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As the culture of silence that once surrounded cancer has gradually given way to greater public awareness, normative visions of what cancer survivorship should entail have proliferated. These visions emphasise positivity and perseverance in pursuit of cure. While these visions provide comfort to many, for people with metastatic cancer, the emphasis on cure can undermine their sense of belonging to the broader collective of people living with cancer. Drawing on semi‐structured interviews with 38 Australian women living with metastatic breast cancer, we explore how incurable cancer inflects understandings of self and transforms interpersonal relationships. Extending ideas around biosociality and belonging, we explore the tenuousness of social bonds, revealing how (in)visibility, (in)authenticity and (in)validation circulate within the daily lives of women with metastatic breast cancer. We conceptualise accounts according to four social bonds: (1) threatened bonds where a relationship is strained by misunderstanding, (2) severed bonds where a relationship is ruptured due to misunderstanding, (3) attuned bonds whereby a relationship is based on shared identification and (4) flexible social bonds when a relationship is based on mutual understanding. More broadly, we illustrate the persistence of normative visions of cancer survivorship and their enduring effects on those whom such visions exclude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social organisation of economic life plays a pivotal role in assembling many emerging and enduring health problems. Yet throughout the recent history of global health challenges, an emphasis on the influence of economic systems has frequently been sidelined in favour of research that interrogates the behavioural and/or cultural dimensions of these problems. The global crisis of antimicrobial resistance provides a striking example of this trend, with analysis frequently and increasingly focusing on behavioural or technological fixes – for example, the need for responsible use of remaining antimicrobial drugs, or for revived efforts to identify new antimicrobial agents – while at times glossing over the market logics that reproduce the problem itself. With a few notable exceptions, the economic headwinds that shape the current antimicrobial resistance (AMR) scene have been largely decentred in scholarly discussions. In this article, we argue for a critical sociology of economies of resistance, contributing to burgeoning efforts to understand how economic structures both shape the acceleration of AMR and undermine the development of drug and diagnostic solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has resulted in considerable consequences for many cancer patients, exacerbating pre-existing systemic health system limitations as well as creating new challenges. From socially distanced clinics and the widespread introduction of telehealth, to the halting of clinical trials and the reassessment of what constitutes "essential" treatment, care in oncology has abruptly changed. There is currently limited analysis of cancer patients' experiences of the pandemic and its impacts on illness, wellness, and everyday life. Through semi-structured interviews with 54 people living with cancer during the 2020 phase of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Australia, we explore how patients experience illness and care in reflecting upon a range of pandemic challenges, including delay, distance, and vulnerability. We find that in some cases, these pandemic conditions redefined the meaning of essential cancer care, reconfigured expectations around clinical trials, constructed new affective distances, and amplified dread and fear for people living with cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India and the global community are facing a critical crisis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), significantly contributed to by on-going and increasing antimicrobial misuse. Information as to what drives misuse of antimicrobials within India is essential to inform strategies to address the crisis. This papers aims to identify perceived influences on antimicrobial use in Hyderabad, India. We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews conducted with thirty participants (15 doctors, 15 pharmacists) around their experiences of antimicrobials in Hyderabad, India. Thematic analysis was performed and four themes identified around (1) Perceptions of the problem of resistance and antimicrobial use; (2) Social pressures to prescribe/dispense; (3) Financial pressures driving antimicrobial over-use; and (4) Lack of regulation around training and qualifications. We conclude that antimicrobial use within India is embedded with, and occurs as a result of, complex social and economic factors including issues of resource limitation, structural/governance limitations and social relationships. Strategies to address misuse without acknowledging and addressing the critical driving forces of use will be unlikely to induce significant change. [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]

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is widely reported to be a rapidly escalating global health threat. Investigations into the social dimensions of AMR have tended to focus on economically wealthier nations, even though economically poorer countries are a site of considerable and often increasing antibiotic (mis)use. Understanding the global and local dynamics of antibiotic resistance, we propose, requires critical sociological investigation at the nexus of economic development, structural constraints, cultural norms, and infection-management practice. Here, to begin to unpack these intersections, we draw on qualitative interviews with physicians and pharmacists in Hyderabad to explore their accounts of the social dynamics of AMR in India. In particular, we focus on their accounts of practices of improvisation and self-medication with antibiotics; the nexus of informal and formal pharmaceutical economies and the vested interests therein; and the everyday brokering of antibiotics. We posit that responses to AMR need to be deeply embedded in the specificities of everyday practice, local market forces, and regulatory (im)possibilities with attention paid to the locally prevailing cultural norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACTObjective:Experiences of bereavement can be stressful and are frequently complicated by emotional, familial, and financial issues. Some-though not all-caregivers may benefit from bereavement support. While considered standard within palliative care services in Australia, bereavement support is not widely utilized by family caregivers. There is little research focused on the forms of bereavement support desired or required by family caregivers, how such care is viewed, and/or how bereavement support is experienced. This study examined the experiences of bereaved family caregivers and their impressions of and interactions with bereavement support.Method: This paper reports on one aspect of a broader study designed to explore a range of experiences of patients and caregivers to and through palliative care. Focusing on experiences of bereavement, it draws on qualitative semistructured interviews with 15 family caregivers of palliative care patients within a specialist palliative care unit of an Australian metropolitan hospital. The interviews for this stage of the study were initiated 3-9 months after an initial interview with a family caregiver, during which time the palliative patient had died, and they covered family caregivers' experiences of bereavement and bereavement support. Interviews were digitally audiotaped and transcribed in full. A thematic analysis was conducted utilizing the framework approach wherein interview transcripts were reviewed, key themes identified, and explanations developed.Results: The research identified four prevalent themes: (1) sociocultural constructions of bereavement support as for the incapable or socially isolated; (2) perceptions of bereavement support services as narrow in scope; (3) the "personal" character of bereavement and subsequent incompatibility with formalized support, and (4) issues around the timing and style of approaches to being offered support.Significance Of Results: Systematic pre-bereavement planning and careful communication about the services offered by palliative care bereavement support centers may improve receipt of support among bereaved family caregivers in need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has undergone a considerable epidemiological transition in the past few decades. The rise of cancer and other chronic illnesses has, and will continue to have, a substantial impact on the overall burden of disease, as well as the lived experiences of illness in India. Little is known about the cultural inflection of cancer in the Indian medical, historical and religious/spiritual landscape, which is both highly varied and rapidly changing. Here, we explore some of the issues emergent from individuals’ experiences of illness including their understandings of cancer, its ‘origins’, its meanings and subsequent everyday experiences. Drawing on interviews with 40 people with cancer in Hyderabad, we focus on the cultural ontologies of cancer in India, the social moralities and evolving individual responsibilisation around cancer, and some of the affective dimensions of these interpretations of illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The end of life represents a therapeutic context that acutely raises cultural and linguistic specificities, yet there is very little evidence illustrating the importance of such dynamics in shaping choices, trajectories and care practices. Culture and language interplay to offer considerable potential challenges to both patient and provider, with further work needed to explore patient and caregiver perspectives across cultures and linguistic groups, and provider perspectives. The objective of this study was to develop a critical, evidence-based understanding of the experiences of people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds, and their caregivers, in a palliative care setting. Methods: A qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews to explore key experiences and perspectives of CALD patients and caregivers currently undergoing treatment under oncology or palliative care specialists in two Australian hospitals. Interviews were digitally audio recorded and transcribed in full. A thematic analysis was conducted utilising the framework approach. Results: Sixteen patients and fourteen caregivers from a range of CALD backgrounds participated in semi-structured interviews. The research identified four prevalent themes among participants: (1) Terminology in the transition to palliative care; (2) Communication, culture and pain management; (3) (Not) Talking about death and dying; and, (4) Religious faith as a coping strategy: challenging the terminal diagnosis. Conclusions: CALD patients and caregivers' experiences are multifaceted, particularly in negotiating linguistic difficulties, beliefs about treatment, and issues related to death and dying. Greater attention is needed to develop effective communication skills, recognise CALD patients' particular cultural, linguistic and spiritual values and needs, and acknowledge the unique nature of each doctor-patient interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]