In what ways could someone's culture, beliefs and practices influence contraceptive decision making? Provide thorough examples based on some of your readings and your own personal experiences. What were the beliefs about birth control/contraception within your own home and family?

Many cultures and religions don't believe in any form of contraceptive methods since they believe it goes against Gods wishes and also being culturally wrong .  In the Middle Eastern culture, some of the "old school" wives did not practice any method of birth control, leaving many of our parents with several siblings.  For example, my father has 8 brothers and sisters and my mother has 7 brothers and sisters, which is really unheard of nowadays.  It was how over the years and generation after generation, it was passed on how a woman must bring so many children to help in work and support of family.  My mother, who is Middle Eastern, did not choose to go into the same path as her ancestors did and used birth control.  Although she had 4 kids, it was by choice and controlled of when she wanted to have them. 

There are some woman in our culture that still do not believe in birth control because the majority of them are usually poor, under or uneducated, married off at a young age and not realize what choices they may have. Most of these where due to cultural reasons, and others come from the religious aspect of things, for example the Middle Eastern Catholics.  Many Middle Eastern Catholics are very much against birth control and any form of abortion.  They feel it goes against God and the reason we are here on earth, which is to multiply. No matter what culture and religion one may be, in the end its really a woman's choice.  It should be up to us if we decide to go through a pregnancy or to prevent one from happening. Times have changed and I hope women around the world are given that opportunity to choose as we have here in the U.S.

Dana Anderson

Imagine a parent of a pre-teen who is about to have "The Talk" with him/her. Please write the scenario (where/when/how) the talk would take place and exactly what the parent should say. Include any resources the parent might recommend to the pre-teen, or questions (and their answers) the parent should anticipate

As a mother of an 11 year old little girl who is very well developed has been faced with that challenge of how to address such a sensitive topic with my daughter.  I was not worried about telling her, but I was concerned on how to tell her and how much to share with her.  Is there a limit on how much you should share with your daughter?  I believe in this fast sex crazed country we live in, one should talk about everything related to sex as early as you can because if you don't then you are taking a chance of them obtaining that information from an unreliable source such as friends, magazines, movies, etc....  Since my daughter was pretty developed, I had started that talk with her at the age of 10!  She is very smart and very conservative on her own, I can't see already that will not condone in such behavior because how much she values God in her life.  Although I respect her for that, I know she is still human and hormones will be raging pretty soon so it is very important that she is very educated so if she is ever placed in that predicament, I would hope she chooses the right choice.  I personally have used the bible as a source of why premarital sex is against Gods wishes also other sources such as http://www.4parents.gov/ and www.webmd.com/sex-relationships where it provides the educational and medical aspect of things when discussing the "sex talk".  Just remember to never underestimate what kids know, you will be surprised what they already know.  Be an advocate of health within your own family to set a great example to others that might relate one day.

Dana Anderson

How can we encourage adolescents to follow healthy behaviors? Any ideas for parents, healthcare providers, health educators, media, society, etc?

Encouraging adolescents to follow healthy behaviors can be very challenging, especially in the new advanced world we live in today.  It all points out to how and what our values, cultures and beliefs may be when it comes to health and the health of others.  Health behaviors may be attained from seeing it in everyday life but may not necessary lead in the right path.  We have to look at what are adolescents reaching out to and work through that path.  Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, cell phones, emails, can all lead to our adolescents.  Why not use these tools to encourage?  If they don't seek the information, then lets find a way to send it to them.  We can also lead by example, we all heard the phrase "practice what you preach" and that is exactly what needs to be done to encourage not our adolescents. Networking through adolescent organizations and possibly marketing it using everyday stars like Justin Beiber, Hannah Montana, and even cartoons like Sponge Bob square pants can all assist in delivering the message in an undercover way.  Education comes in all shapes and sizes and if we do not learn to adapt with these constant learning curves may be, we might find ourselves with a terrible health conscious future.  Encouraging is part of believing and you must believe in what you are selling.  Markets today hire the best of the best to research and target our adolescents about any product they want to sell to increase their profits, why not do the same by putting our heads together as health educators and reaching a goal to target adolescents on how important health is today.

Dana Anderson

What are your feelings about the present state of health care in the US? Why?

My current feelings on health care in the US are embarrassingly poor.  We are a nation of seekers and providers, a nation with so much success that people die trying to cross our borders yet we fail to provide simple avid health care to its people.  Europe and the Middle east are a few places that offer FREE health care to it's people. Health is not a luxury, it is a lifetime commodity and needs to be maintained constantly otherwise it will fail.  I never understood why the government cannot justify the uses of our tax dollars towards this very much needed service to our nation.  The US is very blessed with the latest technologies and education in science and health care that as a nation we should be ashamed that we are not taking advantage of these services. Change is desperately needed in our health care options and although President Obama has started that change, it not close enough to what other nations have.  I hope to see one day that no stipulations are placed on peoples lives in the US.

What health issues you are most concerned about? Why

I decided to question two women in regards to their views on health issues and this is what they had to say:

Marilyn is 57 and comes from a middle eastern background where she has shared with me that the most health issues is diabetes.  Diabetes is very prominent in our culture and especially within my family.  She believes the reason is due to the heavy sweet diet she was raised in along with lack of knowledge on being healthy conscious since medical checks were not as necessary back in the days.

Ashley is 25 and is African American and when asked what was important to her when it came to health issues is and she stated "obesity".  In her family history, she believe it is a generational curse for all the women to be severely obese and it concerns her since she fights a daily battle to maintain her weight.  Ashley refuses to become a victim of her family's past that has been passed year after year.

As you can see health concerns varies depending on that woman's particular culture, background, age and personal concerns.  A very strong and sensitive subject to all women around the world.