Main description:

This volume presents the knowledge, views, and experiences of ex perts in the fields of health care that are particularly important to women. Not all of the authors agree on all of the issues, but all share the same concerns about women's health and recognize the impor tance of providing information to enable women to become active par ticipants in the health care partnership. The idea for the book evolved from our own work in the field of women's health care. The positive responses we received to several papers and presentations based on our experiences and addressed to patients, physicians, and other health care professionals indicated that there is a growing need for open discussion of women's health care issues as well as a need for developing and implementing new and better ways of dealing with these issues. We were further motivated by the repeated failure of the health care community to integrate new insights and information (that frequently contradict older, established beliefs and practices) into current health planning, education, and practice.

Contents:

1 * The Woman Patient.- 2 * Feminism: Making a Difference in Our Health.- 3 * Prenatal Influences on Child Health and Development.- 4 * Decisions about Reproduction: Genetic Counseling.- 5 * The Physiological Aspects of Pregnancy.- 6 * "Normal" and "Special" Aspects of Pregnancy: A Psychological Approach.- 7 * The Sense of Mastery in the Childbirth Experience.- 8 * The COPE Story: A Service to Pregnant and Postpartum Women.- 9 * Adolescent Sexuality and Pregnancy.- 10 * Conflicts between Fertility and Infertility.- 11 * The Problem of Infertility.- 12 * A Historical Understanding of Contraception.- 13 * The Emotional Impact of Abortion.- 14 * Medical Gynecology: Problems and Patients.- 15 * Surgical Gynecology.- 16 * Hysterectomy and Other Gynecological Surgeries: A Psychological View.- 17 * Breast Disorders.- 18 * A Psychological Consideration of Mastectomy.- 19 * The "Difficult" Patient: Observations on the Staff-Patient Interaction.- 20 * The Woman and Esthetic Surgery.- 21 * An Overview of Problems in Sexual Functioning.- 22 * Female Sexual Dysfunctions: A Clinical Approach.- 23 * The Impact of Rape.- 24 * A Gynecological Approach to Menopause.- 25 * Menopause.