Women's Social Interactions Research Articles

Experiences of social burden amongst survivors of breast cancer in Gaza: A qualitative study

PurposeThis qualitative study explores how social-cultural factors can either amplify or attenuate prospects for social support following a breast cancer diagnosis. The aim of the study is to analyse narratives of individuals diagnosed with breast cancer to examine how the illness influences social support and hence their post-illness experiences. MethodsForty semi-structured interviews, including thirty-eight with breast cancer survivors, are analysed using a grounded theory approach. Data were collected between September 2020 and April 2021. ResultsParticipants' perceptions indicate that three main factors influenced experiences and the level of social support received. The first involves stigmatised cancer-related discourses and practices affecting women's social interactions and roles. The second is specific to (ex)married participants. It reveals how the foundation of marriage prior to the illness is a determining and influencing factor in the experience of women after illness. The third demonstrates how specific social identities enable coping, negotiation, and challenging cancer-related stigma, turning their experiences toward positivity. ConclusionsThe study concludes that breast cancer acts as a figurative magnifying glass, illuminating latent social practices in the community. This highlights the need to nurture existing social bonds or address the fragility of ties within distinct social categories. The research suggests implementing customised support interventions aligned with each group of survivors' unique needs. Furthermore, enhancing awareness within patients' social networks regarding the illness and how to provide support, along with enhancing survivors' financial security through economic empowerment, may contribute to more effective coping with the social consequences of the illness.

Puerperal women's social interactions related to their sexual health after childbirth

RESUMO Objetivo: Analisar experiências de puérperas sobre saúde sexual após o parto na perspectiva do interacionismo simbólico. Método: Estudo descritivo, qualitativo. Realizadas 20 entrevistas semiestruturadas por videoconferência com mulheres no puerpério remoto, captação por “snowball” e busca das “sementes” pelo Instagram®. Utilizou-se a análise de conteúdo de Bardin e o Interacionismo Simbólico como referencial. Resultados: As puérperas significam saúde sexual numa perspectiva de integralidade dos cuidados em saúde. Contudo, pela dualidade entre o “ser mulher” e o “ser mãe”, reconhecem o medo, as transformações corporais e as mudanças de foco da relação amorosa para os cuidados com o bebê como fatores que interferem na saúde sexual. E, escolhem se deixar de lado, priorizando o cuidado com os outros. Ressignificam saúde sexual pelo reconhecimento da importância de cuidar de si nos aspectos biopsicossociais e tentam resgatar o autocuidado para vivência sexual saudável. Conclusão: Apesar dos significados atribuídos, as interações sociais das mulheres com o puerpério interferem negativamente na saúde sexual. Profissionais devem ser sensibilizados quanto à inclusão de ações que promovam mudanças da ação social dessas mulheres para o cuidado de si.

Identifying effective elements of women's social interactions in cultural centres

The need to communicate, as an important human need, can be secured through attending public spaces such as the cultural environment, especially in developing countries where women do not prefer visiting these spaces alone. By using 304 questionnaires, the present study investigated the influence of cultural centres’ factors in social interactions of women over 18 years old in Tabriz, Iran. Confirmatory factor analysis identified that behavioural, environmental, perceptional, structural and social aspects have significant influence on women’s social interactions. In addition, Friedman test indicated that behavioural aspect has the most and social aspect has the least influence. The findings of the present study can be utilized by architects and urban authorities.

Lived Experiences of Women Entrepreneurs Regarding Socio-Cultural Constraints in Entrepreneurship in Southern Punjab, Pakistan

The research paper investigates the socio-cultural constraints faced by women entrepreneurs during startup and expansion of their entrepreneurial ventures in Ahmedpur East of District Bahawalpur through documenting their lived experiences. The research is primarily a multi-sited ethnography and utilizes qualitative research methods such as in-depth semi-structured interviews and focused group discussions on collecting primary data from a selective sample of 25 entrepreneurs ascertained through sampling technique. The study highlights gender-specific socio-cultural challenges such as social perceptions and biases, work-life balance, patronage of male family members, restricted mobility owing to Purdah and low recognition and payment of women's work etc. as prime reasons that hinder not only women participation as entrepreneurs but also inhibits their engagements and choices in entrepreneurship. Socio-cultural factors not only systematically impact women's social interactions and decision-making but transform into multiple other challenges that women fight and struggle with while making their space as entrepreneurs.

Is Loneliness Adaptive? A Dynamic Panel Model Study of Older U.S. Adults.

Recent evolutionary psychological theory proposes that loneliness is an adaptive mechanism, designed to trigger maintenance and repair of social ties. No population representative analyses have probed loneliness effects on sociality. The present study addressed this gap. Data were from the 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, nationally representative of U.S. adults over age 50. Recently developed cross-lagged models with fixed effects were used to test prospective within-person associations of loneliness with specific dimensions of sociality, taking into account reverse causality as well as all time-invariant confounders with stable effects. Both gender-combined and -specific analyses were conducted. Loneliness did not consistently predict overall sociality: sparse linkages were found only among women. The same null pattern held with family ties. Non-family ties, in contrast, were associated with prior loneliness, but in a gender-specific way. Loneliness positively predicted women's social interactions with friends, but seemed linked to withdrawal from these relationships among men. There were indications that lonely men instead used religious attendance as a social outlet. Loneliness seems to induce domain- and gender-specific sociality responses. Findings suggest implications for evolutionary models of sociality as well as for psychosocial and physical health. Pending replication in independent samples, inferences remain tentative.

Post traumatic stress disorder post childbirth versus postnatal depression: a guide for midwives

Post traumatic stress disorder-post childbirth (PTSD-PC) is a powerful pathophysiological reaction that occurs in response to experiencing a traumatic birth and affects between 1–6% of women. Regardless of its trigger, PTSD-PC causes significant impairment to women's social interactions, ability to work, and daily life. A key symptom of PTSD-PC is re-experiencing the birth in the form of nightmares, flashbacks, continual replay, intrusive thoughts, and images. When these symptoms persist beyond 1 month, a diagnosis of PTSD-PC should be considered. In awareness that there are additional mental health problems that a childbearing woman could encounter, the authors have elected to focus on two of the more commonly experienced diagnoses; specifically PTSD and postnatal depression (PND). It is important for midwives to be able to differentiate between PTSD-PC and PND, because diagnoses and treatments differ. Generally, PND is treated with antidepressants and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), while PTSD is treated with eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy or emotional freedom technique (EFT). There is potential for a women to develop a dual diagnosis, with partner and family also affected. Clarity surrounding the differences between PND and PTSD are key to accessing appropriate diagnosis, referral, and treatment

Quality of life and coping strategies among immigrant women living with pain in Denmark: a qualitative study

ObjectiveTo examine quality of life and coping strategies among immigrant women living with chronic pain.DesignQualitative content analysis based on in-depth semistructured interviews.SettingA clinic specifically targeting immigrants at a larger university...

The Power of Relationships: Love and Solidarity in a Landless Women's Organisation in Rural Bangladesh

This article examines the significance of social relationships in women's lives and their relevance to processes of women's empowerment. In Bangladesh, traditional structures limit women's social interaction to their immediate family and maintain male responsibility over them. However, here we look at the example of Saptagram – a social mobilisation organisation particularly focused against gender injustice towards rural landless Bangladeshi women – and how by providing relationships beyond the private sphere it engendered bonds of friendship and loyalty amongst its beneficiaries. Difficulties with systems and its inability to recruit a new line of leadership led to its apparent failure at one point. Yet, despite this, by providing knowledge of rights, respect, courage to stand up for one's beliefs and a sense of wellbeing through working alongside people in the villages, it inspired an enduring solidarity amongst the women it served which led to its eventual resurrection.

An Exploration of Sexual Minority Stress Across the Lines of Gender and Sexual Identity

Despite growing evidence to suggest that gays, lesbians, and bisexuals experience a range of stressors and consequences related to their sexual minority status, no known studies to date have employed focus group discussion to explore and document their perceptions of sexual minority stress. In this exploratory study, we present focus group data on a range of sexual minority stressors as described by 43 gay men, lesbians, and bisexual men and women. We explore gender and sexual identity differences in the respondents' perceptions of heteronormativity, disclosure issues in different social settings, sources of support, and strategies for coping with stress. Respondents reported that women's same-sex relationships were eroticized and distorted to accommodate heterosexual male desire, while men were negatively depicted as sexually promiscuous and deviant. These differing stereotypes held important consequences for disclosure decisions and affected men's and women's social interactions with heterosexual men. Bisexual respondents reported unique strategies to cope with exclusion and isolation associated with misunderstandings about their sexual identities. Directions for future research on sexual minority stress are discussed.

Gossiping Endurance: Discipline and Social Control of Filipina Helpers in Malaysia

nation of people, goods and information across geographical borders. Further, the proliferation of transnational business, production and human man agement enhances the expansion of the international labour market, includ ing the female labour force. Much of the work on transmigration and the international division of labour, however, has been either (a) gender biased: focusing on men as productive human resources, predominantly when those from less developed countries flock into highly industrialized and devel oped economies; or (b) that migratory practices/purposes were largely based on calculations of economic returns; or (c) to do with maintaining homes at multiple locations, therefore, sustaining multi-stranded social relations.2 Women's participation in transmigration and their experiences on a daily basis, their social relations with other women, and their coping mecha nisms while abroad were, more often than not, ignored. In this paper, I attempt to examine some of the implications of female transmigration because of work, particularly for Filipina domestic helpers in Malaysia. I will focus on the contexts of transmigration, social control and discipline embedded in their experiences of working in others' house holds. The examination is largely grounded on women's social interactions and communication in the household (or the workplace, for transmigrants) and in public spaces. These experiences and interactions might be con sidered mundane or trivial for some; nonetheless, how do these interac tions represent the mechanism of control and discipline in their daily transnational social reproduction? In addition, what are the ways and means used to sustain normative behaviours and order in women's (migrants and employers) interactions? In Malaysia, foreign domestic helpers are subordinated and subjected to surveillance, which indicates that control and discipline are considered (by employers, state authorities and employment agencies) to be necessary for maintaining social order. Whereas, in public spaces, interaction is mainly

‘WOMEN'S SIGNIFICANT SPACES’: RELIGION, SPACE, AND COMMUNITY

This paper examines the links between religion, space, and women's identity development through a study of the traditional Hindu house. It describes how some spaces, such as the prayer room, kitchen, threshold, and courtyard, form the settings for and enable life-cycle rituals, women's rites, and women's communal activities, and became the locus for women's social interaction, networking, self-identity, and community-based identity. This study surfaces the important role of religion in the inter-relationships between people (especially women) and their physical environment through enaction of religion-required activities. It points out the role women play in the sustenance and continuation of many religious practices, particularly the pivotal role of women in the practice of religion in the noninstitutional domestic arena. Through development of the concept of ‘women's significant spaces’, this study points out how these spaces are intimately connected to the contributions of women, the development of their expertise, and the development of the women's community.

A Routine Activity Theory Explanation for Women's Stalking Victimizations.

Drawing on surveys administered to 861 university women in nine institutions, this article presents a routine activity theory model for predicting stalking victimization likelihood for women. Using routine activity theory, the model highlights lifestyle behaviors and interactions as predictors of stalking victimization. Whereas routine activity theory often highlights the role of demographics and statuses as predictors, this analysis emphasizes the role of women's social interactions and substance use in victimization risk. Significant predictors of victimization likelihood include substance use variables, activities in public settings, and residence off campus.

Friendly or Sexy?: It May Depend on Whom You Ask

A set of three studies replicated and extended Abbey's (1982) research, indicating that men perceive less friendliness, but more sexuality than women when observing women's social interactions. Study 1 was based on 49 previously unacquainted male-female pairs who engaged in brief face-to-face discussions, and 48 males and 61 females who observed one of those discussions. Study 2 was based on videotaped exchanges between a male store manager and a female cashier, and Study 3 between a male professor and a female student; 75 males and 88 females participated in Study 2, while 98 males and 102 females participated in Study 3. In all three studies, the men saw less friendliness, but more “sexiness” in the woman's behavior than the women. These results support the idea that some of the less severe forms of sexual harassment in business and academic settings may be better understood eventually through research and theory development that considers these sex differences in social perceptions.

Power and Charm. Interaction of Adolescent Men and Women in Traditional Settings of Transylvania

In the mid 1970s, during field research carried out in the villages of Breb and Sirbi in Maramure*2 (northern Transylvania), I was confronted with a socio-cultural life where rituals and ceremonials centred around birth, puberty, marriage and death had preserved their viability due to the people's belief in their capacity of relating fundamental conceptual values (defining rules of social interaction) to the random present (Karnoouh 1983: 37). Puberty and marital rites and ceremonials build coherent and meaningful ensembles. The processes which make them up interrelate and interact by completing and/or opposing each other not only on one but several levels of sense. The power of dance, as part of these ensembles, rests only in acts of performance, in the people's of making sense of and in linking experience to other sets of ideas and social experiences (Blacking 1984: 20). Thus, the focus of my inquiries shifted from the dance object to the dance process and finally to the dancing people. The double orientation of the research towards the people and towards the unitary ensemble of their practices, contribute to disclose the meaning of the symbol and its function for young men's and women's social interaction, social status differences and balance of power in the pre-marital stage of life.

Women's Work in Nafplio, 1920-1940

This paper examines long-standing female work roles in Greek cities through a study of the provincial town of Nafplio from 1920 to 1940. Values restricting women's social interaction are found not to have prohibited a wide range of labor for most Nafpliote women during this period. They did both family maintenance work and work directed toward the extrafamilial economy, something which contrasts with those urban Greek women today who restrict themselves at marriage only to the former. This conclusion indicates the relevance of theories of female marginalization even to cultures with long-standing values restricting women's activities. Recent research on women's roles in various cultural settings has revealed a changeability in them quite deserving of ethnohistorical investigation. Assumptions of long-standing and universal female domesticity have given way to the studied documentation of other patterns. A remarkably widespread historical development has been identified by such efforts: women in many societies have recently witnessed a truncation of their economic activities, rather than the popularly assumed expansion. The range of work they do has narrowed. Certain well-known features of modern Greek gender roles have not encouraged scholars to seek this pattern there, however. The social restrictions long placed on Greek women made it unlikely they had done much variety of work in the past, while the current loosening of such restrictions seemed to indicate an augmentation of female roles on all fronts. Closer scrutiny reveals the situation to be otherwise. Values of social seclusion for urban Green women of the recent past in fact allowed a wider scope of work than that done by certain, seemingly freer, urban women today. This paper presents ethnohistorical data supporting this conclusion and showing a work role reduction to have indeed occurred for a segment of Greek women. 'That this segment are those Greek women most directly involved in industrial capitalism both alerts us where to look for this pattern in other underdeveloped nations and reinforces the general theories universally linking the rise of such economic structures to a contraction of female work roles. Three steps lead to these conclusions: first, a discussion of current thinking on such work role reduction elsewhere and its possible relevance to Greece; second, presentation of ethnohistorical data on a provincial Greek city to demonstrate a wide range of female work in the past; and third, a comparison of this situation to that of certain urban Greek women today who pursue a narrower range.

Objective and subjective evaluation of psychiatric ward redesign.

The authors describe the redesign and evaluation of a 30-bed psychiatric unit. The design approach was user oriented, employing a psychoenvironmental model that postulates an interaction between the physical environment and the psychotherapeutic milieu. Objective and subjective instruments demonstrated that environmental redesign based on this model correlated with behavioral changes in clinically desirable directions. These changes also correlated with reduced psychopathology and might have been facilitated by "social organizers," design solutions that encourage social interaction focused on ward activities.