BACKGROUND: The intensive care unit presents structural complexities, and the prevailing power imbalance between patients and staff can lead to health disparities. Hence, unveiling the underlying factors that give rise to and reinforce these disparities can contribute to their prevention. This study aims to shed light on the stereotypes linked to ageism and lookism, which perpetuate health disparities within the intensive care unit setting in Iran.
METHODS: This critical ethnographic study employed Carsepkan\'s approach and was carried out in intensive care units in the west of Iran from 2022 to 2023. The data collection and analysis were conducted through three interconnected stages. In the initial stage, more than 300 h of observations were made at the research site. In the subsequent stage, a horizon analysis was performed. Conversations with 14 informants were conducted in the final stage to enrich the dataset further. Then the analysis process was carried out as in the previous step to uncover an implicit culture of health disparity. To verify the validity and reliability of the study, credibility, conformability, dependability, and transferability were all taken into account.
RESULTS: The ageism and lookism stereotypes emerged from seven main themes; youth-centric; negative ageism; age-friendliness; age-related priority; centered care for pediatric patients and families; appearance-centeredness; and a contradiction between belief and behavior.
CONCLUSIONS: This critical study showed that ageism and lookism stereotypes permeated the intensive care unit\'s culture. These stereotypes have the potential to influence equality dynamics, as well as to foster and support health disparity in the intensive care unit.

UNASSIGNED: Living with risk is a salient part of everyday living and although risk affects everyone, older adults are often regarded as a high-risk group, particularly older adults who are aging with a disability, such as vision loss. A prominent focus within low vision rehabilitation is the provision, and training, of older adults in the use of low vision assistive devices as a strategy to manage risks in both the home and community environment. This study aimed to unpack the influence of assistive technologies on experiences of risk among eleven older adults (aged 65+) with age-related vision loss.
UNASSIGNED: This critical ethnographic study used home tours, the go-along method, and a semi-structured in-depth interview.
UNASSIGNED: The study identified five prevailing themes including: 1) Moving away from the individualization of risk; 2) The cost of assistive technologies as a risk contributor; 3) Practicing \'responsible living\'; Technology as an adaptive strategy to risk taking; 4) Resisting the label of \'at risk\'; The influence of technology on self-identity; and 5) Technology as a substitution versus supplement for social connectedness.
UNASSIGNED: The study findings highlight the importance of moving beyond a technico-scientific perspective of risk, in which risk is framed as an objective phenomenon located in older adults\' bodies, and instead framing risk within a broader sociocultural perspective which moves our attention to those contextual or environmental factors that shape experiences of risk for older adults with vision loss.
Risk taking is an inevitable aspect of everyday living.An individualized approach to risk management is problematic.The cost of assistive technology is a contributing risk factor.Technology use may cause risks to social identity, embarrassment, and stigma.Technology use can help mitigate risk among older adults.

Refugee mothers are vulnerable to cultural stereotyping and socioeconomic hardships when they migrate to a new country. This vulnerability often has a negative impact on refugee mothers\' breastfeeding practices. Saskatchewan is one of the growing provinces in Canada that has a noticeable increase in refugee population with young children and limited availability of healthcare settings with baby-friendly status. Considering existing gaps in knowledge, this critical ethnographic study aimed to explore barriers that impede the breastfeeding practices of refugee mothers in Saskatchewan. After seeking ethics approval, data were collected using multiple methods, including in-depth interviews undertaken with 27 refugee mothers with young children of age range 1 day to 24 months, a review of media communications and field observations of community-based services/facilities available to refugee mothers. Findings suggest that psychosocial barriers, healthcare barriers, environmental barriers, and maternal and child health-related barriers impede the breastfeeding practices of refugee mothers in Saskatchewan. Breastfeeding practices of refugee mothers can be promoted through healthcare support, culturally appropriate services, interpretation services in healthcare settings, implementation of baby-friendly initiatives, hospital and community-based breastfeeding campaigns, and follow-up services. Collaborative efforts by healthcare settings, healthcare providers, policymakers, public health agencies, service providers, and governments are essential to support the breastfeeding practices of refugee mothers.

In Islam, the ritual of burial including washing, shrouding and burying the dead body (Ghusl/Kafan/Dafan) has always been problematic. Burial in Iran has always been a well-ordered custom and there have always been specific people for this ritual (Ghassals). Due to dealing with the dead, their lives are always the focus of social discussions. Drawn on Carspecken\'s (1996) five-stage approach, this research examined the social isolation of Ghassals in Yazd province, Iran. The data were obtained through participant observation (first covert then overt) and in-depth interviews with six Ghassals in Yazd. The main themes extracted included stigma and isolation, the experience of hegemonic violence, problematic companionship/not companionship, forced choice, job dissatisfaction, and social discouragement. Our findings indicate an undesirable social status for the Ghassals who are often unwelcomed by the society and in some cases even by the family. These behaviors ultimately lead to social isolation and depression among Ghassals.

Beginning with a critical examination of the humanist assumptions of critical ethnography, this article interrogates and surfaces problems with the ontological and epistemological orientations of this research methodology. In drawing on exemplar empirical data from an arts-based project, the article demonstrates the limitations in the humanist-based qualitative research approach and advances a postdualist, postrepresentationalist direction for critical ethnography called entangled ethnography. Using data from a larger study that examined the perspectives of racialized mad artists, what is demonstrated in this inquiry is that the entanglement of bodies, objects, and meaning-making practices is central to working with the ontologically excluded, such as those who find themselves in various states of disembodiment and/or corporeal and psychic distribution. We propose the redevelopment of critical ethnography, extended by entanglement theory (a critical posthuman theory), and suggest that for it to be an inclusive methodology, critical ethnography must be conceptualized as in the process of becoming and always in regeneration, open to critique, extension, and redevelopment.

UNASSIGNED: Significant social and health issues are associated with homelessness. Negative experiences with the healthcare system are also frequent and cause people experiencing homelessness to avoid health services.
UNASSIGNED: The purpose of this study was to (1) explore participants\' health needs concerning outreach nursing services and (2) describe the perceptions and preferences of people who access this form of community-based intervention.
UNASSIGNED: We conducted a critical ethnography with semi-structured interviews of 12 people experiencing homelessness who receive the services of a nurse-led mobile clinic, and 60 hours of observation during the provision of these services.
UNASSIGNED: Our results describe the perspectives of people experiencing homelessness in three main categories: (1) worrisome health and social needs, (2) non-use of healthcare and (3) what connects us to health services.
UNASSIGNED: Timely access to healthcare is an important issue for people experiencing homelessness. Nurse-led clinics meet needs that go far beyond health issues.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to explore the determinants of time to presentation of women with breast cancer symptoms within a rural setting in Kenya.
METHODS: A critical ethnographic study.
METHODS: Data were collected between July 2019 and April 2020 using semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 12 women and 23 disclosure recipients, respectively. Interviews and focus group discussions were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, translated into English and thematically analysed. Further analysis using an intersectional lens added new insights into the data. Ethics approval was obtained in both Kenya and United Kingdom.
RESULTS: Participants narrated their experiences from the time they self-discovered breast cancer symptoms to the time they first came into contact with a healthcare professional. The core themes identified included local cancer knowledge, embodied experience, women\'s responses, social networks, cultural cancer schemas, gendered social structures and healthcare system experiences.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings revealed that symptomatic women predominantly faced multiple intersecting barriers to timely presentation. The key drivers of timeliness to presentation of women with breast cancer symptoms were identified. Several proximal and distal determinants, including economic, social, psychological and cultural determinants intersected to shape women\'s timeliness to symptomatic presentation.
CONCLUSIONS: This study identified intersectional structural determinants to timely symptomatic presentation of women with breast cancer symptoms. The findings have global health implications for social inequalities in female breast cancer and may inform the development of intersectional interventions to promote timely symptomatic presentation. Furthermore, this study identified an additional interval, precursory interval and revision of the Model of pathway to treatment may be needed should this interval be validated by future studies.
UNASSIGNED: To ensure the interview guides were culturally sensitive, they were co-designed with a female breast cancer survivor, nurses providing reproductive health care to women and a bilingual expert. Both women and disclosure recipients participated in scheduling for the interviews, including the mutually agreeable days and time. Participants were frequently contacted during data analysis and report writing to clarify meaning of certain words or pieces of data.

Syrian refugee women face many obstacles when accessing health services in host countries that are influenced by various cultural, structural, and practical factors. This paper is based on critical ethnographic research undertaken in Canada, to explore Syrian refugee women migration experiences. Also, we aim at critically examining how the intersection of gender, trauma, and violence, and the political and economic conditions of Syrian refugee women shapes their everyday lives and health. The study also investigates the strategies and practices by which Syrian refugee women are currently addressing their healthcare needs and the models of care that are suggested for meeting their physical and mental health needs. Findings show that these women experienced constant worries, hardship, vulnerability, and intrusion of dignity. These experiences and challenges were aggravated by the structure of the Canadian social and healthcare system. This study offers a better understanding of the impact of migration and trauma on Syrian refugee women\'s roles, responsibilities, gender dynamics, and interaction with Ontario\'s healthcare system to improve interaction and outcomes. Healthcare models should address these challenges among Syrian refugee families in Canada.

Critical ethnographers have long challenged positivist notions of research objectivity and the presumed unbiased observer, arguing that one\'s theoretical lens and positionality influence research design, access, and experiences in the field. Scholars of color have further pointed out the need to examine people\'s lived experiences through an intersectional framework, acknowledging the ways in which people\'s lives are situated within larger structures of power and forms of oppression. In this paper, I use critical ethnography as an intersectional methodological approach to examine the lived experiences of mixed-status families and situate them within a larger political-economic context of restrictive immigration policies and neoliberal globalization. Critical ethnography is a useful methodology when interrogating larger questions of structure and agency, positionality, and social justice scholarship. I use critical ethnography to challenge the rigidity of ethnographic borders by proposing a concept of \"ethnographic crossings\" as moments in time and space when the roles of researchers and participants become blurred and intertwined. I draw on ethnographic examples to show the evolution of my project-from gaining access to immigrant families and following them across two countries to the close relationships developed during fieldwork that crossed emotional boundaries.
Los etnógrafos críticos llevan años desafiando las nociones positivistas de objetividad investigativa y del supuesto observador imparcial argumentando que el lente teórico y la posicionalidad de una persona influyen en el diseño de las investigaciones, el acceso y las experiencias de campo. Investigadores de grupos racializados han señalado también la necesidad de examinar las experiencias vividas por las personas a través de un marco interseccional que reconozca las formas en las que las vidas de las personas se sitúan dentro de estructuras mayores de poder y tipos de opresión. Utilizo la etnografía crítica en este artículo como propuesta metodológica interseccional para examinar las experiencias vividas de familias de estatus migratorio mixto y situarlas dentro de un contexto político económico más amplio de políticas migratorias restrictivas y globalización neoliberal. La etnografía crítica es una metodología útil para plantear preguntas mayores de estructura y acción, posicionalidad y trabajo académico de justicia social. Utilizo la etnografía crítica para desafiar la rigidez de las fronteras etnográficas proponiendo un concepto de “cruces etnográficos”: momentos en el tiempo y el espacio en los que los papeles de investigador y participante se difuminan y entrelazan. Parto de ejemplos etnográficos para demostrar la evolución de mi proyecto: desde conseguir acceso a las familias inmigrantes y seguirlas a través de dos países hasta las relaciones estrechas desarrolladas durante el trabajo de campo que cruzaron los límites emocionales.

In this critical ethnographic study, we examined women\'s end of life experiences in Malawi, one of the few countries in the world with a national palliative care policy. Specifically, we explored how women\'s and their caregivers\' experiences were shaped by family and community care, and material needs. Interviews and observations with female clients of a non-governmental organization in rural Central Malawi, and with their caregivers, revealed that community-level support was both precarious and critical. We found three main themes: (1) I stay with them well, (2) we eat together, and (3) everyone is for themselves. The analysis illustrates the centrality of community care, social in/exclusion, and availability of stable food, shelter, medical, and caregiving resources on health and wellbeing at end of life. We provide recommendations to strengthen community care opportunities and women\'s resource bases.