The vagina: an analysis

The vagina is frequently represented in talk, texts, and imagery, giving us a range of sociocultural meanings, but at the same time, is still taboo -a word that is difficult to say, and a topic that is hard to talk about. My research aims to demarcate and explore the meanings given to the vagina in western culture, and to examine women's accounts of their personal meanings and experiences in relation to these socio-cultural representations. Taking a feminist social constructionist approach, I move beyond the notion of a natural, pre-social body to a conceptual isation of bodies deeply embedded in the socio-cultural, and assume that socio-cultural representations form resources from which women understand and talk about our bodies. The research draws on three different data sources: genital definitions in medical and English language dictionaries, genital slang terms collected through questionnaires, and talk-data from 16 group and four individual interviews with women and one group interview with men. The analytic chapters are divided into two parts. In Part One, I present my analysis of socio-cultural representations, first providing an overview of themes found across a range of socio-cultural representation, and then focusing on two particular texts: dictionary definitions and genital slang. I use content analytic techniques to explore the ideological assumptions in dictionary definitions of women's and, comparatively, men's genitals, and to identify the semantic categories in genital slang. In Part Two, I analyse women's talk about the vagina, exploring the intersections between the socio-cultural and women's accounts of their own experience. In particular, I focus on talk about vaginal size, and talk about gendered identity. In my conclusion, I discuss the importance of such research for challenging, and changing, the way the vagina is constructed, and for women's sexual and reproductive health

Novel insights into patients’ life-worlds: the value of qualitative research

Livingston et al.’s paper amply demonstrates the rich potential of qualitative methods to provide insight into the life-worlds of patients, and analysis of hitherto un(der)explored facets of mental and physical health conditions. The publication of their paper reflects increasing acknowledgement of the value of qualitative methods in medical research. At the same time as some medical publications have questioned the wider value and impact of qualitative research(1), health and social policy increasingly demand engagement with the voices and perspectives of patients (e.g. https://www.england.nhs.uk/blog/putting-patients-at-the-heart-of-all-we-do/) – something only truly understood through qualitative inquiry. Through Livingston et al.’s research, we gain a moving insight into the experiences of compensatory strategies for people on the autism spectrum, those diagnosed as well as people who may be, but are not, diagnosed. Their study demonstrates the way the successful utilisation of “deep” compensatory strategies can obscure diagnosis and hinder access to reasonable adjustments in contexts like the workplace

“We have friends, for example, and he will <i>not</i> get a vasectomy”: Imagining the self in relation to others when talking about sterilisation

Objective: The relatively recent interest in critical men’s health research has largely focused upon men’s experiences of managing or preventing ill health. There has been limited discussion on the decision making that men engage in with health practices that are not constructed as immediately imperative for their own well-being – such as vasectomy. Much of the research on vasectomy has tended to focus on the individualised decision making men, which can often decontextualize the process. This article seeks to address some of these absences. Design: This article reports on data from semi-structured interviews with twenty eight men who had had vasectomies (16 with children, 12 without). Data were analysed using Wetherell and Edley’s synthetic approach to discourse analysis. Results: Talking about vasectomy provided an opportunity for men to make sense of the self and the decision making processes within a complex and relational understanding of masculinities. Rather than an individualised decision making process, many of the men’s accounts were reliant on stories of other men who the participants could be compared against. Conclusions: Men made sense of an ‘optional’ health decision in relation to other men (both real and imagined), in order to help justify delays, or other ‘trouble’ in the decision making processes. Men’s health initiatives and research may need to take this relational component of health decision-making into account

Being both narrative practitioner and academic researcher: A reflection on what thematic analysis has to offer narratively informed research

What opportunities are there for narrative practitioners to engage in academic research whilst retaining an alignment with poststructuralist ideas, feminist commitments and narrative practice principles? This paper considers Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke’s model of thematic analysis (TA) as an approach which can overcome some of the tensions that arise when integrating both narrative practitioner and researcher stance. Drawing on one practitioner-researcher’s experience of navigating some of these dilemmas and incorporating a rich discussion of some of the heritages, understandings and intentions that underpin TA and its development, this paper seeks to assist, inform and encourage narrative practitioners who are reaching for approaches that offer a good fit for their research hopes and aims

A Trip to the Moon: Personalized Animated Movies for Self-reflection

Self-tracking physiological and psychological data poses the challenge of presentation and interpretation. Insightful narratives for self-tracking data can motivate the user towards constructive self-reflection. One powerful form of narrative that engages audience across various culture and age groups is animated movies. We collected a week of self-reported mood and behavior data from each user and created in Unity a personalized animation based on their data. We evaluated the impact of their video in a randomized control trial with a non-personalized animated video as control. We found that personalized videos tend to be more emotionally engaging, encouraging greater and lengthier writing that indicated self-reflection about moods and behaviors, compared to non-personalized control videos

Supporting best practice in reflexive thematic analysis reporting in Palliative Medicine: A review of published research and introduction to the Reflexive Thematic Analysis Reporting Guidelines (RTARG)

Background: Reflexive thematic analysis is widely used in qualitative research published in Palliative Medicine, and in the broader field of health research. However, this approach is often not used well. Common problems in published reflexive thematic analysis in general include assuming thematic analysis is a singular approach, rather than a family of methods, confusing themes and topics, and treating and reporting reflexive thematic analysis as if it is atheoretical. Purpose: We reviewed 20 papers published in Palliative Medicine between 2014 and 2022 that cited Braun and Clarke, identified using the search term ‘thematic analysis’ and the default ‘relevance’ setting on the journal webpage. The aim of the review was to identify common problems and instances of good practice. Problems centred around a lack of methodological coherence, and a lack of reflexive openness, clarity and detail in reporting. We considered contributors to these common problems, including the use of reporting checklists that are not coherent with the values of reflexive thematic analysis. To support qualitative researchers in producing coherent and reflexively open reports of reflexive thematic analysis we have developed the Reflexive Thematic Analysis Reporting Guidelines (the RTARG; in Supplemental Materials) informed by this review, other reviews we have done and our values and experience as qualitative researchers. The RTARG is also intended for use by peer reviewers to encourage methodologically coherent reviewing. Key learning points: Methodological incoherence and a lack of transparency are common problems in reflexive thematic analysis research published in Palliative Medicine. Coherence can be facilitated by researchers and reviewers striving to be knowing – thoughtful, deliberative, reflexive and theoretically aware – practitioners and appraisers of reflexive thematic analysis and developing an understanding of the diversity within the thematic analysis family of methods

Bold Ideas for the 4th H in 4-H: Teen Identified Concerns and Actions

This article summarizes a literature review; teen-identified health concerns and issues; and teen bold ideas for actions. Findings from the National 4-H Council and Molina Healthcare Teens Take on Health initiative are provided and implications for 4-H programming tied to the new Cooperative Extension National Framework for Health and Wellness are addressed. The article is intended as background for Extension educators, volunteers and administrators as they review the 4-H Healthy Living Mission Mandate, learn what mattered to teens and consider how to incorporate the findings into state and local 4-H youth development programming

The Emerging Professional Practice of Remote Sighted Assistance for People with Visual Impairments

People with visual impairments (PVI) must interact with a world they cannot see. Remote sighted assistance (RSA) has emerged as a conversational assistive technology. We interviewed RSA assistants ( agents ) who provide assistance to PVI via a conversational prosthetic called Aira (https://aira.io/) to understand their professional practice. We identified four types of support provided: scene description, navigation, task performance, and social engagement. We discovered that RSA provides an opportunity for PVI to appropriate the system as a richer conversational/social support tool. We studied and identified patterns in how agents provide assistance and how they interact with PVI as well as the challenges and strategies associated with each context. We found that conversational interaction is highly context-dependent. We also discuss implications for design