Holding On by Letting Go: Personal Agency as Maternal Activism

Despite the efforts of maternal advocates and feminists through 150 years or more, a great many mothers today feel dissatisfied, shortchanged, and/or inadequate in their own lives. Even those who have reckoned with the fact that standards for mothering are absurdly out of synch with the real lives that families are living in contemporary times, or have carved out comfortable personal and familial space for themselves just beyond, or far beyond, the margins of mainstream motherhood ideologies, often struggle nevertheless with a needling sense of unrest and lack of personal agency. Further, women who agree that maternal empowerment is an important point of focus for social justice may not feel positioned to organize on behalf of mother activism. This essay explores ways that mothers can hold on to the continued struggle for maternal empowerment by letting go of some of the psychological barriers to living fully and purposefully as mothers. Focusing on personal agency as a form of maternal activism, Kinser examines ways for forgiving and embracing the humanity of our own mothers or maternal figures, our selves, and our children that can serve as powerful catalysts for significant change on personal and political scales

Book Review of Mothers and Daughters: Complicated Connections Across Cultures

Excerpt: As both a daughter to a mother and a mother to a daughter, I have lived, and pushed against, and been formed by, the profound truth about mother-daughter relationships suggested by this book\u27s title: it\u27s complicated

Barriers to Family Cancer Communication in Southern Appalachia

This study examines cultural issues surrounding family cancer communication in Appalachia, providing insight into participants’ communication choices regarding their illness within their families. Stories of 29 female Appalachian cancer survivors from Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia were collected via a mixed methods approach in either a day-long story circle (N=26) or an in-depth interview (N=3). Qualitative content analysis was used to identify unique barriers to family cancer communication in Appalachia. Two barriers emerged: 1) the health of other family members and 2) cancer in a “taboo” area. These findings suggest that Appalachian female cancer survivors struggle with similar issues as survivors outside of the region regarding family cancer communication. However, there appear to be additional barriers to family cancer communication for Appalachian women that may be a result of cultural norms of the region

Hallucinations Are Real to Patients With Dementia

In this case study, we present a patient with preexistent posttraumatic stress disorder and psychosis who has been recently diagnosed with Dementia with Lewy Bodies. He is experiencing vivid hallucinations. What went wrong between him and his wife as a result of these hallucinations is presented. Alternative actions that could have been used are suggested

Mothered, Mothering & Motherizing in Illness Narratives: What Women Cancer Survivors in Southern Central Appalachia Reveal About Mothering-Disruption

Informed by a mothering-disruption framework, our study examines the illness narratives of women cancer survivors living in Southern Central Appalachia. We collected the stories of twenty-nine women cancer survivors from northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia using a multi-phasic qualitative design. Phase I consisted of women cancer survivors participating in a day-long story circle (n=26). Phase II consisted of women cancer survivors who were unable to attend the story circle ; this sample sub-set participated in in-depth interviews (n=3) designed to capture their illness narratives. Participants\u27 illness narratives revealed the presence of: (1) mothering-disruption whereby cancer adversely impacted the mothering role ; and (2) mothering-connection , whereby the cancer experience motivatedmother-survivors. Participants\u27 illness narratives reflected thatthe role of mother was the preeminent role for mother-survivor and whenever there was oppositional tension between the roles of mother and survivor , the women-survivors seemed to linguistically relocate away from the survivor role and toward the mothering role. As a result , women-survivors seemingly rejected medicalization of their identities by emphasizing their mothering responsibilities , something we term motherizing

Agnosia Interferes With Daily Hygiene in Patients With Dementia

Patients with dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s disease, may not recognize that their clothes are dirty. They may see the food stains and discoloration of the clothes and yet because of their agnosia are unable to integrate these observations and deduce that their clothes are dirty and need to be changed. They will, therefore, resist attempts to get them to change clothes, especially if these clothes happen to be their favorite ones. This often causes caregivers to become frustrated, especially, if it represents a change in the patient’s previous habits of only wearing clean clothes. In this case study, we present a 72-year-old woman with moderate Alzheimer’s disease who lives with her daughter, who adamantly refuses to change the clothes she has been wearing for a few days and which are now clearly dirty. We report the interaction, highlight what went wrong in the patient–daughter interaction, and discuss how the catastrophic ending could have been avoided or averted

Patients With Dementia Are Easy Victims to Predators

Patients with dementia, especially Alzheimer’s disease and particularly those in early stages, are susceptible to become victims of predators: Their agnosia (see Case 1) prevents them from detecting and accurately interpreting subtle signals that otherwise would have alerted them that they are about to fall for a scam. Furthermore, their judgment is impaired very early in the disease process, often before other symptoms manifest themselves and usually before a diagnosis is made. Patients with early stages of dementia are therefore prime targets for unscrupulous predators, and it behooves caregivers and health care professionals to ensure the integrity of these patients. In this case study, we discuss how a man with mild Alzheimer’s disease was about to fall for a scam were it not for his vigilant wife. We discuss what went wrong in the patient/caregiver interaction and how the catastrophic ending could have been avoided or averted

If I Could Give a Yopp: Confronting Sex, Talk, and Parenting

Excerpt: I am wearied by sexual repression in the family. I find parental obsession with virginity for its own sake tiresome. I am troubled by the neighbour boy who, when playing some form of truth or dare, dared my daughter, twice his age, to jump in the air and grab her penis; she says, “That’s going to be tricky, since I don’t have one.” He says, “Really? Why not?” He was seven. My own son figured this out in the bathroom with me at around two

Clever Deployments: A Foreword

Excerpt: Few among us are immune to the psychological tugs of what Lindal Buchanan calls the motherhood code. In fact, few of any are immune to it. We get pulled into its emotional force, or we are repositioned by or push against those who are so pulled