Scholarly Sources

Many sources can be counted as reliable. For my resources I mainly choose to focus on scholarly journal articles.  These are counted as reliable because they are peer-reviewed by experts in the field in question to increase their validity.  These articles go through a rigorous review process that can sometimes take years (much to the assured frustration of the author I am sure) and always present thorough background and sources as to where they received their facts from.  A few examples of scholarly journals are "Health Education Research", "Applied and Preventative Psychology" and "American Journal of Public Health".

Trusting the News you read

Continuing with the theme from last post, there is the issue of news articles.  Many news sources, such as CNN for example are deemed as reliable primary sources for different reasons including the fact that they generally make an effort to include both sides to a story, relieving their news of biases as well as posting sources and lastly providing direct information from professionals in the chosen field.  Other sites are not reliable in the least.  For example, the Onion "America's Finest News Source" is a humorous newspaper.  But if you are anything like me, when I heard of this newspaper my freshman year in college you may not recognize this, and instead be very surprised at its content.  However, after reading further you will notice the unbelievability of such a source that has articles such as "CDC Powerless to Stop Spread of Virulent Mayonnaise-Borne Pathogen" a pathogen which "thrives in the delicious, creamy environment of mixed egg yolks, vegetable oil, and vinegar, was recorded by the CDC just three weeks ago and may be the strongest and most infectious contagion ever detected in mayonnaise or a mayonnaise-related substance."  It's a funny article once you read it, but definitely not for the use as any respectable source.

Unreliable... But Somewhat Useful Sources

I'm sure that most people have wished that they were able to reliably use Wikipedia at one time or another in their life, it's quick, it's easy and it's there. But I am sure that just as many people have been told not to site Wikepedia in a paper because it's not reliable. Although I do believe that Wikepedia is becoming more reliable, because of the methods used for source-checking, it still remains that anyone can edit Wikepedia. The same can be said about the website Helium, which maintains an editing and posting process similar to Wikepedia, where the entire world is essentially the editors of the posts.   

Picture credits justinrussell

For example, on the “Most reliable forms of birth control” page a user notes that “condoms are up to 97 percent effective. Problems can occur only if the condom slips or if it tears during the intercourse” (Farrah), and while this may be true in regards to condom effectiveness, these are not the ONLY ways problems can occur. Other problems with condom usage are the improper application of the condom, because as stated by the CDC , (which is a government agency, that checks and updates their data on a regular basis by qualified workers) “if condoms are not used correctly, the protective effect may be diminished even when they are used consistently” ("Centers for Disease Control and Prevention"). This needs to be noted because the improper application of condoms is indeed a problem, especially with younger people and new “users”.

In my personal opinion I still believe that websites such as these are valuable, BUT as a beginning start.  These should not be used as primary sources, but they should be used to help a person to learn which direction to look in.  But as these sources are not always reliable because of their open-access, their facts should ALWAYS be checked.  

Farrah, Ville. "Most reliable forms of birth control ."Helium. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sep 2010. <http://www.helium.com/items/1944825-most-effective-contraceptives-best-contraceptives-safest-contraceptives-contraception-info>.

"Male Latex Condoms and Sexually Transmitted Diseases". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  CDC, February 8, 2010. Web. 25 Sep 2010. <http://www.cdc.gov/condomeffectiveness/latex.htm>.

The Internet and My Health

Too much of any good thing is said to still be bad.  The internet is no exception to this rule.  Although new, advancing technology is present to make our lives simpler, faster and more efficient, they do not fail at creating their own share of problems.  On that note there are a great deal of conflicting studies on the web based on whether the use of the internet has a positive or negative effect on well-being.  However, a meta-analysis published in November 2009 by Chiungjung Huang worked to compartmentalize many of these conflicting studies and has found that there is only a minimally negative effect on personal well being (Huang).   But even within this study there were short comings, including the fact that the purpose of the internet use, the gender of the participant etc.

With those short comings in mind, come in to play a report by researchers from the year 2010, upon which an article can be found in Time magazine stating that their is a positive link between internet use and well-being, namely in certain groups - including women.  No positive reasoning can be placed on why this occurs, but it is theorized that perhaps this is due to the fact that women tend to be the center of their family's social network, and online they are able to more easily connect with those family members and maintain ties, and organize their lives.  Possible.

But as said before, "too much of a good thing....", through the use of the internet it could be very easily to become overly dependent on impersonal ties to people rather than face-to-fave, or voice-to-voice which diminishes social skills in the "real world".  Let's just remember to keep a healthy balance ladies and gents.  Every once in a while lets close Facebook and walk across the street to see Sally.  It's good for you, and I'm sure it'll make you happy too.


Huang, Chiungjung. "Internet Use and Psychological Well-being: A Meta-Analysis."CYBERPSYCHOLOGY & BEHAVIOR. 12.0 (2009): 1-9. Print.

Kelly, Tara. "Is the Internet the Secret to Happiness? ." TIME05/14/2010: n. pag. Web. 20 Sep 2010. <http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1989244,00.html>.

The Come Up of Women's Health

The women's health movement began with the concern for health in general.  In previous years the health of women (as well as men) was very poor.  100+ years ago in 1900 the top causes of death were perpetuated by viruses and bacterias.  These causes of death included 1) pneumonia and flu, 2) tuberculosis, and 3) Diarrhea, enteritis, and ulceration of the intestines to name a few.  Contrasted with the top three causes of death in todays society [1) heart disease, 2) cancer, 3) stroke] we are able to see a common trend in that the causes of death of the days of old were largely due to forces which were not to be controlled by the average persons actions but by changes in the state of sanitation and of a knowledge of what was harmful, including germs that cause the flu; whereas today the top three killers are behaviorally related - ranging from root causes such as eating habits, smoking, and lack of exercise.  
  
Women were doubly burdened in facing the often life-threatening charge of carrying and giving birth to children.  These births which took place in homes assisted by midwives and sans the miracle medicines of today were of course filled with pain, and stressful to say the least.   These leading causes of death were very likely to afflict either the mother or the child, or both; decreasing the pregnancy survival rate.   And we must keep in mind that the norm of today, with the mother and father and 2.5 children was not the norm of yesteryear, instead on average women produced families of 7 children in the year 1800, sadly only increasing your chances of not making it through the ordeal.  


With women being the carriers of the future generations it would be expected that they would receive more attention and recognition for their contributions and afforded the health care needed, right?  Wrong?  Women's health was often disregarded and more attention given to males who were treated as the "health model", upon which all things health and medicine related were based.  

But with the Women's Health movement which erupted in the 1960s, women finally began to achieve the rights that they should have always been entitled to.  During this time period contraceptives also gained great popularity, changing the lives of women all around.  With the use of these drugs women were finally given an alternative for their lives other than simply bearing children, and running a household, while waiting for the return of their husband from his days work.  With the inventions of Cesarean sections, drugs such as anesthesia and several different types of contraceptions the number of pregnancies per woman has decreased and the nature of giving birth have both been altered - to a no longer life threatening experience.  


With labor no longer life threatening, women's lives began to extend.  Women now live longer than men by several years in every race, for many speculated reasons, including essentially the better behaviors of women, and women's higher likelihood of visiting a doctor (where conditions would be diagnosed before becoming fatal).    


Women's health has been constantly changing through history and will continue to do so in the future.

If You Want the Good, You Also Get the Bad

My first blog post! How exciting! As you have probably guessed, I intend to write abut women's health and technologies impacts on it, particularly how it is advancing our health status.  For the past three years I have been working towards a dual degree in English Literature and Community Health at the University of Maryland College Park. My work in the Community Health area has sparked my interest in this topic of women's health (including maternal and child health).  Representing only one of my interests, women's health is accompanied by minority health disparities, as well as drug abuse, both of which I hope I am able to expand more on within this blog.

I believe that women's health is a fitting topic for this blog because I believe that women presently have a higher life expectancy than men in part due to the technology of the day, as well as the fact that women are more likely to be tested using emerging technologies (i.e. mammograms) prior to their ailments becoming particularly life-threatening. My goal for this blog is to highlight these new technologies that are affecting lives in our generation, not only in the positive ways but also the adverse reactions that can be seen. 

Technology is a blessing as well as a curse, often times we use it in our attempts to heal, and we may only come up making the situation worst. These aspects are often given little attention, but I believe that they should be highlighted, so that women can be even more informed. Not only must the adverse reactions be acknowledges, but also the hysteria that can be caused by technology, such as news sources, and pre-screening devices. Often times with these new technologies unneeded attention is paid to the smaller aspects of our health, causing what often times proves itself to be unnecessary stress and pain. But, it's better safe than sorry. Right? That's my question for you.

With that I will end my first post, and I look forward to the upcoming semester and everything that I will get to learn, and I hope that you will enjoy reading about it, and learn something yourselves.