Background: Young women are a group at high risk of weight gain. This study examined a range of perceived personal, social and environmental barriers to physical activity and healthy eating for weight maintenance among young women, and how these varied by socioeconomic status (SES), overweight status and domestic situation.

Endometriosis is an often painful medical condition in which, in response to hormones associated with the menstrual cycle, the uterine lining grows in the peritoneum and other organs, bleeding into the surrounding organs and tissues. Diagnosis is not always straightforward, and women and health professionals alike may have difficulties recognizing period pain as a sign of anomaly, considering it instead as an inevitable part of menstruation. This article describes the illness narratives of Australian women with endometriosis, drawing on data collected during a study conducted in Victoria in 2004-5. Thirty women (aged 20-78 years) from various socio-demographic backgrounds participated in in-depth interviews. We explore the influence of socio-demographic background and social and family norms on women's illness narratives of endurance and contest. Narratives of endurance are characterized by the normalization of period pain by young women, their families and health professionals, and, with diagnosis, long-term exposure to biomedical treatments. In contrast, narratives of contest are dominated by how women's subjective experience is challenged by doctors, their requirements for a patient-centered approach, and their desire to have access to complementary treatments.

BackgroundChild mental health problems are now recognised as a key public health concern. Parenting programs have been developed as one solution to reduce children’s risk of developing mental health problems. However, their potential for widespread dissemination is hindered by low parental engagement, which includes intent to enrol, enrolment, and attendance. To increase parental engagement in preventive parenting programs, we need a better understanding of the predictors of engagement, and the strategies that can be used to enhance engagement.MethodEmploying a PRISMA method, we conducted a systematic review of the predictors of parent engagement and engagement enhancement strategies in preventive parenting programs. Key inclusion criteria included: (1) the intervention is directed primarily at the parent, (2) parent age >18 years, the article is (3) written in English and (4) published between 2004–2016. Stouffer’s method of combining p-values was used to determine whether associations between variables were reliable.ResultsTwenty-three articles reported a variety of predictors of parental engagement and engagement enhancement strategies. Only one of eleven predictors (child mental health symptoms) demonstrated a reliable association with enrolment (Stouffer’s p < .01).DiscussionThere was a lack of consistent evidence for predictors of parental engagement. Nonetheless, preliminary evidence suggests that engagement enhancement strategies modelled on theories, such as the Health Belief Model and Theory of Planned Behaviour, may increase parents’ engagement.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO CRD42014013664.

Pain resulting from endometriosis is experienced as both a chronic, ongoing condition and an acute episode at time of menstruation, often occurring in association with diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, heavy bleeding, and other reactions. Women expect pain with menstruation, however, and even if they experience major disruptions as a result, they find it difficult to distinguish normal from pathological discomfort. Drawing on qualitative research conducted from 2004 to 2006, we describe the “circuit breakers” that lead Australian women to seek medical advice. These include outside intercession, major disruptions to everyday life, changes in embodied experience, and difficulties in conception and pregnancy. Women's ideas of menstrual pain as “normal” are shared by doctors, resulting in further delays before a definitive diagnosis of endometriosis is made. During this time, women move between doctors and in and out of medical care, which they described through particular narrative styles to highlight the complexity of help seeking. We explore the ways in which ideas of gender, informed by women's embodiment but also the quality of their reporting of symptoms, influence their interactions with health professionals.