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On n'entend plus les agricultrices canadiennes depuis l'erosion des programmes qui les aidaient. L'auteure parle de ceux qui ont existe et ceux qui furent elimines dans les annees 1970-2000. et [...]

This article focuses on the framing of women's health services in the context of restructuring dictated by health system regionalization. By examining the archives of a local newspaper and the minutes and documents of one of the key organizations involved in restructuring after regionalization, it was possible to examine the public discourse of the time and subsequently the journalists' and the readerships' understandings of women's health. The evidence suggests that the Salvation Army was instrumental in setting the tone that was taken by the media in framing the issues around the closure and move of its Grace Women's Health Centre. While the Calgary Health Region was successful in bringing the Grace under its mandate and organizational control, it was the Salvation Army, with its highly visible and powerful fundraising arm and its advocacy for holistic women's health, that caught the public's attention. The internal discourse tracked some of the emerging issues, known only to those involved at managerial levels within the health system, but the public discourse kept women centered in decisions regarding the partnership. Women from many constituencies must continue to participate in the public policy realm to ensure that women's health remains an issue in health reform. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Deliver3, Serviice: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: Website: KEYWORDS. Women's health, public participation, media, discourse, policy, health reform

This manuscript explores mid-life women's views of corporeality and the links that these have to their health. Using ethnographic interview techniques, community based interviewers talked with 24 women from rural settings. Our findings suggest that mid-life women have an embodied view of their minds and spirits, and that dualism is generally reserved for thinking about and interacting with the biomedical system. They have a sense of themselves as unique individuals who have a large role in caregiving, multiple other roles, and have luck but also agency in and control of their health and well-being. Motion was a strong theme throughout the interviews. Women embraced this mobility as a characteristics of their well-being as they coped with multiple changes associated with mid-life. In contrast to what some philosophers maintain, women seem to partner both corporeal changes and metaphor. While the sample was limited in scope, the findings support the importance to women's health of understanding the intersections between compositional and contextual variables in various settings. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: Website: KEYWORDS. Dualism, contextual effects, compositional effects, women's health, mid-life, rural

Les auteurs ont consulte des histoires sur le mitan de la vie des Autochtones et ont decouvert que leur sante et bien-etre ne pouvaient etredissocies du contexte colonisateur. Les auteures [...]

Past research has established the link between low energy fractures and the risk for future fractures. These fractures are potential markers for investigation of bone health, and may be precursors for osteoporosis. In spite of its significant public health burden, including burden of illness and economic costs, many individuals are not aware of the risk factors for and consequences of osteoporosis. This is a study of women aged 40 and older who experienced low energy fractures (e.g., from non-trauma sources and falls from no higher than standing height). We gathered data, using focus group interviews, about their experiences and understanding of the fractures in relation to bone health. Women often attributed the fractures to particular situations and external events (e.g., slipping on ice, tripping on uneven ground), and viewed the fractures as accidents. Women often felt that others are at risk for poor bone health, but believed that they themselves are different from those really at risk. Although the fractures are potential triggers for preventive efforts, few women connected their fracture to future risk. What is perceived by women (and others) as random and an accident is often a predictable event if underlying risk factors are identified. Only when there is more awareness of poor bone health as a disease process and fractures as markers for bone fragility will women, men and health care providers take action to prevent future fractures and established bone disease. KEYWORDS. Bone health, body image, women's health, preventive health

While the range and nature of Canadian women's work has varied at times and places due to a variety of factors, that work has usually contributed to the family economy. The discussion here focuses on women who were married during the period from just prior to the First World War until the end of the Second World War. Data were gathered from a sample of 22 ever-married women using unstructured face-to-face interviews. Immersion and crystallization were used to analyse the data. Similarities were found in women's experiences during early transitions in marriage, including the marriage bar and making ends meet. Fairly quickly, however, the effect of socioeconomic status became more salient. Four categories of women's experiences were identified, including volunteer work, paid work for 'extras,' necessary but hidden paid work, and family provisioning by single women. It is apparent from this study that women's work included not only paid and unpaid work, but Goffmanian labor that contributed to their families' class and status. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-342-9678. E-mail address: getinfo@haworth.com]

The authors examine the erosion of support programs for farm women during the years 1970-2000. Her study analyzes how beneficial these programs were and the impact the erosion of them [...]

Most samples of adult women will contain a significant proportion who have been or are currently in abusive relationships. While past research has linked childhood abuse of girls to adult health concerns, little is known about the process through which women retrospectively reconcile these experiences. This article reports on data collected in an ongoing project on midlife women's health. Twenty-seven of 50 urban, middle-class participants in this phase of the project reported childhood abuse experiences. In the analysis, several aspects of these experiences were identified: definitions of abuse; recontextualizing abuse; responsibility for abuse; abuse avoidance; and experiences of multiple abuse. The women's discourse reflected a number of ideologies that provide a context in which women negotiate their understandings of these childhood experiences. This article provides insight into our understanding of abuse. It addresses the fundamental issue of promoting a worldview that precludes child abuse while leaving adult survivors with options for "moving on." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA) is charged with reporting to Albertans on the quality, safety and performance of the healthcare system. In 2004, the HQCA conducted a telephone survey (response rate: 55%) of 1,500 adult Albertans to assess their perceptions of and personal experiences with preventable medical errors (PMEs). A total of 559 (37.3%) respondents reported that they or a family member had ever experienced a PME. The most common PMEs were related to clinical performance (n=128), medication (n=123), diagnosis (n=121) and communication (n=73). Through this research, patients have provided an orientation to interventions to improve patient care and prevent medical errors.