Damien Ridge
Biographic Data
| ID | 90004 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Damien Ridge |
| GIVEN NAMES | Damien |
| FAMILY NAME | Ridge |
| SIGNATURE | RIDGE D |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Westminster |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9245-5958 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 70 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 398 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 70 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1994 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Caring infrastructures for sexual health and the implications of antibiotic-resistant STIs
Infrastructures fundamentally shape sexual health, but their gaps and failings often only come into view during moments of crisis. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a looming microbiological and global societal crisis, and one that is posing increasing challenges and risks for medical practice and public health alike. In sexual health, concerns have been raised about growing resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae and the less well-known Mycoplasma g…
Co‐Creating Publicly Available Resources to Increase Awareness of and Support for Long Covid Among Ethnic Minority Communities
INTRODUCTION: Stigma and discrimination make healthcare challenging for people living with Long Covid, especially those from ethnic minority groups. Since their experiences are under-researched and may differ from other groups, it is crucial that healthcare guidance is informed by the lived experiences of diverse groups. METHODS: Findings from underpinning research (hearing from the unheard: Impact of Long Covid in Black and minority ethnic group…
Friendship and the Sociality of GBTQ+ Sexual Health in Times of Resistance
Sexual health has always been a social matter. While the science of disease transmission remains a focus for public health stakeholders, for social scientists, the sociality of infections, both enduring and emerging, remains central. That is, friendships and relationships are core to health, risk and illness. Yet, there has been virtually no work on how friendships and their varying contours are interplaying with (increasingly) antibiotic resista…
Exploring acceptability of AI-enabled voice assistants and digital AI humans in healthcare
Artificial intelligence, including Digital AI Humans (DHs) and Voice Assistants (VAs), offers new opportunities for healthcare delivery but may widen inequalities. This cross-sectional online survey examined factors influencing the acceptability of these technologies among 472 UK adults, considering demographics, digital literacy, healthcare access, familiarity with DHs and VAs, personality traits, and attitudes. VA acceptability was assessed usi…
Development of ACT
INTRODUCTION: The need to improve the quality of life (QoL) and well-being of people living with and beyond cancer is well recognised. SURECAN (SUrvivors' Rehabilitation Evaluation after CANcer) is a multiphase study developing and evaluating a psychological intervention based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for people who have completed hospital-based treatment for cancer but have low QoL. We describe the process by which we iterative…
Intersectionality and Long Covid
INTRODUCTION: Long Covid is the patient-preferred term to describe persistent symptoms experienced following an acute Covid-19 infection. The severity and unpredictable nature of long Covid symptoms can affect every aspect of an individual's life. Under-represented groups such as ethnic minorities and lower socio-economic groups are disproportionately affected by long Covid and often face challenges in accessing healthcare and additional support.…
The Integration of Islamic Psychology with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
Black and ethnic minority groups (diverse groups) face inequalities when it comes to healthcare in the United Kingdom, including access, stigma, and discrimination. Many of these diverse communities include Muslims. It is also known that barriers for Muslims especially involve accessing mental health services because of fears of stereotyping, stigma, and expected NHS incongruence with religious beliefs. Many Muslims make connections between relig…
Mediated Urgency
Often, research takes place once a health issue is already at ‘crisis’ point. However, health professionals and populations can have different understandings of ‘urgency’. At present, health authorities, scientists and other medical professionals are increasingly concerned about escalating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the context of STIs. Clinicians worry about Neisseria gonorrhoeae becoming progressively resistant to last‐line treatment, as…
GBTQ+ safe sex entanglements
Few studies have explored community experiences of our increasingly resistant bacterial landscape, and, in the sphere of sexually transmissible infections (STIs) and antimicrobial resistance, there is even greater absence of community-centred research. This is despite a growth in STI transmission worldwide, which, alongside accelerated resistance, will disproportionately affect GBTQ+ (gay, bisexual, trans, queer+) populations. In this article, dr…
Paradoxical bio-citizenship
In a society saturated with health messages, the concept of an eating disorder based on an obsession with healthy eating involving pathological behaviours and thoughts- "orthorexia nervosa"- presents a paradox, raising questions about extreme healthism and psychiatry's expanding reach into contemporary life. To explore this matter, we re-analysed data from six existing studies, including 56 interviews (individuals preoccupied with healthy eating;…
Medical ambivalence and Long Covid
Structural violence - related to 'isms' like racism, sexism, and ableism - pertains to the ways in which social institutions harm certain groups. Such violence is critical to institutional indifference to the plight of ethnic minority people living with long-term health conditions. With only emergent literature on the lived experiences of ethnic minorities with Long Covid, we sought to investigate experiences around the interplay of illness and s…
Sampling and recruiting LGBTQ+ populations in health research
In this paper, we explore negotiations around sexuality and gender diverse identities together with sexual practices, and the materialities of bodies, as they relate to the sampling and recruitment of LGBTQ+ participants in health social science research. The basis of our research note is a reflection on our experiences of undertaking a study on the social dimensions of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the context of sexually transmitted infecti…
Treatment 'cultures', sexually transmitted infections and the rise of antimicrobial resistance
In this article, we examine the current management of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), in the context of rising antimicrobial resistance (AMR), through the lens of 'treatment cultures'. Prevailing treatment cultures-including the prominence of syndromic care for STIs-foster certain possibilities and foreclose others, with important consequences for countering AMR. Drawing on qualitative interviews with STI professionals, experts and indust…
Relational gendered dimensions of emotions in heterosexual cisgender Men’s intimate partnerships
Illuminating relational gendered dimensions of emotions in heterosexual cisgender men’s intimate partnerships, this study addresses a significant knowledge gap in masculinities, emotionality and health work. Thematic analyses of individual photovoice interviews with 92 men from diverse locales and ethnocultural backgrounds revealed a trilogy of men’s practices regarding emotions. Emotional restraint was embodied by men withholding rather than fre…
Changing and unfinished narratives of the mental health impact of HIV in the UK
The mental health impacts of HIV have evolved significantly over the last four decades, in parallel with changes in the virus's overall health consequences. This study charts transformation in narratives about mental health problems associated with HIV over the course of the epidemic, as outlined by people with HIV (40%), professional carers (45%) and activists (25%) in the UK. In particular, our study examines evolving mental health impacts and …
Exploring the Experiences of Living With the Post‐Covid Syndrome
INTRODUCTION: Many people experience persistent symptoms for more than 12 weeks following SARS-CoV-2 infection, which is known as post-COVID-19 condition (PCS) or Long COVID (LC). PCS can impair people's quality of life and daily functioning. However, there is a lack of in-depth research exploring the PCS patient journey, as well as gendered aspects of patients' experiences. METHODS: Nineteen semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted …
‘You Are Not Alone, We’ve Got You’
Healthy eating (HE) and pro-eating disorder (pro-ED) websites are popular sources of dietary and weight loss information, social support, and lifestyle inspiration. However, the discursive styles and language used by authors/moderators and users of these two site genres have not been widely studied or compared. Forty-three HE websites and twenty-four pro-ED websites were analysed using Fairclough's model of critical discourse analysis. Findings i…
Emerging Dilemmas in the Age of Resistance
The stage is set for a new era of precariousness in modern medicine, driven by the increasing failure of a key pharmaceutical pillar-antimicrobials. In the context of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), the rise of antimicrobial resistance is introducing urgent questions around what might constitute "best practice" in a rapidly evolving scene, including the value of asymptomatic screening (test and treat), and the consequent downstream collat…
Sex, drugs and superbugs
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) presents a swiftly advancing challenge to a wide range of healthcare and health promotion practices. While rising rates of AMR share some dimensions across contexts, the specificities of field, practice, place and population shape – and at times hinder attempts to stem – the rising tide of this health threat. Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are one area of healthcare where the threat of AMR has traditionally …
‘Imposter participants’ in online qualitative research, a new and increasing threat to data integrity
To the Editor, We would like to share the experiences we have recently had while conducting online qualitative studies. We believe people have contacted members of our research teams, offering to participate in interviews for a health study, who were not the people they initially purported to be. We reimburse participants to cover time and expenses for their involvement in research, with varying views on the complex issue of incentivization.1 We …
Battles over 'unruly bodies
Our article offers a critical appraisal of psychiatric medical constructions of eating disorders (EDs) by highlighting the complexity of professional discourses, power plays, claims and counterclaims in ongoing struggles over 'unruly bodies.' Inductive thematic analysis of data from five studies was undertaken, covering thirty semi-structured interviews with UK health-care professionals working in the ED field. Professionals engaged in various st…
Masculinities and men's emotions in and after intimate partner relationships
Men's emotions in intimate partner relationships have received little research attention. The current interpretive descriptive study included 30 Canadian-based men to address the research question: What are the connections between masculinities and men's emotions in and after intimate partner relationships? Three inductively derived themes included emergent distressing emotions wherein participants' predominance for holding in abeyance their conc…
Understanding stigma and suicidality among gay men living with HIV
Gay men living with HIV (GMHIV) are at relatively high risk for suicide. To inform tailored suicide prevention interventions, we conducted a photovoice study with 22 GMHIV with a history of suicidality. Our study findings revealed three discrete but connected themes characterizing suicidality among GMHIV: first, HIV stigma featured prominently in participants' narratives who described accumulating experiences of prejudice that triggered their hop…
The interactive dimensions of encounters in HIV care
INTRODUCTION: A person-centred model of care, developed in the early days of the HIV epidemic when there were no effective treatments for HIV, led to relatively close relationships between carers and people living with HIV (PLWH). Our study examines the experiences of carers using a relational framework, exploring the traumas and challenges involved, coping practices instigated by carers and the emergence of 'relational traumatic growth' opportun…
Arachne, self-care and ‘power-nets’ on women’s self-development programmes
Our article employs a feminist perspective to interpret ethnographic data on soft skills programmes (SSPs) for female staff in Higher Education (HE). We use the story of Arachne as a metaphor for how, under neoliberalism, women are instructed to create local ‘nets of power,’ only to find themselves tangled in a web of conflicting expectations. Our method was informed by Institutional Ethnography (IE). Data incorporated autoethnography, participan…
Men's accounts of depression
It was an Incredible Thrill
This study used a qualitative research design to examine the meanings and circumstances underpinning practices of 'barebacking' - unprotected anal intercourse in episodic sexual encounters among younger (mainly in their 20s) same-sex attracted men - in Melbourne, Australia. Using a modified grounded theory approach, a series of in-depth interviews with 24 men were conducted. The results reveal that understanding practices of barebacking requires …
Understanding how men experience, express and cope with mental distress
In line with the shift towards prioritising lay accounts and narratives of chronic illness in sociology, there is an emerging literature on men, their subjectivities and experiences of mental distress. We argue in this paper that subjectivities and distress among men are an important area for critical sociological research. Very little is known about men's subjectivities or the meanings they give to - and how they cope with or seek help for - dis…
"Asian" Men on the Scene
This article examines common assumptions behind the notion of "gay community," contrasting these views with the experiences of homosexual men originating from Southeast Asia on the commercial gay scene in Melbourne, Australia. The narratives here reveal fragmented social networks involving various social groups, categories of people and an "In/Out" culture where informants were culturally marginal. Fitting into the scene culture involves processe…
Queer Connections
This article examines assumptions behind "gay community," contrasting them with the experiences of homosexually active men on the commercial gay scene. In-depth interviews with mainly young men in Melbourne, Australia revealed that while the informants considered "the scene" to be a central part of the gay community, they were critical of the scene with respect to attributes of "community." Anticipated components of community including unity, sup…
The Construction of the Adolescent Male Body through Sport
The present study examined the role played by sport in understanding adolescent males' views about their body. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 40 adolescent boys aged between 15 and 17 years. An inductive thematic analysis of boys' narratives showed that sport provided adolescent males with a context for discussing their body image. Attributes which males liked about their body were synonymous with those associated with being succe…
Mothers reframing physical activity
New Ways of Being a Man
Connell's concept of hegemonic masculinity is often reduced to a singular construct, consisting of 'toxic' traits viewed as detrimental to well-being. However, the concept allows for variation in hegemony, including the possibility of forms more conducive to well-being. Through in-depth interviews with thirty male meditators in the United Kingdom, we explored the social dimensions of meditation practice to examine its potential implications for w…
Understanding depression through a 'coming out' framework
Recently, Scambler and others have broadened the research agenda on stigma to include the wider meanings of stigma within society, and especially the role of identity politicse.g. gay liberation. Recognising that the categories 'homosexual' and 'depression' were socially constructed and stigmatised from the 19thand 20thcenturies respectively, we draw on themes in conceptual models of coming out as gay or lesbian to sensitise our analysis to perso…
Like a prayer
Over 40,000 people are now living with diagnosed HIV in the UK. There is, however, uncertainty about how people with HIV use religion or spirituality to cope with their infection. Adopting a modified grounded theory approach, we analysed individual and group interviews with the people most affected by HIV in the UK: black African heterosexual men and women and gay men (mostly white). For the majority of black African heterosexual men and women in…
In one's own time
This article explores the experience and meaning of time from the perspective of caregivers who have recently been bereaved following the death of a family member. The study is situated within the broader cultural tendency to understand bereavement within the logic of stages, including the perception of bereavement as a somewhat predictable and certainly time-delimited ascent from a nadir in death to a 'new normal' once loss is accepted. Drawing …
Stories of Hell and Healing
Benzodiazepines are a group of drugs used mainly as sedatives, hypnotics, antiepileptics, and muscle relaxants. Consumption is recommended for 2 to 4 weeks only, due to fast onset of dependency and potentially distressing withdrawal symptoms. Few peer-review studies have drawn on the user experiences and language to appreciate firsthand experiences of benzodiazepine withdrawal or discontinuation syndrome. We looked extensively at patient stories …
My dirty little habit
It was the Most Beautiful Country I have Ever Seen
Refugees are known to use narrative and draw on their memories of a homeland when displaced/in exile in an unfamiliar country to re-affirm their identities, and build a life in the new country. Nevertheless, little is known about how Somali refugees distinctively construct narratives in a new country as a means of coping in the present. In analysing narratives of Somali refugees who attended educational events in Melbourne, Australia, we examined…
Who Thinks I Need a Perfect Body?” Perceptions and Internal Dialogue among Adolescents about Their Bodies
Suicide Prevention From the Perspectives of Gay, Bisexual, and Two-Spirit Men
Although gay, bisexual, and two-spirit men (GBTSM) experience high rates of suicidality, there have been few empirical studies of prevention initiatives and policies that could address or reverse this major social problem. This article reports on a photovoice study of 29 GBTSM who had a history of suicidality or lost a fellow GBTSM to suicide. We focused our analysis on participants' perspectives on suicide prevention. Participants described four…
A relational analysis of an invisible illness
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)/myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) is indicated by prolonged, medically unexplained fatigue (amongst other symptoms), not alleviated by rest, and causing substantial disability. There are limited treatments on offer, which may not be effective and/or acceptable for all people, and treatment views are polarised. We, thus, aimed to take a step back from this debate, to explore more broadly preferences for formal and infor…
"I was so done in that I just recognized it very plainly, "You need to do something
Traditional masculinities can mean men are unable or unwilling to deal constructively with distress. However, researchers increasingly acknowledge that men and masculinities (including hegemonic styles) are diverse. Moreover, men can positively manage their well-being, although little research explores how they do so. Uniquely, our study sought to find men who report finding ways to care for themselves to examine narratives about how such self-ca…
How men step back – and recover – from suicide attempts
Men account for three‐quarters of suicide deaths in the UK, yet we know little about how at‐risk men construct their experiences of moving towards – and then subsequently stepping back from – suicide, nor the part played by relational factors therein. An inductive thematic analysis was used to examine narrative interviews with eleven UK men who self‐reported serious thoughts, plans and up‐to and including suicide attempts in progress, but who con…
Age and life course location as interpretive resources for decisions regarding disclosure of HIV to parents and children
Vital scientific puzzle or lived uncertainty? Professional and lived approaches to the uncertainties of ageing with HIV
The ageing of the HIV population is unfolding within the context of a politicised history of medical care, medical breakthroughs changing HIV from a fatal to a chronic illness, and a long-standing treatment partnership between medical professionals and HIV patients. This article draws on in-depth interviews with those living with HIV in later life (aged 50 and over), as well as those working with them, to uncover how these various actors understa…
Performance, Emotion Work, and Transition
Few researchers have explored the clinical experiences of complementary and alternative medical practitioners and students, including the emotion work they perform. In this article, using a constant comparison approach and a heuristic framework (a dramaturgical perspective), we analyze semistructured interviews with 9 undergraduate practitioners in training to examine challenges experienced when students first attend to patients. A feature of stu…
Supported Decision-Making
Supported decision-making (SDM) is a principle guiding mental health service provision, which aims to improve people's ability to make informed decisions about their care. Understanding diverse individual needs is vital to its success. Based on 29 narrative interviews with people diagnosed with mental illness in Australia, we examine how participants reflected on their own experiences of SDM. We find that participants' conceptualization of mental…
Positive prevention
Care, Control, and the Electroconvulsive Therapy Ritual
Despite evidence of short-term effectiveness of ECT (electroconvulsive therapy), both positive and negative patient reports are common. However, research examining these polarized accounts has not adequately elucidated why such divergences occur. We thus sought to examine opposing patient narratives to better understand underlying meanings. Eighteen interviews were conducted with U.K.-based people who had experienced the treatment. Our analysis r…
Young gay men and HIV
HIV research often depicts 'adolescents' and 'youth' as having 'unique' qualities which predispose them to sexual risk. Yet, the evidence points to unsafe sexual behaviour as not being socially uniform. At a time when the idea of 'risk groups' for HIV is being subjected to increasing public scrutiny, researchers also need to question assumptions about youth 'risk'. This study examines whether young gay men are at greater risk for unsafe sexual be…
Queer Connections
This article examines assumptions behind "gay community," contrasting them with the experiences of homosexually active men on the commercial gay scene. In-depth interviews with mainly young men in Melbourne, Australia revealed that while the informants considered "the scene" to be a central part of the gay community, they were critical of the scene with respect to attributes of "community." Anticipated components of community including unity, sup…
"Asian" Men on the Scene
This article examines common assumptions behind the notion of "gay community," contrasting these views with the experiences of homosexual men originating from Southeast Asia on the commercial gay scene in Melbourne, Australia. The narratives here reveal fragmented social networks involving various social groups, categories of people and an "In/Out" culture where informants were culturally marginal. Fitting into the scene culture involves processe…
"I will start treatment when I think the time is right"
In a qualitative study, 20 HIV-infected Australian gay men were interviewed about their decision not to access antiretroviral drug therapy. The main reasons given for the decision were fear of side effects; fear of long-term damage to body organs; the inconvenience of the treatment regimens; belief that the regimen's demands would be a threat to morale; and belief that there was no reason to start therapy in the absence of AIDS-related symptoms. …
It was an Incredible Thrill
This study used a qualitative research design to examine the meanings and circumstances underpinning practices of 'barebacking' - unprotected anal intercourse in episodic sexual encounters among younger (mainly in their 20s) same-sex attracted men - in Melbourne, Australia. Using a modified grounded theory approach, a series of in-depth interviews with 24 men were conducted. The results reveal that understanding practices of barebacking requires …
Mothers reframing physical activity
“The Old Me Could Never Have Done That”
Depression is usually a “self-limiting” condition, and recovery is likely, even if people do have subsequent episodes. However, despite considerable research into depression, little is known about how people actually go about understanding and organizing their recovery from depression. In this article, the authors draw on one-to-one interviews with people who have experienced mainly severe depression to explore the approaches and meanings attribu…
Remaking the masculine self and coping in the liminal world of the gay ‘scene’
This paper investigates social transitions, constructions of masculinity and coping among men in commercialized gay spaces, such as nightclubs and dance parties ('the gay scene'). The findings are derived from two qualitative studies involving individual samples of 24 and 12 younger (aged 19 to 36) same-sex attracted men living in Melbourne, Australia. The analysis recasts 'coming out' into the gay scene as a passage into a 'new world' and a 'new…
Who Thinks I Need a Perfect Body?” Perceptions and Internal Dialogue among Adolescents about Their Bodies
The Construction of the Adolescent Male Body through Sport
The present study examined the role played by sport in understanding adolescent males' views about their body. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 40 adolescent boys aged between 15 and 17 years. An inductive thematic analysis of boys' narratives showed that sport provided adolescent males with a context for discussing their body image. Attributes which males liked about their body were synonymous with those associated with being succe…
Men's accounts of depression
Positive prevention
Like a prayer
Over 40,000 people are now living with diagnosed HIV in the UK. There is, however, uncertainty about how people with HIV use religion or spirituality to cope with their infection. Adopting a modified grounded theory approach, we analysed individual and group interviews with the people most affected by HIV in the UK: black African heterosexual men and women and gay men (mostly white). For the majority of black African heterosexual men and women in…
Mind and Body Management Strategies for Chronic Pain and Rheumatoid Arthritis
Chronic pain (CP) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) pose particular challenges for the individual. Although biomedicine inevitably plays a role in the reduction or control of some symptoms for people living with chronic pain, directed self-management is also increasingly recognized as an important tool. Self-management can address pain-associated symptoms of CP and RA, and often has broader aims, such as promoting positive well-being. Forty-six inter…
Understanding how men experience, express and cope with mental distress
In line with the shift towards prioritising lay accounts and narratives of chronic illness in sociology, there is an emerging literature on men, their subjectivities and experiences of mental distress. We argue in this paper that subjectivities and distress among men are an important area for critical sociological research. Very little is known about men's subjectivities or the meanings they give to - and how they cope with or seek help for - dis…
It was the Most Beautiful Country I have Ever Seen
Refugees are known to use narrative and draw on their memories of a homeland when displaced/in exile in an unfamiliar country to re-affirm their identities, and build a life in the new country. Nevertheless, little is known about how Somali refugees distinctively construct narratives in a new country as a means of coping in the present. In analysing narratives of Somali refugees who attended educational events in Melbourne, Australia, we examined…
Performance, Emotion Work, and Transition
Few researchers have explored the clinical experiences of complementary and alternative medical practitioners and students, including the emotion work they perform. In this article, using a constant comparison approach and a heuristic framework (a dramaturgical perspective), we analyze semistructured interviews with 9 undergraduate practitioners in training to examine challenges experienced when students first attend to patients. A feature of stu…
Constructing the placebo effect in the placebo wars
The concept of placebo has had a long history in medicine, and has evolved over time with the introduction of randomised controlled trials for testing health treatment, the increasing research done around the psychotherapies, the development of complementary and alternative medicine approaches to health, as well as the conceptual contributions from academic disciplines like psychology and anthropology. In recent years, discourses about placebo ha…
Understanding depression through a 'coming out' framework
Recently, Scambler and others have broadened the research agenda on stigma to include the wider meanings of stigma within society, and especially the role of identity politicse.g. gay liberation. Recognising that the categories 'homosexual' and 'depression' were socially constructed and stigmatised from the 19thand 20thcenturies respectively, we draw on themes in conceptual models of coming out as gay or lesbian to sensitise our analysis to perso…
Men developing emotional intelligence through meditation? Integrating narrative, cognitive and electroencephalography (EEG) evidence
Traditional masculine norms around emotions (e.g., inexpressiveness) can mean men have difficulties managing their emotions, contributing to potential mental health problems. However, it is recognized that men and masculinities are diverse, and that some men can positively self-manage their mental health, although this has received little attention in the literature. Uniquely, we sought to find men who had discovered ways to engage constructively…
"I was so done in that I just recognized it very plainly, "You need to do something
Traditional masculinities can mean men are unable or unwilling to deal constructively with distress. However, researchers increasingly acknowledge that men and masculinities (including hegemonic styles) are diverse. Moreover, men can positively manage their well-being, although little research explores how they do so. Uniquely, our study sought to find men who report finding ways to care for themselves to examine narratives about how such self-ca…
A religion of wellbeing? The appeal of Buddhism to men in London, United Kingdom
Against a backdrop of increasing secularization, the number of Buddhists in Britain continues to rise (Office for National Statistics, 2012). However, few studies have explored the reasons people are drawn toward Buddhism, with none focusing on men specifically. Uniquely, we conducted in-depth narrative interviews with 30 male meditators in London, United Kingdom, to explore the appeal Buddhism held for them. Buddhism was portrayed as a nexus of …
Vital scientific puzzle or lived uncertainty? Professional and lived approaches to the uncertainties of ageing with HIV
The ageing of the HIV population is unfolding within the context of a politicised history of medical care, medical breakthroughs changing HIV from a fatal to a chronic illness, and a long-standing treatment partnership between medical professionals and HIV patients. This article draws on in-depth interviews with those living with HIV in later life (aged 50 and over), as well as those working with them, to uncover how these various actors understa…
My dirty little habit
"Interaction Rituals and Jumbled Emotions Among "Relative Strangers
Learning games such as role-play (which we refer to as "simulated interaction rituals") are commonly used as social tools to develop trainee health practitioners. However, the effect of such rituals on individual and group participant emotions has not been carefully studied. Using a heuristic approach, we explore the experiences of complementary therapy practitioner trainees (and their trainers) participating in a personal development course. Ten…
Psychology (58 works) · Sociology (45 works) · Medicine (39 works) · Social Psychology (31 works) · Political science (25 works) · Gender Studies (18 works) · Psychiatry (18 works) · Psychotherapist (18 works) · Narrative (17 works) · Qualitative research (17 works)