Identifying Causal Effects of Reproductive Health Improvements on Women's Economic Empowerment Through the Population Poverty Research Initiative.

Policy Points: Improvements in reproductive health lead to improvements in women's economic empowerment. Contraceptive use improves women's agency, education, and labor force participation; higher maternal age at first birth (reducing adolescent childbearing) increases the likelihood of school completion and participation in the formal labor market; and having fewer children increases labor market participation. Reproductive health is not just a benefit to a woman's individual rights, but her gateway for breaking free from her poverty trap and improving the welfare of herself, her children, and her household. CONTEXT: Women's access to employment, business opportunities, and financial resources is critical to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals over the next 15 years. With increased attention to women's economic empowerment among donors and policymakers across the globe, this moment is a pivotal one in which to review the current state of the research on this topic. METHODS: We reviewed the Population and Poverty (PopPov) Research Initiative results from the past 10 years with attention to the causal link between reproductive health improvements and women's economic empowerment, in addition to seminal research that informed our understanding of the link. FINDINGS: Our review of PopPov findings revealed that improvements in reproductive health do lead to improvements in women's economic empowerment; expanding contraceptive use improves women's agency, education, and labor force participation; higher maternal age at first birth (reducing adolescent childbearing) increases the likelihood of school completion and participation in the formal labor market; and having fewer children increases labor force participation. CONCLUSIONS: Gaps remain in measuring women's work and in the full exploration of women's economic empowerment. More research is needed regarding the long-term impact of reproductive health improvements on women's economic empowerment, as some studies have shown that at times unintended negative consequences occur after early positive improvements.

Growing up with perinatal human immunodeficiency virus-A life not expected.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES: To describe the lived experience of young adults with perinatally acquired HIV (PaHIV). BACKGROUND: With the advancement of the highly active antiretroviral treatment, PaHIV infection has transformed into a chronic lifelong illness that is faced by young adults who grew up with HIV. The known challenges that are associated with HIV are poverty, stigma and social and emotional isolation. DESIGN: This was a qualitative single-interview study of a convenience sample of PaHIV-infected young adults receiving care at a large metropolitan pediatric hospital. METHODS: The participants had individual face-to-face interviews which were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Themes were developed to describe their living space, and Max Van Manen's lifeworld guide was used to describe their lived experience. FINDINGS: Seventeen participants (eight males/nine females) were enrolled. Four major themes emerged: (i) limited social capital, especially when orphaned participants reflected on a life void of parental guidance; (ii) incomplete education and unemployment, participants described an idle existence; (iii) a harsh life, described as participants facing difficulties meeting their life's milestones; (iv) unanticipated adult issues, where participants described their limited ability to care for themselves and their children. Van Manen lifeworld themes also described the space they occupied, their memories growing up with PaHIV, their health care and relationships. CONCLUSION: Our study provides a valuable insight into the social and emotional difficulties faced by youth with PaHIV. The findings underscore the importance of extensive support and coordination of services between adult and pediatric providers to optimize long-term outcomes among young adults with PaHIV. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The young adults with PaHIV require close attention and support from the healthcare providers, who can offer them a safe space to discuss lived experiences and support their ability to achieve full lives.

Creating a career legacy map to help assure meaningful work in nursing.

When nurses declare a professional legacy (or what they intend to be better in health care because of their efforts), they are likely to maintain a focus on achieving their legacy and to experience meaning in the process. We depict the legacy and involved steps in creating a legacy map, which is a concrete guide forward to intended career outcomes. Informed by the "meaningful work" literature, we describe a legacy map, its function, the process to create one, and the application of a legacy map to guide careers. We also describe an administrative benefit of the legacy map-the map can be used by team leaders and members to secure needed resources and opportunities to support the desired legacy of team members. Legacy mapping can be a self-use career guidance tool for nurses and other health care professionals or a tool that links the career efforts of a team member with the career support efforts of a team leader.