Background Refugee physical and mental health ramifications have been widely studied; however, studies on refugee interpersonal relations are less prevalent. Objectives This study explored the determinants and relational outcomes influencing dyadic intimacy and sexuality among Syrian refugees. Design Qualitative design. Methods Twenty-four in-depth interviews were conducted in Arabic with Syrian refugee women living in the urban areas of Jordan. A research team translated and transcribed the interviews. Narrative methodology guided data collection and analysis. Results Two overarching categories emerged: determinants and outcomes, comprising five major themes. Determinants included risk factors (war exposure, poor health, economic challenges, and gender-role changes) and protective factors (faith/religious beliefs, nostalgic memories, and aspirations for a better future). Risk factors were associated with dyadic separateness (e.g., conflict, infidelity), whereas protective factors were linked to dyadic togetherness (e.g., closeness, couple resilience). Notably, impaired sexuality emerged across relational dynamics and was reported as a negative outcome regardless of whether risk or protective factors were at play. Conclusion It is vital to address refugee difficulties not only at the individual level, but also at the dyadic and familial levels. Socio-culturally sensitive policies and interventions that engage both genders are needed to encourage openness around taboo topics in uprooted Middle Eastern populations.
Women’s reproductive health in the Middle East remains shaped by a complex interplay of sociocultural norms, economic, and political determinants. Despite regional progress in healthcare, inequities persist in women’s access to comprehensive reproductive services. Several Middle Eastern countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Jordan, have initiated national policies and awareness programs to promote women’s health. In contrast, others, such as Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, and Sudan, face systemic and policy-related challenges. This Perspective compares national strategies for women’s reproductive health across Middle Eastern countries, highlighting policy frameworks, medical insurance coverage, and barriers to equitable care. We examine how socioeconomic, cultural, and legislative factors influence the accessibility and quality of reproductive health services. Furthermore, we assess the impact of insurance coverage and healthcare financing on women’s well-being and examine how policy gaps perpetuate disparities in maternal, sexual, and reproductive health outcomes.
Approximately one million women are under correctional supervision in the United States, a number that is increasing at double the rate of men. For women who are incarcerated, the majority of whom are parents to minor children, incarceration has far-reaching impacts on individual-, family-, community- and population-level health outcomes. However, women who are incarcerated are often implicitly or explicitly excluded from biomedical and social science research, impeding researchers’ and public health practitioners’ ability to intervene at critical junctures to improve women’s health outcomes. In this paper, we describe the ways that logistical challenges become ethical issues when conducting research focused on understanding and reducing women’s health disparities in carceral settings. Building on our teams’ collective experiences, we illustrate how the often-opaque and unpredictable Department of Corrections (DOC) and internal university Institutional Review Board (IRB) review processes, the difficulty in having meaningful engagement of individuals with lived experience from project design to dissemination, and the complexities surrounding informed consent and compensation all reveal a system that creates barriers to conducting equitable research to promote women’s health. We provide tangible recommendations based on our experiences including actively engaging individuals with lived experience throughout the research process, cultivating collaborative relationships between researchers, DOC and participants to help navigate the carceral-specific challenges, and emphasizing intentionality about tone, timing, and venue of dissemination. The ethical challenges described must be addressed so that researchers – in partnership with individuals with lived experience – can continue to advance health equity and combat the significant health disparities created and exacerbated by incarceration.
Background Individuals with asthma experience more psychiatric comorbidities than the general population, and psychological stress modulates their immunity. Altered emotions and coping mechanisms often coincide with functional gastrointestinal disorders, and the “gut–brain axis” explains the interactions between the nervous system and intestinal functions, including reduced microbiota diversity and mucosal immune activation. The “gut–lung axis” explains the frequency of functional gastrointestinal disorders in individuals with atopic conditions, particularly asthma. Female gender and premenopausal hormonal status are strongly associated with specific immunomediated and functional gastrointestinal pathways, leading to a higher prevalence of conditions such as asthma and functional dyspepsia (FD) in this population. Objectives This study aimed to explore the differences in psychiatric disorders, lifestyle, resilience, and coping styles between premenopausal women with and without asthma or FD. Design Regional, cross-sectional study. Methods The study included 110 women aged 19–46 years (mean 31.71, SD 7.40) recruited from health centers and outpatient clinics in one region of Croatia. Among the participants, 36% had asthma, 20% had dyspepsia, 15% had both, and 29% had no comorbidities. Data collection involved interviews and questionnaires assessing resilience and coping styles. Chi-square tests and Welch ANOVA were used to analyze group differences. Results No statistically significant differences were found in sociodemographic characteristics or lifestyle habits between the groups. Among coping strategies, positive reframing showed significant differences, being more pronounced in individuals with asthma than in those with FD 7.2 (1.14) vs. 5.82 (1.94) (p = 0.009). Resilience was higher in individuals without comorbidities than in those with FD, 3.54 (0.8) vs. 2.83 (0.62) (p = 0.006). Individuals without asthma and FD diagnoses scored significantly lower on the PHQ-15 questionnaire than those with asthma and both asthma and FD 6.84 (4.26) vs. 8.82 (4.62) vs. 14.44 (5.30) (p < 0.001). Conclusion Our findings highlight the importance of psychological factors in treating FD and asthma, considering the “gut-brain” and “gut-lung” connections. They can also help healthcare providers develop targeted psychological support to improve disease management and well-being in patients with FD and asthma.
Background Breast cancer in young women presents distinct clinical and psychosocial challenges, yet healthcare systems remain organised around older age groups, shaping how symptoms and concerns are recognised. These patterns of non-recognition can be understood through the framework of epistemic injustice, which examines how credibility and interpretive resources are differentially distributed in healthcare encounters. Objectives This study examines how epistemic injustice operates across the experiences of young women with breast cancer, focusing on diagnosis, treatment, and survivorship. Design Qualitative study based on in-depth semi-structured interviews. Methods This study draws on a purposive sample of 28 women diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 40, interviewed within six years of diagnosis in the Metropolitan Region of Chile. Interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, informed by the framework of epistemic injustice and guided by explicit criteria distinguishing epistemic injustice from service deficiency. Results Epistemic injustice emerged as a temporally structured process unfolding across the cancer trajectory. In diagnosis, women’s symptoms were frequently dismissed through age and gender-based credibility biases, a pattern consistent with testimonial injustice. In treatment, a strong focus on survival marginalised concerns related to fertility, sexuality, and identity, reflecting hermeneutical injustice arising both where clinical frameworks were absent and where available frameworks were nor applied. In survivorship, expectations of full recovery left ongoing disruption difficult to articulate, a further form of hermeneutical injustice operating through dominant recovery narratives. Across all phases, age functioned as a shifting epistemic filter shaping how women’s experiences were interpreted and acted upon. Conclusion Epistemic injustice in early-onset breast cancer unfolds across the full illness trajectory and was observed in accounts from both public and private settings. Addressing these inequities requires attention to how age shapes clinical interpretation and care models that recognise young women’s experiences as clinically relevant.
