Reproductive Health in Women with Serious Mental Illnesses

This article discusses the problems faced by women suffering from mental illness, particularly in relation to their reproductive health. The study sample involved 292 inpatient women at a psychiatric hospital located in Istanbul. The article provides recommendations for nurses and government health agencies.

Running head: MENTAL HEALTH NURSING 1
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Name of Student
Institution Affiliation

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Introduction
People suffering from mental illness often experience several effects that are associated with the
psychiatric disorder. Mental illness is a disorder that is common for both gender, however, it is
the women who are the most disadvantaged and thus experience more problems that are
associated with the disorder. Several past studies have revealed that psychotic patients have
increased chances of experiencing more problems as compared to individuals with a healthy life.
Some of the commonly faced issues that are experienced by such patients include; reduced
fertility, increased number of partners, involvement in risky sexual practices, increased rape and
abuse cases, increasing levels of unwanted pregnancies, reduced marriage rates, reduced rates of
contraceptives use etc.
Significance and Relevance to clinical practice
It is recommended that all the women suffering from psychiatric disorders should not be treated
as double disadvantaged as compared to other patients. It is also important to place weight on the
reproductive health issues during the whole process of treatment. The study outlines some of the
serious health problems that women with psychiatric disorders face. The data collected from this
study will therefore play a vital role in determining the approach of the nurses when handling
such patients in a bid to reduce the chances of disregarding the problems (Özcan et al, 2013).
Results and findings
The study was performed on participants who had a mean age of 36to 46 years (a standard
deviation of 9.16). The characteristics of the study sample were summarized as shown below;

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Figure 1: characteristics of the study sample
The findings and results in relation to sexuality and maternal characteristics on the basis of
psychiatric diagnosis are as represented on figure 2 and figure 3 below respectively.
Figure 2: Sexuality characteristics

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Figure 3: Maternal characteristics
Pregnancy outcomes from different psychiatric diagnosis is also represented as below;
Figure 4: Pregnancy outcomes
Discussion
The article came up with the below discussions with believe that they will help in creating
awareness in areas of women’s health and psychiatry that have for long been neglected. The
discussions have analyzed the problems on the basis of marriage, sexuality, family planning and
contraception, maternal characteristics and pregnancy.

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The results show that patients suffering from schizophrenia registered the lowest rates of getting
married and also the highest rates of divorce and most living separately. Such patients are
usually not likely to get married and get children. The results from this study therefore tend to
prove the theory people living with schizophrenia are expected not to be mates in marriage or in
case they are married, the results is divorce.
Psychiatric illness often lead to problems that in one way or another also affect the sexual life of
the individual. Past studies have revealed a 7% decline in the sexuality of psychotic individuals.
This study also reveals that 75.7% of female individuals suffering from psychiatric disorders
experienced sexual relations within the past one year, which is similar to the rate that is observed
in several developing studies. The study also reveals that at least a third of the women have not
received any information from any source before engaging in sexual relations.
Strength and Weaknesses
The study is appropriate since it discusses some of the major problems that female patients
suffering from psychiatric disorders face. It identifies a number of problems and how severe they
impact on such patients. The article can also be used to help create awareness on the major
challenges that affect psychiatric patients and hence develop strategies to help reduce the
damages. The major weakness from the study is that the information was based on the statements
of the patients and not on a form of measurement or some valid report. There is also no control
group that controlled how the research is carried out hence there are chances of going beyond the
limits.

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Article Recommendation
This article is very relevant in the field of nursing and related practices. It addresses the plight of
patients suffering from mental illness since that has been an area that has been neglected for
long. I therefore recommend any nurse in the field of reproductive health to read the article as it
will help empower them in their duties. It can also be recommended to government health
agencies since it can help in creating awareness on mental health disorders.
Conclusion
From the above results and discussions, it is evident that the patients diagnosed of schizophrenia
suffered worse effects on their marriages. All the participants in this study did portray negative
characteristics on sexuality issues. Most of the patients who previously had sexual experience
had attempted to use contraceptives though were not able to continue the usage. Most of them
indicated a withdrawal as a contraception method. The study sample involved 292 inpatients
women at a psychiatric hospital located in Istanbul. From the study results, a number of common
problems that female patients suffering from mental illness are discovered. The problems are
also discussed into details and the impact they have on the patients.

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References
Özcan, N. K., Boyacıoğlu, N. E., Enginkaya, S., Dinç, H., & Bilgin, H. (2014). Reproductive
health in women with serious mental illnesses. Journal of clinical nursing, 23(9-10),
1283-1291.