Women's agency and its relationship to current contraceptive use in lower- and middle-income countries: A systematic review of the literature.

Research shows a positive relationship between women's empowerment and reproductive health. Yet we know little about the quantitative relationship between women's agency and contraceptive use. We conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature assessing the link between women's decision-making and freedom of movement with their contraceptive use in lower- and middle-income countries. Of 102 articles that met the initial screening criteria, 12 met all inclusion and exclusion criteria. Of the 12 included studies, consistently positive associations with contraceptive use were found in those that measured decision-making and freedom of movement as separate constructs. Composite measures had a less clear relationship with contraceptive use. In conclusion, women's agency is associated with women's contraceptive use in lower- and middle-income countries. However, the relationship is sensitive to how agency and its components are measured. Our review suggests the need for consistent validation of scales for women's agency as well as more rigorous research using standardised and validated scales, when possible. Longitudinal and intervention studies in lower- and middle-income countries will be useful for understanding the causal impact of women's agency on contraceptive use, and will help to inform policies and programmes to increase contraceptive use in these settings.

The Influence of Women's Empowerment on Child Immunization Coverage in Low, Lower-Middle, and Upper-Middle Income Countries: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

OBJECTIVES: An estimated 1.5 million children under five die annually from vaccine preventable diseases, and 17% of these deaths can be averted with vaccination. Predictors of immunization coverage, such as maternal schooling, are well documented; yet, preventable under-five mortality persists. To understand these patterns, researchers are exploring the mother-child relationship through an empowerment framework. This systematic review assesses evidence of the relationship between women's agency as a component of empowerment and vaccine completion among children <5 years in lower-income countries. METHODS: We searched in Socindex, Pubmed, Web of Science and Women's Studies International for peer-reviewed articles focused on two measures of women's agency-decision-making and freedom of movement-and child vaccination. Our initial search identified 406 articles and abstracts for screening; 12 studies met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. RESULTS: A majority (83%) of studies revealed at least one positive association of measures for women's agency with immunization coverage. These relationships varied by geographic location, and most studies focused on women's decision making rather than freedom of movement. No included study came from Latin America or the Middle East. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, women's agency, typically measured by decision-making, was positively associated with the odds of complete childhood immunizations. Yet, the concept of agency was inconsistently defined and operationalized. Future research should address these inconsistencies and focus on under-represented geographic regions including Latin America and the Middle East.

Outcomes following plyometric rehabilitation for the young throwing athlete: a case report.

The current literature offers limited evidence supporting sport-specific plyometric rehabilitation for young throwing athletes. The purposes of this case report were to 1) describe the focused differential diagnosis of a young throwing athlete with shoulder pain and 2) use previously validated, region-specific, health-related quality of life measures to describe clinical outcomes for a rehabilitation program that included sport-specific, plyometric training. The 13-year-old male patient presented in this case report experienced a sudden onset of right shoulder pain while pitching in a baseball game. On physical examination, this patient demonstrated shoulder pain, pain with palpation of the infraspinatus and teres minor muscles, decreased strength of the infraspinatus and teres minor with resultant impaired rotator cuff performance, and signs consistent with anterior shoulder instability. Early rehabilitation consisted of modalities for pain relief and therapeutic exercises to improve strength. In the return to sport phase of rehabilitation, the patient performed sport-specific plyometric exercises that were progressed in difficulty based on the patient's report of pain and muscle soreness. Health-related quality of life was assessed by using the Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI) and the sports module of the Disability of Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaires. A standard error of measurement (SEM)-based criterion was used to determine if the patient demonstrated meaningful changes in outcome measures. The patient did not demonstrate meaningful improvement in pain or general disability with the SPADI. The patient did demonstrate a meaningful improvement in sport-specific function with the DASH. It is possible that sport-specific plyometric rehabilitation may have provided additional benefit for this athlete's ability to return to sport, but definite conclusions regarding treatment effectiveness are limited by the case report design. Properly designed studies investigating the benefits of sport-specific plyometric rehabilitation are warranted before the effectiveness of these techniques can be determined.