Comportamiento de mujeres y sus parejas referentes a la planificación familiar

Objective. To describe women behavior regarding birth control and analyze if such behavior has any cultural influence. Methodology. Qualitative study in which patients were women who were waiting for their family health program consult in three health units of the city Ilah Comprida in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Data were collected during October and November of 2007, the interview was used as source of information, subsequently they were subjected to the content analysis technique. Results. Women are responsible for birth control; they consider there are difficulties with birth control especially due to inefficient information about methods of contraception and family influence over this adopted behavior. Conclusion. Birth control is influenced by cultural models, moral, social and religious values related with the exercise of sexuality.

Estudo com familiares de pacientes com câncer de mama: abordando conhecimento sobre fatores de risco

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignancy in women worldwide, with one million new cases confirmed each year. This study aimed at identifying the knowledge of patients? relatives concerning the risk factors (RF) for BC. It is a descriptive quantitative study carried out in the Chemotherapy Technical Division of a University Hospital in São Paulo state, Brazil, from September to October 2006. Only female (30) relatives were included due to the fact that BC is more frequent in females. The major RF cited were family history for BC 33.3% (10), smoking 16.6% (5), alcoholic-drink consumption 10% (3), animal-fat-rich diet 3.3% (1). Other factors such as not breastfeeding, environmental factors, use of oral contraceptives and hormone-replacement therapy were mentioned by 10% (3) of the relatives. It was concluded that the relatives of patients undergoing chemotherapeutic treatment showed to have little knowledge concerning RF for BC. Hence, it is important to rethink the inclusion of the health education process in the family scenario. This issue reaches far beyond thesimple transmission of information. Healthcare professionals and nurses in particular, must focus on these individuals? social context, values, beliefs and needs.