Intersectionality, BRCA Genetic Testing, and Intrafamilial Communication of Risk: A Qualitative Study

Significant health disparities exist in relation to pathogenic variants in BRCA1/2. This study aimed to better understand the barriers and facilitators to BRCA1/2 genetic testing and intrafamilial communication of risk in racially and ethnically diverse individuals. We conducted qualitative interviews with non-Hispanic White (n = 11) and Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) individuals (n = 14) who underwent testing for pathogenic BRCA1/2 variants. We employed template analysis, case study analysis, and comparative case study analysis to examine healthcare experiences related to genetic testing as well as intrafamilial communication of risk. Applying an intersectional lens, we sought to inform more person-centered approaches to precision healthcare and help dismantle disparities in genomic healthcare. Template analysis revealed salient factors at the individual (psychosocial well-being), interpersonal/familial, and healthcare system levels. A two-part case study analysis provided insights into how race/ethnicity, cultural norms, and socioeconomic status interact with systemic and structural inequities to compound disparities. These findings underscore the need for person-centered, tailored, and culturally sensitive approaches to understanding and addressing the complexities surrounding testing and the communication of BRCA risk. Applying an intersectional lens can inform more person-centered approaches to precision healthcare and may help to surmount existing disparities.

Diagnostic radiographers' perceptions of professional identity in Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

INTRODUCTION

The study explored and described the professional identity of diagnostic radiographers in Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa.

METHODS

The methodology employed for the study was qualitative, exploratory and descriptive design. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with thirteen diagnostic radiographers from private, public practices and individually owned practices. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, and the responses underwent thematic analysis and used Braun and Clarke's six steps for analysing qualitative data.

RESULTS

The thematic analysis revealed three themes and six categories. The three themes identified were: perceptions of identity, environment influences and organisational institutions.

CONCLUSION

This study provided an insight into the current perspectives of the professional identity of diagnostic radiographers in Johannesburg, South Africa, which reflected a positive professional identity. The three themes identified could inform guidelines for education in diagnostic radiographers' professional identity in the future.

Lefebvre's production of space: Implications for nursing

In this paper, we argue that nurses need to be aware of how the production of space in specific contexts - including health care systems and research institutions - perpetuates marginalized populations' state of social otherness. Lefebvre's idea regarding spatial triad is mobilized in this paper, as it pertains to two-spirited, lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer populations (2SLGBTQ*). We believe that nurses can create counter-spaces within health care systems and research institutions that challenge normative discourses. Lefebvre's work provides us the necessary tools to understand how various places or environments produce identities. In understanding Lefebvre's principles, we believe that nurses can play an essential role in creating counter-spaces, thereby instigating counter-institutional practices, for those who experience otherness.

Lateral Violence and Microaggressions in the LGBTQ+ Community: A Scoping Review

Violence and microaggressions against the LGBTQ+ community from those outside of the community is commonly known and understood within academic literature. However, there is limited comprehensive knowledge about violence and microaggressions that occur within LGBTQ+ communities. This scoping review helps to fill this gap in knowledge, analyzing and synthesizing 18 research articles published in English language scholarly journals all of which have been published between 2010 and 2020. Online databases ProQuest, SAGE Journals, Google Scholar, Taylor and Francis Journals, Scopus, Informit, Project MUSE, PubMed, and EBSCOhost were utilized to search for existing literature on ingroup LGBTQ+ microaggression. The found literature focused on power dynamics within the LGBTQ+ community and how that power has enabled subgroups within the community to enact microaggression on one another. We found that ingroup microaggressions experienced by members of the LGBTQ+ community are a result of dominant norms that give certain groups power over another.

What influences judgments of physical attractiveness? A comprehensive perspective with implications for mental health

Judgments of physical attractiveness are based on appearance but are influenced by and influence more than just physical features of the face and body (e.g. clothing and personality traits). This is explored in a selective review of previous research, plus new analyses of data from three previously published studies: the Boston Couples Study, the Multiple Identities Questionnaire, and the Intimate Relationships Across Cultures Study, with implications for mental health. Self-ratings of attractiveness are inflated by self-esteem and confidence in self-halo effects. Partner-ratings are inflated by love and relationship satisfaction in partner-halo effects. Positive responses from others influence attractiveness-enhancing cycles, while negative responses influence attractiveness-deprecating cycles, with impacts on well-being. These influences are represented in a comprehensive Attractiveness Halo Model, which identifies Ten Components of Attractiveness that are inter-related, including physical, emotional, sexual, sensory, intellectual, behavioural, observer, situation, reciprocity, and time. Aspects of the model are supported by analyses of the three studies, generalising comprehensive attractiveness halo effects across time, identities, cultures, and relationship types.

Children's perceptions of scientists and their work: The 'Draw a Scientist' Test in the United Arab Emirates

Sampling students in the UAE's capital Abu Dhabi, we explored possible stereotypes of scientists and their work which may exist, and which may impact upon future career aspirations. Characteristics of scientists were identified and analysed from 234 drawings collected from upper primary aged students. Students tended to draw youthful scientists of their own gender, with stereotypical characteristics, such as wearing a lab coat, performing chemistry experiments and working alone in a lab. Unexpectedly, there were even fewer references to technology use in science than in similar studies carried out in the 1980s. We had anticipated that some elements of UAE national dress would be observed in drawings, since the majority of students were UAE Nationals, but no UAE cultural references were evident in the drawings at all. The findings suggest that work needs to be undertaken in UAE classrooms to increase perceptions of diversity of science work and scientists themselves.

Learning journey: Conceptualising "change over time" as a dimension of workplace learning

Understanding how individuals learn at work throughout their lives is significant for discussions of lifelong learning in the current era where changes can be unpredictable and frequent, as illustrated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite a corpus of literature on the subject of "learning", there is little research or theoretical understanding of "change over time" as a dimension of individual learning at work. Increasing emphasis has been put on individuals' personal development, since they play key mediating roles in organisations' work practices. This article proposes the concept of the "learning journey" to explore the relational complexity of how individuals learn at different workplace settings across their working lives. In order to illuminate this, the article draws on the learning experiences of two workers with different roles at two points in time across different workplaces. The author argues that individual learning involves a complex interaction of individual positions, identities and agency towards learning. This complexity is relational and interrelated with the workplace learning culture, which is why learning is different for individuals in different workplaces and even for the same person in the same workplace when occupying different roles.

How I See Me-A Meta-Analysis Investigating the Association Between Identities and Pro-environmental Behaviour

Prolific research suggests identity associates with pro-environmental behaviours (PEBs) that are individual and/or group focused. Individual PEB is personally driven, self-reliant, and are conducted on one's own (e.g., home recycling). Group focused PEB is other people-reliant and completed as part of a group (e.g., attending meetings of an environmental organisation). A wide range of identities have been related to PEBs. For example, a recent systematic qualitative review revealed 99 different types of identities studied in a PEB context. Most studies were correlational, few had an experimental design. However, the relationships between all these identities and PEBs have so far not been tested quantitatively with meta-analytical techniques. As such, a clear overview of this field is currently lacking. Due to the diverse nature of the field, a priori hypotheses were not possible and relatively broad definitions of identity had to be used to encompass all types of identities and the diverse meanings of identity that have been included in PEB research. What prior theory did allow for was to assess the distinction between two main types of identity, namely how people label, describe, and recognise oneself individually (individual identity), or as part of a group (group identity). Our overall goal was thus to assess the current state of knowledge on identities and PEBs. In 104 studies using a meta-regression following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses guidelines, our random-effects meta-analysis showed that the overall concept of identity associated with PEB with a medium Pearson's r (Aim 1). Furthermore, we found that individual identities associated more strongly with PEBs than group identities (Aim 2). The associations between individual and group identities were stronger when the identity and PEB were from the same category (e.g., when both were group-focused; Aim 3). Methodologically, the findings revealed that group identities and group PEBs were most strongly associated for self-reported rather than observed PEBs (Aim 4). Overall identity associated most strongly with group PEBs in the field rather than in the lab (Aim 5) and in student- rather than non-student samples (Aim 6). We discuss the theoretical and practical implications.

Domestic stigmatisation: refocusing interventions for people living with HIV

Domestic stigmatisation serves as an umbrella term for acts of enacted or felt stigma experienced in a person's domestic environment. This article reports on the term which transpired from a narrative inquiry in 2011 with people living with HIV (PLWH) who reported humiliation or segregation, experienced or perceived, within the domestic environment that rendered the individual disabled, diseased, unworthy, unhealthy, or deficient. A literature review about this form of stigma was conducted using the following inclusion criteria: 1) a peer-reviewed source; 2) published between 2011 and 2018; 3) access to full-text articles; 4) accessible in English; 5) reported from any country; and 6) using qualitative or mixed-method approaches. A total of 37 studies were included in the review - documenting 51 specific experiences of domestic stigmatisation (referred to as acts for the purpose of the review) across all studies. A matrix was developed detailing each study's' publication date, geographical context, participant gender (where possible) and the reported acts. A critical analysis is offered on the concept "domestic stigmatisation" and its relevance to domestic or family interventions. Deliberate attention to this concept can potentially refocus HIV stigma-reducing interventions to benefit families and promote coping strategies to reduce stigma-related stress associated with seropositive identities.

Gay, ngochani, ordaa, gumutete and mwana waEriza: 'globalised' and 'localised' identity labels among same-sex attracted men in Harare, Zimbabwe

Drawing on ethnographic research, this paper explores self-understandings among same-sex attracted men in Harare along with the local terms such men use to refer to themselves as well as their adoption and modification of globally circulating sexual identity labels. All study participants related to some of the labels that are prominent in the present-day, western-inspired global discourse on same-sex relations. However, they were rarely understood in the exact same way that is represented as typical in the 'west', indicating that when understandings and labels travel, they are not simply copied and pasted into new contexts. In Harare, being gay was closely interwoven with considerations about one's gendered self, and many same-sex relations were gender-structured. At the same time, this characteristic appeared to be a matter of emerging dispute, as it was sternly criticised by some. The history of political homophobia in Zimbabwe shone through in many stories and could be identified in some of the local terms used to refer to gay people, some of which had been invented to conceal from outsiders what they laid bare for insiders, and others of which had sting and mocked those in power for ideas and rhetoric perceived to be misguided or bizarre.

'One of the good guys': sperm donor masculinity and the falling Danish sperm count discourse

Sperm banks in Denmark produce and export donor semen worldwide. The role of the sperm bank is to provide high-quality, safe semen from desirable donors. However, over the last 20 years, global sperm counts are reported to be falling. Along with these discourses comes the implication that poor fertility is a personal failing, which implies a conflation of 'fertility' with 'potency'. This paper draws on qualitative research with Danish sperm donors to explore how donors construct their identities as donors and as the producers of 'good sperm'. Accounts of the drive to produce the best sperm possible and the resultant confidence boost are bound up in ideas about masculine potency and potential and bodily performance and set against a backdrop of a moral panic surrounding the apparently declining Danish sperm count.

Almost partition identities

An almost partition identity is an identity for partition numbers that is true asymptotically [Formula: see text] of the time and fails infinitely often. We prove a kind of almost partition identity, namely that the number of parts in all self-conjugate partitions of n is almost always equal to the number of partitions of n in which no odd part is repeated and there is exactly one even part (possibly repeated). Not only does the identity fail infinitely often, but also, the error grows without bound. In addition, we prove several identities involving the number of parts in restricted partitions. We show that the difference in the number of parts in all self-conjugate partitions of n and the number of parts in all partitions of n into distinct odd parts equals the number of partitions of n in which no odd part is repeated, the smallest part is odd, and there is exactly one even part (possibly repeated). We provide both analytic and combinatorial proofs of this identity.

Socio-spatial mobilities and narratives of class identity in Britain

In this article we carry out the most comprehensive analysis of social and spatial mobility in the UK to date and the first to directly link different dimensions of mobility to processes of social class formation. Using new analytical techniques in this field, we integrate quantitative and qualitative data from the 1958 Birth Cohort Study, combining text-mining and correspondence analysis in order to examine the intersection of geographical and social mobility with class identities. This work reflects a revival of interest in the spatialization of class inequalities, which is connected to policy concerns about the regional dimension of Britain's mobility 'crisis' that have intensified in the wake of the 'Brexit' vote. We find that the South's role as an 'escalator' region for upward mobility has continued and that the relationship between social and spatial mobility both confirms and qualifies the role of London and the South East in generating inequalities. We show that different migration-mobility transitions are associated with distinctive and contrasting class identity narratives. Those who move from North to South stand out in particular for the way their 'class talk' reveals the social disorientation that attends their success. The contrasting ways in which other groups express their social identities suggests that the interplay of geographical and social mobilities performs a significant role in regional cultural divisions.

Transforming identity through participation in music and theatre: exploring narratives of people with mental health problems

Background: There is a growing understanding that mental health problems and prolonged contact with mental healthcare systems can affect people’s identities. Working with identity is an important element in mental health recovery.

Purpose: In this article, we explore the significance of participation in a music and theatre workshop in terms of people`s experiences of identity.

Design and methods: This is a qualitative study based on a hermeneutical phenomenological epistemology. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with 11 participants at a music and theater workshop, analysed through a narrative analysis and presented in an ideographical “long” narrative form. The music and theater workshop is not overtly therapeutic although the activity takes place in a Norwegian mental health hospital for adults living with long-term mental health problems.

Results: We identified three crosscutting themes: (1) becoming a whole person, (2) being allowed to hold multiple identities and (3) exploring diverse perspectives.

Conclusion: Findings show that participation in the music and theatre workshop transformed the participants’ experiences of identity on two levels: individually and collectively. The participants developed a broader picture of themselves through their creative work with others. When they developed new identities, the narratives of themselves expanded.

Indigenous Australian women's colonial sexual intimacies: positioning indigenous women's agency

Colonialist views of Indigenous bodies and sexualities continue to affect Indigenous peoples worldwide. For Indigenous Australians, this burden has resulted in repression and oppression of power, sex and desire. Focusing on the sexual intimacies of Indigenous Australian women, this paper provides an account of the dominant Australian historical discourses, finding that Indigenous women were viewed as exotic, erotic, something to be desired, yet simultaneously something to be feared. Our sexualities were described as savage, promiscuous and primitive and we were often viewed as prostitutes with our voices and views constrained by patriarchal and imperial regimes of power. But within this context, Indigenous women fought back through both individual and collective acts of agency. This paper demonstrates how Indigenous Australian women's agency not as a new phenomenon but rather as a position that disrupts the popular discourses of exploitation and victimhood that have been persistently perpetrated against Indigenous women.

Shaping LGBTQ Identities: Western Media Representations and LGBTQ People's Perceptions in Rural Spain

A growing academic discussion has focused on how, in a globalized world, LGBTQ identities are shaped and influenced by different and international actors, such as the media. This article analyzes how LGBTQ people from a rural region of a Western country-Spain-feel toward their representations on TV series from English-speaking countries. Employing a qualitative approach, this research aims to depict whether the academic conceptualizations to analyze these identity conformation processes are accurate. In addition, it explores how dominating media representations are being adapted in a region that, although within the West, can serve a context of a very different nature. The results found that a major rejection of the TV series representations among participants can suggest both an inaccuracy of the conceptualizations used by some scholars to understand LGBTQ flows and a problematic LGBTQ representation in media products that goes beyond regions and spaces.

The paradox of black patriotism: double consciousness

This study explores the double consciousness of black American patriotism in the modern era marked by publicized police killings of blacks, widespread antiracism protests, and concern for racially motivated violence. This analysis provides timely ethnographic insights into black identities that vividly captures black voices; fuses classical and contemporary race theories and extends them into the literature on patriotism; and proposes a model for understanding how double consciousness is negotiated in personal identity construction. I conducted twenty-two in-depth interviews of black Americans. I explored three questions: (1) how they interpret patriotism; (2) whether their interpretations affirm or defy their black identity; and (3) how tensions between race and nation manifest in their patriotic identity development. Many denounced hegemonic patriotism and constructed alternative patriotic brands. These brands are situated on an "Axis of Identities", which is comprised of four profiles: the bystander, the sycophant, the subverter, and the conscious patriot.

"It was then that I thought 'whaat? This is not my Dad": The implications of the 'still the same person' narrative for children and young people who have a parent with dementia

This research used auto/biographical interviews to explore the experiences of 19, 8 to 31 year olds who had a parent with dementia. Thematic analysis revealed challenges occasioned by the master narrative that people with dementia are ‘still’ the same person they were prior to the onset of their condition. While this notion is – rightly – at the heart of person-centered care in dementia services, the ‘still’ discourse conflicts with the experiences of young people. Their accounts suggest that the construction of their parent as the same person is not helpful and that, furthermore, expectations that they will behave and feel towards that parent as they did before are a source of distress in what is already a challenging situation. This paper highlights the need to equip young people with support that acknowledges that their parent may well be drastically different to the Mum or Dad they previously ‘knew’.

What is in a label? Multiple meanings of 'MSM' among same-gender-loving Black men in Mississippi

Men who have sex with men (MSM) and other same-gender-loving (SGL) men continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS, particularly among the Black population. Innovative strategies are needed to support the health of this community; however, public health efforts primarily approach MSM as a monolithic population erasing the diverse identities, practices, and sexualities within and beyond this category. To better understand diversity within MSM in a geographic region with the largest proportion of Black Americans in the U.S.A. and among the most heavily affected by the epidemic, the Deep South, we conducted four focus groups (n = 29) with Black men who reported having sex with other men residing in Jackson, Mississippi. Results suggest multiple overlapping usages of MSM as identity and behaviour, reflecting internalisation of behavioural categories and co-creation of identities unique to the Black community. These narratives contribute to the literature by documenting the evolving understandings of the category 'MSM' among Black men to reflect intersections between race, socioeconomic status, sexual behaviour, sexuality, subjectivities, and social context. Findings suggest the current monolithic approach to treating MSM may limit public health efforts in developing effective HIV prevention and promotion programmes targeting SGL Black men in the Deep South.

Perceiving political polarization in the United States: party identity strength and attitude extremity exacerbate the perceived partisan divide

An important component of political polarization in the United States is the degree to which ordinary people perceive political polarization. We used over 30 years of national survey data from the American National Election Study to examine how the public perceives political polarization between the Democratic and Republican parties and between Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. People in the United States consistently overestimate polarization between the attitudes of Democrats and Republicans. People who perceive the greatest political polarization are most likely to report having been politically active, including voting, trying to sway others' political beliefs, and making campaign contributions. We present a 3-factor framework to understand ordinary people's perceptions of political polarization. We suggest that people perceive greater political polarization when they (a) estimate the attitudes of those categorized as being in the "opposing group"; (b) identify strongly as either Democrat or Republican; and (c) hold relatively extreme partisan attitudes-particularly when those partisan attitudes align with their own partisan political identity. These patterns of polarization perception occur among both Democrats and Republicans.

Sexual self-identification among behaviorally bisexual men in the midwestern United States

Previous social and behavioral research on identity among bisexual men, when not subsumed within the category of men who have sex with men (MSM), has primarily focused on samples of self-identified bisexual men. Little is known about sexual self-identification among men who are behaviorally bisexual, regardless of sexual identity. Using qualitative data from 77 in-depth interviews with a diverse sample of behaviorally bisexual men (i.e., men who have had sex with at least one woman and at least one man in the past six months) from a large city in the Midwestern United States, we analyzed responses from a domain focusing on sexual self-identity and related issues. Overall, participants' sexual self-identification was exceptionally diverse. Three primary themes emerged: (1) a resistance to, or rejection of, using sexual self-identity labels; (2) concurrent use of multiple identity categories and the strategic deployment of multiple sexual identity labels; and (3) a variety of trajectories to current sexual self-identification. Based on our findings, we offer insights into the unique lived experiences of behaviorally bisexual men, as well as broader considerations for the study of men's sexuality. We also explore identity-related information useful for the design of HIV/STI prevention and other sexual health programs directed toward behaviorally bisexual men, which will ideally be variable and flexible in accordance with the wide range of diversity found in this population.

An integrative approach to apprehend desistance

The process underlying desistance is still a strong subject of debate. This article seeks to introduce several core concepts of Archer's morphogenic approach to study how people desist from crime. At first, it discusses the primary existing theories of desistance. Then, this article demonstrates the usefulness of this approach by presenting empirical evidence drawn from semistructured interviews collected with 29 men who desisted from crime in an eastern province of Canada. The study demonstrates how this alternative approach allows for the consolidation of existing knowledge on desistance. Then implication of these findings for both theory and practice are discussed.