Responding to Scars After Breast Surgery
This article represents a phenomenological study on how women endow meaning to their scarred bodies after breast cancer treatment. Data collection consisted of multiple interviews with 10 women who had mastectomy, and 9 women who had breast-saving surgery. Against the background of the phenomenological premise that one’s body can appear to oneself in various ways, we identified meaningful differences between experiences that go together with one’s body "at a distance" and experiences that go together with one’s body’s "closeness." The diversity in body experiences we have revealed in our study calls...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - August 29, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Slatman, J., Halsema, A., Meershoek, A. Tags: Responses to Care Source Type: research
The Lived Experience of Caring for an Australian Military Veteran With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
There is limited literature on the experience of caring for an intimate partner with a mental health condition. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common mental health condition for military veterans; yet, little is known about how partners experience and cope with these caring relationships. Using an interpretive phenomenological approach, we collected data through individual interviews with 20 female partners of male veterans diagnosed with PTSD living in South Australia. We found the emotional features of caring to be directly derived from the strength of commitment these carers had to their relationships. We sho...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - August 29, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Waddell, E., Pulvirenti, M., Lawn, S. Tags: Responses to Care Source Type: research
Feeling Well and Having Good Numbers: Renal Patients Encounter With Clinical Uncertainties and the Responsibility to "Live Well"
Individuals living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) must be mindful of their diet and exercise, take multiple medications, and deal with other compounding illnesses. We observed renal patients’ encounters with health professionals at a renal clinic for tensions and gaps in patients’ and health professionals’ understandings of "living well" with CKD. We found that the renal patients at the clinic become emotionally invested in the fluctuations in the numbers on their blood work. Narrative practices of health professionals greatly affect how patients emotionally deal with the possibility of dialysis, trans...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - August 29, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Kang, H., Stenfors-Hayes, T. Tags: Responses to Care Source Type: research
Conflicted Identification in the Sex Education Classroom: Balancing Professional Values With Organizational Mandates
In this study, we interviewed 50 sex educators employed by public schools throughout a Midwestern, U.S. state about their experiences in the sex education classroom. Twenty-two interviewees communicated feelings of conflicted identification and provided examples of the ways in which they experienced this subjectivity in the context of their employment. We find these interviews shed light on the as-yet-understudied communicative experience of conflicted identification by delineating key sources of such conflict and discursive strategies used in its negotiation. Our results suggest that those who experience conflicted identi...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - August 2, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Williams, E. A., Jensen, R. E. Tags: HIV & amp;amp; Sexual Health Source Type: research
Family and Friend Influence on Urban-Dwelling American Indian Adolescent Girls Sexual Risk Behavior
Previous research with American Indian (AI) adolescent sexual risk behavior primarily focused on reservation-dwelling youth despite 70% of AIs living off Native lands. Using grounded theory methodology, I sampled 20 adolescent AI girls via talking circles and interviews to explore the perceptions of AI adolescent girls living in an urban, Midwest area about the influence of family and friends on their sexual behavior. Similar to research with other racial groups, participants cited their family and friends as a major influence. Five unique themes emerged related to family and friend influence. Urban-dwelling AI girls rely ...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - August 2, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Saftner, M. A. Tags: HIV & amp;amp; Sexual Health Source Type: research
Multilevel Perspectives on Female Sterilization in Low-Income Communities in Mumbai, India
This article, using qualitative analysis of key informant, in-depth interviews, and quantitative analyses, examines the antecedents, process, and outcomes of sterilization for women in a low-income area in Mumbai, India. Family planning policies, socioeconomic factors, and gender roles constrain women’s reproductive choices. Procedures for sterilization rarely follow protocol, particularly during pre-procedure counseling and consent. Women who choose sterilization often marry early, begin conceiving soon after marriage, and reach or exceed ideal family size early due to problems in accessing reversible contraceptives...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - August 2, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Brault, M. A., Schensul, S. L., Singh, R., Verma, R. K., Jadhav, K. Tags: HIV & amp;amp; Sexual Health Source Type: research
Portraying Reflexivity in Health Services Research
A model is proposed for supporting reflexivity in qualitative health research, informed by arguments from Bourdieu and Finlay. Bourdieu refers to mastering the subjective relation to the object at three levels—the overall social space, the field of specialists, and the scholastic universe. The model overlays Bourdieu’s levels of objectivation with Finlay’s three stages of research (pre-research, data collection, and data analysis). The intersections of these two ways of considering reflexivity, displayed as cells of a matrix, pose questions and offer prompts to productively challenge health researchers&rs...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - August 2, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Rae, J., Green, B. Tags: Methods Source Type: research
Pathways That Affect Wives HIV Risk Among Serodiscordant Couples in India: Results From the Positive Jeevan Saathi Study
This study examined factors that mitigate or heighten HIV risk among HIV-negative wives in serodiscordant relationships in Gujarat, India. Grounded theory was used to analyze 46 interviews (23 couples) where husbands were HIV-positive and wives were HIV-negative. A conceptual framework emerged from analysis from which we identified five pathways and four key behaviors: (a) safer sex, (b) no sex, (c) coercive sex, and (d) unprotected sex. Most couples either practiced safe sex or abstained from sex. Factors such as wives’ assertiveness, a wife’s fear of acquiring HIV, mutual understanding, positive sex communica...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - August 2, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Patel, S. N., Hennink, M. M., Hynes, M. E., Yount, K. M., Kosambiya, J. K., Wingood, G. M., Sutton-Brown-Fox, C., McCarty, F., Windle, M. Tags: HIV & amp;amp; Sexual Health Source Type: research
What Parents and Their Gay and Bisexual Sons Say About HIV Prevention
Despite ongoing prevention efforts, young gay and bisexual men (YGBM) accounted for more than three fourths of all recent HIV infections. Furthermore, they continue to engage in high-risk sexual behaviors at alarming rates. Nowadays, families are beginning to emerge as important resources for these youth. However, the viewpoints of YGBM and their families are largely missing from HIV prevention research and intervention development. To address this gap, we solicited the opinions of YGBM and their parents as to why YGBM engage in unsafe sex and what might be done to help them avoid HIV. Participants discussed youth’s ...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - August 2, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: LaSala, M. C., Fedor, J. P., Revere, E. J., Carney, R. Tags: HIV & amp;amp; Sexual Health Source Type: research
Social Stigma and Childbearing for Women Living With HIV/AIDS
We examined reproductive decision making among 20 women living with HIV through in-depth interviews. These women made decisions within situations of chaos, instability, and trauma, which often limited their ability to make truly informed choices about their lives and childbearing. Despite their HIV, many of the women wanted children, but experienced stigmatization related both to their HIV and to their decisions to have children. This stigmatization came from multiple sources, including health care providers, some of whom encouraged their patients to abort pregnancies because of their HIV. Participants, however, demonstrat...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - August 2, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Cuca, Y. P., Rose, C. D. Tags: HIV & amp;amp; Sexual Health Source Type: research
Shared Illness and Social Support Within Two HIV-Affected African American Communities
A key source of resiliency within HIV-affected African American communities is informal social support. Data from dyadic conversations and focus groups were used to address the following research question: What are HIV-positive African Americans’ social support experiences within their informal social networks in response to HIV-related problems? Circumstances that exacerbated HIV-related problems included others’ fear of contagion, reticence to be involved, judgment and rejection, and disregard for privacy. Support from HIV-negative others buffered the impact of problems when others communicate interest, take ...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - August 2, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Mosack, K. E., Stevens, P. E., Brouwer, A. M., Wendorf, A. R. Tags: HIV & amp;amp; Sexual Health Source Type: research
Identity, Representations, and Beliefs: HIV Controllers Living on the Frontier of Good Health and Illness
This study of social representations and the processes involved provide crucial elements for health professionals caring for HIV controllers. (Source: Qualitative Health Research)
Source: Qualitative Health Research - August 2, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Preau, M., Mora, M., Laguette, V., Colombani, C., Boufassa, F., Meyer, L., Spire, B., Lambotte, O. Tags: HIV & amp;amp; Sexual Health Source Type: research
Childbearing Experiences Following an HIV Diagnosis in Iringa, Tanzania
People living with HIV (PLHIV) continue to have children after being diagnosed with HIV, yet little research attention has been paid to actual lived childbearing experiences of PLHIV post-HIV diagnosis. We interviewed 10 HIV-positive women and 11 HIV-positive men in Iringa, Tanzania, about their experiences of conceiving and having children after being diagnosed with HIV. We adopted an approach to data analysis based on grounded theory and phenomenology. Participants’ experiences were shaped by social and institutional factors. Some participants reported pressures to bear children by partners and relatives, whereas o...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - August 2, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Saleem, H. T., Surkan, P. J., Kerrigan, D., Kennedy, C. E. Tags: HIV & amp;amp; Sexual Health Source Type: research
Serostatus Disclosure, Stigma Resistance, and Identity Management Among HIV-Positive Gay Men in Ireland
In this study, we examined how non-infectiousness due to antiretroviral therapy has affected HIV-positive gay men’s experience of serostatus disclosure to casual sex partners. Interviews were conducted with 15 seropositive gay men living in Ireland. Using grounded theory, three constructions of non-disclosure were proposed—as self-protection, as a morally permissible act, and as a rejection of the HIV-positive identity. Each construction entailed an aspect related to the sexual exclusion of those living with HIV, and an aspect related to their social exclusion. The extent to which the lives of those interviewed...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - August 2, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Murphy, P. J., Hevey, D., ODea, S., Ni Rathaille, N., Mulcahy, F. Tags: HIV & amp;amp; Sexual Health Source Type: research
The Framing and Fashioning of Therapeutic Citizenship Among People Living With HIV Taking Antiretroviral Therapy in Uganda
In this article, we examine how people living with HIV (PLWH) were able to reconceptualize or "reframe" their understanding of HIV and enhance their capacity to self-manage the condition. Two in-depth interviews were held with 38 PLWH (20 women, 18 men) selected from three government and nongovernment antiretroviral therapy (ART) delivery sites in Wakiso District, and the narratives analyzed. ART providers played an important role in shaping participants’ HIV self-management processes. Health workers helped PLWH realize that they could control their condition, provided useful concepts and language for emotional copin...
Source: Qualitative Health Research - August 2, 2016 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Russell, S., Namukwaya, S., Zalwango, F., Seeley, J. Tags: HIV & amp;amp; Sexual Health Source Type: research
