kestrell: (Default)
Published: Feb 22, 2023

https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/press-release/nearly-half-of-young-women-report-negative-interactions-with-health-care-providers/

Nearly Half of Young Women Report Negative Interactions with Health Care Providers

Among women ages 18-35 with a clinical visit in the past two years, more than four in 10 (46%) report experiencing a negative interaction with a health care provider, according to a new analysis of 2022 KFF Women’s Health Survey (WHS) data. These interactions included a provider either dismissing patients’ concerns, assuming something about them without asking, believing they were lying, blaming them for their health problems, or discriminating against them because of their age, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, or some other personal characteristic.

Similar rates of women in low-income households (45%), uninsured women (46%), and women with a disability or ongoing health condition (45%) experienced at least one of these negative interactions. Negative interactions with health care providers can lead to poorer health outcomes, distrust of the health care system, and health inequities.
Analysts also found some statistically significant differences in the experiences of men and women. Somewhat more women than men report that their health care providers either dismissed their concerns (29% vs. 21%), didn’t believe they were telling the truth (15% vs. 12%) or discriminated against them during their visit (9% vs. 5%).

Additional findings from the analysis include the following:

Menopause received little attention in clinical visits. Only one-third (35%) of women ages 40-64 say their health care provider ever talked to them about what to expect in menopause, ranging from 42% of women who have gone through menopause, 39% of those currently going through menopause, and 19% of premenopausal women.

Screening for social determinants of health is infrequent in clinical settings, despite their impact on the health and wellbeing of patients. While nearly three in five (58%) women who have visited a health care provider in the past two years say they were asked about the kind of work they do, only one in five (20%) were asked about their ability to afford food or their access to reliable transportation.

The KFF WHS is a nationally representative survey of 5,145 self-identified women and 1,225 self-identified men ages 18 to 64, conducted May 10 – June 7, 2022
kestrell: (Default)
Kes: I haven't read these two books yet, but I've been there, and know other women who are there, so wanted to spread the word.

Ask Me About My Uterus: A Quest to Make Doctors Believe in Women's Pain
by Abby Norman

For any woman who has experienced illness, chronic pain, or endometriosis comes an inspiring memoir advocating for recognition of women's health issuesIn the fall of 2010, Abby Norman's strong dancer's body dropped forty pounds and gray hairs began to sprout from her temples. She was repeatedly hospitalized in excruciating pain, but the doctors insisted it was a urinary tract infection and sent her home with antibiotics. Unable to get out of bed, much less attend class, Norman dropped out of college and embarked on what would become a years-long journey to discover what was wrong with her. It wasn't until she took matters into her own hands--securing a job in a hospital and educating herself over lunchtime reading in the medical library--that she found an accurate diagnosis of endometriosis.In Ask Me About My Uterus, Norman describes what it was like to have her pain dismissed, to be told it was all in her head, only to be taken seriously when she was accompanied by a boyfriend who confirmed that her sexual performance was, indeed, compromised. Putting her own trials into a broader historical, sociocultural, and political context, Norman shows that women's bodies have long been the battleground of a never-ending war for power, control, medical knowledge, and truth. It's time to refute the belief that being a woman is a preexisting condition.


Invisible: How Young Women with Serious Health Issues Navigate Work, Relationships, and the Pressure to Seem just Fine (Beacon press, 2018)
by Michele Lent Hirsch
https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Serious-Navigate-Relationships-Pressure/dp/0807023957/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1520355679&sr=1-1&keywords=Invisible+How+young+women
An exploration of women navigating serious health issues at an age where they’re expected to be healthy, dating, having careers and children.Miriam’s doctor didn’t believe she had breast cancer. She did.Sophie navigates being the only black scientist in her lab while studying the very disease, HIV, that she hides from her coworkers.For Victoria, coming out as a transgender woman was less difficult than coming out as bipolar.Author Michele Lent Hirsch knew she couldn’t be the only woman who’s faced serious health issues at a young age, as well as the resulting effects on her career, her relationships, and her sense of self. What she found while researching Invisible was a surprisingly large and overlooked population with important stories to tell.Though young women with serious illness tend to be seen as outliers, young female patients are in fact the primary demographic for many illnesses. They are also one of the most ignored groups in our medical system—a system where young women, especially women of color and trans women, are invisible.And because of expectations about gender and age, young women with health issues must often deal with bias in their careers and personal lives. Not only do they feel pressured to seem perfect and youthful, they also find themselves amid labyrinthine obstacles in a culture that has one narrow idea of womanhood.Lent Hirsch weaves her own harrowing experiences together with stories from other women, perspectives from sociologists on structural inequality, and insights from neuroscientists on misogyny in health research. She shows how health issues and disabilities amplify what women in general already confront: warped beauty standards, workplace sexism, worries about romantic partners, and mistrust of their own bodies. By shining a light on this hidden demographic, Lent Hirsch explores the challenges that all women face.

February 2024

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