Advanced Practice Nursing Intervention: Improving Women's Health In the Combat Zone
- List the three most common gynecological problems that female Soldiers encounter in a combat theater.
- Identify four key components of the educational curriculum and the Feminine Hygiene Deployment Toolkit for preventing gynecological problems during deployment.
- Describe the role of an Advanced Practice Nurse in preventing women’s health problems during deployment.
Design: This study was a non-equivalent control group repeated measures design.
Setting: A large Infantry Military Post
Patients/Participants: The participants were female Soldiers in the U.S. Army who were deploying to Iraq (N=118).
Methods: Participants completed a web-based feminine health questionnaire and attitudes measure prior to deployment and 35% of them completed it after deploying to Iraq (n=42). The intervention group attended a class prior to deployment that included a didactic and a hands-on opportunity with a Nurse Practitioner. Feminine Hygiene Deployment Toolkits, which included items to facilitate self care practices of feminine and menstrual hygiene and the Freshette© urinary diversion device, were provided to each participant. Repeated measures were analyzed utilizing ANOVA and chi-square procedures.
Results: The intervention group showed statistically significant differences (p<.05) from the control group during deployment with higher feminine health and menstrual knowledge scores, a higher percentage of birth control users (51% vs 4%), and a difference in reasons for taking oral contraceptive pills (OCP) during deployment.
Conclusion/Implications for nursing practice: There is evidence that a women’s health class prior to deployment may be a valuable preventive measure for female Soldiers. Training should include education on the conditions of deployment that contribute to commonly occurring genitourinary diagnoses, as well as instruction on specific self-care practices that women can use to moderate the effects of deployment on their genitourinary health.
Keywords: military women's health, feminine hygiene
