Potential benefits of Yoga in pregnancy-related complications during the COVID-19 pandemic and implications for working women.

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy is a vulnerable period of growth and enrichment along with many physiological and psychological challenges. These changes can lead to complications if compounded by external stress and anxiety. COVID-19 has emerged as a chief stressor among the general population and is a serious threat among vulnerable populations. Therefore, there is a need for stress management tools, such as Yoga and physical exercises, both at home and at work. These can be adopted during the pandemic with proper maintenance of social distancing. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and compile literature that has reported the health outcomes of Yoga intervention on pregnancy at the workplace and analyzes both the restrictions as well as advantages of its beneficial effects in comparison to physical exercises. METHODOLOGY: A comprehensive literature review was conducted utilizing PubMed and Google Scholar. The keywords used for the search include "Yoga", "work", "complications", "physical exercise", "drugs" and "COVID" indifferent permutations and combinations with "pregnancy". We compiled the literature with respect to pregnancy complications and the effects of drugs, physical activity and Yoga for preventing these complications. RESULTS: We noted that pregnancy-related complications are becoming more prevalent because of a sedentary lifestyle, restricted physical activity and growing stress. In such situations, a home or workplace Yoga protocol can combine both exercise and mindfulness-based alleviation of anxiety for both working and non-working women. CONCLUSION: Yoga can be effective for combating stress and anxiety besides boosting immunity in pregnant working women confronted with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Impact of Key Workplace Breastfeeding Support Characteristics on Job Satisfaction, Breastfeeding Duration, and Exclusive Breastfeeding Among Health Care Employees.

Background: Although national breastfeeding rates have improved across recent decades, women continue to face barriers to achieving recommended breastfeeding targets. Returning to work presents a unique set of challenges for breastfeeding continuation, even in health care settings tasked with promoting breastfeeding among patients. This study examined the association between key workplace breastfeeding support characteristics, job satisfaction, and breastfeeding outcomes among health care employees. Materials and Methods: We used data from a cross-sectional survey of employees in a large integrated health care system. The study sample included female employees who had breastfed in the past 3 years (n = 165). The Employee Perceptions of Breastfeeding Support Questionnaire (EPBS-Q) measured organization, manager, and coworker support for breastfeeding. Regression analyses tested the association between workplace support factors and breastfeeding duration, breastfeeding exclusivity, and job satisfaction. Results: Managerial support increased median job satisfaction by 0.39 standard deviations (p < 0.001), and increased the odds of prolonging exclusive breastfeeding (odds ratio [OR] 1.47; confidence interval [CI] 1.03-2.09). Organizational support increased median job satisfaction by 0.27 standard deviations (p < 0.001), and increased the odds of exclusive breastfeeding by nearly twofold (OR 1.80; CI 1.05-3.09). No significant associations were found between workplace support factors (organizational, managerial, and co-worker support) and overall breastfeeding duration. Conclusions: Organizational and managerial support are key aspects of workplace lactation support, which may positively impact job satisfaction, rates of exclusive breastfeeding, and duration of exclusive breastfeeding among female health care employees. This intersection of outcomes salient for the business community and public health practitioners highlights opportunities for collaborations to improve workplace and breastfeeding outcomes.

Pathways of the association between maternal employment and weight status among women and children: Qualitative findings from Guatemala.

The double burden of malnutrition, defined by the coexistence of undernutrition and overweight, is well documented in low- and middle-income countries. However, the mechanisms by which employment may be related to maternal and child weight status in low- and middle-income countries are not well understood. We conducted in-depth interviews among 20 mothers who participated in Project MIEL, a contemporary trial which evaluated the effects of an integrated micronutrient supplement and parenting intervention in rural Guatemala. We utilized semi-structured interviews to explore the pathways by which maternal employment might influence bodyweight. Interviews were structured to explore the factors that mothers considered when deciding whether or not to participate in the labor force and how mothers perceived the influence of employment on determinants of their own bodyweight and that of their children. Themes were used to develop a conceptual framework. Mothers described four pathways through which employment could lead to changes in weight status: changes in food purchasing; improved household well-being; changes in time allocation; and psychological effects. Mothers described purchasing increased quantities and more varied types of food, as well as the purchase of energy-dense foods. Less time to devote to food preparation resulted in mothers preparing quicker meals and relying on substitute childcare. Mothers also expressed feelings of worry and neglect in relation to being employed, and perceived that these feelings would affect weight. A better understanding of these mechanisms is important for developing policies and programs to support women in the workplace and also reducing maternal and child overweight in Guatemala.

Comparisons for Effectiveness of Aromatherapy and Acupressure Massage on Quality of Life in Career Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

OBJECTIVES: This study was aimed to compare the effectiveness of aromatherapy and acupressure massage intervention strategies on the sleep quality and quality of life (QOL) in career women. DESIGN: The randomized controlled trial experimental design was used in the present study. One hundred and thirty-two career women (24-55 years) voluntarily participated in this study and they were randomly assigned to (1) placebo (distilled water), (2) lavender essential oil (Lavandula angustifolia), (3) blended essential oil (1:1:1 ratio of L. angustifolia, Salvia sclarea, and Origanum majorana), and (4) acupressure massage groups for a 4-week treatment. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Short Form 36 Health Survey were used to evaluate the intervention effects at pre- and postintervention. RESULTS: After a 4-week treatment, all experimental groups (blended essential oil, lavender essential oil, and acupressure massage) showed significant improvements in sleep quality and QOL (p < 0.05). Significantly greater improvement in QOL was observed in the participants with blended essential oil treatment compared with those with lavender essential oil (p < 0.05), and a significantly greater improvement in sleep quality was observed in the acupressure massage and blended essential oil groups compared with the lavender essential oil group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The blended essential oil exhibited greater dual benefits on improving both QOL and sleep quality compared with the interventions of lavender essential oil and acupressure massage in career women. These results suggest that aromatherapy and acupressure massage improve the sleep and QOL and may serve as the optimal means for career women to improve their sleep and QOL.

A Grounded Theory Study of How Nurses Integrate Pregnancy and Full-Time Employment: Becoming Someone Different.

BACKGROUND: A holistic exploration of the experience of how nurses integrate pregnancy and employment is lacking among the global nursing literature. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to explore how primiparous U.S. nurses integrated pregnancy and full-time employment. METHODS: Using a grounded theory approach, 20 nurses from the United States, who were pregnant and delivered their first baby-while employed full time on 12-hour work shifts-provided a firsthand account of how they incorporated pregnancy with professional nursing employment. RESULTS: The basic social process, "becoming someone different," emerged to explain how U.S. nurses integrated pregnancy and full-time employment in early and late stages. Four core categories were: (a) "looking different, feeling different,"(b) "expectations while expecting," (c) "connecting differently," and (d) "transitioning labor." DISCUSSION: Within early and late stages, pregnant nurses becoming someone different navigate through various social interactions with peers and patients alike, with meaning assigned to those experiences. Research with pregnant nurses from other countries, nurses working in settings other than acute care, and multiparous nurses is needed to further expand on these findings.

Differential returns from globalization to women smallholder coffee and food producers in rural Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Globalization-related measures to liberalize trade and stimulate export production were applied in Uganda in the late 1980s, including in the coffee production sector, to revitalize agricultural production, increase incomes to farmers and improve rural food security. OBJECTIVE: To explore the different effects of such measures on the health and dietary outcomes of female coffee and food small holder farmers in Uganda. METHODS: We gathered evidence through a cross-sectional comparative interview survey of 190 female coffee producers and 191 female food producers in Ntungamo district. The study mostly employed quantitative methods of data collection, targeting the sampled households. We also utilized qualitative data; collected three months after the household survey data had been collected and their analysis had been accomplished. Using qualitative interviews based on an unstructured interview guide, extra qualitative information was collected from key informants at national, district and community levels. This was among other underlying principles to avoid relying on snapshot information earlier collected at household level in order to draw valid and compelling conclusions from the study. We used indicators of production, income, access to food and dietary patterns, women's health and health care. Of the two groups selected from the same area, female coffee producers represented a higher level of integration into liberalised export markets. RESULTS: Document review suggests that, although Uganda's economy grew in the period, the household economic and social gains after the liberalization measures may have been less than expected. In the survey carried out, both food and coffee producers were similarly poor, involved in small-scale production, and of a similar age and education level. Coffee producers had greater land and livestock ownership, greater access to inputs and higher levels of income and used a wider variety of markets than food producers, but they had to work longer hours to obtain these economic returns, and spent more cash on health care and food from commercial sources. Their health outcomes were similar to those of the food producers, but with poorer dietary outcomes and greater food stress. CONCLUSIONS: The small-scale women farmers who are producing food cannot rely on the economic infrastructure to give them support for meaningful levels of production. However, despite having higher incomes than their food producing counterparts, the evidence showed that women who are producing coffee in Uganda as an export commodity cannot rely on the income from their crops to guarantee their health and nutritional wellbeing, and that the income advantage gained in coffee-producing households has not translated into consistently better health or food security outcomes. Both groups have limited levels of autonomy and control to address these problems.

An inventory for assessment of female workers' health promotion behaviour based on the integrated model of planned behaviour and self-efficacy.

This study aimed to develop and assess the psychometric properties of an Inventory for Iranian Female Workers' Health Promotion Assessment (IWAHPA). In the first phase of the study a content analysis approach was applied to explore the meaning of health promoting behaviours among female workers. A 120-item questionnaire was developed, based on the integrated model of planned behaviour and self-efficacy. In the second phase the instruments' psychometric properties were assessed. Scale level content validity index was 0.93. Confirmatory factor analysis showed confirmatory factor index 0.97, goodness of fit index 0.95 and root mean square error of approximation 0.05. Concurrent validity versus the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II showed r = 0.60. Cronbach alpha ranged from 0.70 to 0.93 across the subscales. Test-retest reliability revealed no significant differences. The IWAHPA is a culturally sensitive instrument, with a satisfactory level of validity and reliability, that can be used for planning female workers' health services.

Working-class Filipino women's perspectives on factors that facilitate or hinder prenatal micronutrients supplementation to prevent congenital anomalies.

The study was conducted to plan for a community-health campaign to inform working-class Filipinos about the causes and prevention of orofacial clefting. Prenatal micronutrients may play a role in preventing orofacial clefting. Therefore, women's practices and perspectives on barriers to and facilitators of micronutrient supplementation were elicited. A total of 43 women and 22 health care workers were interviewed. Barriers to taking supplements included side effects, late prenatal care, the view that micronutrients are medications, inadequate supply, and health care workers who were unaware that prenatal vitamin supplements prevent congenital anomalies. The main facilitator was women's understanding that prenatal micronutrients improve the physical well-being of both mother and child. Given that women view having healthy babies as a reason to take micronutrients and that the health care workers lacked knowledge related to the use of micronutrients to prevent congenital anomalies, uptake of prenatal micronutrient supplementation programs may improve by specifically promoting the health benefit of preventing congenital anomalies.

Art, class and gender in Joseon dynasty Korea: representations of lower-class women by the scholar-painter Yun Duseo.

This paper examines several pioneering genre paintings by the important scholar painter Yun Duseo (1668-1715), with its focus on their artistic sources which have not yet been explored so far. Painted on ramie, 'Women Picking Potherbs' is one of the most intriguing examples among Yun Duseo's oeuvre, which encompasses a broad variety of themes, including genre imagery, landscapes, portraits, dragons, and horses. Even among Yun Duseo's genre paintings, 'Women Picking Potherbs' is extraordinary, as recent scholarship regards it as the earliest independent representation of lower-class women in the history of Korean art. In particular, Yun Duseo painted two women who were working ourdoors to gather spring potherbs. In a conservative Confucian society, it was extraordinary women who were working outdoors. Hence, Yun Duseo occupies a highly important place in Korean painting. Furthermore, even though Yun Duseo came from the upper-class, he often painted images of lower class people working. It is possible that Yun Duseo was familiar with the book titled "Tian gong kai wu" (Exploitation of the Works of Nature) which was published in the 17th century. By identifying the probable body of his artistic sources in the book known as "Tian gong kai wu," it will be possible to assess the innovations and limitations found in 'Women Picking Potherbs'.

Effect of a single-session meditation training to reduce stress and improve quality of life among health care professionals: a "dose-ranging" feasibility study.

PRIMARY STUDY OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of the study was to assess the feasibility of incorporating a single-session meditation-training program into the daily activities of healthy employees of a tertiary-care academic medical center. The study also assessed the most preferred duration of meditation and the effect of the meditation program on perceived stress, anxiety, and overall quality of life (QOL). POPULATION: Seventeen healthy clinic employees were recruited for this study. INTERVENTION: After an initial group instruction session covering basic information about meditation, Paced Breathing Meditation (PBM) was taught to the participants. Participants were instructed to self-practice meditation with the help of a DVD daily for a total of 4 weeks. The DVD had three different programs of 5, 15, and 30 minutes with a menu option to choose one of the programs. OUTCOME MEASURES: (1) Patient diary, (2) Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), (3) Linear Analogue Self-Assessment (LASA), (4) Smith Anxiety Scale (SAS). Primary outcome measures were compared using the paired t-test. RESULTS: All participants were female; median age was 48 years (range 33-60 y). The 5-minute meditation session was practiced by 14 participants a total of 137 times during the 4-week trial period, the 15-minute session by 16 participants a total of 223 times, and the 30-minute session by 13 participants 71 times. The median number of days practiced was 25 (range 10-28 d); the average total time practiced was 394 minutes (range 55-850 min). After 4 weeks of practice, the scores of the following instruments improved significantly from baseline: PSS (P < .0001), SAS (P = .0005), LASA (P = .0005). No relationship was noted between the length of time practiced and improvement of PSS, SAS, and LASA scores. CONCLUSION: This pilot study indicates the feasibility of teaching meditation in a single training session to health care employees. The study shows that 15 minutes once or twice a day is the most feasible duration of meditation practice. The study also provides promising preliminary efficacy data of this program for improving stress, anxiety, and QOL.

Maternity care professionals' perceptions of supporting employed women in Norway.

The World Health Organization calls on health professionals to support women in combining maternity and work. The aim of this study was to explore midwives' and public health nurses' perceptions of supporting employed women to balance work and family life during pregnancy and early motherhood. An exploratory design, including multistage focus group interviews, was used. The focus group consisted of five midwives and one public health nurse who was working in maternity care. The data were analyzed by using qualitative content analysis. The comprehensive theme, "empowering the women when they are in 'another' state of normality", was based on two themes, "being in dialogue with the women" and "supporting the women to manage daily activities". The first theme was based on the subthemes, "perceiving the women to be in 'another' state of normality" and "providing an open atmosphere for dialogue", while the second subtheme was based on "confirming self-esteem" and "suggesting adjustments at work". The midwives and public health nurse empowered the women by enhancing their ability to carry out the self-care that was necessary in order to manage both their work and family life. Collaboration between maternity healthcare providers and employers should be developed in order to support employed women.

Finding a balance: toward a substantive theory of employed mothers' personal and family health decision making.

PURPOSE: We investigated how mothers employed in support staff positions make personal and family health decisions. DESIGN: We used a critical feminist grounded theory design. METHODS: Twenty women employed at a large Canadian institution participated over two years in repeat interactive interviews. FINDINGS: "Finding a balance" was the emergent core process of health decision making in response to the basic social problem of multiple demands and uncoordinated, sometimes conflicting ideologies. Women emphasized recursive movement within a continuous process of four action phases: cueing in, figuring out, generating solutions, and assessing results. Two distinct views of finding a balance were revealed: weighing competing interests or harmonizing multiple interests. These distinctive views contributed to variation in women's approaches to decision making and to their personal and family health experiences. CONCLUSIONS: Women's experiences suggest a capacity for reflective practice in health decision making that provides an excellent basis for holistic, emancipatory nursing practice.

'As prostitutes, we control our bodies': perceptions of health and body in the lives of establishment-based female sex workers in Tijuana, Mexico.

Many studies of female sex work focus on HIV and other sexually transmitted infections because sex workers are considered bridges between high-risk and low-risk populations. The voices of female sex workers as they pertain to health issues are often lacking in the literature. This paper offers a feminist constructivist grounded theory study with establishment-based female sex workers in Tijuana, Mexico. Analyses of interviews with 20 women reveal that they are aware of the impact of their work on their bodies, but conceptualise their health holistically and not just in terms of HIV. They emphasise that working in the sex industry has implications for sexual health, non-sexual physical health and mental health. The paper concludes that in order for public health interventions to have more sustainable impact on the lives of female sex workers, they should take into account the voices of the women, including how they define their health. The findings suggest that public health professionals need to be more aware that female sex workers have agency and a desire to control their health and their bodies.

Feminization and marginalization? Women Ayurvedic doctors and modernizing health care in Nepal.

The important diversity of indigenous medical systems around the world suggests that gender issues, well understood for Western science, may differ in significant ways for non-Western science practices and are an important component in understanding how social dimensions of women's health care are being transformed by global biomedicine. Based on ethnographic research conducted with formally trained women Ayurvedic doctors in Nepal, I identify important features of medical knowledge and practice beneficial to women patients, and I discuss these features as potentially transformed by modernizing health care development. The article explores the indirect link between Ayurveda's feminization and its marginalization, in relation to modern biomedicine, which may evolve to become more direct and consequential for women's health in the country.

Work and women's well-being: religion and age as moderators.

Religion has been found to moderate the stress-strain relationship. This moderator role, however, may be dependent on age. The present study tested for the three-way interaction between work experience, age, and religiosity in the prediction of women's well-being, and predicted that work experience and religiosity will combine additively in older women, while in younger women religiosity is predicted to moderate the relationship between work experience and well-being. In a sample of 389 married Malay Muslim women, results of the regression analyses showed significant three-way interactions between work experience, age, and religiosity in the prediction of well-being (measured by distress symptoms and life satisfaction). While in younger women the results were in line with the predictions made, in the older women, both additive and moderator effects of religiosity were observed, depending on the well-being measures used. These results are discussed in relation to the literature on work and family, with specific reference to women's age, religion, as well as the issue of stress-strain specificity.

The psychological impact of Buddhist counseling for patients suffering from symptoms of anxiety.

The purpose of this study was to examine the outcomes of individual Buddhist counseling interventions for patients suffering from symptoms of anxiety. A single-group pretest and posttest design was used to measure outcomes. Twenty-one patients participated in the study as voluntary subjects, all of whom completed two sessions of Buddhist counseling interventions. The individual Buddhist counseling program was developed by the investigators based on the Buddhist doctrine. The outcomes were evaluated with the use of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Data were analyzed using the Friedman test, which provides an indicator for evidence-based outcomes related to anxiety reduction scores. The results revealed that the scores on the state anxiety test in relation to the trait anxiety test had been reduced at the 1-month follow-up. The findings from content analysis showed that when the patients practiced mindfulness, they were able to accept unpleasant situations calmly. Sixteen patients were prescribed lower doses of antianxiety medications. Furthermore, medication was discontinued for two patients, and three other patients continued their prescribed medication regimen completely. The study indicates that counseling as a basis from Buddhist principles has the potential to benefit patients with emotional anxiety-based problems.