scholarly journals Talking About Sexuality

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kicki Klaeson ◽  
Kerstin Sandell ◽  
Carina M. Berterö

Prostate cancer and its outcomes are a real threat for health and well-being for men living in the Western world. The number of men with a diagnosis of prostate cancer, before the age of 65 years, has increased in recent decades. The aim of this study was to explore how some of these Swedish men experienced and talked about their sexuality. Four focus group discussions were performed in the context of associations for prostate cancer. Using qualitative content analysis, it was identified how the diagnosis was a threat to their male identity; the men’s vulnerability as a group in society was made explicit. Their sexuality was diminished by their illness experiences. These experiences were difficult to share and talk about with others and therefore connected with silence and sorrow. As a result of this, the informants often played a passive role when or if they discussed issues related to sexuality with someone in the health care organizations. The possibility of voluntarily joining a cancer association was probably highly beneficial for these men. During the sessions, several men expressed the opinion that “it is always great to talk.”

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 25-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen P. Williams ◽  
Humza T. Malik ◽  
Christopher R. Nicolay ◽  
Sankalp Chaturvedi ◽  
Ara Darzi ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 205435812094547
Author(s):  
Heather Beanlands ◽  
Elizabeth McCay ◽  
Sheryll Pahati ◽  
Michelle A. Hladunewich

Background: Young women may be particularly vulnerable to the negative psychosocial consequences of living with chronic kidney disease (CKD). To date, little is known about how women themselves experience and manage their illness. Objectives: This study explored the experiences of young women living with CKD. Design: Qualitative descriptive study. Setting: Nephrology program in an urban setting in Ontario, Canada. Participants: Women with category G1-3 glomerular-based CKD between 18 and 40 years of age. Methods: Focus group discussions guided by semi-structured interview questions. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze interview transcripts. Results: Eleven women participated in 3 separate focus group discussions. Participants described living life through the lens of CKD, which was the central theme unifying their experiences of encountering CKD, re-encountering CKD, and getting on with life. Life decisions significant to women like pursuing a career or motherhood were often colored by CKD, particularly by illness-related challenges, such as unsatisfactory health care support and the physical implications of chronic illness. The women used a variety of strategies including seeking information and relying on supportive people to mitigate these challenges. Although these strategies sometimes enabled them to balance the demands of illness with other life priorities, the lack of resources directed toward their unique needs as young women with CKD often caused them difficulties in managing their illness. Limitations: Participants were from one nephrology program in an urban setting and were well educated overall. Their experiences may not be reflective of young women in other settings or from diverse backgrounds. Conclusions: The women’s emotional well-being and life choices were considerably influenced by CKD. Although the women were often able to manage challenges associated with CKD, they acknowledged the need to seek additional professional resources to complement their own self-identified strategies. As the women sought out these supports, they identified gaps in resources specific to women with CKD. This article summarizes recommendations from their perspective. Trial Registration: Not applicable as this was a qualitative study.


Author(s):  
Camilla Ihlebæk ◽  
Camilla Castellan ◽  
Jenny Flobak ◽  
Jo Ese

Schools may play an essential role as an arena for co-creating community activities that enhance well-being, equity, and citizenship. Still, there is limited knowledge about physical and non-physical factors that contribute to well-being within such approaches. The aim of this study was to identify important factors for well-being as perceived by pupils, school employees, and parents in a community school in Norway. The participatory method photovoice was used, and seven pupils, six employees, and four parents participated by taking photos used as the basis for six focus group discussions. Transcripts of the discussions were analyzed using Systematic Text Condensation. The analysis showed that the participants experienced that the school’s built and natural environment, the activities happening there, and the human resources and organization at the school facilitated perceptions of safety, inclusion, and cohesion, which in turn contributed to well-being. Furthermore, the results showed that co-creating schools as a community arena could be an innovative way of ensuring participation, equity, and well-being in the community. Such an approach might be especially important in deprived areas or in multi-ethnic communities. An important prerequisite to succeed is the openness of the school’s staff to engage in co-creation with other stakeholders in the community.


2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 983-998
Author(s):  
L’Emira Lama El Ayoubi ◽  
Sawsan Abdulrahim ◽  
Maia Sieverding

Providing adolescent girls with sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information protects them from risks and improves their well-being. This qualitative study, conducted in Lebanon, examined Syrian refugee adolescent girls’ access to SRH information about and experiences with puberty and menarche, sex, marriage, contraception, and pregnancy. We gathered data through three focus group discussions (FGDs) with unmarried adolescent girls, 11 in-depth interviews with early-married adolescents, and two FGDs with mothers. Our findings highlighted that adolescent participants received inadequate SRH information shortly before or at the time of menarche and sexual initiation, resulting in experiences characterized by anxiety and fear. They also revealed discordance between girls’ views of mothers as a preferred source of information and mothers’ reluctance to communicate with their daughters about SRH. We advance that mothers are important entry points for future interventions in this refugee population and offer recommendations aimed to improve adolescent girls’ SRH and rights.


BMC Nursing ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicki Koltsida ◽  
Lise-Lotte Jonasson

Abstract Background The work of registered nurses in home health care is complicated and extensive, and information technology (IT) is used in everyday activities. Coordination between care and resource efficiency is important. There is a wealth of information that supports the notion of sustainable development, but what sustainable development means from the perspective of the registered nurse in home health care when using IT is limited. The term “sustainable development” is not clearly defined and is poorly researched in nursing. Sustainable development in this study includes the ecological, economic, social, technical and ethical dimensions. The aim of this study was to describe registered nurses’ experience of IT use in home health care through a sustainable development model. Methods This study was conducted using ten semi-structured lifeworld interviews with registered nurses. The method employed was a qualitative content analysis with a deductive approach. The deductive approach consisted of a model of sustainable development. Results Analysis of the interviews and the model of sustainable development provided categories: using IT from an ecological dimension, the registered nurses experienced reduced consumption and damage to the environment; using IT in the economical dimension, saving of time and resources was experienced; the use of IT affected social aspects such as the work environment and patient safety, and positive consequences, such as accessibility, were also mentioned; using IT from a technical dimension was characterized by the nurse’s attitude towards it – the registered nurses felt it improved the quality of care and gave users an overview of the organization; and from an ethical dimension, the registered nurses expressed the need for IT to be adaptable to the patient’s well-being and indicated that more awareness of risks in the care meeting may be needed. Conclusion The findings are discussed based on the synergies and conflicts that arise between the different dimensions of sustainable development. IT intertwines and overlaps with, and within, the environment, economy, society, technology and ethics. Registered nurses in home health care want to conduct good and safe care, while using IT could benefit patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Minna Tiainen ◽  
Outi Ahonen ◽  
Leena Hinkkanen ◽  
Elina Rajalahti ◽  
Alpo Värri

Digital transformation is changing the ecosystem and at the same time professionals’ competencies worldwide. Minimising health care and social welfare costs while increasing citizens’ health and well-being is challenging. Technology and digital tools play an important role in reaching this goal. However, there are inequalities concerning technology, and this has many impacts. Digitalisation brings challenges not only to health care and social welfare professionals but to citizens, too. Working with or using services in digital environments demands new skills. This has social and ethical impacts, e.g. how is equal access to services ensured. Health and social care professionals should have different competencies to respond to this, such as societal competencies. The purpose of this article is to describe how the definition of competencies in health care and social welfare version 1.0 (developed in the national SotePeda 24/7 project) was finalised as the final version 2.0 for Finnish healthcare and social welfare education by experts’ evaluation. Data was collected through an electronic questionnaire administered to selected experts (N=140) during January 2020. The number of experts who responded to the study was 52. These experts (social and health, business and IT) work or have worked in tasks related to the digitalisation of social and health care. The questionnaire was based on version 1.0 of the definition of digital competencies of health care and social welfare informatics. The questionnaire was mainly quantitative, but it also included open-ended qualitative questions. The experts agreed to a large extent on the version 1.0 definition, but some adjustments were made to the definition based on our study. The resulting definition is intended for use in the planning, implementation and evaluation of health care and social welfare education, but it can also be used for polytechnic education. The aim is to develop the digital skills of educators, degree students and in-service trainees in a multidisciplinary way (social and health, business and IT) to meet the needs of working life.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-115
Author(s):  
Yulia Sepreninova ◽  
Inna Makarenko ◽  
Alex Plastun ◽  
Angela Babko ◽  
Gunnay Gasimova

This article summarizes the existing approaches to investigating instruments of responsible investments in the health care system in Europe and in United States. The main research’s purpose is to identify existing instruments of responsible investment under funding Sustainable Development Goal 3: ‘Good health and well-being’. Systematization of scientific sources and approaches on the investigated issue showed no unique approach to forming a list of responsible investment instruments to finance health and well-being in Europe and United States. Hence, existing approaches vary by risk, return, suitability for financing, and so on. Therefore, the analysis and generalization of existing approaches and investigating their implementation-related practical features are the relevant scientific problem. The research’s object is the health care financing approaches of the generally recognized organizations such as the Financial Initiative for Biodiversity under the United Nations Development Program, the United States Agency for International Development and the World Bank (Biodiversity Finance Initiative United Nation Development Program, USAID, World Bank). The authors noted that these organizations contributed greatly to provide funding for these projects at the global level. For gaining the research’s goal, this study was conducted in the following logical sequence. Firstly, the authors characterized the Biofin financial decisions in health care under the United Nations Development Program. Secondly, the study systematized the U.S. Agency for International Development financing approaches regarding the Sustainable Development Goal 3. Then, the authors generalized the practical directions towards realizing the mentioned above instruments while digging into the World Bank responsible investment activity regarding health care. The study suggested the typology method to identify the key criteria for classifying responsible investment instruments. In turn, the mapping method was used to generalize the scientific background concerning health care finance. Therefore, the findings could help scientists further develop and unify the classification of responsible investment instruments regarding sustainable development and health care financing based on EU and US experience. Moreover, the obtained results enrich the existing global approaches in funding the national health care system and reaching the established Sustainable Development Goals 3 ‘Good health and well-being’.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 88-93
Author(s):  
Mary Jo Kreitzer

The Covid-19 pandemic is having a significant impact on the well-being of nurses and has exacerbated long-standing issues of stress and burnout. Expecting or hoping that nurses will recover quickly or bounce back from the stress and deep trauma of the pandemic is not realistic. Each nurse has a story, and while these stories may have similar themes, they are all different. It is important to reflect on our stories, identify the myriad of emotions we are experiencing, and find ways to work through our feelings. Ignoring, denying, or suppressing feelings does not serve us well in the long run. Stifling negative emotions does not make them go away. A Call to Action is needed to address the impact of the pandemic, clinician burnout, and systemic racism on health-care organizations and educational institutions. Strategies are identified that will support personal and organizational well-being.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 332-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Briyana L. M. Morrell ◽  
Alison M. Nichols ◽  
Craig A. Voll ◽  
Kathleen E. Hetzler ◽  
Jane Toon ◽  
...  

Context: This study explored health care students' experiences after participation in an interprofessional simulation. Interprofessional education incorporates students from several health care professions in a controlled, collaborative learning environment. Athletic training students are not well represented in interprofessional education literature. Objective: This study sought to explore the attitudes of athletic training, nursing, and occupational therapy students toward other professions after their participation in an interprofessional simulation. Design: This article describes the results of the qualitative portion of a mixed-methods study. Focus group discussions related to elements of the Interprofessional Attitude Scale to explore participants' attitudes toward other professions. Researchers analyzed transcribed focus group discussions for themes. Setting: This study occurred in a private midsized Midwestern university. Patients or Other Participants: Seventy-nine students, representing athletic training, nursing, and occupational therapy, participated in the simulation; a sample of 13 of these participated in the focus groups. Intervention(s): Students in all professions cared for or observed the care of a standardized patient from the time of a spinal cord injury on the football field through an ambulance ride and subsequent emergency and inpatient care. Students collaborated and communicated with one another. Faculty conducted debriefing after the simulation and before the focus groups. Main Outcome Measure(s): Focus groups included relevant questions from the Interprofessional Attitudes Scale, and themes were identified from participants' responses. Results: Researchers identified 4 themes from the focus group discussions: collaboration, respect, knowledge of other professions, and communication. These themes also mirror elements of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative's core competencies of interprofessional collaborative practice. Conclusions: After the simulation, students expressed positive attitudes toward other professions. This study suggests that athletic training, nursing, and occupational therapy students have positive attitudes toward each other's professions after an interprofessional simulation activity.


Author(s):  
Catherine García ◽  
Fernando I Rivera ◽  
Marc A Garcia ◽  
Giovani Burgos ◽  
María P Aranda

Abstract Objectives The COVID-19 outbreak has worsened the ongoing economic crisis in Puerto Rico by creating “parallel pandemics” that exacerbate socioeconomic and health inequalities experienced by its most vulnerable residents. Unfortunately, conditions on the island have been largely overlooked by national media outlets and the mainland U.S. population. Thus, this research report aims to draw attention to the disparate burden multiple and compounding disasters have on older island-dwelling Puerto Rican adults’ health and well-being. Methods We characterize the lived experiences of the older population in Puerto Rico by incorporating data from multiple sources and contextualizing the effects of compounding disasters, the fiscal pandemic, and health care challenges to provide a more nuanced portrait of existing compounding factors that negatively affect the health and well-being of older adults in the era of COVID-19. Results We highlight 2 main factors that exacerbate pre-pandemic inequities experienced by the older adult population amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Puerto Rico: (a) the impact of multiple and compounding disasters; and (b) health care challenges. Discussion The human suffering of the Puerto Rican population is compounded by the consequences of fiscal austerity, increasing levels of income and wealth inequality, the debt crisis, significant emigration, and a dysfunctional health care system. Future governmental actions are required to lessen the burden of parallel pandemics on older adults in Puerto Rico.


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