Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to outline the authors' experiences of designing and implementing an enterprise development programme for female entrepreneurs. The programme targets those women who already have a business and wish to grow it further. Design/methodology/approach -The paper describes the motivation for the programme and the range of issues which is encountered in its design and delivery. It concludes with a brief assessment of lessons learned. Findings -In addition to the importance of design and focus, the experiences of the Female Entrepreneurship Ireland-Wales (FEIW) project indicate the need for appropriate programme presentation and marketing; networking and mentoring aspects are also hightlighted. Research limitations/implications -As this is a pilot project with flexibility to adapt to the needs of the participants, it is not possible to apply a robust evaluative framework, although such a framework will need to be developed in due course. That said, the qualitative data collected pre-, during and post-programme delivery offer valuable insights to the needs of female entrepreneurs; this learning may be incorporated into the design of future programmes. Practical implications -The FEIW programme is essentially a pilot initiative and is delivered in only two regions. Thus, it is difficult to generalise findings. Originality/value -As a case study, the experiences of the FEIW project contribute valuable empirical evidence regarding the design and implementation of an enterprise programme for female entrepreneurs.
A retrospective study of the results of cervical cytological screening of HIV-infected women attending an inner city ambulatory HIV clinic over a 6-year period between 1987 and 1992 was carried out. During this time a total of 165 HIV-infected women attended for management of their HIV disease. The results of cervical cytological specimens (smears) were available in 136 (82.4%) women. The risk categories for HIV infection of these 136 women were intravenous drug use 110 (80.9%), heterosexual sex 24 (17.6%) and undetermined 2 (1.5%). Eighty-five (62.5%) of the 136 women were classified CDC group 2, 30 (22%) CDC group 3, and 21 (15.5%) CDC group 4 at the time of initial cytological screening. Forty-one (30.1%) women had mild dysplasia/CIN 1, 21 (15.4%) had moderate dysplasia/CIN 2 and 17 (12.5%) had severe dysplasia/CIN 3. The overall prevalence of dysplasia/CIN was 58.1%. Twenty-seven (34.2%) of the women with dysplasia/CIN had cytological evidence of human papillomavirus infection. No association between the clinical stage of HIV disease and the presence or degree of dysplasia/CIN was demonstrated. Women with cytological evidence of CIN were significantly more likely to have had genital warts than those with no evidence of CIN (OR 3.1, CI 1.1-10). In those women with cervical dysplasia who underwent colposcopic examination, CIN was confirmed in a high proportion of cases. The default rate from colposcopy, however, was high (35.4%).
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