There's just huge anxiety: ontological security, moral panic, and the decline in young people's mental health and well-being in the UK
30 August 2019
This study aims to critically discuss factors associated with a recent dramatic rise in recorded mental health issues amongst UK youth. It draws from interviews and focus groups undertaken with young...
Using observation to better understand the healthcare context
31 December 2021
Despite potential to capture rich contextual information, observation remains an underutilized data collection method. This paper provides a practical guide for using observation to understand complex...
“It’s a mixture of emotions”: Nail technicians’ visual storytelling of work and health
March 2025
Nail technicians are artists and storytellers. Adapting the arts-based health research (ABHR) methodology of body-map storytelling (Gastaldo et al., 2018) and in partnership with the Parkdale Queen...
“It’s sink or swim for us”: The lived experiences of Filipino nurses in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic
March 2025
The United Kingdom has recruited Filipino nurses since the late 1990s to meet the country’s healthcare needs. Currently, over 40,000 Filipinos are working in the National Health Service, and it is suggested...
“They just don’t have the “doctor” in front of their name:” Dimensions of trust of physician assistants
July 2025
Physician assistants play a major role in healthcare delivery in the United States, yet what we know about how patients perceive the care they receive from PAs is limited. Prior research on patients’...
“It's real. It's a thing:” Mental health counselors’ listening exhaustion during COVID-19
19 July 2023
Mental health counselors regularly use active listening skills to be present with each client; however, active listening may cause burnout due to high emotional labor, inadequate staffing, excessive...
Navigating the life stage after stroke: From Life 2.0 to stroke prevention models of care — A qualitative exploration of younger and middle-aged adult stroke patients' experiences and recommendations
July 2025
Global stroke incidence has been rising among adults 65 years of age or younger. A dearth of research exists exploring and understanding younger and middle-aged adults’ lifestyle-related knowledge and...
An examination of veterinarians’ negotiation of emotional labor
March 2025
Veterinarians are expected to care for animals while managing clients' emotions and dealing with stress, depression, burnout, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and other mental health struggles that accompany...
How to become partners. Ways to enhance the quality of patient and public involvement in healthcare research
July 2025
There is a growing emphasis on involving patients and the public in healthcare research. This is especially true in qualitative healthcare research, where partnerships are encouraged between patients...
Physician-Friendly States for Mental Health: A Comparison of Medical Licensing Board Applications
16 February 2020
Do medical boards undermine physician mental health by breaching physician confidentiality and privacy? We analyze the initial medical licensing process in each state to determine if qualified applicants...
Lessons learned from qualitative fieldwork in a multilingual setting
13 March 2024
Qualitative research conducted in a multilingual setting is an arduous, yet essential, endeavour. As part of my PhD research program, I set out to conduct qualitative process evaluation of a stroke...
“I felt like a freak when I would go to the doctor”: Investigating healthcare experiences across the lifespan among older LGBT and transgender/gender diverse adults
13 March 2024
In the past several decades, the United States has enacted civil rights legislation protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) populations from discrimination, including enacting...
The introduction of the medicinal partner in direct-to-consumer advertising: Viagra's contribution to pharmaceutical fetishism and patient-as-consumer discourse in healthcare
31 August 2018
Pfizer, manufacturer of the erectile dysfunction prescription treatment Viagra, has been a staple in the pharmaceutical advertising arena since broadcast versions of such ads became legally permissible...
Understanding the phenomenological experiences of schema therapy for those with an eating disorder
4 July 2024
Schema therapy expands traditional cognitive-behavioral models, weakening early maladaptive schemas and schema modes while strengthening adaptive modes. This study investigated participant experiences...
The four Cs of physician leadership: A key to academic physician success
4 July 2024
Leadership is increasingly recognized as important in medicine. Physician leadership impacts healthcare delivery and quality. Little work has been done to determine how physician leadership in practice...
Bad girl and unmet family planning need among Sub-Saharan African adolescents: the role of sexual and reproductive health stigma
30 May 2018
Adolescent pregnancy contributes to high maternal mortality rates in Sub-Saharan Africa. We explored stigma surrounding adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and its impact on young Ghanaian...
The use of metaphors by service users with diverse long-term conditions: a secondary qualitative data analysis
4 December 2023
Long-term conditions and accompanied co-morbidities now affect about a quarter of the UK population. Enabling patients and caregivers to communicate their experience of illness in their own words is...
Near-death experiences and the change of worldview in survivors of sudden cardiac arrest: A phenomenological and hermeneutical study
31 December 2022
Near-death experiences (NDEs) can occur during episodes of unconsciousness from life-threatening conditions, such as sudden cardiac arrests (SCAs). This study is based on interviews with patients who...
A qualitative analysis and evaluation of social support received after experiencing a broken marriage engagement and impacts on holistic health
13 March 2024
This study provides new insights into the role of social support in the largely unexplored field of broken marriage engagements and an individual’s wellbeing. The study extends the optimal matching...
What is veteran suicide prevention really about? Questions from the community to researchers
2 January 2025
Military veterans are one of the most researched groups in healthcare in the United States. This population has extremely high rates of suicide attempts and completions. Despite increasing research...
“That bastard chose me”: the use of metaphor in women’s cancer blogs
4 July 2024
Metaphors play a significant role in how cancer is experienced and discussed. This study delves into the utilization of metaphors by women bloggers grappling with colorectal and gynecological cancers....
It is harder for me: A thematic analysis of lived experience of self-care, and its relationship with self-injurious behaviors in psychiatric patients
9 September 2024
Self-injury is associated with significant psychological distress and functional impairments, including difficulties with self-care. However, little is known about how individuals engaging in self-injury...
An ethnographic study of opioid use disorder in rural Maine: The problem of pain
31 December 2020
This qualitative study was conducted to more fully understand health care providers and community leaders' perceptions of the opioid crisis in rural Maine. In 2017, Maine continued to have one of the...
The potential impact of nonsuicidal self-injury disorder: Insights from individuals with lived experience
9 September 2024
Nonsuicidal self-injury disorder (NSSI-D) is presently a condition for further study in the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR) (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). While...
Perspectives of meaningful work in a high-burnout academic medical center: a discourse analysis
31 August 2018
We conducted a discourse analysis of meaningful work from the perspective of healthcare workers in an academic medical center where we previously observed relatively high levels of personal burnout...