Through a mother's lens: a qualitative analysis reveals how temporal experience shifts when a boy born preterm has cystic fibrosis

Mental Health Nurses' Social Representations of People Who Experience Mental Illness: A Story of Paradoxes

Public representations of people who experience mental illness (PEMI) have been well documented within the stigma literature. However, studies about mental health nurses' representations of PEMI are still scarce and characterized by contradictions. Using the theoretical concept of social representation instead of stigma, the current study aims to explore and understand mental health nurses' social representations of PEMI. Qualitative research was conducted based on 13 semi-structured interviews with nurses from two psychiatric units in general hospitals. Data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results showed that nurses' social representations were characterized by paradoxes. They explicitly displayed positive social representations, while nuancing them from an implicit point of view. The nurses wanted to work toward a destigmatizing voice for PEMI while nuancing their assertions to sound honest and accurate, which led them to a state of cognitive dissonance.

'A tale of two cases:' the health, illness, and physical activity stories of two children living with cystic fibrosis

Storytelling is perennial, and central to the human condition. Although illness may shatter identity and one's role and place in the broader social world, narrative may aid in the process of self-reparation. Despite the merits of the narrative approach, it has been underutilized with children who are living with cystic fibrosis (CF). The role that illness narratives may play in influencing CF youths' physical activity also remains poorly investigated. This article drew on the qualitative case study methodological tradition to narrate the stories of two children living with CF at a children's hospital in Canada. The findings beg researchers to consider (a) how children with life-limiting diseases borrow multiple illness narrative types, (b) the role of development in influencing the kinds of stories that children can tell, and (c) the impact of illness narratives on physical activity. By rendering the tales of two CF youth in this study, we respond to Aurthur Frank's call; taking a multiple narrative turn, we listen to stories of a different kind of suffering.

We were chosen as a family: parents' evolving use of religion when their child has cystic fibrosis

Parental coping with new CF diagnoses often includes religion; however, little is known about how the use of religion changes over time. Longitudinal grounded theory method, in which parents were interviewed twice the 2 years after their child's diagnosis, was used. Parents constructed the meaning that parenting a child with CF is their vocation, in accordance with "God's plan." A shift from isolation to an outward focus and reentry into the community was clear. The use of faith evolved over time and continues to be a source of support and hope for parents. Clinical implications of parental religion are discussed.

'Down the rabbit hole': enhancing the transition process for youth with cystic fibrosis and congenital heart disease by re-imagining the future and time

BACKGROUND

Although the transition from paediatric to adult clinical care is an important one, the process is far from seamless. Little is known about the transition experiences of youth with cystic fibrosis (CF) and congenital heart disease (CHD).

METHOD

Informed by the new social studies of childhood, this qualitative study adopted a thematic analytical approach in order to explore how 50 youth and 28 parents affected by CF and CHD at a large children's hospital in Canada negotiate constructions of 'normal developmental time'--in both anticipating and dealing with the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

RESULTS

Illness appeared to render the future as an uncertain terrain for youth living with CF and CHD. Concerns related to deteriorating health and occupational restrictions in the future were paramount for these youth. For young women with CF and CHD, the loss of 'normal' gendered roles--such as motherhood--was also a distressing future concern. For youth living with CF and their parents in particular, time was thought to be stolen and the future was abbreviated. Despite these seemingly anxiety-inducing experiences, youth and their parents demonstrated considerable creativity as they devised strategies to deal with the future and stolen time.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION

In addition to challenging ideological assumptions about developmental time which may alienate youth with chronic illnesses, the results from this study suggest that attending to youth's temporal anxieties and future concerns may ultimately enhance the transition process for youth with CF and CHD.

Unravelling complexities involved in parenting a child with cystic fibrosis: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

We conducted a qualitative study with caregivers for a contemporary understanding of the challenge of caring for a child with cystic fibrosis (CF). A single case is presented that details one woman's experience from her unique perspective of both, 'mother to a child with CF' and 'CF healthcare provider' using an interpretative phenomenological analysis. Emergent themes include: 'trying to keep things normal,' which includes different types of normality and routine management of treatment; 'when things become difficult,' which includes dealing with symptoms and battling with CF related decline; and, 'the complexity of decision making.' The discussion section expands on how, for this mother contrasting modes of managing CF (everyday life/full-on alert) co-existed and were further complicated by (i) role discrepancies (mother/nurse), and (ii) a dialectic between affect and reason. The CF parenting challenge increasingly involves responsibility for complex healthcare interventions and this study suggests a need for further enquiry into how caregivers are involved in the treatment plan and decision-making about treatment. Practice implications are proposed.

Using interpretative phenomenological analysis to inform physiotherapy practice: an introduction with reference to the lived experience of cerebellar ataxia

Qualitative research methods that focus on the lived experience of people with health conditions are relatively underutilised in physiotherapy research. This article aims to introduce interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), a research methodology oriented toward exploring and understanding the experience of a particular phenomenon (e.g., living with spinal cord injury or chronic pain, or being the carer of someone with a particular health condition). Researchers using IPA try to find out how people make sense of their experiences and the meanings they attach to them. The findings from IPA research are highly nuanced and offer a fine grained understanding that can be used to contextualise existing quantitative research, to inform understanding of novel or underresearched topics or, in their own right, to provoke a reappraisal of what is considered known about a specified phenomenon. We advocate IPA as a useful and accessible approach to qualitative research that can be used in the clinical setting to inform physiotherapy practice and the development of services from the perspective of individuals with particular health conditions.