Verifying the scientific adequacy of feminist studies is necessary to assure that research processes and outcomes are well grounded, cogent, justifiable, and relevant. The authors analyze what scientific adequacy means in feminist inquiry and propose standards of rigor by which nurse investigators can plan and evaluate their studies. In the process, conventional empiricist criteria of reliability and validity are critiqued, and more appropriate concepts representing dimensions of adequacy in feminist research are presented.

Postmastectomy pain (PMP), a distinctive postsurgical neuropathic pain syndrome, has been thought to be consequence of 4-6% of surgical procedures for cancer of the breast, but remains understudied and poorly documented. In this cross-sectional descriptive study, a convenience sample of 95 women who had undergone breast cancer surgery was recruited from 16 ambulatory care sites. Prevalence, characteristics, and impact of the PMP syndrome were investigated using a medical record review, a patient information questionnaire, a cancer pain questionnaire and the McGill Pain Questionnaire. A 20% prevalence rate of the PMP syndrome was found. Women experiencing the syndrome reported chronic, stable pain of long duration that began shortly after surgery. They described paroxysms of lancinating pain against a background of burning, aching, tight constriction in the axilla, medial upper arm, and/or chest that significantly interfered with the performance of daily occupational and domestic activities. Data suggest that these women were undertreated and generally obtained poor pain relief from their symptoms.

The ongoing Ebola epidemic in West Africa has drawn attention to global health inequalities, in particular the inadequacies of health care systems in sub-Saharan African countries for appropriately managing and containing infectious diseases. The purpose of this article is to examine the sociopolitical and economic conditions that created the environment for the Ebola epidemic to occur, identify challenges to and opportunities for the prevention and control of Ebola and future outbreaks, and discuss policy recommendations and priority areas for addressing the Ebola epidemic and future outbreaks in West Africa. Articles in peer-reviewed journals on health system reforms in developing countries and periodicals of international organizations were used to gather the overview reported in this article. We identify individual, structural, and community challenges that must be addressed in an effort to reduce the spread of Ebola in West Africa. The Ebola epidemic in West Africa underscores the need for the overhaul and transformation of African health care systems to build the capacity in these countries to address infectious diseases. Public-private partnerships for investment in developing countries' health care systems that involve the international community are critical in addressing the current Ebola epidemic and future outbreaks.

The elements of stigma resistance described in this study may be starting points for designing participatory interventions for and with African American women living with HIV.

Twenty‐jive Midwestern self‐identified lesbian women were recruited through a snowball design to participate in a semistructured interview. Data were analyzed qualitatively for themes and consensus. Stigma and identifiability in lesbian women are complex issues that affect their cultural and social experience, health beliefs, interaction with health care providers and use of health care systems. The results suggest that lesbian women often do not feel comfortable seeking health care, experience nonempathetic responses when they do and even feel at risk of harm in some health care situations. Nurses are challenged to evaluate the adequacy of knowledge and reassess the quality of health care offered to lesbians.