Daily life experiences for the chronically ill: A life-span perspective

Purpose – The transition into motherhood is a major life course event for most women, and is one that can be fraught with difficulties due to the uncertainty and instability which accompanies it. Previous research has explored what factors interplay within this transition with identity changes being considered a key attribute. By using assemblage theory, this study aims to undertake an innovative approach to conceptualising identity. Assemblage theory permitted an exploration of how an identity comes to be assembled and embodied through a mother’s relationality with the social world around her as opposed to merely exploring identity as a static entity of a fixed, organic whole as has predominantly been done previously. Assemblage theory is premised upon understanding processes of becoming as opposed to states of being and as such takes a machinic approach to understanding wholes. Rather than being organic totalities, they are conceptualised as being transient and fluid entities comprising an amalgamation of inter- changeable components which collectively stabilise to make up the whole. At times of change, an individual’s ties to an identity undergo deterritorialisation, or weaken, as their sense of self and identity readjusts before then experiencing reterritorialisation once they (re)established their ties to a new identity or role. By conceptualising the mothers as assemblages in this manner, it became possible to understand how the women reconstructed their selves and identities through the situated practices and experiences in their everyday lives as they established ties to their new role as a mother. Methodology/approach – Results are presented from biographical narrative interviews with 10 mothers each at different stages in motherhood. The inter- views focussed on inducing uninterrupted narratives detailing the lived experiences of these women as they transitioned into and across motherhood. These interviews highlighted key stages in the transition into motherhood where a woman’s identity and sense of self would become destabilised and reformulated as a result of changes in her everyday lived experiences and routines. Findings – Transitioning into motherhood proved to be a multifaceted pro- cess that comprises numerous stages where the new mothers identities would become unstable and deterritorialise as they faced new routines in their everyday life as they became a mother and settled into the role. Four dominant themes emerged during data analysis; emotional turmoil, the reconstruction of relationships, getting comfortable with their baby as well as rediscovering the self. The women largely experienced emotional turmoil as their identities became deterritorialised and reported that the relationships they held with others around them often changed or broke down entirely. It was not until they became comfortable with their baby and their role as a mother that they were able to rediscover their ‘self’ beyond simply being a mother. Once they reached this stage in the transition their identity was able to reterritorialise, becoming more stable as a result. Originality/Value – This study not only presents an innovative method for conceptualising identity but also demonstrates the value of assemblage theory for conceptualising identity formulation and capturing the fluid and emergent nature of such processes. It demonstrates how assemblage theory can be utilised to further understandings of the multifaceted and ongoing nature of life course transitions. This study sheds light on the potential for assemblage theory to be utilised across a range of sociological topics relating to identity formulation, with such studies having the potential to really broaden the scope of sociological understandings of identity formation and life course transitions. Keywords: assemblage theory; motherhood; transition; emergence; first- time mother; social roles; deterritorialisation; reterritorialisation; identity

Purpose Older adults aged ≥ 80 years living alone at home are more likely to experience challenges. Daily life experiences regarding living alone are still limited in the Asian context. This study explored the everyday life experiences of older Chinese residents living alone at home. Research questions included: (1) How do Chinese community-dwelling old people describe everyday life experiences related to living alone? (2) What kind of difficulties and needs do Chinese community-dwelling older people living alone face in everyday lives? (3) How do Chinese community-dwelling older people cope with challenges faced in their everyday lives related to living alone? Methods This was qualitative descriptive research. Purposive sampling was adopted to recruit 13 participants aged 80–92 years of age from communities and one hospital. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data which was analysed by conventional content analysis. Results Three themes were identified: theme 1–difficulty in finding a sense of belonging, theme 2–striving to maintain independence, theme 3–hard to gain a sense of control. Conclusions This study provided novel insights into understanding the difficulties and needs of Chinese older people living alone at home. Three key challenges and associated strategies they used to cope with in daily lives were presented.

Research Could Boost Prospects of Kids Harmed by Stress

From a system theoretically grounded point of view, a hierarchy of primary and secondary impact factors influencing the mathematics teacher’s choice to use practical activities in mathematics teaching is suggested initially in the article. A study, based on qualitative responses from mathematics teachers, then gives grounds for suggesting that a hierarchy of impact factors regarding the choice to use a practical activity in mathematics teaching must include more than just a binary clustering of primary and secondary impact factors. The teacher’s everyday life experience, knowledge of pupils’ everyday life experience, and the teacher’s conscience are suggested examples of impact factors that might call for the introduction of a new level, as they are primary impact factors that seem to depend on adaptation to responses at the secondary impact factor level. This coincides with demands for strengthening of mathematical literacy in school mathematics and more independence for the teacher when it comes to teaching of mathematics.

The chapter relates psychophysiological stress theory to music. A brief description of Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome is followed by a discussion of the interplay between genes and environment and an introduction of the concept epigenetics. Musical experiences are then related to these theoretical models. The concepts energy mobilisation and regeneration/anabolism are introduced as fundamental factors in the understanding of music in health promotion. The health promoting effects we might get from regular, repeated musical experiences in everyday life could arise in three ways: (1) inhibition of intensity and frequency of arousal reactions—music as a filter against excessive energy mobilisation, (2) strengthening of anabolism/regeneration improving resilience in general and (3) improved coping patterns—new ways of thinking may lead to positive expectations of successful coping.

Mixed race children are known to have adverse care experiences and this is the first in-depth research to examine their everyday lives in foster care. The understanding of the mixed family and confusion over how mixed children ought to be placed once in care are subject to much debate. Mixedness has been understood as a problematic identity and the exponential growth of the mixed population presents a concern in relation to Children’s Social Care. Mixedness as a classification is ethnically and racially diverse and boundaries of belonging are ambiguous and contestable. The everyday lived experience of children offers a way to theorize how the impact of racialization on foster care processes impacts the level of individual identity and everyday lived experiences.

The aim of this study was to describe experiences of health and wellbeing of unemployed. Unemployed (n=14) living in the Helsinki metropolitan area were interviewed and the data were analyzed by using inductive content analysis. Multidimensionality of health and wellbeing was described by experiences of everyday life and reflections about the future. Everyday life experiences in unemployment were a shock on becoming unemployed and a sense of relief because of the end of physically or psychologically burdensome work. Further, the unemployed experienced an impaired physical and mental health and well-being because of loss of daily rhythm, passiveness, a decrease in social contacts, stigmatization and economic distress. Experiences of health determined their relationship to the future. Becoming unemployed provided a possibility to rehabilitate and develop oneself as well as to try out the coping with work. The ageing unemployed and those suffering from health problems evalued themselves as unsuitable for the labor market, and expressed willingness to retire on disability pension. The study results can be utilized in planning health promotion interventions targeted to the unemployed.

Objectives: This exploratory study assessed young Dutch people’s emerging sexual experiences in everyday life, in addition to examine the feasibility of a mixed-methods diary study. Methods: Using one-week diaries, 12- –17-year-olds recorded qualitative reports of their everyday romantic and sexual experiences. Results: The qualitative findings identify “Making Contact” as a profound theme; however, it was expressed differently for each romantic and sexual experience. Contrary to the general idea, girls did not report more about romantic topics than boys did, nor did boys report more about sexual activities than girls did. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the importance of incorporating a broad spectrum of everyday-life romantic and sexual experiences in future research, and have provided valuable support for the implementation of a forthcoming two-year diary study.

BackgroundIncreasing attention has been paid to the ‘voice’ of people living with MCI or dementia, but there is a lack of clarity about how everyday life is exercised, lived, and understood from this insider’s perspective. The current study aimed to explore and identify the everyday life experiences, challenges and facilitators, of home living individuals with MCI and dementia.MethodOur study adopted a scoping review methodology, guided by the Joanna Briggs Institute Reviewers Manual. Eight databases were searched, resulting in 6345 records, of which 58 papers were included in the review. Only qualitative studies were included, published between 2011 and 2021. Analysis was done by descriptive content analysis.ResultIncluded study characteristics are summarized in Table 1. Our findings were categorized into seven spheres of everyday life: experiences related to the condition, the self, relationships, activities, environment, health and social care, and public opinions [Figure 1, Table 2]. Results show the many disruptions and losses in everyday life and the ways people try to adapt to these changes. Highlighted in every area is the importance of reciprocal relationships and being engaged as citizens in the community in a meaningful way. Included studies showed no differences between groups in the impact on the experience of everyday life, such as between MCI and dementia.ConclusionThis review shows that the change of focus from healthcare to all aspects of everyday life provides insight into the insider’s perspective of people living with dementia. The majority of included studies emphasize the social needs of people living with MCI or dementia. All areas of everyday life seem to be closely intertwined and reflect an socioecological model [1], [2], [3]. Furthermore, perhaps one of the defining aspects of MCI according to the current definition, that symptoms do not interfere with daily life, requires more nuance. More research is needed on factors that promote and impede the sense of reciprocity and belonging, as experienced by people living with MCI and dementia.

Climate change has until now been represented mainly by the natural, especially physical, sciences. While this has generated impressive insights and placed the challenge firmly on national and international public agendas, it is an incomplete representation (as suggested in Chap. 3), albeit a powerful one among decision-making institutions. Issues arise through the insistence of a deterministic ‘scientific method’ and with underlying assumptions concerning empiricism and positivist objectivity. Qualitative social science, with its mixed methods approach and positive view of subjectivity to reveal fresh insights, provides a significant complement to natural science with respect to the human dimensions of climate change. The topic, however, is too complex a problem to be represented by natural and social sciences disciplines alone. Drawing on the concept of climate change as a ‘wicked problem’, the chapter moves towards advocacy of an interdisciplinary approach that draws on disciplinary interfaces and grounds itself in everyday lived experiences. This approach has the potential to be inclusive of diverse voices and their experiential, as well as scientific, knowledge to create a more complete representation of climate change. Issues remain, however, concerning the politics of representation in terms of whose lived experiences are included/excluded and the ways in which they are represented by different actors.

In recent years, proposals have been made to build mathematics teaching more closely on children's informal knowledge, i.e. on concepts and strategies formed in natural, everday settings. The article focuses on questions concerning this trend, more specifically on issues concerning how and in what sense children benefit from everyday common sense knowledge when they learn mathematics at school. Three empirical examples, collected within a field-based research project at the intermediate children, when using their everyday life experience, sometimes fail to make mathematical sense of a given task. Two factors which complicate the creation of links between common sense and mathematics are discussed: one that deals with the problem of using everyday life experience as a basis for abstracting mathematical ideas, and one which concerns the pupil's abilities to interpret an assigned task in a mathematically relevant way.

Diary methods are recognized as a valuable tool in qualitative research, however researchers have yet to take advantage of the many possibilities offered by social media platforms. This article demonstrates the potential of social media-based diary methods, specifically WhatsApp and Facebook diary groups, for researching everyday lived experience, by outlining the key advantages that this methodological innovation offers. Researchers can obtain insight into everyday repetitive behaviors, like eating and cooking, they can benefit from real-time reporting since participants can share information as and when it happens, and they can gain access to multi-modal data, as social media platforms support a variety of data types, including text, photos, audio, and video. Social media-based diary methods also make data collection more practical since the platforms are widely known and interacted with, and where they are supported by both smartphones and computers, transcription becomes a straightforward process too. A final benefit which could be taken advantage of is group discussions, so this article also explores the benefits of conducting diary methods in a group setting. This article is based on a research project exploring the everyday lived experiences of faith vegans which made use of private WhatsApp and Facebook groups to collect diary data from participants, including photos of meals, reflections on events and experiences, and group discussions. The findings in this article are thus grounded in methodological innovation and advance current scholarship on diary methods in a way that aligns well with contemporary trends and preferences.

In a number of European societies, consumers are ascribed with a co-responsibility for solving environmental problems by changing their consumption patterns. These attempts to place part of the implementation of environmental political solutions on the kitchen table agenda of consumers constitute a politicization of consumption. The argument of the paper is that the complexity of environmental political strategies become further complicated by having to take into consideration consumers' everyday life experiences with such politicization. These everyday experiences comprise a socio-cultural linkage of the environmental problematique. The characteristics of this linkage as being intersubjective, compound and contingent are somewhat neglected in environmental policy and planning and in research in this field. The paper presents an empirical analysis of how a group of young Danish consumers understands and handles the claim for environmental consideration, which they respectively reject, negotiate and integr...

Measuring Discomfort in Health Research Relative to Everyday Events and Routine Care: An Application to Sexual and Gender Minority Youth

BackgroundDigital assistive technology (DAT) may support time management in people with dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but research on DAT for time management is limited. We aimed to explore how everyday could be supported by DAT for time management in persons with dementia or MCI from informal carers’ perspectives. This study focused on a DAT device for time management called MEMOplanner (MMP).MethodUsing a mixed-methods design, we utilized the Time-Proxy© questionnaire and a study-specific interview guide to investigate the perspectives of informal carers (n = 8) regarding the use of MMP by individuals with dementia or MCI.ResultThe MMP was helpful in keeping track of time and activity. It helped to maintain an active lifestyle and facilitated communication. However, the MMP did not reduce the need for assistance from the informal carers, and it took time to learn the different functions of the device. Further research into employing a more extensive array of DAT for time management or other areas to assist individuals with dementia will yield valuable insights into enhancing and sustaining a higher quality of life despite cognitive decline.