Carpenter, Kayla: Credentialing

Students consider many aspects when deciding on a college to attend. Some of these considerations include major factors such as location, price, academic majors, and reputation. One of the most important aspects to those who plan to pursue a professional degree such as doctors and lawyers is the credentialism of the institution. The article "Death by Degrees" mentions how twenty-two of Obama’s first thirty-five cabinet appointments possessed a degree from an Ivy League university, MIT, Stanford, the University of Chicago, Oxford, or Cambridge. All are well known and recognizable institutions around the world with highly respected reputations. An undergraduate or graduate degree from any of these universities allows for a much greater chance to be hired for a position or acceptance to a more prestigious university.

This was one of my considerations when deciding on a college. I plan to become a physical therapist and pursue a doctorate degree. Many medical professions place much weight on where students earn their degrees. With my future career plan in my mind, I wanted to attend Louisiana Tech in Ruston, LA, to earn my bachelors and masters degree in physical therapy. They have a specific program set up at the institution for pre-physical therapy and even have a graduate program available to earn a masters degree. Louisiana Tech University is also an accredited institution and recognized by many employers. Also as an advantage to my degree, LSUS in Shreveport, LA, considers Louisiana Tech undergraduates preferentially when they are applying for graduate studies. LSUS's institution has a significant credentialism in the medical field and would assist in being hired in the future. LSUS was also an option for me while deciding on which college to attend for my undergraduate studies. I definitely would have a greater chance of being admitted to their physical therapy graduate program if I had attended there for my undergraduate degree.

However, after touring the campus, I realized quickly that LSUS is more suited for graduate students than undergraduates. Louisiana Tech seemed like the option for me until the reality of price and loans set in. SAU was then my only option because of price, but I am having to give up the opportunity of earning a degree from a more highly rated institution. In the end, credentialism played an essential role in my college decision but was not the deciding factor.

Students/Faculty attend NCHC in Boston

 From L-R Darrell Gray, Jessica Zigler, Edward Kardas, Deborah Wilson, Kara O'Neal, and Suraj Manandhar pose at the recent meeting of the NCHC in Boston.

SAU Honors College students and faculty attended the annual meeting of the National Collegiate Honors College (NCHC) in Boston from November 14 to 18, 2012. Together they made four separate presentations at the conference.

Who is the real Dr. Kardas?

Cheyenne Meyer (right) visits Dr. Kardas' Honors Seminar class.

Impostor Cheyenne Meyer (right) tried to seize hold of Dr. Kardas' Honors Seminar class today. Students were stupefied to see twin versions of their teacher standing in front of them. The likeness Ms. Meyer adopted was so real that it was difficult for most to tell the difference between them.

Kardas (left) soldiered on trying to lecture on stress, time management, and relaxation. Meyer, on the other hand, finally sat down in the back of the room and kibbitzed from time to time.

Kardas expressed the hope that no future impostors would show up in the future to disrupt the important work of the Honors Seminar.

Kennedy, Krystin: Teens and Contraception

            Due to medical advances and research, there are many different types of contraceptives today with varied effectiveness as to prevention of pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Different contraceptives also have varied lengths of time over which they are effective. Oddly enough, the types of contraceptives with the highest prevention rates and longest time of effectiveness are used the least.

            A phone survey was completed by parents of daughters ages 12 to 17 that determined their attitudes towards different forms of contraceptives.  According to the study, condoms and birth control pills are the most used/preferred forms of contraceptives, even though they are the least effective methods and have very short times of use. Injectable contraceptives, emergency contraceptives, and birth control patches come in next in popularity and are slightly better as far as both effectiveness and length of time of use are concerned. Finally, implants and intrauterine devices come in last in popularity, even though they are the best forms of prevention according to research. It was concluded from the study that “the strongest predictor of acceptability of all methods was parental recognition of their teens’ autonomy." Researchers believe one major that reason parents are less accepting of longer-acting methods is because they associate the long acting contraception with an ongoing sexual relationship.

            Another study was done over which age groups used which type of contraceptive more and while the results were still the same as far as preferences go, it found that women above their teens were much more likely to use long-acting contraceptives like implants and intrauterine devices than teenage girls probably due to the fact that teenage girls are generally less knowledgeable about different types of prevention and have misconceptions, lack of familiarity, high cost, and lack of access. The committee that performed the research suggested referral to a public clinic as an option for teenagers, addressing the problems of cost, insurance coverage, and confidentiality.

References

Dawson, Milly. “Parents Prefer Some, Often Less-Effective, Birth Control Methods for Teens.” Journal of Adolescent Health (2012). Cfah.org.Web.2 Oct.2012.

Bankhead, Charles. “IUDS, Implants Best Teen Birth Control, ACOG Says.” MedPage Today (2012). Medpagetoday.com.Web.2 Oct. 2012.

Ibinola, Daniel: Teens and Contraception

Ibinola, Daniel: Teens and Contraception

All the articles gave statistics on the use of long-acting contraceptive methods in relation to short-acting ones. The articles described how studies and surveys were carried out on, how the parents of teenage girls can influence the use of contraceptive among their children, the use of contraceptives among adolescents and adults, and the factors that influence a parent’s acceptance of contraceptive methods. 

                  Parents play a major role in the administration of contraceptives to their adolescent children. A study in the Journal of Adolescent Health showed that parents of teen girls are more ready to accept their daughters being offered birth control pills and condoms during doctor visits rather than other, more effective and long-acting contraceptive methods. It also discussed how parents' respect for their daughter’s autonomy could make them more open minded to any contraceptive prescribed by a doctor.

                  One study cited said, “261 parents or guardian with a daughter aged 12 to 17 completed a phone survey that determined their attitudes towards different contraceptive methods as well as their parenting beliefs. Birth control pills won greatest acceptance (59 percent). In decreasing order of acceptability were condoms (51 percent), inject able contraceptives (46 percent), emergency contraception, also known as the morning-after pill (45 percent), birth control patches (42 percent), implants (32 percent) and intrauterine devices or IUDs (18 percent).” This signifies that the percentage of parent’s attitude for the use of contraceptive reduces in comparison to the effectiveness of the contraceptive.  

Generally, the articles try to point out that even though long-acting contraceptive are available; there is still an increased rate of STDs and unintended pregnancies among adolescents. This is as a result of the factors that affect the parent’s acceptance of contraceptive methods. Parents feel that the long-acting contraceptives are dangerous and associate this idea with the U .S. historical events around the Dalkon shield. Also, parents might associate long acting contraception, like IUDs, with an ongoing sexual relationship. The author of the article Lauren Hartman, M.D. also encouraged the use of condoms together with long-acting contraceptives so as to check STDs such as HIV. She also admonished parents on the need to understand that the risk of pregnancy outweighs the risk of any contraceptive method, including the IUD.

                 

                 

Godwin, Domonique: Teens and Contraception

            Today, teens are more sexually active than that of their predecessors. As times change, so do methods used by doctors to prevent sexually transmitted diseases, infections, and most of all: pregnancy. When reviewing the articles “IUDs, Implants Best Teen Birth Control, ACOG Says” by Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer of MedPage Today, and “Parents Prefer Some, Often Less-Effective, Birth Control Methods for Teens” by Milly Dawson, a contributing writer of Health Behavior News Service, it became clear that both writers were trying to inform readers of birth control methods that, although more useful, were not being used as much as methods that are not nearly as effective.

                        “Parents of teen girls are more ready to accept their daughters being offered birth control pills and condoms during doctor visits than other, more effective and long-acting contraceptive methods, according to a new study in the Journal of Adolescent Health. The study also shows that the more that parents respect their daughter’s autonomy, the more likely that they are to accept a doctor offering their teen any contraceptive,” Dawson reported.

            She explained that the majority of parents prefer their children to use traditional types of contraceptives such as  birth control, pulling out, or condoms. This is most likely because parents do not respect their child’s independence. Consequently, their children are more vulnerable to getting pregnant in comparison to children of parents who allow them to use more effective, long-term, forms of contraceptive.

            Dawson goes further to explain that the risk of all contraceptives far outweighs the risk of getting pregnant. Much of the prejudice against IUDs has to do with the events following the marketing of the Dalkon Shield. Unfortunately, the Dalkon Shield caused pelvic inflammation in a large portion of users. In addition, Bankhead stated “ These contraceptives [IUDs] have the highest rates of satisfaction and continuation of all reversible contraceptives. Adolescents are at a high risk of unintended pregnancy and may benefit from increased access to long-acting, reversible contraceptive methods.”

            Dawson and Bankhead explained the importance of contraceptive methods but emphasized the necessity of “long-acting, yet reversible” methods. With birth rates climbing to almost 22 times higher in women who use fast acting contraceptives, long-acting birth control methods are the best option for parents and their teens.

Keeney, Nicole: Teens and Contraception

Parents across the nation need to be more accepting of their daughters's anatomy. If more parents would accept that their teenage daughter is sexually active it would help reduce the already high rate of teen pregnancy. While it is understandable that IUDs have a rocky history, parents in this century need to understand that medicine and birth control methods have come a long way. Birth control pills are not the best protection against pregnancy and even though some parents may see them as the safest method there is still the possibility for complications like any other contraceptive.

While long lasting contraceptives may be more expensive they are the best bet for any teen or adult woman to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. No matter what type of birth control used every woman runs the risk of pregnancy. Unintentional pregnancy can be prevented by many methods but not all birth control methods have the same risks or have the same failure rate. Doctors truly believe that IUDs are the safest and most effective birth control on the market when used with condoms.