No abstract

The purpose1 of this study is to test a model describing the relations of various biopsychosocial, behavioral, and cognitive factors on the health outcomes of nutritional adequacy and infant birth weight in low-income pregnant women. Descriptive, cohort design assessed low-income women (N=55) in their 1st trimester of pregnancy. Eighty percent of the women did not meet the recommended number of food servings outlined in the Food Guide Pyramid. Prepregnant body mass index (BMI) and pregnancy-related dietary changes explained 19% of the variance in nutritional adequacy. Maternal age, prepregnant BMI, nutritional knowledge, and infant gestation at birth explained 52% of the variance in infant birth weight. Nutritional adequacy in the 1st trimester and infant birth weight were not significantly related. Most low-income women are not meeting the nutritional requirements of pregnancy. Careful monitoring of dietary quality may help target women in need of additional nutritional education. Providing nutritional education throughout pregnancy may lead to improved dietary patterns that may reduce low birth weight.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) older adults fear discrimination in long-term care and voice a preference for LGBT-specific services. The purpose of this study was to describe, through the eyes of 10 socially interconnected older lesbians (>55 years), the roles that life experiences, social ties, and expectations for aging play in their decision to live in an LGBT continuous-care setting. Nursing has been largely inattentive to older lesbians' unique health and care issues. Reforms in nursing research, education, and practice are suggested to make this population more visible and better understood.

Lesbian seniors have triple vulnerability (gender, sexual orientation, and age), necessitating inquiry into their social support needs, yet research about that is scare. Investigators identify relationships between social support and senior health. The Lubben Social Network Scale, Revised (LSNS-R), has provided such evidence and has been used to study many diverse senior groups. We modified it to include a Family of Choice category and qualitative questions to give context to responses among a sample of older lesbians. Our pilot demonstrated that the modification made a difference in accurately measuring social support among the sample, yet further investigation is warranted.