RESUMO
In recent years servicewomen with dependent children have for the first time in history been deployed into conflict zones in support of Australian Defence Force operations. This represents a significant social change, and the implications of deployment on the health of these service mothers are not fully understood. Data from women who participated in the Middle East Area of Operations Census study were analyzed to compare the psychological and physical symptoms reported by service mothers with service women who had no dependent children at the time of deploying to Afghanistan and/or Iraq. Of the 921 women who were included in this analysis, 235 had dependent children and 686 had no dependent children (comparison group). Service mothers were significantly older and were more likely to have served in the Air Force than women in the comparison group. Findings demonstrate that serving mothers were not at any significantly higher risk of psychological distress, post-traumatic stress symptoms, alcohol misuse, or reporting of somatic symptoms, than women who had no dependent children. A number of possible explanations for these findings are discussed, including the healthy soldier/mother effect, support from partners and extended family members, and collegial networks.
Assuntos
Militares/psicologia , Mães/psicologia , Transtornos de Estresse Pós-Traumáticos/psicologia , Estresse Psicológico/psicologia , Adulto , Campanha Afegã de 2001- , Austrália , Estudos Transversais , Feminino , Humanos , Guerra do Iraque 2003-2011 , Modelos Logísticos , Mães/estatística & dados numéricos , Análise Multivariada , Apoio Social , Fatores Socioeconômicos , Transtornos de Estresse Pós-Traumáticos/diagnóstico , Transtornos de Estresse Pós-Traumáticos/epidemiologia , Estresse Psicológico/diagnóstico , Estresse Psicológico/epidemiologia , Inquéritos e Questionários , Adulto JovemAssuntos
Campanha Afegã de 2001- , Necessidades e Demandas de Serviços de Saúde , Guerra do Iraque 2003-2011 , Militares , Veteranos , Austrália , Estudos Transversais , Feminino , Previsões , Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde/tendências , Necessidades e Demandas de Serviços de Saúde/tendências , Humanos , Militares/psicologia , Militares/estatística & dados numéricos , Doenças Profissionais/epidemiologia , Doenças Profissionais/etiologia , Traumatismos Ocupacionais/epidemiologia , Traumatismos Ocupacionais/etiologia , Aptidão Física , Fatores de Risco , Fatores Sexuais , Transtornos de Estresse Pós-Traumáticos/epidemiologia , Transtornos de Estresse Pós-Traumáticos/etiologia , Veteranos/psicologia , Veteranos/estatística & dados numéricosRESUMO
Following breast amputation women commonly are presented with two choices: to wear a prosthesis or undergo reconstruction. Breast restoration is assumed to allow a full emotional and physical recovery from a breast cancer crisis. Surgical reconstruction is offered to women as the final step in regaining a sense of complete womanhood, enabling a sense of optimism that both body and self will "get back to normal." This article examines 5 women's accounts of breast reconstruction and asks how breast reconstruction figures in the remaking of self following mastectomy. Issues pertaining to the reasoning behind seeking out the procedure, experiences of finding the right surgeon, and how women feel toward their reconstructed postsurgical body are examined. In conclusion it is argued that a number of contradictory expectations are held by women seeking reconstructions. While women suggest that reconstruction will restore lost femininity, sexuality, and normalcy in most cases it is not the procedure that enables this but the elimination of the hassles of prostheses. In contrast to the complete sense of self they expected to regain through reconstruction they articulate a restoration that is simply pragmatic. It is only once women have undertaken this last bastion of hope that they are forced to renegotiate their sense of themselves as women with or without breasts.