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State authorities in Europe invest immense resources in what the EU insists on calling the 'fight against illegal migration'. Based on ethnographic research in two German cities, this paper shows that a tough approach towards illegalised migration can only be implemented through state practices that operate at the margins of, or even cross, the boundaries of what is legally permissible. This argument is developed through an analysis of informal practices that frontline staff in registry offices and migration administrations deploy to prevent, or at least disturb, illegalised migrants' attempts to regularise their status by becoming the parent of child that is entitled to German citizenship. Drawing on the autonomy of migration approach, I use migrants' struggles within and against Germany's migration and citizenship regime as an epistemic device to expose three kinds of informally institutionalised counter-tactics of street-level bureaucrats that qualify as unlawfare. The analysis shows that officials, in their attempts to forestall migrants' practices of self-legalisation, frequently resort to practices that are legally questionable or outright unlawful themselves. Ultimately, not only a tough stance on illegalised migration, but the very production of migrant illegality emerges as contagious as it implicates an illegalisation of state practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores an alternative territorial sensibility – ‘diasporic territoriality’ – that is rooted in the search for belonging outside of a putative ‘homeland’ amongst dis/placed communities. Drawing on ethnographic research with 26 members of Singapore’s Sikh diaspora, we examine the everyday spaces of diasporic belonging that simultaneously reproduce and resist colonial imaginings of Punjabi territory. Many first-generation diasporas continue to define themselves through regional affiliations inherited from colonial legacies, with Singapore’s gurdwaras serving as a spatial ‘fix’ for mapping territorial logics from the Punjab. However, these colonial imaginaries are increasingly contested and ‘unmapped’ by younger generations who seek to socialise in alternative spaces of belonging based on shared pieties and upbringing. By reimagining belonging beyond essentialist framings of home-diaspora connections, the idea of ‘diasporic territoriality’ contributes to decolonising prevailing understandings of territory and belonging. Doing so provides a provocative counterpoint to re-evaluate state-sponsored narratives of integration within the context of multiculturalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we use institutional ethnography to investigate the intersection between provincially mandated digital technologies intended to streamline decision-making, improve communication, and create efficiencies and the development and implementation of strategies to institutionalize Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (or EDI) in child welfare contexts. These two moves collide in the Child Welfare Redesign – a state-led initiative that organizes the convergence of data and diversity work in local Children's Aid Societies in the Canadian province of Ontario. Drawing on 38 interviews with child welfare directors, supervisors, and managers coupled with extensive documentary research, our findings show how the Ontario Child Welfare Redesign goal to make child welfare services more "inclusive" and "culturally appropriate" for Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ communities who are overrepresented among those receiving child welfare services is undermined by the continued use of provincial information management infrastructure and the provincially mandated Child Protection Standards and Tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This ethnographic research was conducted at two intensive Scandinavian music academies with the aim of examining the extent to which there is a Nordic approach to advanced instrumental music teaching. Data collected through observations, interviews, and discussions revealed academy structures, instrumental techniques, and the use of metaphors in teaching. The study found a blend of Nordic pedagogical traditions, instrument-specific approaches, and personal teaching methods. The Scandinavian instructors tended to employ personalized coaching styles, emphasizing independent thought and interpretation. A characteristic form of politeness and directness was identified among the Nordic pedagogues that shares some features with renowned masterclass teachers in other contexts. Further research is needed to fully grasp this Nordic approach, potentially leading to typologies or explanatory models. The study underscores the need for continued exploration and analysis of diverse instructional strategies and cultural influences in music education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Living with risk is a salient part of everyday living and although risk affects everyone, older adults are often regarded as a high-risk group, particularly older adults who are aging with a disability, such as vision loss. A prominent focus within low vision rehabilitation is the provision, and training, of older adults in the use of low vision assistive devices as a strategy to manage risks in both the home and community environment. This study aimed to unpack the influence of assistive technologies on experiences of risk among eleven older adults (aged 65+) with age-related vision loss. Materials and methods: This critical ethnographic study used home tours, the go-along method, and a semi-structured in-depth interview. Results: The study identified five prevailing themes including: 1) Moving away from the individualization of risk; 2) The cost of assistive technologies as a risk contributor; 3) Practicing 'responsible living'; Technology as an adaptive strategy to risk taking; 4) Resisting the label of 'at risk'; The influence of technology on self-identity; and 5) Technology as a substitution versus supplement for social connectedness. Conclusions: The study findings highlight the importance of moving beyond a technico-scientific perspective of risk, in which risk is framed as an objective phenomenon located in older adults' bodies, and instead framing risk within a broader sociocultural perspective which moves our attention to those contextual or environmental factors that shape experiences of risk for older adults with vision loss. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION: Risk taking is an inevitable aspect of everyday living. An individualized approach to risk management is problematic. The cost of assistive technology is a contributing risk factor. Technology use may cause risks to social identity, embarrassment, and stigma. Technology use can help mitigate risk among older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additive manufacturing (3D printing) is increasingly utilized in healthcare. Some rehabilitation professionals employ 3D printing for orthoses, prostheses, and assistive technologies (AT). However, anecdotal evidence suggests that many practitioners have reservations about adopting 3D printing into their practices, and empirical research in this area is limited. The aim of the study was to document my experience while learning 3D printing. In this autoethnographic study, journal entries and photos of the artifacts were collected during the process of learning 3D printing. These data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Three themes were identified: Being motivated to learn 3D printing, Experiencing challenges and implementing possible solutions, and Achieving developmental milestones in learning 3D printing. These milestones offered practical insights and solutions for new learners by providing a roadmap for navigating the journey of learning 3D printing. This personal experience offered opportunities and posed challenges in the context of learning to use 3D printing in the rehabilitation field. It is hoped that this study will inspire others to explore 3D printing and potentially contribute to the development of 3D printing training programs for students and rehabilitation professionals. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION: The study contributes to understanding of 3D printers use for individuals with disabilities, whether in occupational therapy or non-occupational therapy contexts. By highlighting the issues and challenges documented in this study, individuals with no prior exposure to 3D printing can better manage their expectations when embarking on their own 3D printing journey. This experience can serve as an inspiration for occupational therapy students and other students in rehabilitation programs to share their own stories about their encounters with 3D printing, potentially sparking new approaches to practice. The knowledge and experience gained through 3D printing might help to develop a 3D printing training workshop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The increase in non-communicable disease burdens and aging populations has led to a rise in the need for palliative care across settings. In resource-limited settings such as Indonesia, however, notably in rural areas, there is a lack of professional palliative care. Little is known about specific palliative care navigation, as previous studies have mostly focused on cancer care navigation. A locally tailored approach is crucial. Aim: To explore how patients and families navigate palliative care and the problems they experience. Design: An ethnographic study using in-depth interviews and observations, analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Setting/participants: Interviews with 49 participants (patients, family caregivers, and health professionals) and 12 patient-family unit observations in Banyumas, Indonesia. The analysis: Patients and families navigated palliative care through different strategies: (1) helping themselves, (2) utilizing complementary and alternative medicine, (3) avoiding discussing psychological issues, (4) mobilizing a compassionate and advocating community, and (5) seeking spiritual care through religious practices. Conclusions: Our participants used intricate care networks despite limited resources in navigating palliative care. Several problems were rooted in barriers in the healthcare system and a lack of palliative care awareness among the general public. Local primary health centers could be potential palliative care leaders by building upon pre-existing programs and involving community health volunteers. Cultivating a shared philosophy within the community could strengthen care collaboration and support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed to explore the policy implementation of non-specific symptom pathways within the English National Health Service. Methods: A multi-site ethnographic project was conducted in four hospitals that contained non-specific symptom pathways between November 2021 and February 2023. The research involved observation (44 h), interviews (n = 54), patient shadowing, and document review. Results: The study examined how the policy concept of 'holistic' care was understood and put into practice within four non-specific symptom pathways. Several challenges associated with providing holistic care were identified. One key challenge was the conflict between delivering holistic care and meeting timed targets, such as the Faster Diagnosis Standard, due to limited availability of imaging and diagnostic tools. The interpretation of a holistic approach varied among participants, with some acknowledging that the current model did not recognise holistic care beyond cancer exclusion. The findings also revealed a lack of clarity and differing opinions on the boundaries of holistic care, resulting in wide variation in NSS pathway implementation across health care providers. Additionally, holistic investigation of non-specific symptoms in younger patients were seen to pose difficulties due to younger patients' history of health anxiety or depression, as well as concerns over radiological risk exposure. Conclusions: The study highlights the complexity of implementing non-specific symptom pathways in light of standardised timed cancer targets and local cancer policies. There is a need for appropriately funded organisational models of care that prioritise holistic care in a timely manner over solely meeting cancer targets. Decision-makers should also consider the role of non-specific symptom pathways within the broader context of chronic disease management, with a particular emphasis on expanding diagnostic capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is debate around offering ethnic studies to high school students. Ethnic studies connects learning to students' lives and analyzes the workings of racism to construct avenues toward equity. As the debate unfolds, it is critical to examine ethnic studies' implications for youth development and the mechanisms that link it to student outcomes. One of ethnic studies' long-stated goals is fostering students' critical consciousness. Critical consciousness refers to critical reasoning around inequality (critical reflection), motivation to challenge inequality (critical motivation), and action taken to disrupt inequality (critical action). Little research has examined youth critical consciousness development within ethnic studies—a consciousness-raising system. Consequently, this longitudinal mixed-methods study examines students' critical consciousness development in ethnic studies and sheds light on the contextual characteristics (i.e., critical school socialization) that foster critical consciousness. Analyses of 459 ninth-grade students' (52% girls, 4% nonbinary; 1% Asian, 1% Black, 4% multiracial, 64% Latinx, 7% Native American, 15% described their own race, 7% skipped the question; Mage = 13.92) survey data, and focus group data with 19 students, revealed that ethnic studies-enrolled students grew more in their critical reflection than nonenrolled students. However, the quantitative data demonstrated decreasing critical motivation among all students, whereas the qualitative data suggested emergent critical motivation among ethnic studies-enrolled students. Furthermore, critical school socialization and teacher pedagogy were key to ethnic studies consciousness-raising. Altogether, this study highlights that ethnic studies fosters youth critical consciousness—a worthwhile outcome that should be considered in policy debates about ethnic studies. Public Significance Statement: This research examines how youth's reasoning and feelings about inequality develop within ethnic studies courses. Given the intense debate around the appropriateness and utility of such curricula for youth in the United States, this study offers research insights into the consequences of youth enrollment in ethnic studies and presents strategies for maximizing the benefits and minimizing the costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of Mexican migration to the United States posit that from the 1940s to the 1970s rural men were migrant protagonists while women stayed home. If women migrated, they relied upon men's established networks. However, archival and ethnographic research with Indigenous Zapotec women from the state of Oaxaca, Mexico, disrupts this narrative and demonstrates how women – instead of men – pioneered migrant networks. Originally employed in domestic service in Mexico City, Zapotec women leveraged work relationships to find opportunities in the United States. Subsequently, they helped other women to migrate. Studies have never documented these women-led migrant networks. Drawing on the analytic of racial capitalism, this article argues that Indigenous women's migration was not an anomaly, but rather a key aspect of the gendered and racialized logics of accumulation that subsidised economic growth in Mexico during the 'Mexican Miracle' (1940s to the 1970s). Accordingly, while Zapotec women found opportunity in international migration, they were rendered surplus through a similar racialized logic that devalued their reproductive labour on both sides of the border. This article contributes to studies of U.S./Mexican migration by centreing the historical geographies of racialized accumulation logics when exploring how Indigenous Mexicans have moved to the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ceuta and Melilla are considered exemplary models of the border spectacle. The fences of these cities typify the notion of 'Fortress Europe' and impel the emotional engagement of the inhabitants with migration control policies. This article focuses on the experiences of local activists who have resisted migration containment policies. Through a close examination of the emotional geographies of activism in border areas, and the effect of migration policies on the everyday, this article aims to uncover the civic emotions underlying the lived realities of activists. Furthermore, by addressing the methodological challenges of investigating social emotions, this study integrates visual elicitation methods into ethnographic research. The evocative power of cinema allows films to act as visual stimuli that convey the intimate narratives of activists, which encompass compassion, outrage, or fatigue in the context of pro-migrant mobilization. By drawing on the mundane experiences of borders, this article delves into the intersection of emotions, activism, and borders to elucidate experiences against migration control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Trauma is common and may lead to lasting adverse effects on health. Trauma-informed practice does not treat trauma but uses a strengths-based approach to encourage engagement in services. Objective: To understand how physiotherapy attends to trauma-informed principles. Methods: This qualitative ethnographic study was set in an Australian hospital. Three data collection methods were used, including observations of clinical practice, interactive reflexive group discussions with physiotherapists, and interviews with patients. Data analysis included an initial inductive phase followed by thematic mapping to trauma-informed principles. Critical reflexivity was used throughout to examine how the authors' perspectives and assumptions affected the analysis. Results: Twelve observations of consultations, ten interviews with people receiving physiotherapy, and five group discussions with physiotherapists were conducted. Themes produced within each of five principles of trauma-informed care included: Safety: not just a number, uncertainty beyond managing physical risks, upbeat approach as default needs balance, pragmatic environments inadequate; Trustworthiness: touch needs further consideration, assumed consent; Choice: limited options; Collaboration: let's do it together, variable consideration of the patient as expert, task focus, pushing the "right" treatment, missing insight into power imbalance; Empowerment: extending function and independence, building nonphysical skills but lack of clarity. Conclusion: Physiotherapy incorporates crucial aspects of trauma-informed care, but opportunities exist to enhance physiotherapists' skills and knowledge, particularly in relation to non-physical safety considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon ethnographic research with families as they navigate a year in 'Brexit Britain', this article explores how people live with Brexit, examining the effect of Brexit politics on everyday personal life, particularly relationships with family. In order to examine how macro-political events and timescapes interact with the quotidian, the article explores interactions between 'Brexit time' (including key political moments as well as periods of slowed political activity) and 'personal time' (including the day-to-day rhythms of everyday life and more special occasions). The temporal interactions between Brexit and people's daily lives, whether through the constant low-level simmering presence of the issue, the impactful moments when Brexit 'boils over' into family life, or a more profound relationship with the substance of Brexit politics, offer a lens through which we can understand how politics and other socio-economic events of (inter)national significance are lived in the context of everyday personal lives. The resonance of this analysis applies beyond Brexit and contributes to political sociology more broadly as well as to sociologies of everyday personal life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is growing global awareness of the importance of matters of equity and social justice. In health professions education (HPE), research has focused at undergraduate level and on health sciences curricula. Increasingly, health care professionals engage in HPE Master's and doctoral studies, where they are educated as curriculum designers and 'producers' of knowledge through their research. Considering their role in shaping what (and how it) is taught in health sciences curricula, questions can be asked about the extent to which postgraduate pedagogies are mindful of matters of social justice. As supervisors of postgraduate HPE students and as directors of such programmes, we interrogated and juxtaposed our perspectives on social justice and how these perspectives influence our postgraduate HPE supervisory and directing practices in our respective contexts. Methodology: Utilising a duo‐ethnographic approach, in which we each represented a site of enquiry, we generated data through written reflections and dialogic engagement framed around research questions about (1) our understanding of social justice, (2) how this influenced our practices as postgraduate supervisors and (3) how this influenced our practices and policies as directors of postgraduate studies. We recorded and transcribed our data generation meetings. Based on open coding of the transcriptions and written reflections, we constructed a conversation around our research questions. We integrated our reflexive journals in the conversation. Findings and Discussion: Our conversations were characterised by three sets of ideas involving the terminology around social justice, the complex nature of social justice, and the individual and social justice. These played out differently in our contexts, but they caution both of us against assumptions and encourage us to create time for conversations with our students, to consider what we 'teach' them, how we guide them and how we avoid gatekeeping their entry into the disciplinary space. Through duo‐ethnographic study, van Schalkwyk and Frambach explores social justice in the context of postgraduate health professions education [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this study was to explore home care nurses' experience of enablers and barriers for planned home death in municipal health care. Design: A focused ethnography. Methods: This qualitative study collected data from 20 semi‐structured interviews of home care nurses and 8.5 h of participant observations. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: The findings in our study show that home care nurses consider supportive cultures, a commitment to safety and continuity when facilitating planned home deaths and family rotations to be enablers for planned home deaths. Barriers to planned home deaths involve a lack of palliative experience affecting confidence, shortages of nurses and medical supplies and night shift challenges. Conclusion: This study underscores the need for supportive organizational cultures, ongoing education and improved communication and staffing policies to enhance the quality of care and the experiences of patients and home care nurses, especially in the context of planned home deaths. Impact: The study adds knowledge to the evidence base of the practice of facilitating planned home deaths. The findings of the study could offer valuable insights for shaping future policies or devising effective implementation strategies. Reporting Method: Adherence to the COREQ guidelines for reporting qualitative research was maintained. Patient or Public Contribution: No patient or public contribution. What Does this Article Contribute to the Wider Global Clinical Community?: Identified enablers and barriers provide a new perspective, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of planning home deaths.The study emphasizes supportive cultures, safety commitment and family rotations as crucial for planned home deaths, guiding healthcare professionals to adopt best practices and enhance palliative care quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the politics of famine is crucial to understanding why famines still occur. A key part of this is how famine is remembered, understood, and discussed. This paper focuses on songs popular among communities that have recently experienced deadly famine. Contemporary famines almost always manifest in armed conflict contexts, where there is limited political freedom. Here, songs and music can be an important way to debate sensitive political issues. This paper focuses on the way that songs and music shape 'regimes of truth' around famine, and who is shamed and held accountable for associated suffering. It is based on long‐term ethnographic research, the recordings of famine‐related songs, and collaborative analysis in Jonglei and Warrap States (South Sudan) in 2021–24. The paper shows how songs can mock soldiers for their seizing of assets during times of hunger and how they can create familial shame for famine suffering, shifting responsibility away from the real causes to family members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by Freud's "Mourning and Melancholia" and expanding upon his notions within the social context, this article proposes an innovative concept called "age melancholy" to describe the multifaceted elements of social loss experienced by empty nest older adults. While most studies emphasize a psychological–individualist approach to this phenomenon, age melancholy frames older age as a process marked by a loss of social engagements. The findings are grounded in anthropological fieldwork conducted from 2010 to 2013 in a lower-income neighborhood of Tel Aviv. They are based on deductive comprehension of social melancholy, combined with inductive qualitative analyses of 29 meetings within a designated narrative group of older Mizrahi women—Jewish immigrants from Islamic countries. The results reveal that empty nest older adults perceive their loneliness, fragile health, and approaching death as interrelated aspects of social detachment, leading to melancholy. However, whereas their emotional experiences are tainted by age melancholy, it is temporal and contextual and may be mitigated through social support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's experience of disability-related stigmatization is a central social justice issue across cultures. Yet children's voices are rarely heard by policy makers, and available programs for children with disabilities typically lack input from children's own experiences. This paper presents a cross-cultural case study of how three children with disabilities in Japan and the U.S. responded to stigmatization from their "typically-developing" peers. We choose these cases for in-depth examination to contextualize and deepen our understanding of themes identified from our larger, ethnographic study. Similar to the participants in our larger study, these elementary school-aged children experienced disability-related stigmatization, including teasing and bullying. They actively responded to reduce their immediate exposure to stigmatization. Some of these responses, however, created additional challenges. For example, children's physical fighting in response to teasing resulted in punitive discipline in the U.S. Children's avoidance of peers undermined academic achievement and psychosocial development, especially in Japan where peer groups are central contexts for education. Furthermore, children's responses to stigmatization often concealed their peer struggles or were misunderstood by educators, which delayed their access to appropriate support. We discuss social work implications for child-centered programs of support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decades of research have established a significant association between people struggling with an eating disorder and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Despite a robust literature indicating a link between these two mental health conditions, few studies have explored how differential risk factors interact over time to produce this comorbidity. Using the lens of syndemic risk, this study applied a critical case study design to identify the social and contextual conditions that give rise to the circumstances in which eating disorders and suicidal behaviors cluster together. Specifically, we draw on life history and clinical ethnographic interviews with an adolescent and her mother to illustrate the intersections between psychosocial and structural processes. Through our analysis, we develop a model for syndemic risk that foregrounds poverty, racism, heterosexism, and gender oppression as critical to the production of mental health comorbidities. As we delineate in our findings, multiple forms of oppression led to a higher risk of exposure to stressful and traumatic experiences, including physical maltreatment, emotional abuse and neglect, sexual coercion, and peer victimization. These events contributed to the emergence of psychological and social vulnerabilities associated with heightened eating disorder and suicide risk. Ultimately, our qualitative study contributes to understanding how syndemic risk factors interact and mutually reinforce one another over time to shape comorbid psychopathology. In doing so, our findings shift understandings of mental illness as emerging from individual vulnerabilities to a conception of mental health that is framed within a multidimensional perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study examined the cross-cultural validity of nonviolent communication (NVC) behaviors as measured using the Nonviolent Communication Behaviors Scale (NVCBS) and explored their potential relationship with post-traumatic stress (PTS). Methods: We analyzed data from two samples (N = 412 Chinese adults and N = 283 English-speaking adults). Results: The best-fitting model of NVCBS was the proposed three-factor model ("self-connection," "authentic self-expression," and "empathic listening"), with configural, metric, and scalar invariance established across samples with different languages and sociocultural backgrounds. The NVCBS had satisfactory internal consistency and convergent validity and was negatively associated with PTS. The findings were replicated across the two samples. Discussion: NVC behaviors can be reliably and validly measured using the NVCBS. Given its brevity and measurement invariance across cultures, the NVCBS is a promising tool to facilitate future studies on NVC. Moreover, a lack of NVC behaviors may be a social-behavioral feature associated with PTS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article applies an autoethnographic approach to the journey a patient and their partner undertook as they negotiated a medical adverse event. The resultant cascade of conditions lasted almost 4 years and resulted in the eventual death of the patient. The narrative is told from the dual perspectives of both the patient and their partner, providing a valuable resource for the practice of patient and family-centered care. This article illuminates the patient's experience of comfort across a continuum of healthcare settings and how both the patient and their partner were able to enact agency despite challenging institutional barriers, to become partners in their healthcare journey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Amidst the difficulty and contentiousness of improving hospitals, a relatively new approach is the Relational Model of Organizational Change (RMOC). However, this approach has its own challenges, including reports that its focus on communication and relationships is undervalued despite evidence supporting its use to facilitate practice improvements in hospitals. Research suggests power dynamics in hospitals influences how the RMOC is used, but the precise mechanisms through which this occurs have not been fully examined. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine how power dynamics shaped the implementation of a program using the RMOC in a hospital: the QPH RC Program. Methodology: Institutional ethnography was applied to explicate textually mediated ruling relations (power dynamics) and examine how they exerted their influence on the QPH RC Program. This involved interviewing people and analyzing texts embedded in work processes that organized the implementation of the program. Results: The QPH RC Program was embedded in a cluster of ruling relations comprising an economic rationalist and scientific discourse and project management methodology. These ruling relations exerted their power via textually mediated social processes that influenced the focus and management of the program. Conclusion: The ruling relations functioned to align the QPH RC Program with the priorities of the hospital, suggesting that financial objectives were prioritized over objectives to improve communication or culture. Practice Implications: Future research and practice change should include investigating and addressing the intersection of institutional contexts and the application of the RMOC to facilitate practice improvements in health care organizations, particularly hospitals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we contribute to a discussion of ethics within school bullying research by reflecting on our own recent ethnographic study into the relations between school bullying and the institutional context of schooling conducted at three elementary schools and one lower-secondary school in Sweden. We argue for a reflexive, responsive, and flexible adult researcher role when conducting ethnographic research into school bullying; what we term the caring adult role. The caring adult role provides a means of ethically conducting research by helping to facilitate access, navigate power relations, provide a consistent starting point for deciding when to intervene in ethically questionable situations, and a way for adult researchers to differentiate themselves from those adults in schools who may be perceived by students as non-caring. We argue that this is an ethically sounder approach than one that suspends all adult-like characteristics and avoids directing or correcting the behaviour of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we reflect on our experiences with teaching ethnographic skills and sensibilities to MSc students at a Dutch university. Using methods such as (self)observation, journaling and reflection, we highlight dilemmas (conceptual, practical, ethical) faced by students when doing ethnographic fieldwork and dilemmas that emerged in classroom discussions, including: the tension between participation and observation, member checking, and what constitutes meaningful intervention. We invoke the notion of agony to express a sense of struggle in dealing with these dilemmas and we introduce the sensitising concepts of agonistic sensemaking and agonistic spacemaking as ways to jointly explore divergent responses to the issues at hand, while rethinking our views on good ethnographic research and pedagogy. Our reflections serve to explore the potential of agonistic learning in higher education by generating productive debate from the tensions of difference, promote a reflexive approach to ethnography and social science research, and inform curriculum development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eating practices are central to the everyday life of the addressees of pedagogical organisations. However, the eating practices of young people who live in residential care groups have rarely been the focus of educational research. This article presents the findings of an ethnographic research project on the eating practices of adolescents living in these facilities in Germany. We examined the participants' eating practices in their everyday lives by studying residential care groups. In this article, the eating practices of young people in the lifeworld contexts of family, peer group, school, vocational training, or work are studied. Changes in lifeworlds and eating practices caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are also addressed. Furthermore, the article discusses the ethnographic research methods and the adaptations of these methods to the post-pandemic condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In southeastern Nepal, international labor migration has led to complex socioeconomic changes, including expanding smallholder landownership, class differentiation, and the transformation of land from a productive to a speculative asset. Based on ethnographic research focusing on villagers' narratives, this article finds that political imaginaries drawing on rural Marxist thought play a crucial role for interpreting recent historical experience but are losing purchase amidst increasingly dispersed, opaque, and contradictory processes of accumulation. It then identifies the emergence of a new speculative imaginary, through which villagers attempt to navigate but also reinforce these new constellations of inequality, capital, and labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cultural and religious structures encompass a set pattern of values, beliefs, systems and practices that define a community's behaviour and identity. These structures influence women's health-seeking behaviour and access to maternal health services, predisposing women to preventable maternal health complications. However, most maternal health policies have focused on biomedical strategies, with limited attention to women's cultural challenges around childbirth. The overall aim of this paper is to provide a thick description and understanding of cultural and religious structures in Nigeria, their meaning and how they influence women's use of maternal health services. Methods: Roper and Shapira's (2000) focused ethnography comprising 189 h of observation of nine women from the third trimester to deliveries. Using purposive and snowballing techniques, 21 in-depth interviews and two focus group discussions comprising 13 women, were conducted in two Nigerian primary healthcare facilities in rural and urban area of Kogi State. Data was analyzed using the steps described by Roper and Shapira. Results: Using the PEN-3 cultural model, nine themes were generated. Positive factor, such as the language of communication, existential factor, such as religion, and negative factors, such as the use of prayer houses and lack of women's autonomy, were either positive or negative enablers influencing women's use of maternal health services. Additionally, women's perceptions, such as their dependency on God and reliance on cultural norms were significant factors that influence the use of maternal health services. We also found that the use of herbal medicine was a negative enabler of women's access to facility care. At the same time, family support was also a positive and a negative nurturer that could influence how women use facility care. Finally, factors such as religion, Ibegwu, and male child syndrome were negative nurturers influencing women's contraceptive use. Conclusion: Cultural and religious structures are significant factors that could promote or limit women's use of maternal health services. Further studies are needed to understand culturally focused approaches to enhance women's use of maternal health services in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Children with disabilities worldwide experience disparities in oral health. Parents and children encounter challenges in accessing quality dental care. Similar challenges are experienced in Saudi Arabia. This study aimed to explore the barriers and facilitators of oral healthcare for children with disabilities in Saudi Arabia. Methods: This was an ethnographic study. The sample size was 25 participants, comprising of 12 pediatric dentists and 13 parents of children with disabilities. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, employing a topic guide. A pre-defined analytical framework was developed from the study objectives and framework analysis used to analyse data. Results: The study identified significant barriers and facilitators to oral healthcare for children with disabilities. Barriers included long travel distances, inadequate clinic facilities, a shortage of specialist pediatric dentists, inefficiencies in referral systems, and financial constraints. Other challenges were related to physical barriers in clinics, cultural norms, and socioeconomic inequalities. Facilitators, though fewer, included personal connections, specialized disability friendly clinics, and the Priority Card Program, albeit with limited effectiveness. Suggestions for improvement highlighted the need for better training for dental professionals, enhanced clinic accessibility, and greater financial support for families. Conclusion: Accessibility of dental care for children with disabilities in Saudi Arabia remains a significant challenge due to systemic barriers and individual-level obstacles. The study underscores the need for policy reforms, enhanced professional training, and the improvement of physical and financial accessibility to dental services. Addressing these issues through comprehensive educational programs and targeted interventions is essential for reducing oral health disparities and improving care for children with disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1990s, Kenya has made substantial progress towards reducing child mortality. However, Kenya still lags behind regional and global averages in child mortality rates. Developing countries like Kenya face constraints in health system performance and access to services, especially in hard-to-reach areas such as Nyaguda sub-location calling for integrated care. Yet, it faces challenges that the everyday use of mobile phones could potentially address. In Nyaguda sub-location, mobile phones were used informally since they were not part of the integrated Community Case Management feasibility study. Several contextual challenges existed despite the benefits of using mobile phones within iCCM. This paper explores the contextual challenges to the informal use of mobile phones within iCCM in Nyaguda sub-location. The study employed an ethnographic research design. The data collection methods included informal conversations, Focus group discussions (FGDs)and in-depth interviews. This paper found several challenges to the informal use of mobile phones within iCCM, including physical challenges, high expectations on the Community Health Volunteers, cultural obligations, trust issues, and work/family conflict. The article concludes that physical follow-ups providing deeper connections among the various health stakeholders are still vital despite using mobile phones to avert child morbidity and mortality in hard-to-reach areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the fall of Suharto and the retraction of discriminatory laws in Indonesia, many Chinese Indonesian Voluntary Associations (CIVAs) have reemerged. Over the past two decades, hometown associations have proliferated in order to channel support to, express love for, and generate identification with the kampung halaman, or hometown. These associations do not refer to qiaoxiang (侨乡), or the ancestral villages of overseas Chinese in China, but rather hometowns around Indonesia, and members consist of local, Jakarta, or overseas-based Chinese Indonesians who engage in developing their hometowns socially, culturally, politically and economically via a series of activities. The rapid revival of hometown and other types of CVAs in the Indonesian contexts indicates the resiliency of this form of social organization as a diasporic mechanism through which to construct community, articulate feelings of home and belonging, while contributing to regional place making within diasporic imaginaries of hybrid Chineseness. This paper presents a qualitative analysis based on ethnographic research in the city of Singkawang, West Kalimantan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on ethnographic and archival research, this paper investigates the response of a Chinese voluntary association in New Zealand to demographic changes in the national Chinese community since the 1990s. The Chinese Community Association developed from the closed-off and inward-facing Chinese community of New Zealand – the "old Chinese" whose ancestors arrived from rural Cantonese-speaking counties in Guangdong in the 1860s. Immigration law changes in 1989 brought new communities speaking different languages, with different political, social and economic backgrounds into New Zealand, creating new diversification to what it means to be a Chinese New Zealander. This paper investigates how this "old Chinese" association has adapted to "new" Chinese groups. We argue that a unique "rooted cosmopolitanism" has developed in this association, where local practices and resources have enabled it to manage potential tensions and growing pains of serving diverse groups in the current multi-ethnic context of New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction examines the debates on late industrialism and the processes of ruination in light of the historical and social transformations that have been shaping Southern Italy. Through the lens of cultural anthropology, it highlights the enduring impact of state-led industrialization on the region, drawing critical attention to the co-existence of conditions of abandonment, uncertainty, and disillusionment of environmental degradation, as well as the renewed meanings of territories and the imaginaries of possible futures. The articles in this special issue are grounded in ethnographic research in Sardinia, Sicily, and Apulia - territories where weakened industry is contradictorily intertwined with new development narratives. The authors examine the practices, narratives, sentiments and moral ambivalences that shape these territories and their stories, shedding light on how concrete groups of people make meaning of modern ruins and live in and with ruined spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractUrban youth in China increasingly prioritize lianjie (连接)—a social matrix and lifestyle based on connections with strangers, distinguishing it from guanxi, which is rooted in acquaintance relations and obligations. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in two urban co-living houses in China, this paper explores the processes, motivations, and nuances of lianjie. Co-living youth develop lianjie through shared public activities that foster interaction, self-disclosure, and the creation of intimate encounters with strangers. Lianjie provides personal benefits such as social connection, emotional release, and potential friendships or co-living arrangements, while also emphasizing individual autonomy and boundaries. Lianjie represents a transformation in the relational self among youth, highlighting individuality and evolving moral attitudes toward strangers. This shift reflects a growing sense of social trust and solidarity within Chinese society. The article contributes to the study of strangership within Chinese culture and the evolving social networks of youth in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we focus on how two Brazilian elementary school-aged children with transnational and transborder lives and ties experience their childhood while navigating a Portuguese-English dual language bilingual program (DLBE) designed to serve the local Brazilian immigrant community. Through in-depth portraits of Ana and Luis (pseudonyms), we aim to elucidate how they practiced, experienced, and made sense of their childhoods in educational settings. Through these portraits of Luis and Ana we argue that Brazilian im/migrant children are actively building their visibility in schools, so that their transnational and transborder identities are seen as legitimate and valid. We have constructed these portraits of Luis and Ana after conducting three years of ethnographic research during which we observed 84 children from first to third grade enrolled in a DLBE program at one elementary school in the northeastern U.S. Brazilian children enrolled in the program were either newcomer immigrants to the U.S. or born in the U.S. with at least one Brazilian immigrant parent (second-generation immigrants). In this article we focus our attention on children’s enactments of their transnational experiences inside the classroom. Building on previous work which centered children in migratory processes (Heidbrick, 2020; Orellana, 2012; Orellana etal. 2001), we turn our attention to classroom spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, discussions on migrants' integration and returnees' reintegration have been kept apart. With the increased salience of return migration, reintegration schemes have gained importance, not only for European countries aiming at preventing further migration after return but also for migrants' countries of origin. However, research on reintegration from the perspective of transnational migration governance is still scarce. This article thus contributes to the advancement of theoretical approaches to return and reintegration policies by showing how core rationales of migrant integration in Europe spill over to the context of reintegration beyond the continent. Drawing from an ethnographic research project on gender, return migration and reintegration in West Africa, we compare the European key actors' perceptions of (re)integration, in the cases of Germany and Switzerland, with those of their counterparts in Guinea and Senegal. Moreover, we touch on how the returnees and their families and communities perceive the key actors' definitions of reintegration. Our results show the different ways in which Eurocentric expectations and rationales of migrant integration come to shape their reintegration support schemes in the countries of return. These include the narrowly defined target groups, the paradigm of ‘promoting and demanding’, which currently gravitates towards the principle of ‘demanding and controlling’, a high priority on economic (re)integration, and accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to provide a new perspective on the concept of recovery by qualitatively analyzing the experiences of mentally ill people from the Japanese perspective through autoethnography. Traditionally, the recovery process has been viewed as a series of "ups and downs" that may not apply to individuals with chronic mental health issues. A qualitative autoethnography analysis used personal diary entries from 20XX through 20XX + 4. Using text mining with KH Coder and cluster analysis, I first classified and visualized the data from the diary content and then, after confirming the content chronologically, examined the validity of the concept of the recovery process based on the theoretical framework of the Japanese cultural perspective. External validity was ensured through triangulation with the author's work. Coding revealed four to six groups of mental health recovery keywords for each year. Confirmation of the results according to the life history also revealed problems with the conventional recovery process concept and advantages of the flat recovery process based on the Japanese cultural perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic laid bare pre‐existing societal fault lines, placing immense strain on intergroup relations and giving rise to xenophobic sentiments. Drawing on Realistic Conflict Theory (RCT) and Social Identity Approach (SIA), our study examined how the public allocation of COVID‐19 variant vaccines could influence the dynamics between local citizens and migrant workers, and under what conditions. One key idea is that valued resource distribution that favour migrant workers may produce increased perceptions of realistic threats among local citizens which could lead to exacerbated negative attitudes and behaviours of high‐status local citizens towards low‐status migrants, whereas higher fairness perceptions of such resource distributions could potentially mitigate these negative attitudes and behaviours. To investigate these predictions, we employed a cross‐cultural approach and conducted an experiment in both an Asian country (Malaysia; N = 197) and a Western country (Australia; N = 210). We manipulated vaccine prioritisation, assessed local citizens' perceptions of the realistic threat and fairness of vaccine prioritisation, and measured their attitudinal responses towards migrant workers. Our results showed that the perceived unfairness in migrant‐favouring vaccine prioritisation, rather than realistic threat, negatively affected local citizens' perceptions of the migrant workers. We discuss the implications of these findings in the context of intergroup relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores the ethnographic aspect of Ibn Fadlan's journey to the lands of the Turks, the Rus, and the Saqaliba, which is one of the earliest Arab travel accounts documenting the social and religious practices of these peoples. The study aims to examine how Ibn Fadlan recorded local customs and rituals, as well as the cultural and civilizational significance these observations reveal. A descriptive-analytical approach was used to analyze the journey's texts and compare them with modern ethnographic concepts. The research concludes that Ibn Fadlan applied his own cultural and religious perspective in his descriptions, providing unique documentation of customs, which makes his journey a valuable ethnographic source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research archives of Social Sciences and Humanities contribute to the construction of identity and to the cultural heritage of the peoples who produce them. In recent decades, these archives have faced the challenge of integrating archival intervention methods with the need to make these resources available in digital format and to provide open access through the Web. The DILA Archive (Area of Linguistics and Anthropology, IMHICIHU-CONICET, Argentina) houses documentary and historical collections of native and migration languages, archaeological and ethnographic research on South American peoples, and ethnobotanical studies, among others. This paper examines the potential applications of these archives, which are publicly available on digital platforms, as sources for scientific research. In particular, it reflects on the challenges indigenous communities face in accessing the documentary resources preserved by the DILA Archive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why you should read this article: • To support the use of reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) in analysing qualitative systematic reviews and empirical data. • To review your understanding of RTA to analyse nursing research within the context of wider methodological and methods considerations. • To explore practical examples of RTA in nursing research.. Background: A researcher must consider their research question within their world view before selecting a technique appropriate for analysing their data. This will affect their choices of methodology and methods for collecting and analysing data. Reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) has become a go-to technique for qualitative nurse researchers. However, the justifications for using it and its application in the context of a wider approach are under-discussed. Aim: To rationalise the use of RTA within a wider philosophical-methodological-methods-analysis approach and provide nurse researchers with practical guidance about how to apply it to qualitative data. Discussion: This article conceptually grounds the seminal work of Braun and Clarke (2006) and provides a process for rigorously and systematically analysing qualitative data. Researchers undertaking qualitative research must use a rigorous philosophical-methodological-method-analysis approach. Before selecting a technique appropriate for analysing their data, they must consider their research question within their own world view. This has implications for their choice of methodology and consequently the data collection methods and analysis techniques they use. Researchers should be mindful of RTA’s conceptual roots when applying it. Conclusion: Transparent and rigorous data analysis leads to credible findings, supports evidence-based practice and contributes to the growing body of nursing research. Within the context of the wider philosophical-methodological-methods-analysis approach, RTA produces high-quality, credible findings when applied well. Implications: for practice This article can guide nursing students and novice researchers in choosing and applying RTA to their research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate between- and within-country consensus about affective meanings of social identities along the evaluation, potency, and activity dimensions from the affect control theory research tradition. Ratings for 387 (194 male and 193 female) identities were collected from two samples representative of the French (N = 700) and German (N = 700) populations for age, gender, and region. Guided by two preregistered hypotheses based on previous cross-cultural research, our analysis points to considerable cultural consensus between French and Germans who seem to share a common "Carolingian" affective culture; yet some culture-specific patterns concerning the evaluation dimension and evaluation-potency interactions were found to be statistically significant. We interpret these results in terms of known cross-cultural features such as power distance and conceptions of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unmet need for mental health care is a global concern. There is a lack of cross-cultural studies examining adolescent help-seeking behavior from both formal and informal sources, including both high-and lower-income countries. This study investigates mental health help-seeking behavior in eight Asian and European countries. Data from 13,184 adolescents aged 13–15 (51% girls) was analysed using mixed-effects logistic regression with school-wise random intercepts to compare countries and genders. Although a significant proportion of adolescents considered getting or sought informal help, formal help-seeking remained exceptionally low, especially in middle-income countries (< 1%), while it ranged from 2 to 7% in high-income countries. Among adolescents with high emotional and behavioral problems (scoring above the 90th percentile on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), 1–2% of those in middle-income countries and 6–25% of those in high-income countries sought formal help. Girls generally seek more help than boys. The study shows the most adolescents do not receive formal help for mental health problems. The unmet need gap is enormous, especially in lower-income countries. Informal sources of support, including relatives, peers, and teachers, play a crucial role, especially in lower-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding heat-related illness and prevention through the lens of farmworkers is key to improving current prevention practices and education. Farm work is a unique occupation, mostly conducted during the hottest months of the year. These findings can help mitigate negative outcomes of heat-related illness and develop effective prevention strategies. Objective: The aim of the study is to understand farmworkers' knowledge of heat-related illness prevention and behavioral and cultural factors related to heat-related illness (HRI) prevention. Methods: The theory of planned behavior and an ethnographic study design were used. Data collection consisted of observations and interviews. Recorded interviews were conducted with participants and transcribed verbatim. Transcribed interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Overall, 14 interviews were conducted, and four themes emerged: acquisition and interpretation, perception, interoception, and action. Other findings included an insufficiency of formal training and the absence of knowledge of a protocol for acclimatization. Conclusions: Better education and training are needed in this occupation, especially regarding acclimatization. Occupational health professionals must lead efforts to develop HRI plans and measures to ensure acclimatization protocols are adopted in the workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Text-guided synthesis of images has become enormously popular and online communities dedicated to text-to-image generation and art generated with Artificial Intelligence (AI) have emerged. While deep generative models can synthesise high-quality images and artworks from simple descriptive text prompts, practitioners of text-to-image generation typically seek to control the generative model's output by adding short key phrases ('modifiers') to the prompt. This paper identifies six types of prompt modifiers used by practitioners in the online text-to-image community based on a 3-month ethnographic study. The novel taxonomy of prompt modifiers provides researchers a conceptual starting point for investigating the practice of text-to-image generation, but may also help practitioners of AI generated art improve their images. We further outline how prompt modifiers are applied in the practice of 'prompt engineering.' and discuss research opportunities of this novel creative practice in the field of Human–Computer Interaction (HCI). The paper concludes with a discussion of broader implications of prompt engineering from the perspective of Human-AI Interaction (HAI) in future applications beyond the use case of text-to-image generation and AI generated art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While previous studies have shown that drawing upon funds of knowledge benefits teaching and learning in many educational settings, there is little inquiry into funds of knowledge in Chinese heritage language education. Employing ethnographic methods, I explored the evidence of funds of knowledge in early childhood settings in a community-based Chinese heritage language school. The data sources included weekly observations, video recordings of class conversations, artifacts provided by the participants, and informal conversations. The findings present examples illustrating three kinds of funds of knowledge: families' daily life experiences, poetry reading practices, and cultural knowledge of folktales. The findings also show that the teachers drew upon the funds of knowledge to engage young heritage learners in joyful pedagogical activities and language learning. The implications include the need to value and use funds of knowledge in Chinese heritage language education and include Chinese language teachers' experiences and funds of knowledge in teacher preparation programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global tourism competition has entered home and family space. Drawing upon ethnographic research in Guatemala, this paper investigates the postcolonial gendered politics that shape (and are shaped by) global tourism competition, homestays, and mothering labour. It shows how Guatemalan women turn to hosting as an economic strategy and, in doing so, become part of a complex power relationship between Spanish schools and their (primarily Western) language tourists (or 'students'). Spanish schools only work with 'host-mums' deemed capable of meeting their students' needs, desires, and expectations of homestays as affordable, enjoyable, pedagogical experiences of 'real' family. To achieve this, Guatemalan women become cosmopolitan, competitive subjects who devise and enact strategies to commodify, transform, and perform their mothering labour and homes/families in ways that appeal to their Western students. Far beyond creating desirable touristic experiences, the everyday competitive mothering of tourists is having widespread consequences at the personal, local, and global levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following paper contributes to interdisciplinary debates at the intersection of informal sport/leisure, migration and urban studies. It does so by drawing on an ethnographic research with young men of migrant origins in Turin, Italy, and by addressing the relevance of parkour in the participants' experiences and negotiations of 'what it means to (not) belong' in urban spaces. The focus on parkour provides a unique entry point to address the politics of belonging that unfold in urban spaces as contested sites where competing images of the city, the nation and of who belongs to them converge, clash and overlap. This is particularly relevant, though not limited to the Italian context, where political narratives and realities still legally and socially define the children of migration as alien bodies in the nation, while Turin's urban leaderships portray youth cultures and multicultural diversity as assets for the city's symbolic, cultural and financial regeneration. As the intersection of such discourses shapes the manifold ways through which post-migrant urban subjects become essentialised, valorised and pathologised in Turin, the paper's findings foreground the relevance of informal sports as entry points to (re)consider discussions on citizenship, conviviality and rights (to the city) in contemporary urban contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the politics of placemaking in an expanding self-built settlement in the city of Cartagena, Colombia, under everyday conditions of disposability and waste toxicity. Based on 11 months of ethnographic research, the paper introduces the triptych of disappearance, emergence, and appearance to categorize residents' everyday garbage-based practices. The paper argues that these three forms of garbage-based practices are racialized and forged through historical processes of urban displacement, shifting socio-political backgrounds, and legacies of violence. This paper highlights the intimate links between the material and social production of Black placemaking and embodied experiences of toxicities in Cartagena. It draws attention to the multiple ways in which Afro-Colombian residents endure and contest cumulative processes of embodied experiences of waste exposure through politics of placemaking. Garbage socio-material entanglements allow for the acknowledgement of the relationality of space, materials, people, and politics, which are constitutive of contentious relational politics of placemaking. As residents in urban contexts contend with ever-evolving waste challenges, this paper proposes novel ways of reading the inherent plurality of relational politics of placemaking, which can foreshadow alternative urban environmental futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on data from ethnographic fieldwork and interprofessional focus group discussions, this study enquires into staff's everyday life on a geriatric ward to explore and understand conditions for engaging in narrative relations in in-patient geriatric care. Avoiding individualistic understandings of narrative practices, we applied a narrative-in-action methodology built on a relational understanding of narrativity, where individual narratives are not separated from social and cultural features. This helped us explore how individual interpretations of the conditions for everyday practices come together with broader social or cultural understandings to gain situated insights about how these are continuously related and reformed by one another in everyday situations of geriatric care. The findings offer insights into the opportunities to engage in narrative relations based on how healthcare staff on a geriatric ward interpret conditions for their practices, and how they act based on such interpretations. While some interpretations were associated with attitudes and activities encouraging narrative relations, others simultaneously thwarted narrative relations by enacting task-orientation, division, or a focus on measurable biomedical or function-related outcomes. Moreover, the findings suggest and discuss consequences of the tensions created as interpretations are enacted in everyday healthcare situations, thus questioning assumptions about conditions as something static and linear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Informal caregivers (ICs) in Africa perform a long list of tasks to support hospitalization care. However, available studies are weak in accounting for the experiences of everyday role-routines of hospital-based informal caregiving (HIC) in under-resourced settings. This article explored the experiences of role-routines among informal caregivers in a Nigerian tertiary health facility. Methods: The ethnographic exploratory study relied on primary data collected from 75 participants, including 21 ICs, 15 inpatients, 36 hospital staff, and 3 ad-hoc/paid carers in a tertiary health facility in Southwestern Nigeria. Results: ICs perform several essential roles for hospitalized relatives, with each role characterized by a range of tasks. An integrative narrative of everyday routines of HIC as experienced by ICs showed critical complexities and complications involved in seemingly simple tasks of assisting hospitalized relatives with hygiene maintenance, medical investigations, blood donation, resource mobilization, errand-running, patient- and self-care and others. The role-routines are burdensome and ICs' experiences of them revealed the undercurrents of how health systems dysfunctions condition family members to support hospitalization care in Nigeria. Conclusion: The intensity and repetitive nature of role-routines is suggestive of "routinization of suffering". We recommend the closing of gaps driving hospital-based informal caregiving in Africa's under-resourced settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]