NWHRC's Annual Women Talk Survey Explores Barriers to a Healthy Lifestyle
Washington, DC: According to the National Women's Health Resource Center's (NWHRC) second annual Women Talk national survey, universal health coverage was selected as the health advance women desire most. The survey of more than 1,100 women asked which "medical technology or advancement(s) would you most like to see become a reality" and 15% of women opted for universal health coverage rather than a cure for neurological diseases (14%) or breast cancer (13%), a vaccine for HIV/AIDS (12%) or a cure for diabetes (8%).
"Women are deeply concerned about health coverage for themselves and their families," said Audrey Sheppard, president and CEO of the NWHRC. "As the family health manager, women want the best possible medical care for their loved ones and are telling us in this survey that above all, they believe that making quality health care accessible to everyone is a major necessity."
Women were provided the following list of health advances. Complete results follow*:
| Universal health coverage |
15% |
| Cure for neurological diseases |
14% |
| Cure for breast cancer |
13% |
| Vaccine for HIV/AIDS |
12% |
| Cure for diabetes |
8% |
| Use of stem cells in medical research |
7% |
| Weight loss pill |
6% |
| Routine imaging tests for heart disease and cancer |
6% |
| Cure for depression and anxiety |
4% |
| Effective, non-addictive pain killer for chronic pain that has no side effects
|
3% |
| Cure for human papilloma virus (HPV) |
2% |
| Cure for spinal cord injuries |
2% |
*Only answers with greater than a 1% response rate are included above.
Getting better with age
Although the majority of women (63%) in the survey were clinically overweight or obese, women rate themselves to be in very good or excellent mental and physical health. On a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being "excellent" and 1 being "very poor," 72% of women rated their mental health to be an 8 or above and half (52%) rated their physical health an 8 or above.
However, aging does not seem to be a barrier to good health. Older women, those 60 and over, rate both their physical and mental health higher than other age groups. Women aged 40 - 59 had, on average, the lowest rated physical health (6.7 - 7.1), and half (53%) said that their health had declined over the past five years. Women 18 - 29 cited the lowest score, on average, for mental health (7.4).
"It seems that for women, the biggest physical and mental health drain hits between the ages of 40 and 60 according to our survey results," stated Ms. Sheppard. "Given that the first wave of Boomer women are starting to turn 60, this is great news. One might conclude that older women have greater access to health coverage and they have less care giving responsibilities than women in their 40s and 50s, not to mention typically more time available."
If only I had more time...
Overall, the survey shows that making personal time continues to be a challenge for most women, especially across ethnicities. Just 48% of women say they spend the right amount of time on themselves. Further, when women do make time for themselves, they are choosing to engage in entertainment activities (64%), such as shopping or dining out, rather than options that would enhance their mind and body such as exercise (29%) or relaxing (19%).
Looking across ethnicities, only 32% of African-American women and 42% of Hispanic women in the survey agree that they spend the right amount of time on themselves verses the half (53%) of Caucasian women who agree.
For more information on the Women Talk survey, visit www.healthywomen.org or call 888-406-9472.
