Pub Date : 2024-12-10DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100513
Madelyn daSilva , Sameth Taro Hang , Shannon L. Sibbald
Qualitative research tools offer health sciences researchers the ability to understand complex, varied, and nuanced facets of an individual's lived experiences. Several of these tools include observations, interviews, and focus groups, each with its own advantages and limitations. We created an alternative tool, the Living Document, an iterative, longitudinal, open-ended, and adaptable questionnaire that overcomes the barriers presented by other qualitative research tools. The Living Documents allows researchers to better understand and familiarize themselves with the research context, understand change over time, and capture the perspectives of research participants. As a proof of concept, the Living Document was employed within a chronic disease program embedded within primary care called the Best Care COPD (BCC) program to better understand its growth and implementation in new patient sites. Given the iterative and sequential nature of the tool employed within the BCC program, its compatibility with other data collection tools, and its longitudinal use, the Living Document was shown to be a valuable tool for the field of health sciences and for implementation research.
{"title":"Living documents: A longitudinal data collection method for health services research","authors":"Madelyn daSilva , Sameth Taro Hang , Shannon L. Sibbald","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100513","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100513","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Qualitative research tools offer health sciences researchers the ability to understand complex, varied, and nuanced facets of an individual's lived experiences. Several of these tools include observations, interviews, and focus groups, each with its own advantages and limitations. We created an alternative tool, the Living Document, an iterative, longitudinal, open-ended, and adaptable questionnaire that overcomes the barriers presented by other qualitative research tools. The Living Documents allows researchers to better understand and familiarize themselves with the research context, understand change over time, and capture the perspectives of research participants. As a proof of concept, the Living Document was employed within a chronic disease program embedded within primary care called the Best Care COPD (BCC) program to better understand its growth and implementation in new patient sites. Given the iterative and sequential nature of the tool employed within the BCC program, its compatibility with other data collection tools, and its longitudinal use, the Living Document was shown to be a valuable tool for the field of health sciences and for implementation research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":74862,"journal":{"name":"SSM. Qualitative research in health","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100513"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143174158","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-09DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100510
Brittany N. Morey , Melina Michelen , Madeleine Phan , Sarah Cárdenas , Mary Anne Foo , Patricia J. Cantero , Samantha Peralta , Noraima Chirinos , Rocio Salazar , Gloria Itzel Montiel , Sora Park Tanjasiri , John Billimek , Alana M.W. LeBrón
Public health relied on community health workers (CHWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic to connect with the most vulnerable communities, which saved lives and addressed inequities. Understanding the structural factors that supported and hindered the success of CHWs is essential for building a stronger public health infrastructure in the future. We analyzed semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 15 institutional representatives and policymakers who engaged in COVID-19 response involving CHWs in Orange County, California. Findings indicated that while participants realized during the COVID-19 pandemic how essential CHWs were in addressing health and social inequities, CHWs were often undervalued by systems that were not established to support them. Participants highlighted needs for government and healthcare systems to equally partner with CHWs, reimburse CHWs for their work, decrease administrative barriers, and fund CHW-hiring organizations sustainably. We discuss recommendations for supporting CHWs through systems changes.
{"title":"Structural supports and challenges for community health worker models: Lessons from the COVID-19 response in Orange County, California","authors":"Brittany N. Morey , Melina Michelen , Madeleine Phan , Sarah Cárdenas , Mary Anne Foo , Patricia J. Cantero , Samantha Peralta , Noraima Chirinos , Rocio Salazar , Gloria Itzel Montiel , Sora Park Tanjasiri , John Billimek , Alana M.W. LeBrón","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100510","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100510","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Public health relied on community health workers (CHWs) during the COVID-19 pandemic to connect with the most vulnerable communities, which saved lives and addressed inequities. Understanding the structural factors that supported and hindered the success of CHWs is essential for building a stronger public health infrastructure in the future. We analyzed semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 15 institutional representatives and policymakers who engaged in COVID-19 response involving CHWs in Orange County, California. Findings indicated that while participants realized during the COVID-19 pandemic how essential CHWs were in addressing health and social inequities, CHWs were often undervalued by systems that were not established to support them. Participants highlighted needs for government and healthcare systems to equally partner with CHWs, reimburse CHWs for their work, decrease administrative barriers, and fund CHW-hiring organizations sustainably. We discuss recommendations for supporting CHWs through systems changes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":74862,"journal":{"name":"SSM. Qualitative research in health","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100510"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143172934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hospitalization in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is a dramatic disruption of the taken-for-granted flow of everyday life for the patient's family members. Especially in the case of long-stay hospitalization, the emotional and physical burden makes them “secondary patients”. As the recent “compassion turn” in healthcare normatively maintains, the staff's individual communicative competences are crucial for providing empathic and compassionate forms of care, oriented to the ecology of family life. However, personal skills and interpersonal communication cannot alone fulfill the requirements of compassion-oriented patient- and family-centered care. A question arises as to how to move from individual-based compassion toward a compassionate healthcare environment. Which organizational conditions, artifact-based supports can foster taking care of the patient's relatives' suffering? Drawing on scholarship on sociomaterality, this paper reports findings from a corpus-based study on a narrative-care practice implemented in three Italian ICUs: the visitors' book (VB). Integrating artifact analysis and texts analysis, we illustrate how VB accomplishes organizational compassion, therefore ventriloquizing the ward's orientation toward it. We advance that adopting VB in an ICU can be a way to enact context-based, situated and distributed compassion-oriented family-centered care, which can complement forms of care relying on individual attitudes and interpersonal communication skills.
{"title":"Accomplishing organizational compassion in critical care settings: An artifact analysis of the visitors’ book agency","authors":"Letizia Caronia , Federica Ranzani , Arturo Chieregato","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100509","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100509","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Hospitalization in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is a dramatic disruption of the taken-for-granted flow of everyday life for the patient's family members. Especially in the case of long-stay hospitalization, the emotional and physical burden makes them “secondary patients”. As the recent “compassion turn” in healthcare normatively maintains, the staff's individual communicative competences are crucial for providing empathic and compassionate forms of care, oriented to the ecology of family life. However, personal skills and interpersonal communication cannot alone fulfill the requirements of compassion-oriented patient- and family-centered care. A question arises as to how to move from individual-based compassion toward a compassionate healthcare environment. Which organizational conditions, artifact-based supports can foster taking care of the patient's relatives' suffering? Drawing on scholarship on sociomaterality, this paper reports findings from a corpus-based study on a narrative-care practice implemented in three Italian ICUs: the visitors' book (VB). Integrating artifact analysis and texts analysis, we illustrate how VB accomplishes organizational compassion, therefore ventriloquizing the ward's orientation toward it. We advance that adopting VB in an ICU can be a way to enact context-based, situated and distributed compassion-oriented family-centered care, which can complement forms of care relying on individual attitudes and interpersonal communication skills.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":74862,"journal":{"name":"SSM. Qualitative research in health","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100509"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143174161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
“Well-being” is utilised in multiple ways – an everyday word, a component of health, a policy objective, reflecting a diverse set of shifting meanings, conceptualisations, definitions, measurements, and theorising. Influenced by structural and social conditions, well-being can be enhanced or diminished and is experienced at a range of scales (individual, community, society). Globally, abortion is a common practice with implications for well-being. However, the intersections and linkages between abortion and well-being have not yet been explicitly synthesised. To extend understandings, theorising, and measurements, we conducted a systematically searched narrative literature review of evidence pertaining to abortion and well-being.
We used a grounded theory-driven approach to theoretically sample items until concept (abortion and well-being) saturation was reached, meaning our study was guided by the literature, rather than imposing an external set of theories. Our database searches (January 01, 2005–June 19, 2023) identified 7665 unique records yielding 753 records for the review, from which n = 167 items were selected for extraction.
Our analysis of extracted items yielded four main themes. First, only a minority (13/167) of studies explicitly engaged with well-being. Second, the majority of studies incorporated well-being-allied concepts, without explicitly framing their research as about well-being. We developed insights from these studies using four sub-themes: social connectedness, individual agency, mental health, and physical health. Third, there is limited use of theory and/or frameworks in the empirical evidence. Last, we interrogated the empirical research on abortion and well-being over the life course.
Well-being and allied concepts can be useful and productive analytic framings with relevance for research on abortion. We invite readers to consider how these concepts might be used to develop and iterate innovation – methodologically, empirically, and theoretically – to clarify, extend and deepen links between abortion and well-being.
{"title":"Abortion and well-being: A narrative literature review","authors":"Ernestina Coast , Rishita Nandagiri , Andra Fry , Midanna de Almada , Heidi Johnston , Hazal Atay , Bela Ganatra , Antonella Lavelanet , Nurudeen Alhassan , Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas , Lucía Berro Pizzarossa","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100508","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100508","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>“Well-being” is utilised in multiple ways – an everyday word, a component of health, a policy objective, reflecting a diverse set of shifting meanings, conceptualisations, definitions, measurements, and theorising. Influenced by structural and social conditions, well-being can be enhanced or diminished and is experienced at a range of scales (individual, community, society). Globally, abortion is a common practice with implications for well-being. However, the intersections and linkages between abortion and well-being have not yet been explicitly synthesised. To extend understandings, theorising, and measurements, we conducted a systematically searched narrative literature review of evidence pertaining to abortion and well-being.</div><div>We used a grounded theory-driven approach to theoretically sample items until concept (abortion and well-being) saturation was reached, meaning our study was guided by the literature, rather than imposing an external set of theories. Our database searches (January 01, 2005–June 19, 2023) identified 7665 unique records yielding 753 records for the review, from which n = 167 items were selected for extraction.</div><div>Our analysis of extracted items yielded four main themes. First, only a minority (13/167) of studies explicitly engaged with well-being. Second, the majority of studies incorporated well-being-allied concepts, without explicitly framing their research as about well-being. We developed insights from these studies using four sub-themes: social connectedness, individual agency, mental health, and physical health. Third, there is limited use of theory and/or frameworks in the empirical evidence. Last, we interrogated the empirical research on abortion and well-being over the life course.</div><div>Well-being and allied concepts can be useful and productive analytic framings with relevance for research on abortion. We invite readers to consider how these concepts might be used to develop and iterate innovation – methodologically, empirically, and theoretically – to clarify, extend and deepen links between abortion and well-being.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":74862,"journal":{"name":"SSM. Qualitative research in health","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100508"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143174160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100503
Dara Shifrer , Suzy Fly , Rachel Springer , Xuan Dinh
The mental health of children, and especially adolescents, has been a global public health priority for decades. School-based health centers (SBHCs) are health clinics established in close proximity to elementary and secondary schools for the purpose of increasing access to medical, and particularly mental health services, for children and adolescents. Yet, like other health clinics, SBHCs struggle to overcome structural and interpersonal stigma related to mental health conditions and support. Then, the pandemic threatened the sustainability and efficacy of SBHCs just as youth's mental health needs skyrocketed. We use Stangl et al.’s (2019)framework for health-related stigma to analyze data from 36 interviews with SBHC Coordinators in Oregon and their Educator Partners to investigate: 1) What implications does mental health-related stigma have for SBHCs' delivery of mental health services to children and adolescents? 2) How did these factors change during the pandemic? Consistent with Stangl et al.’s (2019) framework for health-related stigma, mental-health-related stigma is evident in this study in terms of the secondary stigma youth are reported to experience from peers and families in terms of visiting a SBHC for mental health services, as well as in limitations in the quantity and quality of resources dedicated to providing mental health services. The pandemic had contradictory effects, both increasing and reducing stigma along two axes: cultural perceptions of mental health problems and telehealth.
{"title":"School-based health centers and mental health stigma before and during the pandemic","authors":"Dara Shifrer , Suzy Fly , Rachel Springer , Xuan Dinh","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100503","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100503","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The mental health of children, and especially adolescents, has been a global public health priority for decades. School-based health centers (SBHCs) are health clinics established in close proximity to elementary and secondary schools for the purpose of increasing access to medical, and particularly mental health services, for children and adolescents. Yet, like other health clinics, SBHCs struggle to overcome structural and interpersonal stigma related to mental health conditions and support. Then, the pandemic threatened the sustainability and efficacy of SBHCs just as youth's mental health needs skyrocketed. We use Stangl et al.’s (2019)framework for health-related stigma to analyze data from 36 interviews with SBHC Coordinators in Oregon and their Educator Partners to investigate: 1) What implications does mental health-related stigma have for SBHCs' delivery of mental health services to children and adolescents? 2) How did these factors change during the pandemic? Consistent with Stangl et al.’s (2019) framework for health-related stigma, mental-health-related stigma is evident in this study in terms of the secondary stigma youth are reported to experience from peers and families in terms of visiting a SBHC for mental health services, as well as in limitations in the quantity and quality of resources dedicated to providing mental health services. The pandemic had contradictory effects, both increasing and reducing stigma along two axes: cultural perceptions of mental health problems and telehealth.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":74862,"journal":{"name":"SSM. Qualitative research in health","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100503"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142757672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100497
Kelly Underman PhD, Alexandra H. Vinson PhD, Lauren D. Olsen PhD, Tania M. Jenkins PhD, Laura E. Hirshfield PhD
{"title":"Special issue introduction: The sociology of health professions education","authors":"Kelly Underman PhD, Alexandra H. Vinson PhD, Lauren D. Olsen PhD, Tania M. Jenkins PhD, Laura E. Hirshfield PhD","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100497","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100497","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":74862,"journal":{"name":"SSM. Qualitative research in health","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100497"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143150434","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-12-01DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100500
Nicola Boydell, Debbie Cavers, Victoria Cluley, Helen Eborall, Neneh Rowa-Dewar
{"title":"Reflecting on the changing practice of qualitative health research: Enduring learning on care-full practice beyond the COVID-19 pandemic","authors":"Nicola Boydell, Debbie Cavers, Victoria Cluley, Helen Eborall, Neneh Rowa-Dewar","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100500","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100500","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":74862,"journal":{"name":"SSM. Qualitative research in health","volume":"6 ","pages":"Article 100500"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143150435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-28DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100507
Erica Chavez Santos , Miriam Flores Moreno , Amy Hernandez , Ricardo Moreno Garcia , June T. Spector , India J. Ornelas , Barbara Baquero
Background
Agricultural workers are an integral part of our food system, yet they experience health and social inequities rooted in structural racism. This study sought to describe the perspectives of agricultural workers on how labor and social policies impact their work environment and health. Our conceptual framework builds on existing frameworks on work and health, emphasizing sociopolitical environments shaping laws and work environment along with a framework on structural racism and immigrant health.
Methods
This qualitative study used an interpretivist and phenomenological approach and engaged community and worker advocacy organizations. We conducted qualitative interviews with individuals 18 and older who identified as agricultural workers in Washington State. Interviews were conducted and transcribed in Spanish. We used thematic analysis to identify patterns within and across transcripts.
Findings
We interviewed 32 Latino agricultural workers, of whom half were female and over half had 10+ years of experience working in agriculture. We identified three themes: 1) labor laws that are intended to protect agricultural workers are often not being implemented as intended, 2) agricultural workers are vulnerable to mistreatment at work due to marginalized social statuses, and 3) agricultural workers face barriers accessing healthcare and workers’ compensation due to marginalization.
Conclusion
Our findings suggest that current labor laws and social policies are inadequate in providing a safe and healthy work environment for agricultural workers. Future research and intervention efforts should aim to identify policies that can improve the work environment, enforce existing policies, and minimize mistreatment.
{"title":"“A veces no aguantas lo pesado que es el trabajo”: A qualitative study on work conditions, labor and social policies, and health among Latino agricultural workers in Washington State","authors":"Erica Chavez Santos , Miriam Flores Moreno , Amy Hernandez , Ricardo Moreno Garcia , June T. Spector , India J. Ornelas , Barbara Baquero","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100507","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100507","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Agricultural workers are an integral part of our food system, yet they experience health and social inequities rooted in structural racism. This study sought to describe the perspectives of agricultural workers on how labor and social policies impact their work environment and health. Our conceptual framework builds on existing frameworks on work and health, emphasizing sociopolitical environments shaping laws and work environment along with a framework on structural racism and immigrant health.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>This qualitative study used an interpretivist and phenomenological approach and engaged community and worker advocacy organizations. We conducted qualitative interviews with individuals 18 and older who identified as agricultural workers in Washington State. Interviews were conducted and transcribed in Spanish. We used thematic analysis to identify patterns within and across transcripts.</div></div><div><h3>Findings</h3><div>We interviewed 32 Latino agricultural workers, of whom half were female and over half had 10+ years of experience working in agriculture. We identified three themes: 1) labor laws that are intended to protect agricultural workers are often not being implemented as intended, 2) agricultural workers are vulnerable to mistreatment at work due to marginalized social statuses, and 3) agricultural workers face barriers accessing healthcare and workers’ compensation due to marginalization.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Our findings suggest that current labor laws and social policies are inadequate in providing a safe and healthy work environment for agricultural workers. Future research and intervention efforts should aim to identify policies that can improve the work environment, enforce existing policies, and minimize mistreatment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":74862,"journal":{"name":"SSM. Qualitative research in health","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100507"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143172936","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-26DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100506
Monica Trentin , Martina Valente , Emanuele Longo , Elena Rubini , Awsan Bahattab , Giulia Facci , Giorgia Ziliani , Loredana Carpentieri , Francesco Della Corte , Luca Ragazzoni
Migrants and women were among the groups most severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic disaster. By adopting an intersectional lens, it can be inferred that migrant women (MW) were particularly vulnerable to its impacts. This study aims to explore the multifaceted impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on MW living in Milan, Italy, investigating a broad spectrum of experiences. We conducted a phenomenological study using semi-structured interviews from September 2023 to January 2024. Interviews were transcribed and inductively analyzed. We interviewed 19 cisgender MW coming from 10 different countries, with a median age of 43 years. At the pandemic's onset, 12 were undocumented migrants, four were documented, while three had obtained Italian citizenship. Most held informal job positions, primarily as domestic workers, and were impacted by the economic crisis triggered by the pandemic. Both before and during the pandemic, non-governmental organizations were the preferred entry point to the healthcare systems. Their psychological well-being was compromised by distance from family members and the extensive COVID-19 media coverage. Despite skepticism, most MW adhered to the vaccination campaign due to its de-facto mandatory nature. Social isolation was not considered a major impact. Overall, MW did not perceive themselves as a particularly vulnerable group. Systemic interventions to address inequalities faced by MW should be incorporated throughout the entire disaster risk management cycle and an intersectional approach should be integrated into all stages of public policy development. As distrust emerged as a particularly significant issue building trust before disasters is crucial for an effective response.
{"title":"Being a migrant woman during disasters: A phenomenological study to unveil experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic in Milan, Italy","authors":"Monica Trentin , Martina Valente , Emanuele Longo , Elena Rubini , Awsan Bahattab , Giulia Facci , Giorgia Ziliani , Loredana Carpentieri , Francesco Della Corte , Luca Ragazzoni","doi":"10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100506","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100506","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Migrants and women were among the groups most severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic disaster. By adopting an intersectional lens, it can be inferred that migrant women (MW) were particularly vulnerable to its impacts. This study aims to explore the multifaceted impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on MW living in Milan, Italy, investigating a broad spectrum of experiences. We conducted a phenomenological study using semi-structured interviews from September 2023 to January 2024. Interviews were transcribed and inductively analyzed. We interviewed 19 cisgender MW coming from 10 different countries, with a median age of 43 years. At the pandemic's onset, 12 were undocumented migrants, four were documented, while three had obtained Italian citizenship. Most held informal job positions, primarily as domestic workers, and were impacted by the economic crisis triggered by the pandemic. Both before and during the pandemic, non-governmental organizations were the preferred entry point to the healthcare systems. Their psychological well-being was compromised by distance from family members and the extensive COVID-19 media coverage. Despite skepticism, most MW adhered to the vaccination campaign due to its de-facto mandatory nature. Social isolation was not considered a major impact. Overall, MW did not perceive themselves as a particularly vulnerable group. Systemic interventions to address inequalities faced by MW should be incorporated throughout the entire disaster risk management cycle and an intersectional approach should be integrated into all stages of public policy development. As distrust emerged as a particularly significant issue building trust before disasters is crucial for an effective response.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":74862,"journal":{"name":"SSM. Qualitative research in health","volume":"7 ","pages":"Article 100506"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2024-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143172935","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-18DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmqr.2024.100499
Rebecca Henderson , Grace Parker , Danielle Cooke , Seth Downing , Aqueena Fernandez , Isabella Schultz , Alyssa Nielsen , Alexandra Garcia , Rayon Uddin , Avery Scrabis , Kylie Baer , Eliza Davidson , Lauren Appleby , Catherine Ayers , Carol A. Mathews
Hoarding disorder (HD) affects approximately 2.5% of the population, and is characterized by persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions, distress associated with discarding, and resulting clutter or congestion that compromises the utility of living areas. Individuals with HD frequently have poor insight, resulting in difficulty identifying their symptoms as a problem, and relatively few individuals with HD seek and remain engaged in treatment. At the same time, HD has been increasingly prominent in the media, especially in television shows that dramatize the disorder through the depiction of individuals with extreme hoarding symptoms. These shows have both increased public awareness of the disorder and influenced social attitudes surrounding HD. We sought to understand the self-concept of individuals with HD through a qualitative study of their information gathering about HD, the ways they related HD as a disease to their own behavior, and their concept of their behavior as a problem that required treatment. We hypothesized that this process of seeking understanding about HD would play an important role in informing participants’ conception of the breadth and severity of their own symptoms, their own stigmatizing beliefs towards HD, and their willingness to seek treatment. After semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with individuals (N = 59) in the United States meeting diagnostic criteria for HD, four main themes were identified: 1) Reacting to media depictions, 2) Identifying HD behaviors in others 3) Quantifying HD behavior in self, and 4) Seeking information and help. From these major themes, several sub-themes emerged, including help-seeking behavior, disgust and distress reactions to HD media, stereotypical beliefs about HD, and motivating experiences through exposure to HD media. Our findings suggest that individuals exhibiting symptoms that meet diagnostic criteria for HD understood HD as a disease primarily through media depictions, although other sources of information were sometimes accessed. They also engaged in comparisons between their own behavior and those of others they thought had HD, and used these comparisons to determine whether their behavior constituted HD or was severe enough to require treatment. Our study suggests that media depictions may have a significant influence on these determinations, and that individuals with HD might benefit from accurate psychoeducation about HD, possibly including the role and/or effect of comparisons between self and others, to help individuals towards seeking treatment.
囤积症(HD)患者约占总人口的 2.5%,其特征是持续难以丢弃或舍弃财物,丢弃财物时会感到痛苦,以及由此造成的杂乱或拥挤影响了生活区的实用性。HD 患者的洞察力通常很差,因此很难发现自己的症状是一个问题,而且寻求治疗并坚持治疗的 HD 患者相对较少。与此同时,媒体对 HD 的报道也越来越多,尤其是在电视节目中,这些节目通过对具有极端囤积症状的人的描述,将这种疾病戏剧化。这些节目既提高了公众对该疾病的认识,也影响了社会对 HD 的态度。我们试图通过定性研究了解 HD 患者的自我概念,研究内容包括他们收集有关 HD 的信息的情况、他们将 HD 这种疾病与自身行为联系起来的方式,以及他们将自身行为视为需要治疗的问题的观念。我们假设,在寻求对 HD 的理解的过程中,参与者对自身症状的广度和严重程度、对 HD 的鄙视观念以及寻求治疗的意愿的认识将起到重要作用。在对美国符合 HD 诊断标准的个人(N = 59)进行半结构化定性访谈后,确定了四大主题:1) 对媒体描述的反应;2) 识别他人的 HD 行为;3) 量化自己的 HD 行为;4) 寻求信息和帮助。从这些主要主题中又产生了几个次主题,包括寻求帮助的行为、对高清媒体的厌恶和痛苦反应、对高清的刻板印象以及通过接触高清媒体获得的激励体验。我们的研究结果表明,表现出符合 HD 诊断标准的症状的人主要是通过媒体的描述来理解 HD 这种疾病的,尽管有时也会从其他来源获取信息。他们还将自己的行为与他们认为患有 HD 的其他人的行为进行比较,并通过这些比较来确定自己的行为是否构成 HD 或严重到需要治疗。我们的研究表明,媒体的描述可能会对这些判断产生重大影响,而对 HD 患者进行准确的心理教育(可能包括自我与他人之间比较的作用和/或影响)可能会使他们受益,从而帮助他们寻求治疗。
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