This paper reflects upon Bernard Gardiner's qualitative study of the lived experiences of older gay people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLHIV) in regional Queensland. The study explores how advancements in the biomedical field have extended the life expectancy of PLHIV, allowing this group to navigate through persistent challenges both psychosocial and structural. Central to Gardiner's study is the exploration of stigma, trauma and financial challenges. The core strength of the study is its participant-led narrative which offered valuable insight into complex lived experiences of ageing PLHIV. Gardiner's findings remain relevant in the contemporary and current context, highlighting the need for social justice and policy attention. The present article reflects on the potential of probing intersectional experiences among culturally and linguistically diverse and gender-diverse communities to extend Gardiner's work. Finally, it argues for the inclusion of chosen families and support networks as a radical form of social, emotional and practical care for PLHIV.

Western psychology often equates mental health with individual control. Julian Rotter’s Locus of Control theory suggests that believing in one’s own power leads to success. While this model works well in individualistic societies, it often fails to capture the experience of people in non-Western cultures. It overlooks the reality of shared lives, systemic limits, and the role of fate. This article reconceptualizes human agency by comparing Rotter’s theory with Indian philosophical frameworks. We specifically examine the concepts of Karma (causality), Dharma (ethical duty), and the relational self. We argue that true agency is not just about controlling external outcomes. Instead, it is about acting ethically within a complex web of relationships and cosmic laws. Recent research in rural India supports this view, demonstrating that social factors like employment status fundamentally shape one's sense of control. Furthermore, integrating Indian Knowledge Systems with modern psychoanalysis reveals that accepting one's limits can be a source of profound strength rather than passivity. Based on this synthesis, we propose a new model of Ethical Interdependent Agency. This model values both personal effort and the acceptance of circumstances beyond one's control. It suggests that well-being arises from aligning one's will with moral duty rather than fighting for total dominion. This offers a more culturally valid approach to psychological flourishing.

Sleep disturbances are a common yet often overlooked challenge for people living with dementia and their caregivers, significantly affecting daily functioning and well-being. Existing interventions frequently prioritise pharmacological treatments, which may not align with the cultural values and preferences of ethnically diverse communities. This study explored how older adults with mild dementia and their caregivers from white British, Caribbean, Chinese, and South Asian backgrounds in the UK understand and manage sleep difficulties using culturally meaningful, non-pharmacological strategies. A qualitative, cross-cultural design was adopted using focus group discussions with 12 dementia dyads (older adults and their caregivers) recruited from community organisations in a city in Southern England. Four focus groups were conducted using a topic guide to elicit participants' lived experiences and culturally informed coping practices. Transcripts were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis with NVivo 14, generating four overarching themes that captured shared and culturally specific perspectives. Analysis revealed four key themes: (i) Sleep as a holistic and relational experience, (ii) The importance of routine, ritual, and physical engagement, (iii) Emotional calm and non-drug coping with night-time worry, and (iv) Cultural fit and practical accessibility shape participation. Participants viewed sleep through a holistic lens, closely linked to emotional, spiritual, and relational harmony. Gentle, non-invasive approaches such as calming evening rituals, light physical activity, spiritual reflection, and mindfulness-like practices were described as culturally rooted and preferable to medication. Participants valued familiar routines, trusted facilitators, and flexible, community-based delivery. Practical barriers, such as time constraints and caregiving demands, were highlighted alongside a strong desire for co-designed, culturally adaptive interventions. This study underscores the potential of culturally grounded, mind-body approaches to address sleep disturbances in dementia care. By aligning interventions with communities' daily routines, spiritual beliefs, and emotional needs, non-pharmacological strategies can improve acceptability and relevance. Critically, these findings show that ethnicity and cultural background should not be overlooked in research and intervention design, as they shape how people experience and manage sleep. Community-embedded, participatory models can foster trust, sustain engagement, and ultimately support better sleep and well-being for people living with dementia and their caregivers.

Purpose Blog data receives attention from researchers who intend to understand the lived experiences of autistic people. There is good discussion of the value of blog data, but with limited direction from blog authors themselves. This study aims to hear about the everyday experiences and motivations of autistic authors when they blog. Design/methodology/approach A systematic search and reflexive thematic analysis details the intentions of 43 autistic bloggers as described within blogs themselves. Findings Blogging created meaningful routes to belonging, feeling “connected but safe”. Blogs provided well-being resources for use personally (for reflection, self-acceptance and emotional expression) and to support peers. Bloggers also said they wrote to re-narrate how autism is understood by their readers, to speak with honesty without secret-keeping and to challenge stigma. Personal accounts chronicled and explained past pains caused by navigating what it means to be autistic. Blogs contained non-stigmatised and personally meaningful descriptions of autistic experiences, which the authors said were not available in other published sources. Originality/value The value of this peer support indicates the need for investment into appropriate post-diagnostic knowledge and well-being resources for autistic adults, which appear to be afforded to some people who access online communities. This study presents a summary of what benefits and empowers autistic bloggers and topics deemed important to advocate for. Researchers and policymakers are advised to hear this self-advocacy to inform their work.

People with kidney failure experience severe, often intractable symptoms, which affect quality of life. These symptoms are often unacknowledged and difficult to treat due to few treatment options being available. The use of cannabinoids to treat symptoms of long-term medical conditions is increasing worldwide. However, there is a paucity of data on the experiences of people using cannabis to treat the specific symptoms of kidney disease. We conducted a qualitative semistructured interview study involving patients who had used either prescribed or nonprescribed cannabis to manage symptoms of kidney failure. Data were coded inductively to identify themes and a conceptual framework. Thirteen participants had used nonprescribed cannabis and four prescribed cannabis. Most participants had experience of treatment with hemodialysis. We identified four themes and subthemes: Managing overwhelming symptom burden (using cannabinoids to relieve symptoms, alleviating the mental load, restricted by a lack of options, feeling abandoned managing symptom burden); Barriers to accessing medical cannabis (constrained by finances and avoiding stigma and judgment); Weighing up risks of nonprescribed cannabis (wanting to avoid illegal behavior, avoiding potential harm, concerns of safety with treatment, worried about the safety of nonregulated products, seeking only medicinal benefits); Lack of clinician support (poor provision of information, lack of knowledge of prescribed options, valuing honesty). People with kidney failure describe frustration at the limited options for symptom management and appreciate the benefits of cannabis. Access to prescribed cannabis is restricted by legal issues and lack of clinician familiarity and confidence, which creates uncertainties and safety issues for patients when managing their symptoms.

Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots are now embedded across therapeutic contexts, from the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) Talking Therapies to widely used platforms like ChatGPT. Whether welcomed or not, these systems are increasingly used for both patient care and everyday support, sometimes even replacing human contact. Their capacity to convey empathy strongly influences how people experience and benefit from them. However, current systems often create an “AI empathy gap”, where interactions feel impersonal and superficial compared to those with human practitioners. This paper, presented as a critical narrative review, cautiously challenges the prevailing narrative that empathy is a uniquely human skill that AI cannot replicate. We argue this belief can stem from an unfair comparison: evaluating generic AIs against an idealised human practitioner. We reframe capabilities seen as exclusively human, such as building bonds through long-term memory and personalisation, not as insurmountable barriers but as concrete design targets. We also discuss the critical architectural and privacy trade-offs between cloud and on-device (edge) solutions. Accordingly, we propose a conceptual framework to meet these targets. It integrates three key technologies: Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) for long-term memory; feedback-driven adaptation for real-time emotional tuning; and lightweight adapter modules for personalised conversational styles. This framework provides a path toward systems that users perceive as genuinely empathic, rather than ones that merely mimic supportive language. While AI cannot experience emotional empathy, it can model cognitive empathy and simulate affective and compassionate responses in coordinated ways at the behavioural level. However, because these systems lack conscious, autonomous ‘helping’ intentions, these design advancements must be considered alongside careful ethical and regulatory safeguards.

Background The prevalence of mood and anxiety disorders in LGBTIQ+ individuals (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, and other sexual/gender minorities) is not well understood. Studies suggest that LGBTIQ+ people may have higher rates of mood and anxiety disorders, potentially influenced by societal acceptance. Aims This systematic review aims to examine the prevalence of depressive disorders (DD), bipolar disorders (BD), and anxiety disorders in LGBTIQ+ populations and explore potential associations with societal acceptance in different global regions. Methods A systematic search of PubMed, Embase, APA PsychInfo, and citations from 1990–2022 identified studies reporting on the prevalence of DD, BD, and anxiety disorders among LGBTIQ+ people. These rates were compared to societal acceptance, using the Williams’ Institute Global Acceptance Index, and to general population rates. Study quality was assessed with the National Institute of Health checklist. Results 123 studies from 31 countries were included, with 116 rated as good quality. Individual study sample sizes ranged from 15 to over 254,462,596. Mean prevalence rates in LGBTIQ+ populations from these studies was 35.3% for depressive disorders, 5.6% for bipolar disorders, and 34.3% for anxiety disorders. A significant correlation was found between societal acceptance and depressive and anxiety disorder prevalence rates in North American LGBTIQ+ populations. Conclusions This study found that LGBTIQ+ people experience markedly higher rates of mood and anxiety disorders compared to the general population, with societal acceptance correlating with these rates in North America. Further research is needed, particularly for underrepresented groups such as nonbinary individuals and those identifying as pansexual, asexual, or genderqueer. Systematic review registration www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/ , identifier CRD42022320324.

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and increased unwanted pregnancies among young people, yet scant evidence documents SRH service-access trajectories and experiences of young people living with HIV during this time. We conducted a remote study, comprised of qualitative Facebook and telephonic data collection with adolescents living with HIV and young parents in South Africa (n = 41, ages 16-29) in 2020/2021. Following this, we conducted in-depth research through calls, WhatsApp and Facebook to explore narratives of two young people living with perinatally-acquired HIV who accessed SRH services and became parents during COVID-19 lockdowns. We engage a narrative approach to illustrate the trajectories of these two young people - documenting their biopsychosocial lives and experiences accessing SRH services - with attention to personal, structural and relational factors. Findings illustrate their agency while detailing gaps in provisions that significantly affected their health and well-being. This study applies practice theory, exploring how gendered, relational, social and geographic factors shaped young people's experiences and SRH. Despite being well-acquainted with the biomedical technologies and relationships governing their care, they struggled to navigate an altered health landscape. Findings document how they were subject to narratives of individual responsibility for their SRH amidst system-level shortcomings. Results highlight significant gaps in service provision and an imperative to enhance the material conditions for young parents living with HIV in South Africa. They underscore the need for resilient, shock-responsive health and social protection systems to maintain continuous SRH services for adolescents living with HIV during crises.

ABSTRACT People experience, engage, and interact with their living world not as disembodied minds, but as embodied beings and motivated actors. The fifteen contributions gathered in this special issue collectively mirror the essential terrain of embodied health experiences in the Chinese context. The collective findings move the field beyond merely describing cultural differences to demanding a fundamental re-theorization of core communication concepts and the adoption of new interdisciplinary methodologies.

This study explores the narrated lived experiences of Military-Connected Children and Young People (MCCYP) in Denmark and examines the relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Benevolent Childhood Experiences (BCEs), particularly in the context of parental combat-related PTSD within their told stories. Using content analysis, interview data was re-analysed using the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Benevolent Childhood Experiences (BCEs) questionnaires to identify ACEs and BCEs within the captured narrative data. The initial study where the data was captured examined military children’s experiences and the impact of a five-day residential camp on well-being, resilience, and self-esteem, based on co-constructed meaning between participants and researchers, with ethical approval ensuring parental consent and participant assent. Ten young people (aged 12–19, mean = 15.00, SD = 2.54) attended the Denmark-based camp run by Støt Soldater & Pårørende (SSOP), a charity supporting children of veterans. Six were female, four males, and all had at least one parent with a self-reported PTSD diagnosis. The findings show that most participants (nine out of ten) had a parent with PTSD, leading to an average ACE score of 2.7. These challenges included physical or emotional abuse, living with a parents who has poor mental health, witnessing domestic violence and having a parent abuse substances. Despite these challenges, all participants reported key protective factors, contributing to an average BCEs score of 4. The protective factors included feeling safe with a caregiver, having external support, and experiencing home stability. The study discusses the implications for clinical practice, proposing the ICE (Identify, Connect, Engage) model for Trauma-Informed Care (TIC), which focuses on early identification of adversities, building trust through compassionate connection, and involving MCCYP in decision-making. The study underscores the importance of letting stories breathe to considering both the adversities and resilience factors in MCCYP narratives, advocating for a holistic, child-centred approach to supporting their health and well-being.

ABSTRACT The integration of generative artificial intelligence into creative domains raises critical questions about human agency in AI-assisted creation. In this two-study article (study one, n = 6; study two, n = 7), we explored how people experience creative agency during co-creative tasks with AI, focusing on image generation and writing. Using think-aloud protocols and post-task semi-structured interviews, we conducted an analysis to identify four central dimensions of agency: creative self-efficacy, control over creative action, autonomy in the creative process, and ownership of the creative product, as well as the self-regulatory and metacognitive mechanisms that support sustaining agency. Preliminary findings reveal that agency in human – AI co-creation fluctuates across the creative process. Participants employed adaptive strategies – such as progressive refinement, selective appropriation, and counter-inspiration – to reinforce agency when navigating unpredictable AI outputs. However, moments of diminished control and uncertainty about ownership were common, particularly when AI contributions deviated from user expectations. To contextualize these experiences, we applied the Co-Creative Framework for Interaction Design, highlighting how tool affordances shaped participants’ sense of agency. Participants’ shifting experiences of agency suggest a need for adaptive system features that align with evolving user goals.

This article presents a novel methodological approach in which institutional ethnography borrows from design sociology. Although mapping is a core component of institutional ethnography, previous research highlights opportunities to further develop mapping techniques as both an analytical tool and a means of presenting research findings. Design sociology is an emerging interdisciplinary field that merges sociological inquiry with design methodologies, offering creative tools for analyzing and visualizing complex social phenomena. The article builds on a project conducted in the elderly care sector, illustrating how design-based approaches can bring caregivers' everyday experiences and invisible work to the forefront while revealing systemic challenges. Utilizing design sociology, the study broadens the methodological repertoire of institutional ethnography by introducing new strategies for analysis and communicating research findings. This interdisciplinary framework offers opportunities for mapping and visualizing how people's experiences and activities are structured by larger institutions and structures.

This article takes shape from my research, which is grounded in themes from the anthropology of home. This field of study explores how people experience and give meaning to domestic space across different cultural, historical, and natural contexts. The aim I set was to study and to analyze the social and structural changes resulting from the earthquake that occurred in 2015 in Kathmandu, Nepal. The research question sought to analyze how this event influenced the perception of home, home-making practices, and the reconstruction of a sense of home among the affected individuals. It was considered the cultural dynamics, local responses, and the long-term impacts on the reconfiguration of housing identity. This is an ethnography I conducted between February and May of 2024. This fieldwork allowed me to collect direct testimonies through in-depth interviews and informal conversations with residents. The core of this article is to observe how the perception of home has changed in the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake. Through interviews who directly experience the event, it emerged that home is not only a physical structure, but is a space of emotional resilience and symbolic reconstruction.

A Data-Driven Investigation of Environmental Correlates Associated With the Lived Experience of Autistic People.

The historiography of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), like many socialist and communist countries, has been predominantly shaped by Western narratives, which emphasize censorship, repression, and state control. These accounts, often written by the victors of the Cold War, have reinforced the dichotomy between the “free” West and the “oppressive” East. The enduring prevalence of such dichotomies has long influenced the way history is told and still shapes our contemporary understanding of these regions and their histories while often marginalizing specific regions, perspectives, and people. However, such a one-sided view risks oversimplifying the complexity of life in the GDR and other socialist states and obscuring the agency of ordinary people who lived through these systems. By applying the concept of Alltagsgeschichte (everyday history), this paper understands historiography itself as a form of translation—a process shaped by power, interpretation, and omission and seeks to broaden our understanding of GDR history by highlighting the lived experiences of ordinary people. Using 27 oral history interviews with translators and interpreters in the GDR, this study amplifies the personal stories of those who navigated the ideological and professional constraints of the state, offering a more nuanced picture of life behind the Iron Curtain. These individuals, as part of a shared profession, provide an entry point into broader questions about how history is written and understood. Listening to their stories and experiences will serve as a starting point to reevaluate the way we conceptualize history, the East-West divide, and the role of translation in shaping societal narratives. Read the detailed SYNOPSIS.Find all available translations of the synopsis in the TABLE OF CONTENTS.Scroll down for the FULL ARTICLE.

Lip language is a straightforward method of non-verbal communication for people with laryngeal and lingual injuries, dysphonia, or vocal cord lesions. It is convenient for these speech-impaired individuals, especially when their hands are occupied. However, it depends mainly on line-of-sight-required sensors (e.g., cameras for vision-based and speaker/microphone for acoustic-based solutions) or specialized peripherals to collect and understand the lip language. Therefore, the usage of lip language is limited. Recently, inertial measurement units (IMUs) have been increasingly embedded among commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) earbuds (e.g., Apple AirPods). The built-in IMUs have the potential to sense silent articulatory gestures. However, these sensors present low sampling rates (of merely 25 Hz) and signal-to-noise ratios, blocking error-free lip reading. As a countermeasure, we comprehensively analyze the articulations of speech-impaired persons. Accordingly, we map inertial signals to lip language with effective noise cancellation. We propose an inertia-based lip language decoding system, named SwanTrumpet. It supports lip reading, unvoiced interaction, and user identification for speech-impaired users. In addition, we address the issue of user diversity in lip language translation, which is significant among the speech-impaired. We implement the prototype connected with two COTS earbuds. Extensive evaluations on 11 speech-impaired participants demonstrate its capability to improve the interaction experience for people lacking a voice.

The experience of people with multiple sclerosis who receive occupational performance coaching.

Social media platforms are increasingly saturated with alcohol-related user-generated content (UGC), which can shape young people’s attitudes and behaviours towards drinking. While all young people are potentially influenced by this content, certain groups, such as Aboriginal young people; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or other sexual and gender minorities (LGBTQ+) young people; and those living in regional areas, experience disproportionate alcohol-related harms and may have unique experiences with alcohol-related UGC. However, research examining these diverse perspectives remains limited. This qualitative study explored perspectives of Aboriginal, LGBTQ+, and regional young people (aged 16–20) regarding alcohol-related social media practices through semi-structured interviews (n = 24). Reflexive thematic analysis was applied, with four overarching themes constructed from the data: (i) participants described alcohol posting as performative practice tied to sociability, identity, and peer influence; (ii) social media posts and digital amplification were seen to embed binge drinking culture within youth identity; (iii) Aboriginal, LGBTQ+, and regional participants reported distinct responses to alcohol UGC, with experiences shaped by stereotyping, safety concerns, and permissive environments; (iv) influencer-generated content was viewed as highly pervasive and many participants expressed scepticism at its authenticity. Policy action is needed to protect young people from the harms associated with online alcohol promotion and must recognize the intersectional experiences of young people from Aboriginal, LGBTQ+ and regional communities.

The stakes of stimulant use, psychosis, and antipsychotic treatment among youth who use drugs: A longitudinal qualitative study.

Encounters in the Swedish health and welfare sector: experiences of people identifying as LGBTQ.