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Qualitative research is practiced across diverse disciplines and contexts, and this produces a wide range of perspectives on the role of conceptualization and theory development. It also results in a hugely varied mix of submissions to qualitative research journals in terms of their level of conceptual elevation. This editorial explores why we conceptualize qualitative data, and some common challenges evident in current qualitative practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive body of scholarship focuses on cultural diversity in health care, and this has resulted in a plethora of strategies to "manage" cultural difference. This work has often been patient-oriented (i.e., focused on the differences of the person being cared for), rather than relational in character. In this study, we aimed to explore how the difference was relational and coproduced in the accounts of cancer care professionals and patients with cancer who were from migrant backgrounds. Drawing on eight focus groups with 57 cancer care professionals and one-on-one interviews with 43 cancer patients from migrant backgrounds, we explore social relations, including intrusion and feelings of discomfort, moral logics of rights and obligation, and the practice of defaulting to difference. We argue, on the basis of these accounts, for the importance of approaching difference as relational and that this could lead to a more reflexive means for overcoming "differences" in therapeutic settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Men are increasingly participating, and acknowledging their roles, as informal carers. Yet, there has been comparatively little exploration of their experiences therein, especially within the context of cancer care. Here, drawing on semi-structured qualitative interviews with 16 Australian male carers for a relative with cancer, and using constructivist grounded theory, we explore their experiences of informal caring. Our analysis highlights a series of tensions, including the following: the meanings and practicalities of care provision including notions of reciprocity, duty, autonomy, and interdependence; the discomforts of dependency and vulnerability; and the complicated moralities that inflect "caring well." Given the shifting dynamics around informal care, we argue for increased attention to the affective tensions that arise at the nexus of moralities and masculinities in informal caring relations, especially as they are articulated in the context of illness, affliction, and dependency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social isolation has featured as a significant and oftentimes all-encompassing risk factor for male suicide, yet, as an explanatory mechanism, it has not been unpacked in terms of what it constitutes in everyday life. The current photovoice study explores the various dimensions of the lived experience of social isolation, as embedded in accounts of suicidality drawn from 35 Canadian men. Study participants narrated the following factors as underpinning their social isolation: (a) family dysfunction and estrangement, (b) marginality and feeling like misfits at school and work, (c) alienation and provisional acceptance of health care, (d) ineffectual and self-harming management, (e) intrusive dislocating thoughts, and (f) society's burdensome and immoral subjects. These interwoven but discrete spheres provide a means for understanding the phenomenology of social isolation and a basis for melding ideas about connectedness, relationality, personal history, and care, along with strategies to support and reduce men's suicidality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social science scholarship on cancer has been almost exclusively focused on Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, despite a significant epidemiological transition taking place in many nonOECD contexts, with cancer emerging as a prominent, and strongly feared, illness experience. With cancer gaining an increasingly high profile in India, there is an urgent need to explore how experiences of cancer may be socially and culturally embedded, and in turn, how localized practices may shape the therapeutic encounter. Here, drawing on interviews with 40 people living with cancer in Hyderabad, India, we focus on some specific components of their therapeutic journeys, including diagnostic and prognostic disclosure, collective versus individual decision making, the dynamics of medical authority, and the reception of cancer within their social milieu. These participants' accounts provide insight into a range of cultural sensibilities around illness and care, and reinforce the importance of understanding the cultural inflections of communication, decisions, and illness experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experiences of cancer are enmeshed with cultural understandings and social discourses around responsibility and causation. A cancer diagnosis can raise questions about its causation -- including the role of the individual -- whereas the disease and its treatment provide various social markers of illness. We present a sociological study of 81 women's accounts of living with cancer, with a focus on how women interpret their illness, in light of their interpersonal interactions and accounts of social relations. Our analysis reveals women's experiences of cancer diagnosis and treatment, the varied sociocultural meanings of cancer and the responses it elicits, the presence of moral assessments within everyday interactions, and the implications for the support and care they receive. We argue that the experience of cancer should be seen as intimately interwoven with its social reception and cultural sense-making practices, including normative constructs which promote ideas about (in)justice, responsibilization, and shame. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While a significant health concern for sexual minority women, there is little qualitative research investigating their experiences of childhood trauma and suicidality. In this study, we used photovoice methods and an intersectionality framework. Drawing on qualitative interviews, we inductively derived three themes (a) Traumatized and discredited, (b) Cascading marginality, estrangement, and suicidality, (c) Reconstruction and reclaiming resilience. In Traumatized and discredited, we describe the sense of abandonment flowing from childhood trauma heightened by a lack of protection and neglect on the part of parents/guardians. The lack of support to deal with childhood trauma and the layering effects of marginality characterizes the theme Cascading marginality, estrangement, and suicidality. In the third theme, we discuss strategies for reconstruction and reclaiming resilience as participants worked to overcome these challenging experiences. Our study findings offer guidance to suicide prevention counseling programs for sexual minority women and affirm actions to address health inequities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although gay, bisexual, and two-spirit men (GBTSM) experience high rates of suicidality, there have been few empirical studies of prevention initiatives and policies that could address or reverse this major social problem. This article reports on a photovoice study of 29 GBTSM who had a history of suicidality or lost a fellow GBTSM to suicide. We focused our analysis on participants' perspectives on suicide prevention. Participants described four key considerations for GBTSM suicide prevention: (a) recognizing and addressing enduring homophobia, biphobia, and mental illness stigma; (b) provision of low-barrier, long-term, and GBTSM-affirming counseling; (c) de-isolation through peer support and community connection; and (d) fostering creativity and cultural resilience. By engaging GBTSM affected by suicide through photographs that depict their experiences and points of view, in this study, we offer concrete recommendations to reduce suicidality among GBTSM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]