“It just makes me feel a little less alone” a qualitative exploration of the podcast “menopause unmuted” on women's perceptions of menopause

Objective: Menopause can negatively impact women's quality of life, with many women reporting inadequate information and support. Podcasts have grown in popularity in recent years and have been found to be accessible methods for increasing knowledge and challenging perceptions of stigmatized topics. The current research aimed to understand the impact of the podcast “menopause: unmuted” on women's menopause-related knowledge, understanding, and communication practices. Methods: A diverse sample of 30 women aged 40 to 60 years listened to the podcast series, which focused on menopause stories, before taking part in semistructured interviews to discuss the impact of the podcast on how they understood and communicated about menopause. The interviews were analyzed thematically. Results: Two overarching themes were identified in the data. A “journey of knowledge gain” explores participants’ understanding of menopause before listening to the podcast and describes how this is deepened by hearing and connecting with women's stories. “Reframing menopause” describes the impact of the podcast, where women reflect on the value of communication amongst women, challenge and re-evaluate the stigmatization of menopause, and discuss ways to make positive behavioral changes in their lives. Conclusions: The podcast “menopause: unmuted” helped women to learn about the menopause experience, have a greater sense of belonging to a community of women, and feel empowered to make changes in their own lives. Sharing stories via podcasts has potential as an accessible and impactful medium to educate women and reduce the widespread stigma associated with menopause

"You're more engaged when you're listening to somebody tell their story": A qualitative exploration into the mechanisms of the podcast 'menopause: unmuted' for communicating health information.

While health podcasts can be effective in reducing stigma and increasing knowledge, we know little about their mechanisms of action. This qualitative study explored the mechanisms of how women connected with the podcast 'menopause: unmuted', which presented menopause information in a storytelling format. A diverse sample of 30 women aged 40-60 years were interviewed after listening to the podcast. Interviews covered participant's views and perceptions of the stories presented. Transcripts were analyzed thematically. Two overarching themes were identified. 'Openness and authenticity' describes the value of personal stories told in an authentic way by real experts-by-experience. 'Relatability and representation' explores participants' emotional reaction to the podcast, influenced by the extent to which they identified with the stories and storytellers on the podcast. Authenticity and relatability were identified as key mechanisms through which participants connected with audio stories, consistent with Fisher's narrative theory. These findings have important implications for the application of storytelling in podcasts designed to influence health behaviors. Diverse stories representing a range of demographic characteristics and experiences are needed when creating podcasts about health information to increase listener's relatability and connection. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Typologies of caregiving: Understanding support needs of carers across four continents

Background Caregivers play an essential role in supporting people living with Alzheimer’s disease globally. Cross-country research on caregivers’ experiences of coping is a prerequisite to developing useful trans-cultural guidelines for support organisations. While some coping strategies of caregivers globally have been identified, these are neither well understood or elaborated, nor linked effectively into carer support offerings. Methods In partnership with Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) and Roche, we conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with photo-elicitation with 34 caregivers from UK, US, Brazil, and South Africa to understand critical factors in coping during and after the pandemic. Inductive narrative analysis of data and participant generated images coded to dominant themes (Relationships and Caring role) were developed with input from global and national charity and industry sectors. Results We uncovered four caregiving styles: Empaths used emotion-focused strategies to construct their caring role ('put yourself in that person’s shoes’). They tended to develop strong coping skills, but needed psychosocial support and time specific information. Organisers used problem-focused strategies and sought information and training early on ('I’m a pretty good expert now’). They developed strong narratives of organisation, advocacy and expertise. Non-identifiers managed some aspects of the caring role but felt isolated and lacked knowledge and expertise ('do everything I can…there’s nobody else’). They sought others to manage disease related support. Reluctants struggled with unwanted caring duties ('I didn’t sign up for this’). They needed support in coming to terms with their loved one’s diagnosis and professional help with the day-to-day caring role. Conclusion Our findings highlight the need for tailored user-driven support offerings, that begin with the individual carer’s experiences and needs. Our typology will be used in the communication and development of findings and best practice guidelines to inform charities and policy makers about cost effective ways of tailoring support to fit individual carer circumstances globally