Browsing by Person "Hepworth, J."

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Cancer-related psychosocial research: What are the perspectives of cancer care centre users on participation?
(Springer Verlag, 2011-07) Hepworth, J.; Robertson, A. R. R.; Jhunjhunwala, A.; Jarvis, G. C.; McVittie, Chris
Purpose To explore the perspectives of cancer care centre users on participation in psychosocial research to inform research design and ethics. Methods The study is based on a qualitative research design. Fourteen semistructured interviews were carried in people diagnosed with cancer and carers. The interview included four main questions about practical barriers to participation, types of research design, motivating factors and the conduct of research in a cancer care support setting. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results Interviewees demonstrated a willingness to participate in psychosocial research within certain circumstances. There were no practical barriers identified, although they considered payment for research-related travel important. The most acceptable research design was the face-to-face interview and the least preferred was the randomised control trial. The factors that motivated participation were altruism, valuing research, and making a contribution to the centre. Interviewees supported the conduct of research in cancer care support centres conditional upon delaying recruitment during the initial months of users' visits and its need to be discreet to avoid deterring visitors from accessing the centre. Conclusions The study concludes that the personal interaction between participants and researchers is the most important feature of decision-making by patients/carers to join studies. Taking into account the perspectives of people affected by cancer during the early stages of research design may enhance recruitment and retention and can contribute to the development of research protocols and ethics. 2011 Springer-Verlag.
Femininity, Mental Weakness, and Difference: Male Students Account for Anorexia Nervosa in Men.
(Springer, 2005) McVittie, Chris; Cavers, Debbie; Hepworth, J.
The purpose of this study was to examine how men account for the diagnosis in men of anorexia nervosa (AN), a condition commonly associated with women. Male students participated in focus group discussions of topics related to AN. Discussions were tape-recorded with participants' consent, transcribed, and then analyzed using discourse analysis. The participants spontaneously constructed AN as a female-specific condition. When asked to account for AN in men, they distanced AN from hegemonic masculinities in ways that sustained both dominant masculine identities and gender-specific constructions of AN. These findings show how issues of health and gender are interlinked in everyday understandings of AN. Future researchers might usefully consider how the construction of gender-specific illness implicates wider notions of both feminine and masculine gender identities.
Gender identities and health: how wives construct masculinities and femininities in relation to older men
(2009) McVittie, Chris; Hepworth, J.; Goodall, Karen
Much work in critical health psychology, in contrast to mainstream health psychology, has focused on issues of health and illness as situated achievements that are negotiated in social and discursive contexts. Here we extend this focus by examining how issues of health and illness are bound up with other social concerns, such as the accomplishment of identity. In this paper, we consider such issues in relation to the health concerns of older men, a group whose health has received considerable research attention. In particular, it is argued that for older men the negotiation of hegemonic masculinity has potentially damaging consequences for health outcomes. These constructions of masculinities however have implications not just for older men themselves but also for wives, partners and health professionals. We report findings from an interview study conducted with wives of men aged 65 years and over. Discourse analysis of interview responses shows that participants construct masculine identities in ways that both reproduce and challenge hegemonic masculinities. In all cases however, participants construct their own feminine identities in ways that make them responsible for overseeing their husbands' health and which are thus complicit in maintaining existing behaviours. Health behaviours of older men thus can be viewed as situated in a broader context of both masculine and feminine gender identities. Improving health outcomes for older men thus requires attention to the negotiation of health and identities across a broad context.
The Select Committee Report on Obesity (2004): The significant omission of parental views of their children's eating
(2008) McVittie, Chris; Hepworth, J.; Schilling, B.
Many studies have reported increasing levels of obesity and overweight in children. Recent policy developments have examined a range of influences on children's eating habits but have left largely unexamined the role of parents in general and mothers in particular. In this study we examined mothers' understandings of healthy eating and of their influence on their children's eating patterns. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine mothers of children aged between 4 and 12 years of age. Interviewees displayed knowledge of recommended eating practices for their children but distinguished this knowledge from actual eating practices. Avoidance of negative social perceptions, pleasure in eating and opportunities for fast food were regarded as more important than eating in accordance with recommended nutritional guidelines. Moreover, the food choices made were viewed as positive alternatives to eating based on nutritional balance. These views pose a challenge for policy initiatives to address obesity and excess weight in children. Future initiatives should have increased regard for the everyday contexts within which children's eating patterns are understood and justified.