Healthcare professionals experience with motivational interviewing in their encounter with obese pregnant women.

OBJECTIVE: to explore and describe how healthcare professionals in the Southern Region of Denmark experienced motivational interviewing as a communication method when working with pregnant women with obesity. DESIGN: a qualitative, descriptive study based on face-to-face interviews with 11 obstetric healthcare professionals working in a perinatal setting. METHODS: a thematic descriptive method was applied to semi-structured interviews. The healthcare professional's experiences were recorded verbatim during individual semi-structured qualitative interviews, transcribed, and analysed using a descriptive analysis methodology. FINDINGS: motivational interviewing was found to be a useful method when communicating with obese pregnant women. The method made the healthcare professionals more aware of their own communication style both when encountering pregnant women and in their interaction with colleagues. However, most of the healthcare professionals emphasised that time was crucial and they had to be dedicated to the motivational interviewing method. The healthcare professionals further stated that it enabled them to become more professional in their daily work and made some of them feel less 'burned out', 'powerless' and 'stressed' as they felt they had a communication method in handling difficult workloads. CONCLUSION: healthcare professionals experienced motivational interviewing to be a useful method when working perinatally. The motivational interviewing method permitted heightened awareness of the healthcare professionals communication method with the patients and increased their ability to handle a difficult workload. Overall, lack of time restricted the use of the motivational interviewing method on a daily basis.

Menstrual profile and early menopause in women with Down syndrome aged 26-40 years.

BACKGROUND: It is known that women with Down syndrome can be fertile, but it is not known whether all women with Down syndrome are fertile or sub-fertile. The age at menopause for women with Down syndrome is lower compared to women without Down syndrome. METHOD: A cross-sectional study of 11 women was undertaken, in which the participating women had a blood sample taken and were also examined using transabdominal ultrasound scanning (ULS). RESULTS: Definite signs of ovulation were evident in 2 women; hormone values in 5 women showed that they were in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle; 1 woman was anovulatory; and in 1 woman it was not possible to judge the time of the menstrual cycle. Two of the women were postmenopausal according to medical information, ultrasound examination and hormone values. CONCLUSIONS: Safe contraceptives should be considered and offered if women with Down syndrome are engaging in sexual relations. Early menopause (before the age of 40 years) and the possibility of hormonal replacement therapy should be kept in mind.

Smoking habits and attitudes to smoking 2001 among hospital staff at a Danish hospital--comparison with a similar study 1999.

BACKGROUND: Smoking is the main preventable cause of lifestyle-related diseases and smoking cessation interventions have shown to be cost-effective. It is important to know the smoking habits and attitudes towards smoking among the hospital staff because of the impact the staff have on the patients. Two studies were conducted to attain this information. METHODS: This study analyzes the results of a survey conducted in the summer of 2001 and compares them to a similar study conducted in 1999. 970 anonymous questionnaires were distributed in 2001. RESULTS: The number of smokers among the staff has significantly decreased from 33% to 26% over the 2-year period. Those who do still smoke are less willing to quit and are reluctant to accept help to stop smoking. Fewer are bothered by passive smoking now compared to 1999 and approximately 2/3 of the responders do not find it acceptable to implement sanctions against the members of staff who break the prohibition. CONCLUSION: It is worth providing resources to smoking cessation intervention. The intensive preventive work carried out at the hospital may have resulted in significantly fewer smokers among the staff which again facilitate the staff's effort to help the patients stop smoking.

A 1-year randomized study to evaluate the effects of a dose reduction in oral contraceptives on lipids and carbohydrate metabolism: 20 microg ethinyl estradiol combined with 100 microg levonorgestrel.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the impact on lipid and carbohydrate variables of a combined one-third ethinyl estradiol (EE)/levonorgestrel (LNG) dose reduction in oral contraceptives. METHODS: In an open-label, randomized study, a dose-reduced oral contraceptive containing 20 microg EE and 100 microg LNG (20 EE/100 LNG) was compared with a reference preparation containing 30 microg EE and 150 microg LNG (30 EE/150 LNG). One-year data from 48 volunteers were obtained. RESULTS: We found a decrease of HDL2 cholesterol and increases of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and total triglycerides in both treatment groups from baseline to the 13th treatment cycle. Although for four of six variables, the changes in the 20 EE group were lower compared with the 30 EE group, none of the differences between the two treatments were statistically significant. The median values for the fasting levels of insulin, C-peptide and free fatty acids slightly increased or remained unchanged while the fasting glucose levels slightly decreased after 13 treatment cycles. While the glucose area under the curve (AUC) (0-3 h) was similar in both groups during the OGTT, the insulin AUC(0-3 h) was less increased in the 20 EE/100 LNG group compared with the 30 EE/150 LNG group. None of the differences between the treatment groups for any of the carbohydrate metabolism variables were statistically significant at any time point. Both study treatments were safe and well tolerated by the volunteers. CONCLUSION: Similar effects on the lipid and carbohydrate profiles were found for both preparations. The balanced one-third EE dose reduction in this new oral contraceptive caused slightly lower, but insignificant, changes in the lipid and carbohydrate variables compared with the reference treatment.