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Yes / Our aim is to provide an understanding of the experience of women with IBD who have made the transition to motherhood. Twenty-two mothers with IBD were recruited from around the UK. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed using thematic analysis. The central concept – Blurred Lines – offers a novel frame for understanding the transition to motherhood with IBD through identifying parallels between having IBD and becoming, and being, a mother. Parallels clustered into three main themes: Need for Readiness, Lifestyle Changes, and Monitoring Personal and Physical Development. Hence, women with IBD are in some ways well prepared for the challenges of motherhood even though, as a group, they tend to restrict their reproductive choices. We recommend health professionals initiate conversations about reproduction early and provide a multidisciplinary approach to pregnancy and IBD in which women have confidence that their on-going treatment will be integrated successfully with their maternity care. / Crohn’s & Colitis UK [grant number SP2013/2].

Type 2 diabetes affects more than one-quarter of older adults in the United States. Many older adults manage type 2 diabetes (T2D) in the context of marriage, although few studies have acknowledged the effect the illness has on marital quality. The current study examined how the presence of T2D in later life relates to marital quality, and how positive health behaviors--diet, physical activity, and sleep--can moderate the relationship between T2D and marital quality. Data from the 1,200 married older adults in the Life and Family Legacies study were used to estimate moderation models using structural equation modeling in Mplus. Results indicated that T2D is associated with declines in marital quality. In addition, lower glycemic diets moderate the association such that healthy diets (higher intake of low glycemic indexed foods) buffer the impact on T2D on marital quality. These findings suggest T2D effects social relationships, and that positive health behaviors, especially healthy diets, can help buffer the negative association between T2D and marital quality. These results have implication for health care providers who can view patients' diabetes management in the context of their health behaviors and social relationships to best provide resources for management.

Those living without a diagnosis reside in an invisible margin of health and family research. The purpose of this study was to explore illness uncertainty as experienced by women and their families in the United States. I examined illness uncertainty through a feminist ecological interactionist (FEI) approach with three core constructs: interaction, agency, and context. I conducted narrative-focused, semi-structured interviews with 15 women (aged 25-46) and 11 family members (aged 22 to 62) identified by each woman and completed a constant comparative grounded theory analysis. The findings revealed women's lived experiences with symptoms and social support, interactions with the medical system, and agency in the context of such uncertainty. Findings also model a System of Illness Uncertainty that contends that women's experiences with illness uncertainty is an endless process that changes over time. In the System of Illness Uncertainty, women were Doubters, Resisters, Persisters, or Burnouts; all women experienced a paradigm shift regarding the Western health system as a result of their experiences. This research adds to the knowledge base on individuals who occupy spaces between the legitimized, diagnosable ill and the symptom-free healthy. Implications affect not only individuals and their families, but the politics of Western medical establishments. / Ph. D. / Those living without a diagnosis are often outside of health and family research. The purpose of this study was to explore women and their families’ experiences of illness uncertainty (i.e., living without a diagnosis) in the United States. I examined illness uncertainty through a feminist ecological interactionist (FEI) approach guided by three core constructs: interaction, agency, and context. I conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 women (aged 25-46) and 11 family members (aged 22 to 62) identified by each woman and completed a constant comparative grounded theory analysis. The findings revealed women’s lived experiences with symptoms and social support, interactions with the Western health system, and agency in the context of such uncertainty. I put forward a System of Illness Uncertainty that contends that women’s experiences with illness uncertainty is an endless process that changes over time; women were Doubters, Resisters, Persisters, or Burnouts. I argue that all women experienced a shift in thinking about the Western health system as a result of their experiences. This research adds to the knowledge base on individuals who occupy spaces between the legitimized, diagnosable ill and the symptom-free healthy. Implications affect not only individuals and their families, but the politics of Western medical establishments.

Five African American fathers participated in a qualitative study that examined how fathers experience their children who live with chronic illnesses. The examination of their strengths and resiliencies revealed 10 factors that enhanced involvement and were incorporated into fathers' overall approaches to parenting: clear paternal definition; strong parenting alliance; gains experienced through father/child relationship; strong spiritual foundation; responsive social support systems; strategies for managing employment and illness demands; confidence in ability to navigate health care structure; attitude of self-sacrifice and flexibility; strategies for managing perceived disparities; and maintenance of future focus. In addition, fathers defined coping and advised professionals involved with families who have children diagnosed with chronic illness. In doing so, they revealed challenges to participation, potential constraints to involvement, and suggestions for productive encounters with systems of care and collaborative exchanges on behalf of children engaged in treatment. / Master of Science

c/o is a space that carries and amplifies queer voices. It's a place for organising, discussing and creating collectively, where activities will be held that promotes publishing as activism. c/o explores how queer archives and personal printed matter can be used as means for care and resistance, with the purpose to build a framework and community for publishing and activism. This is achieved through resource sharing, DIY or DIT zine culture and protest typography. I aim to document queer resistance by translating our collective histories into contemporary communication with a queered expression. I believe this to be a way to imagine/enable alternative futures that challenge conventional ideals in favour of queer realities.

For older couples facing a skin cancer diagnosis, the experience is stressful, not only for the individual with the diagnosis, but also for the healthy partner. Couples may use various types of coping and styles of support to deal with the stress, including relationship-focused support, which addresses the needs and coping efforts of both partners in response to and in conjunction with one another. The current study examined associations between perceptions of three styles of relationship-focused partner support, namely active engagement, protective buffering, and overprotection, and body image of the partner with skin cancer and quality of life of the partner with skin cancer and the healthy partner. Using data collected from 30 older couples (Mage = 70; SD = 7.25) with diagnoses of melanoma (n = 14; 47%) or nonmelanoma (n = 16, 53%), linear regression models, adjusted for the stressor appraisal by both partners, revealed that when partners with skin cancer reported receiving higher active engagement support, they were more likely to have a positive body image (B [unstandardized] = 35.54, p = .04). A significant interaction was found between active engagement support used by both partners (B = -8.78, p = .05), indicating that active engagement from healthy partners appears to benefit the body image of the partner with skin cancer when they themselves use less active engagement support. Both protective buffering and overprotection support were not associated with body image. Multivariate actor-partner interdependence models (APIM) assessed the relationships between support received by each partner and its association with their quality of life (actor effects) and their partner's quality of life (partner effects). Results suggest that active engagement support perceived by either partner was not associated with quality of life. In contrast, overprotection perceived by partners with skin cancer was significantly associated with their quality of life (actor effect: B = -10.81, p < .001), but was not associated with the healthy partners' quality of life. Additionally, protective buffering perceived by healthy partners was associated with their own quality of life (actor effect; B = -6.91, p = .05) as well as their partner with skin cancer's quality of life (partner effect; B = -8.15, p = .01). Nuances based on the sex of the person with skin cancer, type of skin cancer, the stage of skin cancer and couple's appraisal of the stressors of skin cancer are also discussed. Findings suggest that actively engaging with the stressors of skin cancer can contribute to positive views of one's body, whereas ignoring or avoiding conversations about skin cancer and overprotection provided by healthy partners might lead to poorer quality of life for both partners. These findings illustrate the influence of healthy partners, highlighting that how they give support when their partner is facing a skin cancer diagnosis may affect the overall quality of the couple relationship and couple outcomes. / Ph. D. / The experience of facing a skin cancer diagnosis is stressful, both for a person with the diagnosis, but also for his or her romantic partner. As an increasing number of older adults will experience a skin cancer diagnosis at some point in their lifetimes, partially due to the link between cumulative sun exposure and age, it is important to understand how couples provide support to one another. This study examined three styles of support, active engagement, protective buffering, and overprotection that partners can use to support one another, and how the support partners perceive can be related to the body image of the person with skin cancer and quality of life of both the partners. Thirty couples, with an average age of 70 years, participated in this study. One partner in each couple had received a diagnosis of either melanoma (N = 14; 47%) or nonmelanoma (n = 16, 53%) in the previous two years. Findings showed that when partners with skin cancer reported receiving higher active engagement support, they were more likely to have better body image, especially when they were using less active engagement support themselves. Neither protective buffering nor overprotection support were associated with body image. Next, this study examined whether support from one’s partner is associated with his or her quality of life (actor effects) and with the partner’s quality of life (partner effects). Receiving active engagement support was not associated with quality of life for either partner. Conversely, protective buffering perceived by healthy partners was associated with poorer quality of life for themselves and their partners. Similarly, overprotection support perceived by partners with skin cancer was associated with poorer quality of life of themselves. Findings from this study suggest that if couples can actively engage with the stressors of the skin cancer diagnosis such as through open discussions about their fears or worries, the partner with skin cancer may experience a positive view of his or her body. In contrast, avoiding or ignoring concerns about the skin cancer may not be related to body image, but can have a negative impact on the relationship. This study also highlights the important impact healthy partners can have when facing skin cancer. While receiving active engagement support was not related to partners’ quality of life, receiving protective buffering and overprotection support from healthy partners was associated with poorer quality of life for both partners. How the healthy partner provides support appears to affect both people, and may also be important for the couple’s relationship quality.

Psychology / (D. Litt et Phil.(Psychology ))

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