ABSTRACT This paper talks about the intergenerational perspectives of Bengali Hindu migrants from East Bengal (present-day Bangladesh) towards their home language varieties, which are collectively termed Bangaal bhasha in colloquial spheres. Bringing out lived experiences from different urban and suburban settlements in West Bengal, the paper highlights the narratives of maintaining or shifting from the language varieties, a highly contested area of understanding, but noticeably underworked in partition studies. The study intends to show how the traumatic exodus, triggered by the genesis of East Pakistan in 1947 and culminating in 1971 with the creation of Bangladesh, simultaneously displaced people from their ancestral homeland and linguistic heartland, leading to the continuous reconstruction of their identities. Given that Bengali Hindu migrants were a heterogeneous community that slowly migrated over the years for various reasons, contributing to myriad experiential realities, the in-depth oral interviews for this study attempted to capture the caste- and class-oriented pluralities. Based on these socio-culturally mediated narrative experiences, the paper showcases the positioning of home language varieties in the intergenerational narratives, emphasising the socio-cultural capital and the spatio-temporal nature of displacement and resettlement that shape attitudes, belonging, and negotiation of identities.

BackgroundPeople living with dementia face a risk of going missing, which can result in injury or death and distress for care partners. Although it is believed that alert systems can help locate missing persons and reduce risk through community engagement, little is known about implementation and user experiences.ObjectiveThis study explored experiences with alert systems and related policies for missing persons with dementia, drawing on stories and insights from individuals who went missing, care partners, and those involved in search efforts.MethodsA multiple case study was conducted. Data were collected through interviews and focus groups with 40 individuals, including people with lived experience, first responders, service providers, policymakers from Canada, Scotland, and the United States and analyzed thematically.ResultsThree key themes were identified: 1) implementing alert systems and policies, 2) experiences of going missing, and 3) factors that help or delay locating missing persons. Participants emphasized the importance of interest holder involvement, community buy-in, and legislative support for implementation. Challenges included sustainable funding and limited evaluation. The emotional impact of missing incidents highlighted the need for prompt police reporting, coordinated search efforts, tailored mobile alerts, and public education.ConclusionAccording to participants, effective alert systems require geographic-specific mobile notifications and coordinated planning. Strong partnerships among first responders, health care and service providers, and community organizations, supported by training and public education, would improve preparedness and support for people living with dementia and their care partners.

To introduce a new service delivery intervention to improve equity of access to home dialysis therapy and describe the process of intervention development. Despite strong evidence in favour of home dialysis, its uptake remains stubbornly low in England and elsewhere. Furthermore, uptake levels vary between kidney services and between population groups. The Inter-CEPt study identified several enablers of access to home dialysis, including: receptive organisational cultures; adoption of reflective practice; engagement in quality improvement, and shared belief in the benefit of home dialysis. Drawing on the Inter-CEPt study, and using established intervention development frameworks, we developed 'Location of Dialysis Care in Kidney Life' as a targeted intervention for improving the uptake of home dialysis. In this paper, the intervention and the processes involved in its design are described. This involved co-design workshops with professional stakeholders and people with lived experience. The Location of Dialysis Care in Kidney Life intervention consists of two principal components: (1) quality improvement activities focussed on supporting dialysis care in the home, and (2) dedicated home therapies leadership roles and activities in kidney services. The rationale of the intervention is to develop and sustain a culture that improves equitable access to home dialysis. We report a staged process of intervention development that combines the principles of evidence-based intervention development and user co-design. The resulting intervention proposal can be adapted by kidney services to meet their specific needs and challenges. The study identifies organisational culture as one of the biggest determinants of uptake in home dialysis. No other study to our knowledge has fully investigated this as a barrier to home dialysis, nor indeed how to begin to change it. The Location of Dialysis Care in Kidney Life intervention requires future piloting and evaluation.

This scoping review includes the qualitative literature published from 2013 to 2024 exploring health, healthcare and quality of life among older Autistic adults. Aims were to identify evidence of later life experiences and outcomes for this population. The review was based on Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) scoping review methodology, with keywords searched within five relevant databases. Studies comprised peer reviewed articles with qualitative or mixed method designs addressing the quality of life, health or healthcare of Autistic adults in mid and later years (50 years and older). Participants in the reviewed studies included Autistic individuals, including those with or without intellectual disability, and/or individuals who support this population (e.g., personal supporters, caregivers, healthcare or service providers). A total of 12 papers were found that had qualitative data and met inclusion criteria. These studies cumulatively identified themes related to (i) aging with autism, with subthemes of sense of self and identity, connection, deriving enjoyment or meaning, and navigating health and healthcare; and (ii) service gaps, with subthemes of service issues, factors that mediate the effectiveness of supports, and professional knowledge gaps. Study authors advocate for increased research on aging and autism, improved services, and enhanced training and capacity-building for professionals in this field.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted maternal healthcare globally, yet localized experiences within structurally constrained settings remain underexplored. In Saskatchewan, Canada, pre-existing inequities relating to geography and health care access shaped how women experienced pregnancy and early motherhood during the pandemic. This study explored the lived experiences of women who were pregnant and gave birth during the COVID-19 pandemic, with particular attention to how healthcare disruptions, social restrictions, and structural conditions shaped care experiences, distress, and resilience. This qualitative interpretive phenomenology study drew on 35 individual interviews and three focus group discussions with a total of 51 women who were pregnant or gave birth between March 2020 and December 2022. Participants were purposively sampled across urban, rural, and northern Saskatchewan. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Four themes were identified: living with pandemic risk and uncertainty; fragmentation of maternal care; emotional toll of isolation; and coping and resilience. Women described heightened fear and moral responsibility, disrupted access to prenatal and postpartum services, depersonalized communication, and limited mental health and lactation support, particularly in rural and northern regions. While virtual care improved accessibility for some women, it often lacked relational and embodied dimensions of care. Family support, trusted healthcare providers, and digital resources facilitated coping and resilience. The pandemic intensified existing inequities in maternal healthcare, revealing vulnerabilities in communication, continuity, and culturally responsive care. Findings underscore the need for equity-oriented emergency preparedness, hybrid models of care, strengthened maternal mental health services, and meaningful involvement of people with lived experience in planning future responses.

This article explores spousal lived experiences in the broad context of entrepreneurial venture failure, focusing on their emotions, the situations that evoked them and how they were managed. We highlight that there is limited qualitative research on emotions in entrepreneurship, and much of this is focused on the lone entrepreneur. We shift this focus to include an understanding of spousal emotions. Our exploratory inductive study of 13 spouses is critical to building our understanding of entrepreneurship and failure from a relational and socially embedded perspective. Our study illustrates the adaptive functions of distinct emotional responses in shaping how spouses navigate the complexities of loss and transformation following entrepreneurial failure. We articulate the theoretical contributions and delineate the practical implications derived from these findings.

ABSTRACT The ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza demonstrate that algorithmic warfare is no longer a speculative future, but a present reality reshaping the lives of both military personnel and civilians. This article advances an interdisciplinary research agenda to trace the realities of algorithmic warfare, focusing specifically on the forms of harm it produces. Shifting the focus away from the perspectives of those in power and towards the lived experiences of those who innovate, deploy, and endure the violent impacts of algorithmic technologies in Ukraine and Gaza, we conceptualise and bring out two forms of algorithmic harm: the ‘beforemaths’ and ‘aftermaths’ of algorithmic warfare technologies. Our paper demonstrates how forms of algorithmic beforemath and aftermath harm compound and reinforce each other, leading to new and under-researched ways of harm for civilians, which include the harmful effects of living under constant surveillance, the psychological harm involved in not knowing which behavioural or physical features in the data will cause civilians to be marked as a target, and the weaponisation of a civilian’s basic survival behaviour and their communities by the algorithm. Through our embodied epistemology, we offer a demilitarised ontology of algorithmic warfare, opening up debates on lines of responsibility and accountability.

Breastfeeding is essential for neonatal survival and development, yet it is often disrupted when infants are hospitalized in neonatal intensive care units (NICU). In low-resource settings, structural barriers such as limited access to lactation support, equipment, and storage facilities further complicate the maintenance of breastfeeding. Despite its importance, evidence on mothers' experiences and challenges in sustaining breast milk provision in these contexts remains limited. The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of Somali mothers regarding breast milk while their infants were hospitalized in the NICU. A descriptive phenomenological design was used. Data were collected through individual, semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 12 mothers whose infants were receiving care in the NICU of a tertiary hospital in Mogadishu, Somalia. Participants were selected using purposive sampling. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic content analysis following Thomas and Harden's approach. The study was conducted in accordance with the COREQ reporting guidelines. Four main themes were identified: (1) Breast Milk as an Absolute Good, but a Vague Knowledge Domain; (2) Milk Production Shaped More by Living Conditions Than by the Maternal Body; (3) Breastfeeding Knowledge Learned Through Trial and Error Rather Than Intergenerational Transfer; and (4) Motherhood as a Well-Intentioned but Poorly Supported Effort. Mothers viewed breast milk as beneficial but had limited biomedical knowledge and low risk perception. Breastfeeding practices were shaped by socioeconomic barriers, with pumping mainly during hospital visits and knowledge largely acquired through trial and error despite limited support. Breastfeeding during NICU hospitalization in Somalia is shaped more by structural and health-system constraints than by maternal motivation or physiological capacity. Positive attitudes toward breast milk alone are insufficient to sustain lactation without consistent professional guidance and basic infrastructure support. NICU nurses should deliver structured, skills-based lactation counseling on pumping, milk handling, and transport, and ensure access to practical resources to minimize milk loss and support breastfeeding continuity in low-resource settings.

The mental health crisis impacting youth communities has resulted in two calls to action: 1) to consider cultural meanings when developing solutions and 2) to engage minoritized youth in research to capture lived experiences. This reflective essay describes the qualitative phase of a project to support the well-being of South Asian youth living in the United States We illustrate the value of the Culture-Centered Approach and how incorporating the concept of communication infrastructures can address these two calls by 1) enabling thoughtful reflections of culture grounded in youth perspectives and 2) helping clarify the ideals of community-engaged praxis that foster youth engagement in research.

Adolescents' and parents' perspectives on attrition from pediatric obesity therapeutic patient education programs: A qualitative study.

ABSTRACT This manuscript argues for the framing of teacher education research and programs through a visionary feminist lens. We believe that teacher education serves as an important space for the education of women, yet these spaces have a history of reproducing patriarchal, sexist, and misogynistic ways of thinking and being in the world that are not in the best interest of the very students in these programs, and indeed are harmful to them. Thus, we present the work of Jane Addams, analyzed through the work of bell hooks to illustrate a visionary feminist theory and pedagogy that incorporates: the critique and decentering of patriarchy and patriarchal power through the centering of girls’, women’s, and other marginalized people’s lives; non-hierarchical ways of being in solidarity; and approaching education as a political project grown out of lived experiences. Overall, we argue that the radical, visionary feminist projects of Addams and hooks is one possible combination that can inspire a conceptual lens for designing and studying teacher education that is up for the task of our personal, social, political, and economic lives in 2025 and beyond.

To review the literature on psychosocial care and experiences of young adults with early-onset type 2 diabetes (EOT2D), to identify what is known, current gaps and to develop recommendations to help advance psychosocial care and support for the population. We searched Medline (Ovid), Google Scholar and diabetes-specific journals for English-language articles focused on psychosocial aspects in young adults (aged 18-45 years) with EOT2D. Two people with lived experience reviewed and commented on the review findings. Growing evidence indicates that a diagnosis of EOT2D is associated with an increased risk of developing diabetes-related psychological comorbidities. Experiences of diabetes-related stigma, compounded by age-related negative preconceptions, contribute to heightening the psychosocial impact of EOT2D. Some population sub-groups appear to be more likely to experience adverse psychological effects. However, the evidence base is limited by a dearth of diverse research specifically focused on the psychosocial experiences and needs of this population (e.g., longitudinal and qualitative studies). Adults with EOT2D also experience unmet education, care and support needs relevant to optimising their psychosocial well-being and diabetes management. Overall, they require enhanced, tailored care and support that is age-appropriate, person-centred and responsive to their psychosocial needs. Digital technology and support-based strategies may help to address current gaps and improve the psychological well-being of this group, but these require further exploration. Despite the importance of psychosocial factors in young adults' diabetes management and outcomes, there remain gaps in research and practice and the need for further research, alongside changes in practice.

ABSTRACT This exploratory project draws on semi-structured one-hour interviews with eight self-identified Women of Color on the East Coast of the United States. Deploying critical bi-focality as a conceptual framework, this paper uses counter-storytelling to explore the narratives of Women of Color who are first in their families to attend college and/or graduate school to understand the complex dynamics and intimacies of upward social mobility through educational attainment. Rather than position upward social mobility as inherently desirable or positive, this paper suggests that Women of Color re/de/construct social mobility in ways that challenge, reinterpret, and reconceptualize hegemonic narratives by: 1) locating the anti-blackness within/of social mobility; 2) acknowledging and navigating student loan debt and the myth of meritocracy within the racialized neoliberalism of higher education; 3) speaking to the being and process of becoming a woman of color through higher education; and 4) capturing and holding the tensions, dualities, and conflicts within emotions and between institutions.

ABSTRACT This duoethnographic study explores how foreign English teachers (FETs) in South Korea negotiate professional legitimacy and belonging within a transnational ELT landscape shaped by native-speakerism, racialization, and institutional constraints. Drawing on our experiences as FETs—one from the United Kingdom and one from Kyrgyzstan—we examine how legitimacy is conferred, denied, and contested based on factors such as nationality, race, linguistic background, and visa eligibility. Our analysis reveals how exclusionary norms, particularly the idealized image of the monolingual native speaker, affect both those perceived as “native” and “non-native” teachers. By centering lived experience, we challenge rigid native/non-native binaries and highlight storytelling-inspired duoethnography as a critical methodology that fosters mutual legitimacy, resistance, and belonging. We propose three interrelated domains for action: (a) structural (e.g., revising the E-2 visa to favor qualification more and nationality less), (b) social/intellectual (e.g., fostering mutual legitimacy among academic and professional peers), and (c) personal/reflective (e.g., using narrative/duoethnographic collaboration to deepen self-understanding among teachers).

Peer support workers (PSWs) provide support to others through their personal lived experiences of mental health. However, their work is often undervalued by their colleagues, and they frequently face challenges in the workplace, resulting in occupational stigma. Currently, there are limited insights into how PSWs experience and manage the stigma they face. Therefore, this study examines how PSWs in the UK National Health Service experience and navigate occupational stigma in their roles. Seventy semi-structured interviews were conducted with PSWs and their colleagues. Interviews explored their experiences in the role, workplace interactions, and subsequently perceptions and experiences of stigma, and how they dealt with stigmatising experiences. The data were analysed using thematic analysis to identify how stigma manifested and how they navigated it. PSWs reported experiencing stigma both covertly and explicitly. Covert stigma included subtle devaluation of their knowledge and exclusion from decision-making, while explicit stigma involved direct questioning of competence and disrespectful behaviour from colleagues. In response, PSWs navigated stigma through three main strategies. First, they demonstrated commitment to their role via reliability, dedication, and consistent performance, reinforcing the value of their work. Second, PSWs leveraged experiential knowledge as expertise, emphasising practical skills and lived experience in patient care. Third, they used their roles to create reciprocal benefits, where they supported service-users, which in turn helped their own mental health and recovery. Occupational stigma towards PSWs is pervasive, manifesting in both subtle and overt ways that can undermine their role. PSWs actively counter stigma through commitment, expertise, and reciprocal relationships, highlighting their resilience and adaptability. Addressing stigma in healthcare settings is critical for improving team dynamics and ensuring high-quality care. Going forward to support the role, policymakers and organisations that employ PSWs should focus on improving organisational culture, recognition of the role, and collaborative practices to reduce stigma, strengthen workforce sustainability and recognise the value of lived experience in the workforce.

ObjectiveThe priorities of people with mental health challenges should be reflected in the research conducted on their behalf. Quantifying alignment of priorities with the unmet needs of people with lived experience is challenging, and to our knowledge, such alignment has not been extensively studied in bipolar disorder (BD). Natural language processing approaches comparing common topics derived from public forums to those of biomedical research could help in identifying topics that are underaddressed.MethodsWe contrasted 5 years of lived experience questions posed during a Collaborative RESearch Team to study psychosocial issues in Bipolar Disorder (CREST.BD) "Ask Me Anything" (AMA) event hosted via Reddit (2019-2023) with topics labelled from abstracts extracted from PubMed with the search term BD during the same period. We applied topic modelling using BERTopic to identify dominant themes within each corpus and compared their semantic similarity using vector-based cosine similarity analyses.ResultsThe Reddit AMA data included 6159 comments, and the medical literature from this period included 9188 abstracts. Topic modelling and similarity analyses indicated that shared and frequent topics in both corpuses were sleep, BD medication safety in pregnancy, and lithium treatment. Topics with comparatively higher frequency in the Reddit forums than in medical research included BD misdiagnosis, marijuana and BD, and coping with daily challenges.DiscussionNotwithstanding limitations, comparing a corpus of lived experience questions with contemporaneous medical literature revealed areas of overlap, but some lived experience queries were not well covered in the biomedical literature. Natural language processing of public forums may facilitate identifying unmet priorities in BD.

ABSTRACT Parenting a child with Down syndrome (DS) has received limited scholarly attention in Kazakhstan, where understanding of these families’ needs, support systems and lived experiences remains underdeveloped. To address this gap, this qualitative phenomenological study examines the lived experiences of parents, with a focus on the educational paths of their children and the barriers encountered along the way. The study draws on data from interviews with eight parents of children with DS from various regions of Kazakhstan, guided by the Conceptual Model of Family Factors Relating to the Early Development of Children with Down syndrome. The main finding was the numerous obstacles faced by children with Down syndrome and their families in educational, recreational and community settings. As a result, mothers are compelled to take on the role of advocate for their children. The topics covered include efforts to create developmentally supportive home environments, secure early intervention services and manage their children’s schooling experiences, with significant implications for specialists, schools and the state.

Background The growing need for help for problematic cannabis use, reflected in outpatient service access, suggests a widening treatment gap. Various influencing factors have contributed to a complex phenomenon in which help-seeking is shaped not only by personal wishes and needs but also by broader social, cultural, and structural constraints. Objectives This study explored the factors influencing help-seeking related to problematic cannabis use as well as the development needs for addressing these issues. Methods This qualitative descriptive study involved semi-structured interviews conducted in substance abuse treatment facilities in Finland. Four people with lived experiences of problematic cannabis use were interviewed along with 14 professionals who worked with this population. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results The influencing factors were categorized as either promoting or hindering help-seeking and are described as counterparts to each other. Four main themes emerged: capability, awareness, stigma, and prioritization. Development needs centered on improving accessibility, strengthening outreach and education, and increasing knowledge among professionals and young people. Conclusion This study highlights the multifaced nature of cannabis-related help-seeking among young people. The promotion of help-seeking requires a broad coordinated approach that simultaneously strengthens awareness, builds capability, improves accessibility, and reduces stigma. Such efforts should be implemented in ways that involve young people and that genuinely respond to their needs.

This research paper explores the concept of “motherless mothering” among Black women, highlighting the unique challenges faced by those who have lost their mothers prior to becoming mothers themselves. Notably, nearly 40% of Black children experience the death of a parent by age 20, with maternal loss representing a significant portion of these cases. Grounded in the understanding that parental death disproportionately affects Black individuals, this study explores the emotional, psychological, and social consequences faced by Black women navigating the transition to motherhood without a maternal figure. Qualitative data were collected through a questionnaire, resulting in three key findings: participants’ experiences with feelings of abandonment, entrapped grief, and discussing the lack of supportive services for motherless mothers. To address these issues, this paper introduces the Parent-Parental Loss (PPL) framework, a new model developed by the study’s first author to elucidate and support the unique experiences of motherless mothers. By investigating the intersections of grief, motherhood, and communal structures, and applying the PPL framework, this study seeks to advance understanding of Black women’s lived experiences as motherless mothers.

ABSTRACT Since the Yoruba cosmological setting gives room to a patriarchal setting, people cogitate that women are apathetic to cult practices. The unimpeachable fact is that in the Yoruba lexicon, the word ‘cult’ is more celestially used than its surface meaning, it is attached to the activities of women in the spiritual realm. At the mention of the female cult, the epistemological underpinning it carries moves people into believing that the group of women in the guild is powerful and should be seen as people who possess spiritual powers that ordinary men cannot discern. This paper attempts to chronologically delineate the cult of women in the Yoruba theocratic setting. The study employed both primary and secondary sources of data. The primary source comprised oral interviews. The oral interviews were conducted with 10 purposively selected religious functionaries from the Yoruba Indigenous Religion (YIR). The selected functionaries included priests and priestesses from Ijo Orunmila in Ibadan. The selections were based on the following: Ibadan in Oyo State provides a community where the religious activities in YIR is becoming stronger in depth and intensity. Also, Ìjo̩ Ò̩rúnmìlà is fast becoming a new wave of institutional indigenous religious structure among the Yorùbá. The secondary sources included books, journal articles, encyclopedias, and the Internet. These data were analysed using a phenomenological approach because it deals with the description of religious scenarios from the view point of practitioners while minimising bias. This is complemented by ethnographic techniques such as participant observation, to gain insights into their lived experiences and cultural setting. The findings revealed that women play significant roles in Yoruba cults and contribute immensely to the religious and socio-cultural system of the society. However, their participation is increasingly influenced by social and religious changes which redefine how their roles are expressed.