is the most common cause of increased risk for heart and vascular disease in the adult population. Both men and women are at risk for hypertension and both benefit from antihypertensive therapy. However, hypertension tends to be less prevalent in women and is better tolerated; hypertensive women have fewer strokes and hean attacks than do hypertensive men. Women may develop reversible hypertension due to use of birth control pills. Another form of curable secondary hypertension, renal artery stenosis caused by fibromuscular dysplasia, is much more frequent in young women than men. Antihypertensive drug treatment for severe hypertension benefits both sexes, although clinical trials establishing this have been conducted only in men. There is no proof that white women with mild hypertension benefit from antihypertensive drug therapy. Nondrug approaches including weight reduction, change in diet, and exercise may be equally beneficial.

Bajart, Ann M.

doi: 10.1300/J013v10n02_08pmid: 2862745

Dry eye syndrome, cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration are the four most common eye problems affecting elderly women. The cause, symptomatology, treatment, and prognosis of each condition are discussed.