Women's empowerment and fertility preferences of married women: analysis of demographic and health survey’2016 in Timor-Leste

A recently independent state, Timor-Leste, is progressing towards socioeconomic development, prioritizing women empowerment while its increased fertility rate (4.1) could hinder the growth due to an uncontrolled population. Currently, limited evidence shows that indicators of women''s empowerment are associated with fertility preferences and rates. The objective of this study was to assess the association between women empowerment and fertility preferences of married women aged 15 to 49 years in Timor-Leste using nationally representative survey data. The study was conducted using the data of the latest Timor-Leste Demographic and Health Survey 2016. The study included 4040 rural residents and 1810 urban residents of Timor-Leste. Multinomial logistic regression has been performed to assess the strength of association between the exposures indicating women''s empowerment and outcome (fertility preference). After adjusting the selected covariates, the findings showed that exposures that indicate women empowerment in DHS, namely, the employment status of women, house and land ownership, ownership of the mobile phone, and independent bank account status, contraceptive use, and the attitude of women towards negotiating sexual relations are significantly associated with fertility preferences. The study shows higher the level of education, the less likely were the women to want more children, and unemployed women were with a higher number of children. Our study also found that the attitude of violence of spouses significantly influenced women''s reproductive choice. However, employment had no significant correlation with decision-making opportunities and contraceptive selection due to a lack of substantial data. Also, no meaningful data was available regarding decision-making and fertility preferences. Our findings suggest that women''s empowerment governs decision-making in fertility preferences, causing a decline in the fertility rate.     

一例47岁精神状态改变合并急性肾衰的病例分析

病例介绍患者,男,47岁,由于精神状态改变合并急性肾衰于6月初的一天早上10点送入我院急诊科。该患者在前一天晚上8点与家人共进晚餐时出现行为异常,餐后又开车外出。根据其妻子的描述,当晚回到家时,患者说话含糊不清并出现嗜睡。到晚9点出现呕吐并且昏睡。凌晨3点其妻子叫他无反应,遂拨打急诊中心电话,将患者送至当地医院急诊科。该患者最近没有发热、患病以及抑郁症状。曾患有肠易激综合征(服用了阿托品与地芬诺酯治疗)、慢性背部疼痛和焦虑,对青霉素过敏,没有个人或者家族重要疾病史。患者有吸烟和酗酒史,但近年无饮酒,其妻子确认其没有使…     

Psychological Outcomes of Intimate Partner Violence Experienced by Jordanian Working Women

This study aimed at investigating psychological health problems experienced by working women as a result of their experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV). One hundred one working women participated in the study. Results indicated that nearly half of the participants reported partner violence. Compared with nonabused women, abused women showed significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms (t (78) = ?3.4, p = .001) and stress (t (93) = ?4.8, p < .0001), while self-esteem did not differ significantly between the two groups. Acknowledgment of this problem and early recognition of the victims may result in improving the health of working women in Jordan.