Dr Michelle DiGiacomo and Centre PhD students attended the 21st International Council of Women’s Health Issues Congress [link to external site] in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, in early November 2016. Delegates heard from a number of leading academics, researchers, clinicians, and policy makers over the three-day meeting. Immediate-past Centre Director and current Dean of the School of Nursing at Johns Hopkins University, Professor Trish Davidson, opened the congress with a message reflecting a conference theme that “the health and wellbeing of women is the health and wellbeing of the world.” Viewing women’s health holistically and using a life course approach was another theme of the conference as women have needs throughout their lives which can influence their and others’ health and wellbeing at subsequent stages.
PhD candidates Anna Green, Angela Rao, Sara Shishehgar, and Olutoyin Sowole presented their research which echoed these themes. Experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse women, including migrants and asylum-seeking women, were described by Shishehgar [link to external site] and Sowole [link to external site]. Rao [link to external site] focussed on behavioural interventions to improve health and wellbeing outcomes in women. One study used Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health data reflecting prayer and spirituality practices in women. In a second presentation, she distilled elements of effective cardiac rehabilitation programs for women.
The UTS contingent also led a panel discussion, which included Professor Davidson, on the topic of women’s transitions in later life while navigating chronic conditions. Davidson provided an overview of challenges women face [link to external site] in light of global ageing and the need for sex- and gender-based lenses in addressing these issues. Green [link to external site] described older women’s experiences of navigating health services with chronic conditions while DiGiacomo focussed on the impact of partner loss on older women’s wellbeing. She highlighted associated financial strain as an underappreciated factor in women’s health and wellbeing amidst late life transitions [link to external site].
Comments from the ICOWHI:
Michelle DiGiacomo: “It was fabulous to visit Baltimore again and to have great PhD students with us. I enjoyed catching up with our Hopkins colleagues, like Professor Nancy Glass, Assistant Professor Diana Baptiste, Professor Jacqueline Campbell, Assistant Professor Carmen Alvarez, and Dean Trish, of course, as well as many others from around the world, like Professor Josefina Tuazon from University of the Philippines Manila, and Associate Professor Siriorn Sindhu from Mahidol University, Thailand. It is rare that we are all in the same place, so it was a lot of fun.”
Anna Green: “It was inspiring to hear presentations from such a diverse range of presenters from both developing and developed countries. The representation of presenters from Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, and Australasia at ICOWHI 2016 reinforced the global importance of women’s health.”
Angela Rao: “the conference was a great opportunity to build confidence and feel comfortable as a researcher in the international space, to gain understanding around the potential for dissemination of my work, and feel the support of other researcher seeking to close the gap in women’s health policy and practice in the international arena.”
Sara Shishehgar: “ICOWHI was a great opportunity for me to present my research in front of scholars in the field of women's health from around the world and receive wonderful feedback to develop my knowledge in this field of research.”