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Child marriage is a problem that has continued to attract global attention. The media have been identified as critical to the fight against the scourge as it discusses the capacity to raise awareness of the issue as well as trigger action in solving the problem. The report of the alleged abduction of a minor, Ese Oruru by one Yunusa Dahiru for marriage jolted the nation and sparked public outcry for her release. This study explored newspaper framing of the incident. Drawing from qualitative frame analysis, it examined how Punch and Daily Trust newspapers framed the alleged abduction saga. The study found that there was contrastive framing of the incident with Punch newspaper portraying the issue as abduction while Daily Trust newspaper depicted it as elopement. The influence of socio-cultural leanings of these papers on the contrastive framing is discussed. The implication of the divergent framing of the saga on the fight against child marriage is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominant popular perception in contemporary Romania is that its people have strong, persistent and genuine Christian beliefs that are the main source of their attitudes towards death and of their representations of the afterlife. Questioning this assumption, this paper is based on two exploratory studies consisting of 80 semi-structured interviews and aims at investigating the features of personal representations related to death in contemporary Romania. It highlights the emergence of new patterns of representation and new and unexplored attitudes towards death, dying and the afterlife, identifying three categories of interviewees: the believers, the personalists, the atheists. The paper pleads for further study of Romanian beliefs and representations related to the topic of death from a sociological perspective. As it is the case with the majority of Romanian post–communist studies on death and dying, elements related to religion and folklore should not be considered the only ones that matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study investigates health care practitioners’ approaches to early childhood obesity in Denmark and their view on their own ability to initiate processes of change in affected families, and it asks the overall question of whether perceived barriers become real through practitioners’ reluctance to intervene in families labelled as ´problematic’. The paper identifies three approaches in the practitioners’ narratives: the socially oriented, the individually oriented, and the mixed. The individually oriented approach was based on a logic resembling individualistic explanatory models of behaviour change, and was related to a positive perspective on their own ability to move families towards healthier habits by health care practitioners. The socially oriented approach borrowed elements from a sociological perspective, which seemed to lead to resigned pessimism in the face of the complexity of the problem of childhood overweight and a reluctance to address early childhood overweight in some families. In practitioners of all three types, widespread cultural essentialism was found. Non-western, ethnic minority background was seen as determining family habits and making preventive action especially difficult. Based on this, the current paper discusses whether individual actions and choices are being ascribed too much explanatory power, and the health system's biased perceptions too little. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ragin’s Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is often used with small to medium samples where the researcher has good case knowledge. Employing it to analyse large survey datasets, without in-depth case knowledge, raises new challenges. We present ways of addressing these challenges. We first report a single QCA result from a configurational analysis of the British National Child Development Study dataset (highest educational qualification as a set theoretic function of social class, sex and ability). We then address the robustness of our analysis by employing Duşa and Thiem’s R QCA package to explore the consequences of (i) changing fuzzy set theoretic calibrations of ability, (ii) simulating errors in measuring ability and (iii) changing thresholds for assessing the quasi-sufficiency of causal configurations for educational achievement. We also consider how the analysis behaves under simulated re-sampling, using bootstrapping. The paper offers suggested methods to others wishing to use QCA with large n data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines experiences of living with chronic illness for haemodialysis patients. In order to understand these experiences the paper takes an existential-phenomenological approach. Interviews of seven participants (five males, two females) were collected in a haemodialysis clinic. Based upon the participants experiences three core themes emerged: (1) the challenges of living with chronic renal failure; (2) body changes and embodiment; (3) their illness experience and social relationships. The findings suggest that the illness experience of chronic renal failure is an on-going struggle to attain a sense of control. We suggest that where a sense of control is limited this can create a sense of powerlessness. Further, the illness experience was not solely restricted to the individual, but also affected wider social relationships. It is only through taking into account the context of patients experience of illness that clinicians/nurses can meaningfully draw on all aspects of evidence to reach integrated clinical judgement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The academic progress and success of males of color have begun to capture the attention locally and nationally. Over the past several years research examining males of color and their k-12 to college, pathways have been the subject of conversation and focus of scholars and practitioners alike. This study examines the transition of successful Latino males and centers their perspectives through the analytical framework of Bourdieu's practice. This framework helps to theorize and capture strategies/logic/resistance male participants engaged in to shed stereotypical representations and stigmatized expectations placed on their bodies based on their identity as Latino males from the Bronx. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual studies, although consolidated in European and North American academia, are still developing. The research fields associated with them are also affected by multidisciplinary approaches ranging from the fields of ethno-anthropology, art, communication, sociology, semiology, forming a semantic and epistemological mosaic in continuous evolution. The essay presented here proposes, on the one hand, a reflection on visual culture and, on the other, an introduction to some of the most interesting lines of research in visual studies. In this way we want to deepen the epistemological/methodological value of visual sociology, and at the same time give witness to the achievements and innovative proposals that make this field of study one of the most interesting in social research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intersex people have diverse bodies and identities but are unified by experiences of pathologisation, enduring human rights violations, stigmatisation, and mental health issues stemming from shame and secrecy. Medical interventions aimed at mitigating inferred psychosocial or parental distress occur without substantial evidence of their benefit and have been found to be themselves, stigmatising. Medically unnecessary and non-consensual interventions have been identified as human rights violations. Access to psychosocial and peer support for intersex people has been inconsistently facilitated by clinical multidisciplinary teams and intersex people are at danger of epistemic injustice in healthcare settings. A manuscript of 26 collated narratives written and illustrated by people aged 18–87 with intersex lived experience (N = 17) was examined using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Four superordinate and 13 constituent themes emerged describing experiences of trauma and posttraumatic growth. Narratives depicted how experiences of systematic pathologisation of intersex bodies were negatively internalised and affected sense of self, family function, and social agency. Posttraumatic growth was facilitated through overcoming epistemic injustice, developing self-acceptance and increasing social connection. The findings are discussed in terms of posttraumatic growth and their implication for development of affirmative healthcare services for intersex people and the importance of psychosocial support as a primary intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study explores the bereavement and coping of fans following the death of a personally significant popular musician. Nine participants completed individual interviews and the data were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Three superordinate themes were identified: a meaningful relationship, disenfranchisement of grief, and social recognition of grief. The findings highlight that the impact of a musician's death is deeply personal yet socially underrecognized. The loss of the parasocial relationship with the musician is comparable to losing a close social contact. Future research should investigate the roles of culture and social media in bereavement following a musician's death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to analyse the political outcomes of the LGBT* movement in Poland, referring to civil unions, marriage equality, adoption, homophobic and transphobic hate crimes and Gender Recognition Act. I argue that the movement has become a recognizable political actor but has not achieved any legislative goal. It is based on an extensive qualitative research project conducted between 2013 and 2016, but includes also the newest information about the context and the movement. Methodologically it is situated in the critical orientation in sociology and theoretically in the field of social movement studies. Respondent's comments on the conclusions are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muslims in the U.S. have a long history of being active in their communities, but September 11th marked a turning point for involvement due to backlash against Islam. While we know that Muslim civic engagement increased after the tragedy, we know little about why it increased or why some Muslims avoid civic activities altogether. Using a case study on Detroit area Muslims, I find four factors that drive civic engagement as well as three factors that hinder engagement. Findings suggest that social work practitioners and educators can act to support civic engagement and address the challenges that hinder community involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working from an asset-based perspective, this exploratory, qualitative study examined local community strengths and capacities to support healthy aging in a rural community in Western Canada. The research team consisted of academic leads and a project coordinator from a Canadian university, collaborating partners from the health authority, representatives from local and regional municipal leadership, and an Advisory Committee comprising local municipal leaders, seniors' advocates, business owners, health care professionals and other community stakeholders. The findings from this study underscore five equally critical and overlapping areas of recommendations: Networking and Cross-Community Collaborations; Communications; Health and Social Care Initiatives; Transportation; and Housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although provisions for young children are increasingly considered as ideal places to foster an inclusive and socially just society by embracing issues of social support and social cohesion, there is no in-depth understanding of the role these provisions can play in enabling supportive and cohesive encounters in contexts of diversity. Even more striking is the absence of parents' voices in this discussion. Based on an analysis of qualitative interviews with 18 parents who use childcare services in urban contexts of diversity, our findings show the relevance of ephemeral contacts with diverse people that could offer bridging opportunities in terms of social connectedness to familiarise within diversity while decoding the other in urban contexts of diversity. However, neither bonding nor bridging contacts appear as self-evident. Our research shows that the role of childcare services might be vital in creating light and temporal communities as the prerequisite for social cohesion to flourish, in both individual as well as collective dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Creative Practices for People with Cancer is a research team experimenting with the popular arts for purpose of improving survivors' quality of life. Popular expressive art forms (e.g. drumming and mask-making) are assessed for their potential value for cancer survivors via surveyed team members and a "sculpting" session. Two themes, social cohesion and new self-identities, emerged from the team's experimentation with the popular, expressive arts. Our experimentation with the popular arts as embodied forms of self-exploration confirms their potential to counter the dominant ideology of cancer as associated with an inevitability of diminished bodies and attenuated selfhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Complementary and Alternative medicine sector has grown enormously since 1980. Western Herbal Medicine (WHM), located within this domain, is a traditional therapeutic system that has enjoyed this recent public acceptance. Scientific evidence supporting therapeutic actions of plants employed in WHM has inspired public confidence. Today the herbal product industry is big business, employing sophisticated pharmaceutical manufacturing processes and competitive marketing strategies for phytomedicines with little resemblance to living plants. The literature reports a divergence of views among practitioners seeking to identify central tenets of contemporary WHM and cites herbalists who are resisting the commodification of herbal medicine. This study employs qualitative research methods to examine the blogosphere for evidence of this group using a combined purposive sampling approach and thematic analysis of blogs meeting predetermined inclusion criteria. The search revealed a group of bloggers who voice concerns about the direction WHM is taking and are ethically responsive to global environmental pressures. They share the common value that WHM should remain a healthcare option that empowers and supports the community and suggest this is best achieved by maintaining and sharing fundamental skills of plant identification, simple herbal product manufacturing and incorporating both science and tradition in their herbal practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Living kidney donation is an alternative treatment option for end-stage renal failure. Prospective donors are protected from risk by counselling and assessment processes, to ensure they are fully informed about all the stages of donation. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 25 living kidney donors from across New Zealand, this article discusses donors' experience of the pre-donation screening process, donation workup coordination, psychological preparation, and post-operative follow-up care and support. In particular, the article examines donor perceptions of the informed consent process. The findings indicate that donors' experience of the consent process may be at odds with the New Zealand Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights 1996. Instead of a primary healthcare focus on the threshold elements of informed consent, this study indicates that more effort should be made to adequately inform donors and to clearly spell out each stage of the donation process to better meet donors' needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst 'biographical disruption' remains important for explaining how people rebuild biography following the onset of chronic illness, it does not self-evidently explain the problem of managing a fluctuating chronic condition such as non-specific low back pain. Chronic illness rarely leads to long-term improvement; the trajectory is not always linear, and sudden or gradual improvements alongside deterioration are commonly experienced. In the case of low back pain, self-management often involves utilisation of non-pharmaceutical approaches, personal resources for accommodating pain and disability, as well as managing symptoms with clinical treatments to relieve pain. Such a multifaceted approach -- not only concerned with the reduction of symptoms -- shifts focus beyond the 'disease' state and a single point of disruption, drawing attention to the use of 'health maintenance actions' to facilitate a proactive response to illness management. We propose this new approach as an alternative way of understanding the experience of patients with fluctuating health conditions such as low back pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last few years, various international public health organizations such as the World Health Organization or the European Commission have recommended the worldwide dissemination of evidence-based mental health prevention programs. This public health ideal, relying on new scientific disciplines, is at the origin of multiple controversies in a number of countries. This article contributes to bring a reflection on the ways political experts, researchers and practitioners have integrated these new preventive strategies. More precisely, the objective is to present and to discuss the results of a qualitative study on French professionals' representations and theoretical perspectives with regards to evidence-based parenting programs. Results are based on ethnographical inquiries in French public health institutions and on 12 semi-structured interviews with professionals. The results demonstrate three ways to conceive parenting support, themselves attached to distinct anthropological, socio-political and interventional models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]