Women's Health Psychology

Abstract

This chapter provides an introduction to women's health with attention to biological, psychological, and sociological aspects of women's lives. We suggest that further exploration of gender differences in symptom presentation, diagnosis, prognosis, risk factors, treatment effectiveness, and psychosocial factors for various disease entities is needed in order to enhance appropriate prevention and intervention strategies for women and their families. Specifically, we present overviews of the five leading causes of death among women (i.e., CHD, lung and breast cancer, stroke, COPD, and HIV/AIDS); the leading cause of injury to women (i.e., domestic violence); and chronic diseases common in women (i.e., arthritis, fibromyalgia, and osteoporosis). Mental health conditions prevalent among women, as well as information on the association between mental and physical health, are addressed, followed by a discussion of women in mental health treatment, health insurance, and relationships with healthcare providers. Stressful conditions related to pregnancy (i.e., miscarriage, infertility, postpartum reactions, and peripartum cardiomyopathy) are highlighted. Last, we discuss social and cultural influences on women's health focusing on the relationship between socioeconomic status, multiple roles, sex roles, and socialization as they relate to psychological and physiological illness. We conclude with the current status of women in health care and psychology and future directions in the field.

Coping Styles, Stress Tolerance, and Wellbeing and their Correlations in the Women Spouses of the Mentally Ill

“…Increased rates of depression and anxiety were found in female caregivers when compared with the female non-caregivers in the community. [8] Also, it has been found that there are significant increases in psychological distress as women adjust to the caregiver role as well as in women who are continuing to provide care. All this distress can no doubt negatively affect the wellbeing of women.…”

Social Problem-Solving Abilities and Psychological Adjustment of Persons in Low Vision Rehabilitation.

“…Therefore, we hypothesized that a negative problem orientation would uniquely predict domain-specific emotional distress, depressive symptoms, well-being, and functional abilities reported by persons in a low vision rehabilitation program. However, women are more likely to report more depressive symptoms than men (Geller, Graf, & Dyson-Washington, 2003), and older women often report a higher negative problem orientation than men (D'Zurilla, Maydeau-Olivares, & Kant, 1998). We subsequently examined our data for possible gender differences in adjustment and social problem-solving ability.…”

Drivers, Trends and Mitigation

“…Rewards are seen to have effectively encouraged energy conservation, though with possibly short-lived effects (Dwyer and Leeming, 1993;Geller, 2002). Feedback has also proven to be useful, particularly when given frequently (Becker et al, 1981), while a combination of strategies is generally found to be more effective than applying any one strategy (Abrahamse et al, 2005).…”