Hyper-compressions: The rise of flash fiction in “post-transitional” South Africa

Blair, P. (2020). Hyper-compressions: The rise of flash fiction in “post-transitional” South Africa', The Journal of Commonwealth Literature, 55(1), 38-60. Copyright © 2018. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.This article begins with a survey of flash fiction in “post-transitional” South Africa, which it relates to the nation’s post-apartheid canon of short stories and short-short stories, to the international rise of flash fiction and “sudden fiction”, and to the historical particularities of South Africa’s “post-transition”. It then undertakes close readings of three flash fictions republished in the article, each less than 450 words: Tony Eprile’s “The interpreter for the tribunal” (2007), which evokes the psychological and ethical complexities, and long-term ramifications, of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; Michael Cawood Green’s “Music for a new society” (2008), a carjacking story that invokes discourses about violent crime and the “‘new’ South Africa”; and Stacy Hardy’s “Kisula” (2015), which maps the psychogeography of cross-racial sex and transnational identity-formation in an evolving urban environment. The article argues that these exemplary flashes are “hyper-compressions”, in that they compress and develop complex themes with a long literary history and a wide contemporary currency. It therefore contends that flash fiction of South Africa’s post-transition should be recognized as having literary-historical significance, not just as an inherently metonymic form that reflects, and alludes to, a broader literary culture, but as a genre in its own right

Severe Asthma Standard-of-Care Background Medication Reduction With Benralizumab: ANDHI in Practice Substudy

peer reviewedBackground: The phase IIIb, randomized, parallel-group, placebo-controlled ANDHI double-blind (DB) study extended understanding of the efficacy of benralizumab for patients with severe eosinophilic asthma. Patients from ANDHI DB could join the 56-week ANDHI in Practice (IP) single-arm, open-label extension substudy. Objective: Assess potential for standard-of-care background medication reductions while maintaining asthma control with benralizumab. Methods: Following ANDHI DB completion, eligible adults were enrolled in ANDHI IP. After an 8-week run-in with benralizumab, there were 5 visits to potentially reduce background asthma medications for patients achieving and maintaining protocol-defined asthma control with benralizumab. Main outcome measures for non–oral corticosteroid (OCS)-dependent patients were the proportions with at least 1 background medication reduction (ie, lower inhaled corticosteroid dose, background medication discontinuation) and the number of adapted Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) step reductions at end of treatment (EOT). Main outcomes for OCS-dependent patients were reductions in daily OCS dosage and proportion achieving OCS dosage of 5 mg or lower at EOT. Results: For non–OCS-dependent patients, 53.3% (n = 208 of 390) achieved at least 1 background medication reduction, increasing to 72.6% (n = 130 of 179) for patients who maintained protocol-defined asthma control at EOT. A total of 41.9% (n = 163 of 389) achieved at least 1 adapted GINA step reduction, increasing to 61.8% (n = 110 of 178) for patients with protocol-defined EOT asthma control. At ANDHI IP baseline, OCS dosages were 5 mg or lower for 40.4% (n = 40 of 99) of OCS-dependent patients. Of OCS-dependent patients, 50.5% (n = 50 of 99) eliminated OCS and 74.7% (n = 74 of 99) achieved dosages of 5 mg or lower at EOT. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate benralizumab's ability to improve asthma control, thereby allowing background medication reduction. © 202

How Do Drug-Death-Bereaved Parents Adjust to Life Without the Deceased?: A Qualitative Study

Knowledge about how bereaved persons grieve can enhance quality in providing the support and potential services that they need. We aimed to identify ways in which drug-death-bereaved Norwegian parents go on with their lives and what inhibits or promotes adaptation during their grieving. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze 14 semistructured in-depth interviews. We generated three themes: (I) processing grief emotions, (II) proactive coping, and (III) giving and receiving support and assistance. Processing guilt rumination, reflections on blame and a burden of grief emotions characterized grieving early on. Using cognitive strategies and functional-support-giving were found to be the most frequently used strategies. Oscillation between processing stressors and reorientation to the world promoted adjustment to ongoing life. We discuss characteristics of parents who struggle to reorient and outline important implications for policy and practice

Sounds of silence. The “special grief” of drug-death bereaved parents: a qualitative study

Background: Drug-death bereavement is an understudied topic. We explore what bereaved parents experience after losing their child to drug use. The aim of the paper is to provide knowledge about what drug-death bereaved parents go through and study the kinds of help and support they receive. Method: Reflexive thematic analysis is used to analyze 14 semi-structured in-depth interviews with Norwegian parents. Results: We generated four main themes: (I) ‘constant preparedness’ describes the burdensome overload that the parents experienced before death; (II) ‘stigmatization’ represents public and self-induced stigma; (III) ‘emotional overload’ refers to the parents’ complex and ambivalent emotions, such as anger, guilt and shock after the loss; and (IV) ‘complex relations’ describes the parents’ relations with public services and their personal social networks. Discussion: We discuss how overload, before and after the loss experience, causes a special grief. How this overload, silence from helpers, self-stigma and complicated interactions with social networks contribute to the grief of these parents is also discussed. Potential implications for policy and practice are subsequently outlined

How Do Drug-Death-Bereaved Parents Adjust to Life Without the Deceased?: A Qualitative Study

Knowledge about how bereaved persons grieve can enhance quality in providing the support and potential services that they need. We aimed to identify ways in which drug-death-bereaved Norwegian parents go on with their lives and what inhibits or promotes adaptation during their grieving. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze 14 semistructured in-depth interviews. We generated three themes: (I) processing grief emotions, (II) proactive coping, and (III) giving and receiving support and assistance. Processing guilt rumination, reflections on blame and a burden of grief emotions characterized grieving early on. Using cognitive strategies and functional-support-giving were found to be the most frequently used strategies. Oscillation between processing stressors and reorientation to the world promoted adjustment to ongoing life. We discuss characteristics of parents who struggle to reorient and outline important implications for policy and practice

Sounds of silence. The “special grief” of drug-death bereaved parents: a qualitative study

Background: Drug-death bereavement is an understudied topic. We explore what bereaved parents experience after losing their child to drug use. The aim of the paper is to provide knowledge about what drug-death bereaved parents go through and study the kinds of help and support they receive. Method: Reflexive thematic analysis is used to analyze 14 semi-structured in-depth interviews with Norwegian parents. Results: We generated four main themes: (I) ‘constant preparedness’ describes the burdensome overload that the parents experienced before death; (II) ‘stigmatization’ represents public and self-induced stigma; (III) ‘emotional overload’ refers to the parents’ complex and ambivalent emotions, such as anger, guilt and shock after the loss; and (IV) ‘complex relations’ describes the parents’ relations with public services and their personal social networks. Discussion: We discuss how overload, before and after the loss experience, causes a special grief. How this overload, silence from helpers, self-stigma and complicated interactions with social networks contribute to the grief of these parents is also discussed. Potential implications for policy and practice are subsequently outlined