The triple day.

PIP: The risks are high and the returns low when Peruvian women work outside the home, but they have few other options. Most have large families, and their husbands scramble to earn a few dollars. For some women the day begins at 3:30 a.m. when they go to Lima to peddle fish, combs, or whatever commodity is available. The poor women who live in the pueblos jovenes of Lima, the newly formed outskirts, have banded together in a Christian group called Luz y Esperanza, or Light and Hope. The group has a 10-year history of coping with unsanitary water and resultant health problems, child care, and lack of electricity. The women began with neighborhood issues but have also developed an interest in trade unions and other less local concerns. Members have also started to attend union meetings in Lima and involved themselves in recent trade union struggles. The development of the women's political consciousness is closely intertwined with their Christian faith. They believe Christ is the source of the energy they need to persevere.^ieng

Dynamics of contraceptive failures.

The purpose of this study was to explore the vicissitudes of contraceptive efforts and practice, and human behavior contributing to contraceptive failure. A consecutive sample of 481 women, who visited various gynecological out-patient clinics of a New York City municipal hospital between August 1974 and August 1975, served as the study population. There were 181 women with planned pregnancies and 300 women with unplanned pregnancies. The data were gathered in personal interviews. By comparison of both groups it was discovered that the women with unplanned pregnancies, because of their lower frustration tolerance level, had been led by successive difficulties related to contraceptive efforts and practice to episodic, faulty, or nonuse of technically effective contraceptive methods. Thereafter, psychological processes and mechanisms gave rise to a false sense of security, which virtually prevented them from resuming contraceptive practice. These psychological processes and mechanisms also govern other spheres of human behavior and merit systematic investigation.

Recruitment and progress of minority medical school entrants 1970-1972.

This is a report on a national study of minority group applicants and entrants to the 1970, 1971, and 1972 entering classes of U.S. medical colleges. The aim of the investigation was to further understanding of the factors involved in attempting to increase minority representation in education for the practice of medicine. Data from the Association of American Medical Colleges are used to examine characteristics of successful and unsuccessful minority applicants to medical school. Socieconomic, personal, institutiona, and geographical factors that relate to the recruitment and progress of minority students in medicine are analyzed and evaluated. Differences between Caucasian and minority group students affecting admissions, retention, and promotion are documented. The investigators also compare the projections of a 1970 AAMC task force report with actual occurrences in the national effort to expand educational opportunities in medicine for blacks and other underrepresented minority students (that is, American Indians, Mexican Americans, and mainland Puerto Ricans). This comparison shows substantial progress toward the projected figures but a need for renewed commitment if they are to be reached. Suggestions are offered for improving the recruitment and progress of minority medical school entrants by such means as the AAMC Simulated Minority Admissions Exercises and by ongoing programs at individual medical schools. The study also yielded such pertinent findings as the following: 1. Confirmation that the racial characterizations self-reported by medical school applicants have a high degree of accuracy and an increasing degree of completeness. 2. An encouraging increase in the number of black premedical students who will potentially apply for the medical school classes entering in 1976 and 1977. 3. Growth in the enrollment of low-income medical students, most of it explained by the increase in the numbers of minority group members who have been admitted in recent years. 4. More mobility among blacks than Caucasians with regard to attending medical schools in other than their region of legal residence. 5. A higher proportion of women, of older, and of married students among minority medical school matriculants than among Caucasian matriculants. 6. A slightly higher medical school retention rate for Caucasians than for students from underrepresented minority groups, possibly explained in part by the greater diversity in the socioeconomic and educational backgrounds of the latter. 7. A positive relationship for blacks between the size of undergraduate college attended and successful completion of the first year of medical school.