International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being最新文献

Purpose: While psychotropic medication is commonly used to treat severe mental illnesses, some patients perceive it as a barrier to meaningful aspects of their lives, motivating them to reduce or stop taking it. This qualitative study aims to contribute to the existential understanding of the choice to taper psychotropic medication.

Methods: An existential phenomenological method was employed, investigating and analyzing the lived experiences of 15 individuals in Norway in relation to their choice to taper their psychotropic medication with professional support.

Results: A drive towards existential health was identified, expressed through four types of quests: 1) the quest for a meaningful daily life, 2) the quest for a true self, 3) the quest for a deep sense of belonging with others, and 4) the quest to integrate spirituality in life.

Conclusions: This study indicates that the choice to reduce or stop taking psychotropic medication may encompass complex, existential dimensions beyond symptom management, affecting fundamental life aspects. For mental health professionals, these findings emphasize the importance of understanding these dimensions to better support individuals diagnosed with severe mental illness in their medication decisions and tapering processes.

Purpose: The outspoken aim of extending working lives faces the challenge of strong retirement age norms. This paper explores how older postal workers exercise their agency when narrating their retirement experiences and discusses implications for societal goals to extend working lives.

Methods: Utilizing the tools of qualitative longitudinal analysis and narrative agency, we analyzed thematic interviews with three representative cases from a population of 20 former Finnish postal workers.

Results: The three cases demonstrated narrative agency by A) questioning dominant social norms regarding unemployment and personal value, B) grappling with unexpected changes to life in retirement, and C) narrating changes to work and one's own focus in life, paired with a freedom to choose one's activities.

Conclusion: Updating negative dominant societal narratives about aging and work is pertinent in the endeavor to extend working lives. Retirement is a "space of the possible." Developing workplaces into such spaces through increased structural flexibility could improve the image of aging at work.

Background: Over six million students study abroad each year, and many experience culture shock. Engaging with a new food culture often changes eating habits, and dietary acculturation can be challenging for young people. However, little is known about this process among international students in the Nordic context and how it affects their health and well-being. This study aimed to explore the main challenges international students face concerning food choices and eating habits after encountering Norwegian food culture.

Methods: Ten international students at a university in Southern Norway were interviewed using semi-structured face-to-face interviews. Data were analysed using inductive codebook thematic analysis within an applied orientation.

Results: Five main themes were identified: food cost, missing the taste from home, food literacy, language barriers, and the social aspects of eating. Food cost was identified as the most significant challenge, possibly influencing food choices and eating habits, particularly among non-European students.

Conclusions: International students in Norway face several food-related challenges similar to those reported elsewhere, which may negatively affect both their diet quality and their social and emotional well-being. These insights provide perspectives on practical, social, and emotional aspects of cultural adaptation, informing potential support measures for international students in the Nordic context.

Purpose: Recent studies in the Middle East have highlighted challenges related to children's physical activity (PA) and active play due to environmental factors and sociocultural barriers. However, no study has yet explored the perspectives of young children. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the socio-cultural and personal barriers to PA and active play from children's perspectives in Abu Dhabi Emirate (AD), United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Methods: This study was a qualitative research using the grounded theory approach to explore PA in young children. Eleven focus group discussions were conducted involving 64 children aged 4-8 years (nursery to gradeschool). Each session lasted for 20-30 minutes, and reflexivity exercises were performed to address cultural bias. The audio transcripts were coded iteratively by multiple researchers.

Results: Children often delay playtime because of homework, waiting for cooler temperatures, fear of playing outside at night, or preference of digital entertainment instead of engaging in active play. The findings of the current study indicates significant cultural differences between Emirati and expatriate children regarding play time, play activities, and playmates. Community and organizational factors such as play locations and school environments also play a role in child PA participation. Safety concerns, lack of parental supervision, weather, and academic responsibilities were identified as being the major barriers to active play. Moreover, school policies and children's perception of school as a place for study rather than play further limit participation in PA by the children.

Conclusion: These findings from the children's perspectives underscore the importance of addressing both cultural attitudes and structural barriers to promote active play and PA among young children in AD. Interventions involving families, schools, and communities are essential to create supportive environments that balance academic priorities with children's need for safe and engaging play opportunities.

Purpose: Using a qualitative approach, this study explores how older people have experienced barriers and facilitators in access to mental health services (MHS). It uses the life-course perspective and the Network Episode Model (NEM) as theoretical frameworks. It addresses three research questions: 1) How have older people experienced access to MHS as older adults and at other times during their life-course? 2) How and why do older people decide to access MHS? and 3) What barriers and facilitators have older people experienced when wanting to use MHS?

Methods: Four in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with older people (65 +) using mental health services, which were recruited using purposive sampling. The results were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, considering the subjectivity and reflexivity of the researchers.

Results: Three themes were identified as the main processes where barriers and facilitators are experienced: 1) Recognising that there is a mental health problem and you can get help, 2) Destigmatisation of mental health, and 3) Need for integral support.

Conclusions: Participants' past experiences and knowledge of mental health seem to contribute to help-seeking. Health and mental health professionals, especially GPs, can facilitate access to MHS by recognising, validating and integrating older people's needs. Conversations about mental health with personal and community organisations can lessen stigma and increase social support. Policies should continue promoting mental health literacy and awareness, and adopt a holistic delivery model from a gerontological perspective that includes older people and their social networks.

Purpose: This study investigates how left-behind adolescents in Zimbabwe construct meaning around parental migration-a prevalent outcome of global economic shifts and professional emigration in the Global South.

Method: Guided by existentialist theory and employing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), the study engaged 14 adolescents aged 13-17 who had experienced the migration of at least one parent for at least two years. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, allowing participants to articulate their lived experiences and meaning-making processes.

Results: Five key experiential themes emerged: (1) disrupted emotional security, (2) forced maturity, (3) ambivalence toward migration, (4) identity reconstruction, and (5) adaptive resilience. Participants actively engaged in emotional, cognitive, and social strategies to navigate parental absence. These included emotional detachment, reframing hardship as growth, reliance on peer support and faith, and expressions of emotional fatigue and unresolved longing.

Conclusions: The findings reveal that left-behind adolescents are not passive recipients of familial disruption but demonstrate active meaning-making efforts. These insights call for psychosocial interventions prioritizing adolescent agency and existential coping strategies. Policy and programming should focus on strengthening emotional support systems, improving digital connectivity with migrant parents, and integrating existential frameworks into adolescent well-being initiatives and child welfare policies.

Purpose: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), which is often associated with emotional distress, depression, and anxiety, is a significant mental health issue among adolescents and young adults. Research on the role of family in addressing NSSI in Thailand is limited. This qualitative study examined familial perspectives on NSSI to identify systemic and relational factors influencing this behavior.

Methods: In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted at a hospital in Bangkok, with 20 parents of adolescents and young adults aged 10-24 years who had engaged in NSSI within the past three years. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the responses.

Results: Five key themes were extracted: (1) NSSI as a trigger for changing relationships between family and patients, often rooted in emotional neglect and high expectations; (2) negative impacts on families and strategies for adjustment and solutions; (3) school's response to NSSI, from support to stigmatization; (4) other perspectives about NSSI characterized by both encouragement and stigma; and (5) mental health professionals' assistance in providing psychoeducation and fostering communication to help families manage NSSI.

Conclusion: This study underscores the significant impact of NSSI on families and emphasizes the need for collaborative approaches involving families, schools, and communities to support the mental health of affected adolescents and young adults.

Background: Recently here has been interest in the patient's voice within community mental health settings as a catalyst of service development. There remains a lack of literature documenting the lived experience of inpatient mental health care in Older People's Mental Health (OPMH) inpatient settings. There is a drive within the National Health Service (NHS) to transition care to community settings and improve the discharge process.

Aims: To gain insight into older people's experiences of being discharged from OPMH inpatient settings.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven people discharged from OPMH inpatient wards. They were asked to share their experiences of preparing for discharge, the support during this process, the transition to home, and what should be learned from their experiences. The interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

Results: Six main themes were identified. 1) Discharge as a gradual process, 2) Feeling involved in discharge planning; feeling empowered, 3) Communication; contrast between positive and negative experiences, 4) Social support; a sense that there was a causal link between support and successful outcome, 5) Importance of nurse support; the benefits of having support, 6) The importance of readiness for discharge; the relationship between how the patient felt before and after discharge.

Conclusions: This is one of the first studies to explore older people's experiences of being discharged from mental health hospitals. It provides insight of the factors that patients believe are important for a positive experience of discharge. Suggestions for service improvements and recommendations on how patients are supported appropriately in the process are discussed.

Purpose: The primary aim of this qualitative study was to explore how sarcoma survivors experienced communication with and support from healthcare professional during their outpatient long-term follow-up care at a university hospital.

Methods: The study employed an exploratory qualitative design, using a phenomenological and hermeneutic approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 28 sarcoma patients treated at a dedicated sarcoma centre. The material was analysed using thematic analysis.

Results: Participants reported a high degree of trust in healthcare professionals and overall satisfaction with their oncological care. However, many expressed that physicians could improve their ability to take a more holistic view and to acknowledge how cancer and its treatment had affected patients' health and quality of life. All participants appreciated receiving a structured checklist that helped them identify and communicate challenges and unmet needs. Furthermore, they expressed a need for more comprehensive and continuous information about potential side effects and late complications throughout the treatment and follow-up trajectory.

Conclusion: This study highlights that sarcoma survivors value clear, consistent, and holistic communication about late effects during follow-up care. To strengthen patient-centred communication, healthcare professionals should engage in open dialogue and clarify shared responsibilities related to long-term health management and rehabilitation.

Purpose: Academic stress profoundly affects students' mental health and well-being, often contributing to student attrition. While much research focuses on Western universities, higher education in Slovakia and the Czech Republic remains underexplored in this context. This study aimed to identify sources of academic stress, examine coping strategies, and explore aspects supporting or hindering well-being among university students in these countries.

Method: Eleven semi-structured interviews with students from Slovak and Czech universities were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Seven also kept weekly diaries over five months, enabling chronological tracking of stress and coping. Content analysis revealed five themes tied to semester periods and showing how stressors and coping shifted over time.

Results: Key stressors included exams, procrastination, time management, and balancing academic work, and leisure commitments. Coping strategies ranged from organizational skills to maladaptive behaviors like substance use and social withdrawal. Protective conditions included supportive environments, innovative teaching methods, and recognition of stress.

Discussion: Study highlights the importance of addressing academic stress and provides one of the first longitudinal qualitative accounts from Slovak and Czech universities, combining interviews and diaries to capture culturally specific and universal stressors, coping fluctuations, and the need for integrated institutional and personal strategies.