Evaluating Women’s Health Messages

The increased attention currently being paid to women's reproductive health issues has produced a corresponding interest in the role that communication plays in promoting better health care. Groundbreaking and comprehensive, this book is the first systematic examination of the major types and forms of messages about women's reproductive health - medical, social scientific and public - and the degree to which these messages compare with and contradict each other. Within the broad framework of communication, a range of women's health issues are examined in this book from political, historical, technological and feminist perspectives. The issues examined include: abortion; infertility; drug and alcohol use in pregnancy; childbirth; AIDS; menstruation and menopause.

Introduction: Priorities and Agendas in Communicating about Women¿s Reproductive Health - Roxanne Louiselle Parrott and Celeste Michelle ConditPART ONE: POLITICAL AGENDAS AND WOMEN¿S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH MESSAGESMedical and Psychological Consequences of Legal Abortion in the United States - Diane Helene MillerA Matter of Consequence - Diane Helene Miller Abortion Rhetoric and Media MessagesIllicit Drug Use and the Pregnant Woman - Robert Lemieux The Prevalance, Social Impact, Effects and Legislative ActionThe Drama of in utero Drug Exposure - Kimberly N Kline Fetus Takes First BillingPART TWO: HISTORICAL ISSUES IN COMMUNICATING ABOUT WOMEN¿S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTHContraception and Clinical Science - Susan Owen and Sally Caudill Constructing Woman¿s PlaceOur Bodies, Our Risk - Martha Solomon, Mary Anne Trasciatti and Cynthia P King Dilemmas in Contraceptive InformationThe American Experience of Childbirth - Elizabeth Jean Nelson Toward a Range of Safe ChoicesContemporary Birthing Practices - Helen M Sterk Technology over Humanity?PART THREE: A FETAL AND MATERNAL HEALTH APPROACH TO COMMUNICATING ABOUT WOMEN¿S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTHWomen and Smoking - Michael Pfau, Margot L Nelson and Mary Moster Consequences and SolutionsTugging at Pregnant Consumers - Deirdre M Condit Competing ¿Don¿t Smoke!¿ ¿Do Smoke!¿ Media Messages and Their MessengersPrenatal Alcohol Consumption and Outcomes for Children - Joan Marie Kraft A Review of the LiteratureKnowing When to Say When and Why - Kathryn J French, Theresa D Frasier and C Jay Frasier Media Messages Aimed at Preventing Women¿s Alcohol ConsumptionPART FOUR: A CAMPAIGN PERSPECTIVE FOR COMMUNICATING ABOUT WOMEN¿S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTHPromoting Pregnancy and Prenatal Care to Women - Roxanne Louiselle Parrott and Margaret Daniels Promises, Pitfalls, and PratfallsPrenatal Care from a Woman¿s Perspective - Margaret Daniels annd Roxanne Louiselle Parrott A Thematic Analysis of the Newspaper MediaCervical, Ovarian, and Uterine Cancer - Melanie A Williams Advancing Awareness, Choices, and SurvivalMagic, Moralism and Marginalization - Michele Kilgore Media Coverage of Cervical, Ovarian, and Uterine CancerPART FIVE: A SOCIAL SUPPORT FRAMEWORK FOR COMMUNICATING ABOUT WOMEN¿S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTHMenarche, Menstruation, and Menopause - Pamela J Kalbfleisch and Karen H Bonnel The Communication of Information and Social SupportMedia Portrayals of Women¿s Menstrual Health Issues - Pamela J Kalbfleisch, Karen H Bennel and Tina M HarrisSocial Support and Breast Cancer - Maureen P Keeley Why Do We Talk and To Whom Do We Talk?An Analysis of Discourse Promoting Mammography - Mary L Kahl and Joan Lawrence-Bauer Pain, Promise, and PreventionPART SIX: CONTEMPORARY PRIORITIES IN COMMUNICATING ABOUT WOMEN¿S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTHOptions and Risks with Reproductive Technologies - Lisa FloresMedia Bias for Reproductive Technologies - Celeste M ConditHysterectomies - Cathey S Ross Don¿t Ask ¿Why Not?¿: Ask ¿Why?¿Hysterectomy - E M I Sefcovic What the Popular Press Said (1986-1992)Women and AIDS - Rebecca J Welch Cline and Neyla J McKenzie The Lost PopulationThe Reconstruction of AIDS as a Womens¿s Health Issue - Salome RaheimCONCLUSIONA Woman-Centered ¿Sense-Making¿ Approach to Communicating about Women¿s Reproductive Health - Roxanne Louiselle Parrott