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Little is known about the experiences of minority stress among Latina women who have sex with both women and men (WSWM), a sexual and gender minority group situated at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities. The current article presents an exploratory study aimed at addressing this knowledge gap. The research utilized a flexible diary-interview method (DIM) to investigate stress-related experiences among Mexican American WSWM residing in an economically disadvantaged community in the U.S. during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A detailed description of the study is provided, including information on the background, methodology, participants' experiences, and how the project was managed remotely by a virtual research team. Twenty-one participants were asked to maintain a diary for a 6-week period spanning from March to September 2021. They submitted weekly entries in diverse formats (visual, audio, typed, and handwritten) through a user-friendly website or via mail while communicating regularly with researchers over the phone. Following the diarizing period, in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted to clarify pertinent information within the entries and validate researchers' preliminary interpretations. Out of the initial 21 enrollees, 14 participants stopped diarizing at different stages, and nine completed the entire study. Despite facing challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, participants reported the diary-keeping process as a positive experience that offered an authentic outlet to share parts of their lives they seldom reveal. The implementation of this study highlights two significant methodological insights. Firstly, it emphasizes the value of employing a DIM to explore intersectional narratives. Secondly, it underscores the importance of adopting a flexible and sensitive approach in qualitative health research, particularly when engaging individuals from minoritized groups.
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Despite the growing body of research on college students' online learning experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, little is known about how individual students perceive and experience emergency remote teaching in China. To fill this gap, this study seeks to explore college students' perceptions of emergency remote teaching as well as the factors deemed favourable and unfavourable to online learning. This study, adopting a photo elicitation method, investigated four college students' online learning experiences in an emergency remote instruction context. Our study revealed that students went through three stages of online learning and their perceptions of emergency remote teaching changed from one stage to another. Additionally, student-content interaction, strong teacher support and a high-level of digital inclusion were three factors that facilitated effective online learning, whereas lack of interaction with teachers and peers and dormitory confinement were two factors perceived as hindrance. The study explored possible explanations of the findings and made pedagogical recommendations to foster online learning success. The study bears significance for teachers and administrators practicing technology-supported teaching activities amid and beyond the pandemic.
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BACKGROUND: Permanent supportive housing (PSH) is an evidence-based practice to address homelessness that is implemented using 2 distinct approaches. The first approach is place-based PSH (PB-PSH), or single-site housing placement, in which an entire building with on-site services is designated for people experiencing homelessness. The second approach is scatter-site PSH (SS-PSH), which uses apartments rented from a private landlord while providing mobile case management services. OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the protocols for a mixed methods comparative effectiveness study of 2 distinct approaches to implementing PSH and the patient-centered quality of life, health care use, and health behaviors that reduce COVID-19 risk. METHODS: People experiencing homelessness who are placed in either PB-PSH or SS-PSH completed 6 monthly surveys after move-in using smartphones provided by the study team. A subsample of participants completed 3 qualitative interviews at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months that included photo elicitation interviewing. Two stakeholder advisory groups, including one featuring people with lived experience of homelessness, helped guide study decisions and interpretations of findings. RESULTS: Study recruitment was supposed to occur over 6 months starting in January 2021 but was extended due to delays in recruitment. These delays included COVID-19 delays (eg, recruitment sites shut down due to outbreaks and study team members testing positive) and delays that may have been indirectly related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including high staff turnover or recruitment sites having competing priorities. In end-July 2022, in total, 641 people experiencing homelessness had been referred from 26 partnering recruitment sites, and 563 people experiencing homelessness had enrolled in the study and completed a baseline demographic survey. Of the 563 participants in the study, 452 had recently moved into the housing when they enrolled, with 272 placed in PB-PSH and 180 placed in SS-PSH. Another 111 participants were approved but are still waiting for housing placement. To date, 49 participants have been lost to follow-up, and 12% of phones (70 of the initial 563 distributed) were reported lost by participants. CONCLUSIONS: Recruitment during the pandemic, while successful, was challenging given that in-person contact was not permitted at times either by program sites or the research institutions during COVID-19 surges and high community transmission, which particularly affected homelessness programs in Los Angeles County. To overcome recruitment challenges, flexible strategies were used, which included extending the recruitment period and the distribution of cell phones with paid data plans. Given current recruitment numbers and retention rates that are over 90%, the study will be able to address a gap in the literature by considering the comparative effectiveness of PB-PSH versus SS-PSH on patient-centered quality of life, health care use, and health behaviors that reduce COVID-19 risk, which can influence future public health approaches to homelessness and infectious diseases. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04769349; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04769349. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/46782.
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Mainstream media photographically documented intimate and difficult moments of COVID-19 while also publishing hopeful images. These spanned from intubation, death, and facial bruising from personal protective equipment to Italians harmonizing in song and nightly balcony cheers for US health workers. At the same time, people were documenting and sharing their own experiences across social media. Past research suggests impactful photographs elicit stimuli that can slow people's psychological recovery or offer a therapeutic quality that incites post-traumatic growth. Despite a large body of research that examines visual framing with media photographs, few studies examine the ways in which viewing photographs of disaster influences disaster survivors, and to our knowledge, no studies examine this during an unfolding trauma in a world in which the survivors themselves digitally archive the event through images. The present panel longitudinal study seeks to investigate this gap by better understanding the impact of COVID-19 photographs through employing a visual self-narrative approach and photo-elicitation interviews. Fifty-seven participants were recruited in May 2020 and 35 repeat participants were recruited in May 2021. The research examines (1) reasons people vulnerable to the pandemic may find viewing and sharing photographs important, (2) responses to shared images, and (3) changes people experience in their relationship to photographs over time. Findings suggest that participants have a drive to share their experiences and learn about others, while pandemic photographs in themselves hold more of a negative impact for the viewer as they are experiencing the pandemic, which, over time, lessens and trends toward more positive nostalgia. © The Author(s) 2023.
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Reports an error in "Viral time capsule: A global photo-elicitation study of child and adolescent mental health professionals during COVID-19" by Olivia D. Herrington, Ashley Clayton, Laelia Benoit, Cecil Prins-Aardema, Madeline DiGiovanni, Indigo Weller and Andres Martin (Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 2021[Feb][2], Vol 15[5]). The authors identified errors in affiliation and in the conclusion section. The affiliations now appear correctly in this record. In the conclusion, the first sentence should read, "Photoelicitation provided a disarming and efficient means to learn about individual, regional, and global similarities and differences regarding the professionals charged with addressing the mental health needs of children and adolescents during 4 early months of the COVID-19 global pandemic". The original article has been updated. (The following of the original article appeared in record 2021-14596-001). Objective: To examine, through photo-elicitation, the personal and professional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health professionals working with children and adolescents around the globe. Methods: We invited the submission of images collected about the pandemic between May and August 2020. We encouraged participants to yoke personal reflections or voice memos to their images. Using snowball sampling, we began with two invitations, including one to the graduates of a mentorship program continuously hosted since 2004 by the International Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP). We analyzed de-identified images and anonymized transcripts through iterative coding using thematic analysis informed by rich picture analysis and aided by NVivo software. Results: We collected submissions from child and adolescent mental health professionals (n = 134) working in 54 countries spread across the five continents. We identified four overarching domains with component themes that revealed both the commonality and the uniqueness of the pandemic experience around the globe: (1) Place (adjusting to emptiness and stillness;shifting timeframes;blending of spaces);(2) Person (disruption to life rhythms;emotional toll;positives of the pandemic);(3) Profession (changing practices;outreach efforts;guild pride-and guilt);and (4) Purpose (from pandemic to syndemic;from lamenting to embracing;planning toward a better tomorrow). Conclusions: Photo-elicitation provided a disarming and efficient means to learn about individual, regional, and global similarities and differences regarding the professionals charged with addressing the mental health needs of children and adolescents around the globe. These findings may help inform practice changes in post-pandemic times. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: As an unprecedented outbreak, the COVID-19 pandemic has restricted and dramatically changed several respects of life. In terms of working life, the transition to a remote working system has brought several changes and interrupted the continuity between past and present working life. In this case, this adversity has led people to past experiences and memories, and many people have used nostalgia as a crucial resource for alleviating the negative impact of the outbreak. OBJECTIVE: In this context, as a form of nostalgia, the current study particularly investigated memories eliciting organizational nostalgia and antecedents and consequences of organizational nostalgia in the pandemic era. METHODS: Photo-elicitation interview in general, and participant-driven photo-elicitation in particular, was used as a data collection method. A cross-sectional design was employed for this study. In total, 10 photo-elicitation interviews through 62 photos were carried out with participants in Turkey. The thematic analysis was used for coding and analyzing the interviews. RESULTS: The current study demonstrated that (1) participants feel nostalgic for managers, colleagues, events, job, and working environment-related memories; (2) lack of social connectedness, loneliness, anxiety, fear, and uncertainty triggers pandemic-induced nostalgia; and (3) pandemic-induced organizational nostalgia has an impact on the variety of emotions (regret, hope, pride, freedom, joy, peace, excitement, yearning, gratitude, sadness, and happiness) of employees in the pandemic era. CONCLUSIONS: This study contributes to overcoming the lack of studies investigating the nostalgic emotion of employees in the pandemic era and how this emotion might contribute to overcoming the effects of COVID-19.
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PURPOSE: The main aim of this research was to explore experiences of care during the lockdown of the first wave of COVID-19 syndemic in Spain. METHODS: This is a qualitative and explorative study using self-photo-elicitation as a data collection method. Fifteen participants (Twelve women and three men) shared 25 photographs and one video between the June 18 and August, 2020. Participants' photographs and texts were collected online. Data were analysed based on Thematic Analysis. RESULTS: Three emerging categories were constructed: 1) the deconstruction of care: self-care and collective care 2) the crisis of care and gendered care, 2) beyond anthropocentrism: animalism and ecology. Findings indicate the need to understand "care" in terms of social reproduction, including self-care, care towards other humans and non-human animals, and collective care. Also, the need to care for planetary health and to be in contact with nature as a form of self-care and social care. CONCLUSIONS: Care in a period of social and health crisis puts human relationships and also non-human life at the centre. Care requires adopting taking an ecological one-health perspective.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Humans , Female , Syndemic , Qualitative Research , Communicable Disease Control , Social SupportABSTRACT
Following a “visual turn” in qualitative methods, photographs and other forms of visual expression are increasingly used in conjunction with verbal data in social science research. According equal status to visual and verbal artifacts, however, poses significant methodological challenges. “Photo elicitation” methods, which typically privilege participants’ interpretations of photographs over the photographs themselves, have dominated. This article answers calls for greater reflection on and transparency in the analysis of data across multiple modes of expression. Building on previous approaches, we propose an analytical framework for interpreting visuo-verbal research data that draws on Roland Barthes’s tripartite classification of text-image relations into “illustration,” “anchorage,” and “relay.” We explore how our framework can be put into practice by applying it to photographs and written texts generated as part of the “Living with an eating disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic” project, focusing on three settings represented by participants: the hospital ward, the home, and natural environments. We subsequently reflect on some of the strengths and limitations of our framework in light of its application and with respect to established approaches to analyzing visuo-verbal data. Our framework of Text-Image Relations Analysis enables researchers to explore text-image relations as constitutive of meaning without privileging one semiotic mode over the other. As with all qualitative researcher, however, careful delineation of the meaning-making roles of participants and researchers is key. © The Author(s) 2022.
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BACKGROUND: The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic brought significant movement restrictions and national lockdowns. These drastic changes impacted routines, social life and support networks for the autistic community. AIMS: This study investigated the lived experiences of autistic adults with social expectations before and during the first Covid-19 lockdown in Spain. METHODS: A qualitative Reflexive Thematic Analysis was applied to 10 Photo Elicitation Interviews using images provided by five autistic adults. Interviews were conducted at two time points, before the pandemic and during the first lockdown. FINDINGS: Three themes before the pandemic were identified: (1) everyday interactions, (2) finding sense of belonging, and (3) fractured wellbeing, which revealed the participants' eagerness to fit in socially whilst experiencing rejection, weakening their mental health. During the first Covid-19 lockdown, two master themes were identified: (1) daily, positive experiences, and (2) surfacing failures, which emphasised an increased lived stigma as well as an ineffective autism support network, contributing to a heightened anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: The current study provides further support to the recent findings highlighting lack of appropriate mental health support for the autistic communities during the pandemic, across the world. Future research should aim to provide more data on the experiences and needs of autistic communities when sudden societal changes are imposed.
Subject(s)
Autistic Disorder , COVID-19 , Adult , Communicable Disease Control , Humans , SARS-CoV-2 , SpainABSTRACT
Countries all over the globe have implemented mandatory social distancing measures in an attempt to suppress and control the spread of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). This enforced period of isolation, disruption to normal training routines and competition cancellation, could be having an adverse effect on the mental health and wellbeing of athletes. This study sought to explore the perceived impact of the COVID-19 social distancing measures on athlete wellbeing. Fourteen elite athletes who were unable to train or compete due to government imposed lockdown measures were recruited to participate in this qualitative study. Utilising the photo elicitation method, participants were asked to take a series of photographs that represented their experiences as athletes living in lockdown. These photographs were used to guide discussions in follow up unstructured interviews. Reflexive inductive thematic analysis identified three main themes that captured athletes' experience of social distancing measures and the implications for their wellbeing: (1) threats to wellbeing; (2) adapting routines and maintaining motivation; and (3) reflecting on participation in competitive elite sport. The initial sudden loss of sport in the athlete's lives posed a threat to their wellbeing, but over the duration of the lockdown period the athletes developed numerous strategies to protect their wellbeing. Furthermore, their time away from sport encouraged them to reflect on their athletic identity and to make life changes that would protect their wellbeing during the rest of the lockdown period and when they returned to sport. A number of immediate practical recommendations are offered for athlete support personnel working with athletes during the crisis, these include developing self-care strategies and social networks, adapting routines, setting new goals and encouraging the pursuit of dual-careers. Future research is encouraged to investigate how practitioners can deliver effective psychological support through tele-consulting, and to consider whether their support is best focused on therapeutic counselling or mental skills training during the pandemic.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To examine, through photo-elicitation, the personal and professional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health professionals working with children and adolescents around the globe. METHODS: We invited the submission of images collected about the pandemic between May and August 2020. We encouraged participants to yoke personal reflections or voice memos to their images. Using snowball sampling, we began with two invitations, including one to the graduates of a mentorship program continuously hosted since 2004 by the International Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP). We analyzed de-identified images and anonymized transcripts through iterative coding using thematic analysis informed by rich picture analysis and aided by NVivo software. RESULTS: We collected submissions from child and adolescent mental health professionals (n = 134) working in 54 countries spread across the five continents. We identified four overarching domains with component themes that revealed both the commonality and the uniqueness of the pandemic experience around the globe: (1) Place (adjusting to emptiness and stillness; shifting timeframes; blending of spaces); (2) Person (disruption to life rhythms; emotional toll; positives of the pandemic); (3) Profession (changing practices; outreach efforts; guild pride-and guilt); and (4) Purpose (from pandemic to syndemic; from lamenting to embracing; planning toward a better tomorrow). CONCLUSIONS: Photo-elicitation provided a disarming and efficient means to learn about individual, regional, and global similarities and differences regarding the professionals charged with addressing the mental health needs of children and adolescents around the globe. These findings may help inform practice changes in post-pandemic times.