A qualitative study of antipsychotic medication experiences of youth

Objective: To explore the lived experience of youth who are prescribed antipsychotics. Methods: We conducted an interpretive phenomenology study of young people with recent experience of taking antipsychotics. Youth were interviewed and a staged approach was used for data analysis of transcriptions. We collected approximately 13 hours of audio from 18 youth aged 13 to 26 years between January and August of 2010. Results: Ambivalence was significant and antipsychotic adverse effects frequently tempered benefits. Both illness and antipsychotics had significant impacts on physical and mental wellbeing with adverse effects on relationships and functioning in various contexts (e.g., school). Stigma related to both antipsychotics and illness was also prominent. Participants' limited knowledge about their antipsychotics and pressure to conform within their youth culture and context affected decisions on starting, adhering to, and persisting with treatment. Conclusions: The lived experience of youth taking antipsychotics is complex and the benefits (e.g., symptom improvement) and consequences (e.g., adverse effects) associated with antipsychotics affect all facets of life. More research is needed to better understand youth priorities in treatment decisions and whether youth who demonstrate substantive gaps in their knowledge about antipsychotics are truly given the opportunity to be informed and engage in management decisions including whether to initiate, persist with, and discontinue treatments

J. W. Bengough and the Millenium in Hogtown : A Study of Motivation in Urban Reform

The ending of Victoria's century saw urban Canada experience a variety of changes. In cities west of the Maritimes, commercial activities made way for industrial concentrations, populations soared, and the compact pedestrian city changed into a socially differentiated order as streetcar tracks imposed their metallic will on the social geography of the city. Agitation for pure milk, public ownership of utilities, housing codes, city planning, playgrounds, and efficient provision of essential services represented a response to this urban revolution. This response, arising from a belief that the process of change could be directed, was, from the perspective of many of those involved, an attempt to make the city into what they felt it should be. </jats:p