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Aim To determine sexual and reproductive health problems and needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people based on their experiences and to develop solutions. Method A mixed method, which includes quantitative (descriptive) and qualitative (phenomenological) methods, was used (n=106). An online questionnaire was used to collect the data. Results Of the participants, 42.5% stated that they had experienced problems receiving sexual and reproductive health-care services, and 77.8% of those who stated they had problems indicated that the attitude of the health-care professionals was discriminatory or unfavorable. In the qualitative analysis, two themes were created: "Experiences during Health-care Services" and "Recommendations for Health Services." Conclusion It was determined that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have sexual problems, sexually transmitted diseases, and suffer from sexual harassment. However, it was found that they do not receive sufficient health-care due to health-care professionals' attitudes, homophobia, and disregard of privacy or confidentiality. In line with the results of the present research and the suggestions of the participants, it is suggested that training programs should be organized for health-care professionals providing services for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to raise awareness and ultimately promote more effective services.

Background although obstetrical interventions are used commonly in Turkey, there is no standardized evidence-based assessment tool to evaluate maternity care outcomes. The Optimality Index-US (OI-US) is an evidence-based tool that was developed for the purpose of measuring aggregate perinatal care processes and outcomes against an optimal or best possible standard. This index has been validated and used in Netherlands, USA and UK until now. Objective the objective of this study was to adapt the OI-US to assess maternity care outcomes in Turkey. Design translation and back translation were used to develop the Optimality Index-Turkey (OI-TR) version. To evaluate the content validity of the OI-TR, an expert panel group ( n =10) reviewed the items and evidence-based quality of the OI-TR for application in Turkey. Following the content validity process, the OI-TR was used to assess 150 healthy and 150 high-risk pregnant women who gave birth at a high volume, urban maternity hospital in Turkey. The scores between the two groups were compared to assess the discriminant validity of the OI-TR. The percentage of agreement between two raters and the Kappa statistic were calculated to evaluate the reliability. Findings content validity was established for the OI-TR by an expert group. Discriminant validity was confirmed by comparing the OI scores of healthy pregnant women (mean OI score=77.65%) and those of high-risk pregnant women (mean OI score=78.60%). The percentage of agreement between the two raters was 96.19, and inter-rater agreement was provided for each item in the OI-TR. Conclusion OI-TR is a valid and reliable tool that can be used to assess maternity care outcomes in Turkey. The results of this study indicate that although the risk statuses of the women differed, the type of care they received was essentially the same, as measured by the OI-TR. Care was not individualised based on risk and for a majority of items was inconsistent with evidence based practice, which is not optimal. Implications for practice use of the OI-TR will help to provide a standardized way to assess maternity care process and outcomes of maternity care in Turkey which can inform future research aimed at improving maternity care outcomes.

This study aims to determine the exposure of women to violence by their partners during pregnancy and the factors affecting this condition. The current study conducted as descriptive included a total of 442 pregnant women who were married and at the last trimester of their pregnancy. The data were collected using a semi-structure questionnaire and face to face interview with the pregnant women and were evaluated using descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and logistic regression analysis. Of the pregnant women, 39.8 % experienced at least one type of violence, and the most common type of violence experienced was verbal violence (31.4 %). Among the participants, 18.2 % exposed to violence expressed that their partners perpetrated violence because of jealousy, and 30.1 % reported that they just cried when exposed to violence. According to the results of the logistic regression analysis, insufficient prenatal care increases all types of violence in pregnancy. Working with pregnant women and their partners together under the scope of prenatal care services, and especially planning the attempts to prevent violence by discussing the causes of violence with couples, will facilitate more successful violence prevention programs.

Background: Domestic violence is seen in all communities. Objectives: To determine the risk factors that facilitate emergence of domestic violence. Methods: A qualitative study where in-depth interviews were used. A total of 30 women who stated they had been experiencing violence from their partner for at least a year made up the study sample. The common opinions in the interviews were grouped and coded according to the themes created for “descriptive analysis”. Excerpts from the statements that best emphasized/defined the women’s opinions and experiences were used in the study report. Results: The factors stated by the women as facilitating the emergence of domestic violence in our study were: the man being older, the woman being in a marriage that she did not want, was forced into, or that her family did not want, a lack of support by the woman’s family, the man’s family not wanting the woman, the man seeing violence as a societal right, and a lack of mutual love, respect, or trust in the marriage/relationship. Conclusions: To decrease the emergence of domestic violence in the Turkish family system where traditional female-male roles are present: the woman and man within the marriage/relationship should have similar sociodemographic attributes (age, education, employment), the decision for marriage/relationship should be with the woman’s own free will, educational and awareness increasing programs to ensure societal change should be arranged, and the quality and quantity of social institutions should be brought to a level where the support systems for women can be strengthened.

Objective: This research has been conducted for the purpose of determining the cancer risk levels of women living in a small village of in Saraycık village of Ankara and their knowledge and application of breast cancer early diagnose-scan methods. Materials and Methods: 317 women were taken as examples for the study. Data were collected by giving survey forms to women and conducting face-to-face interviews. In determining breast cancer risk, ''the form to determine the breast cancer risk'' has been used. For breast cancer informational questions, one point has been given for each correct answer. In evaluating the data, number, percentage calculations, average and standard deviation, Mann-Whitney U (MU), Kruskal-Wallis (KW), One-way analysis of variance (F) independent sample T (t) tests have been used. Results: It has been found that breast cancer risk is low, the knowledge level about cancer early recognition methods are medium among the women. It has been determined that 74.4% women didn't perform breast self-examination. 89.6% of women don't have mammography taken and 88.6% don't have their breast examined by health personnel. Conclusion: In our study, it has been found that the risk levels of women are low, their knowledge about early diagnosis and cure are at a medium level and their use of these methods are inadequate. For this reason, we suggest that responsibility of healthcare professionals have to be increased in determining breast cancer risk among women and education and advisory services for this subject to be offered., NA

Domestic violence is a chronic healthcare problem affecting women from all groups. Nurses play a key role in determining and intervening in domestic violence due to their close relationship with the patients and because they belong to an occupational group that is mostly composed of females. Studies are required on the healthcare needs of battered women and to guide nurses regarding nursing care for these patients in Turkey. This study was a qualitative study where the in-depth interview method was used. Factors that prevent the services provided by nurses to women who have been subjects of domestic violence were investigated. We used the maximum variety sampling method so that we could ensure maximum variety of the individuals to access a larger amount of data in this study. A total of 30 nurses who had worked in emergency departments of hospitals for at least 1 year made up the study sample. We found that factors that prevented the intervention of emergency nurses in domestic violence were: They did not feel adequate to intervene due to their lack of knowledge on domestic violence, they felt that caring for the women subjected to domestic violence was the duty of the psychiatrist or the social worker and not the nurse, they worked in a very busy environment and did not have enough time to intervene in domestic violence, they were unable to be left alone with the women even if they wanted to intervene as there was no suitable environment and they were therefore afraid that the woman's relatives could hurt them or the woman, they felt that they would be intervening in the family if they intervened in domestic violence, they felt that domestic violence was a problem without a solution and that the nurse could do nothing to solve it.

Aims and objectives. To examine the validity and effectiveness of a symptomatic approach based on symptoms, administered by a nurse working in women’s health area, in identifying vaginal infections in women with or without vaginal discharge. Design. Survey. Methods. Between November 2005–August 2006, 300 married women were included. A questionnaire and vaginal discharge assessment form were used for data collection. The modified algorithm of a symptomatic approach without speculum examination was used to manage participants. Three diagnoses were made for each participant. The first diagnosis was made by the research nurse using the vaginal discharge assessment form; the second diagnosis is the clinical diagnosis which was made after the gynaecological examination by a physician; and the third diagnosis is the microscopic diagnosis made by the physician when assessing the collected specimens. Results. In the methodological part of this study, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of the symptomatic approach were 91·5, 69·7, 87·7 and 77·5%, respectively. The symptomatic approach had 27·7% sensitivity for bacterial vaginosis, 16·6% for trichomonas vaginalis and 62·8% for candida albicans, compared to the microscopic results. The sensitivity of the approach was higher for the identification of candidiasis compared to bacterial vaginosis and trichomonas vaginalis. Conclusion. From the results, it is suggested that the symptomatic approach model can be used by nurses who work in women’s health area to diagnose vaginal infections. Relevance to clinical practice. This study showed that trained clinician nurses will be able to diagnose and manage vaginal infections – especially candidiasis – by using the symptomatic approach. Moreover, the symptomatic approach will encourage women not to delay or fail to seek treatment for their health problems, especially for vaginal infections in conservative societies.

Objective: Postpartum depression could be a chronicle, repetitive and progressive disease if it doesn’t treated, it decreases woman’s life quality and it increases suicidal attempts of women and giving harm to own baby risks. Postpartum depression should be diagnosed in early period and should be interfered for prevent negative effects to woman and her family. This research was performed in a descriptive way to determine the frequency of postnatal depression on women and effecting factors of it. Material and Method: The universe of the study was consisted of women who gave birth in Gazi University Hospital and 214 women took place in the sampling. The data was collected with a questionnaire form prepared by researchers and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Percentage and chi-square tests were applied for data analysis. Results: In the study, 65.9% of women are in 25-34 age group, 58.9% of them are university and upper graduated, 94.9% of them have nuclear family. 23.4% of women have postnatal depression risk. It was determined that socio-demographic characteristics (age, education level, economical status, family type, working status, job) didn’t effect postnatal depression risk (p>0.05). Also some variables, which were signified that effected postnatal depression risk at literature, in pregnancy ( parity, status of planned pregnancy or not, living a health problem in pregnancy period, feeling ready to motherhood or not), birth ( way of birth) and postnatal period (taking support for baby care or not, health problem of baby) didn’t found significant (p>0.05). It is established that; women who want to give up pregnancy, don’t take adequate support during pregnancy, don’t feel adequate ownself as a mother and experience breast problems at postpartum period had high risk postnatal depression than others (p

This study aimed to compare immediate postplacental (IPP) and early postpartum (EP) intrauterine device (IUD) insertions with interval (INT) IUD insertions with respect to efficacy and complications.The study group consisted of 268 women in whom the following TCu 380A IUD insertions were performed: 84 IPP (less than 10 min), 46 EP (10 min to 72 h) and 138 INT (more than 6 weeks). The women were followed up 8 weeks, 6 months and 12 months after insertion. Complications and pregnancies encountered at the end of 1 year following IPP, EP and INT insertions were compared. The chi-square test and Fisher's Exact Test were used for the evaluation of the data.Complications developed in 40.4% of the women in the IPP group, in 74.4% of the women in the EP group and in 19.2% of the women in the INT group (p.001). Although no statistically significant difference was found between the groups for uterine perforation and infection (p.001), there was a statistically significant difference between the groups in the incidence of complete and partial expulsion according to the time of IUD insertion. The overall cumulative pregnancy rate and frequency of pregnancy were found to be higher (p.05 for both), which are both insignificant for the EP group (2 of 43 women), as compared with the INT (4 of 130 women) and IPP groups (2 of 84 women), and pregnancy rates at 1 year for all groups was 3.1% (8 of 257 women).IPP and EP insertion of the TCu 380A IUD is an effective and convenient procedure, and expulsion rates in these groups are higher than in the INT group. Further studies are necessary to determine the cause of the higher expulsion rates and to find ways to reduce such rates.

WOS: 000333505500019 PubMed: 24424210 Objective: Cigarette smoke contains many toxic chemicals associated with poor reproductive outcome and reduced fertility. It also has a negative effect on sperm motility and morphology. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of male and female cigarette smoking on the outcomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Study design: In this comparative prospective analysis, the effects of smoking on outcomes of IVF including semen parameters, oocyte quality, fertilization rate, transfer day embryo scores and pregnancy rates were analyzed. For this purpose, patients were grouped based on their follicular or seminal fluid cotinine (a nicotine metabolite) levels as smokers and non-smokers (non-smokers: female (n = 171), male (n = 118), smokers: female (n = 43), male (n = 96)). Results: The mean age and baseline hormonal levels of all groups were found to be comparable. While the numbers of total and mature oocytes collected were higher in the smoker group (p = 0.005 and p = 0.006, respectively), oocyte quality index, fertilization rate, embryo development rate and pregnancy rate were not significantly different between the groups (p > 0.05). Analysis based on the type of ovarian hyperstimulation protocol (GnRH agonist, antagonist and others) showed that within the antagonist group the mean age of smokers was significantly lower and the total number of collected oocytes was significantly higher compared with non-smokers. Cigarette smoking among men did not have a significant negative effect on outcomes of IVF whether their partners were smokers or nonsmokers. Regression analysis did not give any significant difference when male and/or female smoking status was analyzed for fertilization rates, transferred embryo qualities and clinical pregnancy rates. Conclusion: Cigarette smoking does not have detrimental effects on outcomes of IVF. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved. Scientific Research Section of Hacettepe UniversityHacettepe University A part of this study was supported by Scientific Research Section of Hacettepe University.

In this study, urinary cyclophosphamide (CP) excretion rate, as well as micronuclei (MN) in peripheral lymphocytes and in buccal epithelial cells were determined for 26 nurses handling antineoplastics and 14 referents matched for age and sex. In urine samples of 20 out of 25 exposed nurses CP excretion rate was found in a range of 0.02-9.14 mu g CP/24 h. Our results of the analyses of CP in urine demonstrates that when the nurses were handling CP (and other antineoplastic drugs) this particular compound was observed in urine. The mean values (+/-SD) of MN frequencies (%) in peripheral lymphocytes from the nurses and controls were 0.61 (+/- 0.32) and 0.28 (+/- 0.16), respectively (p < 0.01). The mean value (+/- SD) of MN frequency (%) in buccal epithelial cells of nurses was 0.16 (+/- 0.19) and also mean MN frequency in buccal epithelial cells for controls was found to be as 0.08 (+/- 0.08), (p > 0.05). Age, sex and smoking habits have not influenced the parameters analyzed in this study. Handling time of antineoplastics, use of protective equipment and handling frequency of drugs have no effect on urinary and cytogenetic parameters analyzed. No correlation was found between the urinary CP excretion and the cytogenetic findings in nurses. Neither could we find any relationship between two cytogenetic endpoints. Our results have identified the possible genotoxic damage of oncology nurses related to occupational exposure to at least one antineoplastic agent, which is used as a marker for drug handling. As a whole, there is concern that the present handling practices of antineoplastic drugs used in the several hospitals in Ankara will not be sufficient to prevent exposure. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

In our country which has patriarchal social structure in which the primary responsibility of a woman is her home and her family, female research assistant face problems while balancing their business and domestic life. Especially in the beginning of scholarship, and yet both students and research assistants have a professional working women to balance their work and family life with a gender perspective on the issues important to reveal the density. This study is a research in descriptive type made for the aim of determining the opinions of women working as research assistant regarding their business and family lives and the problems they meet, through the gender perspective. Sample of research is composed of 246 women who worked as research assistant. Data were collected by face-to-face interview method and data collection form developed by the researchers. Descriptive statics and Chi-square tests was used during the evaluation of data. It stated by 27.2 % of the female participators of the study that there is an inequality between men and women in business life. 31.7 % of the female research assistants think that to have a higher status than male causes problems in domestic life. It is determined that the roles imposed on woman at home traditionally (cooking, washing the dishes, laundering, ironing, cleaning the house, cloth repairing) are performed by the most of the women included in research; and works such as repair of house, shopping, invoice payment are performed mostly by the man.