Journal of Biosocial Science最新文献

{"title":"Lived experiences of food insecurity in the UK: users and volunteers in community-based food aid.","authors":"Sienna Miller, Nick Townsend","doi":"10.1017/S0021932026100583","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021932026100583","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Food insecurity (FI), defined as unreliable access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food, affects nearly 10 million people in the UK. However, official statistics often exclude individuals relying on informal or non-referral-based food support, rendering their experiences largely invisible. This study explores how users and volunteers experience and interpret FI in charity-run, community-based food aid settings across England, an area under-represented in UK studies which are dominated by formal, referral-based food bank models. This qualitative study employed a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to understand the lived experiences of FI. Nineteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of food bank users (<i>n</i> = 10) and volunteers (<i>n</i> = 9). Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis (TA). The socio-ecological model (SEM) was used to structure analysis across five levels: individual, interpersonal, institutional, community, and policy levels. Five interconnected themes emerged across the socio-ecological model: (1) Individual: Mental Health, Stigma and Shame; (2) Interpersonal: Caregiving Responsibilities and Sacrifice; (3) Institutional: Chronic Food Aid Reliance and Nutritional Constraints; (4) Community: Informal Networks and Support; and (5) Public Policy: Welfare Inadequacy and Political Neglect. Volunteers also played a mediating role between systems and individuals, navigating logistical burdens and emotional labour. The findings highlight the multidimensional and structured nature of FI in the UK and offer new insights into how dignity, autonomy, and nutritional adequacy are negotiated within informal food support systems. The study calls for more sustainable, community-responsive food aid models and structural policy reforms addressing poverty, inequality, and the legal right to food.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"1-16"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2026-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147983815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Correlates of pregnancies ending in induced abortions: a population-based analysis from the age perspective.","authors":"Aidée Baranda Ortiz, Mikolaj Stanek","doi":"10.1017/S002193202610056X","DOIUrl":"10.1017/S002193202610056X","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Induced abortions (IAs) constitute a fundamental right contributing to women's reproductive sexual health allowing them to decide whether they wish to avoid, postpone, space, or conclude their motherhood. In this study, fertility control through IA is analysed according to the age combined with the individual and contextual characteristics of the women. Data from the Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy Statistics (Ministry of Health) and the Vital Statistics (Movimiento Natural de la Población, National Statistics Institute) were combined to capture all pregnancy outcomes, including IAs, live births, stillbirths, and late foetal deaths. Binary logistic regression models were applied to each age group (15-19, 20-29, 30-39, and 40-44 years) to calculate the likelihood of opting for an abortion based on whether individuals have a partner, the number of children, and adjusted for other sociodemographic variables. In the early reproductive stages, the probability of opting for an IA was higher in women without a partner than in those with one. In contrast, in the later years of the reproductive cycle, women with two or more children were more likely to opt for an IA, indicating their desire to stop childbearing. The likelihood of opting for an IA varies according to the woman's age. Furthermore, sociodemographic characteristics within each group of age undergo significant changes. A more detailed analysis of the reasons leading to the choice of abortion is necessary. Additionally, this study serves as valuable input for family planning public policies.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"232-244"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147730435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Persistent effects of China's one-child policy on childbearing attitudes of the Chinese diaspora in the United States: a qualitative study.","authors":"Nina Nguyen, Jessica Atrio, Nerys Benfield, June Hoi Ka Ng","doi":"10.1017/S0021932026100510","DOIUrl":"10.1017/S0021932026100510","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study examines how China's former one-child policy has shaped fertility attitudes among the Chinese diaspora in the United States. Through semi-structured qualitative interviews with thirty reproductive-age women of Chinese descent, either born in China or first-generation immigrants to the United States, this study explored opinions towards the policy, self-reported impact on reproductive decision-making, and attitudes towards family size. Participants were recruited from an internet-based survey distributed through cultural groups on social media, paper flyers, and email listservs. Interviews were analysed using the principle of thematic analysis by three authors, who met after coding to resolve disagreements. The mean age of participants was 33. Six participants (20%) used an interpreter. Eighteen participants (60%) were born in China. The range of pregnancies was 0-5, and the range of births was 0-2. Authors found that while participants were no longer directly constrained by the one-child policy, many continued to demonstrate preferences for fewer children. Financial strains, resource allocation, societal shame, and internalised social norms emerged as key themes. These themes echo messages promoted during the one-child policy era through propaganda and enforcement measures, such as audits of family registrations, rewards for compliant families, fines, mandatory IUDs, or sterilisations for noncompliant ones, and even forced abortions for 'unauthorized' pregnancies. These messages reinforced that small families were more appropriate. These findings suggest a lasting cultural shift towards fewer children as a result of the policy, even after emigration. They also carry theoretical implications towards understanding the long-term social and psychological consequences of reproductive mandates and the generational transmission of policy-shaped fertility norms. This study offers a perspective for nations currently implementing pronatalist fertility regulations. These findings highlight the role of historical policies in shaping contemporary reproductive perspectives, family dynamics, and potentially, engagement with medicine beyond geographic, political, and temporal boundaries.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"245-254"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147785603","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Adverse self-rated health transition among older adults in India: a retrospective life course approach.","authors":"Margubur Rahaman, U Venkatesh, Om Prakash Bera, Ashoo Grover","doi":"10.1017/S0021932026100546","DOIUrl":"10.1017/S0021932026100546","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Self-rated health (SRH) is a validated epidemiological measure that captures an individual's overall health perception and predicts morbidity and mortality. Despite extensive research on SRH among older adults in India, evidence on its transition across the life course remains limited. Using data from 70,595 individuals aged 45 years and above from the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI) 2017-2018, this study examined transitions in SRH from childhood to older adulthood. An adverse SRH trajectory was defined as a shift from good childhood health to poor or fair health in later life. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted. Overall, 51% of older adults experienced an adverse SRH trajectory. Higher odds were observed among women (AOR: 1.30), individuals with substance consumption (AOR:1.24), chronic multimorbidity (AOR: 3.37), functional limitations (AOR: 2.03), and depression (AOR: 1.51). Early-life disadvantages - child labour, child marriage, and persistent household poverty - were also significant risk factors. In contrast, higher education and participation in social and physical activities were protective. These findings indicate that an adverse subjective health trajectory is shaped by cumulative life-course exposures rather than ageing alone. Strengthening early-life social investments and community-based wellness initiatives is vital to promote healthy and equitable ageing in India.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"193-209"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147575935","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The lived experiences of familial mental illness stigma among persons living with mental illnesses.","authors":"Joseph Adu, Abram Oudshoorn, Kelly Anderson, Carrie Anne Marshall, Heather Stuart","doi":"10.1017/S0021932026100558","DOIUrl":"10.1017/S0021932026100558","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Persons with mental illnesses may experience stigma from their immediate family members in addition to other forms of stigma. The researchers used semi-structured interviews to investigate the experiences of familial mental illness stigma among 15 people diagnosed with mental illnesses in a mid-sized city in Canada. Five themes that spoke to participants' experiences of familial mental illness stigma and ways to reduce it were identified by the investigators. The themes included: diagnosis as a 'double-edged sword,' potential familial isolation, familial stigma as societal stigma localized, stories of acceptance and support, and confronting potential familial mental illness stigma. Participants' narratives indicate that familial mental illness stigma is rooted in the broader social or public stigma, which sees its way into familial relations as well. This stigma takes various forms, including relationship bias or unfair treatment, breakdown in romantic relationships, loss of status, verbal and emotional abuse, exclusion from decision-making, and alienation within their immediate and extended families. Familial mental illness stigma experiences negatively impact participant's psychological well-being and personal empowerment. However, participants also shared ways that family members create supportive environments or actively confront or prevent stigma. Overall, this study has contributed to knowledge on mental illness stigma, particularly familial mental illness stigma from the perspective of participants living with a mental illness in a high-income country. Suggestions for future research include a focus on strategies to prevent ongoing familial mental illness stigma, and large-scale studies to explore familial mental illness stigma to understand why families might themselves at times perpetrate stigma.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"210-231"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147575887","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ebola in the rear-view mirror: how epidemic pasts shaped Sierra Leone's preparedness and response to Covid-19.","authors":"Fred Martineau, Annie Wilkinson, Lawrence Babawo","doi":"10.1017/S0021932026100509","DOIUrl":"10.1017/S0021932026100509","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper examines how past experience and legacies of epidemics shaped Sierra Leone's response to COVID-19 and how these influences evolved over time. COVID-19 unfolded in the wake of the West African Ebola epidemic (2013-2016), a crisis which was unprecedented in scale. Despite differing markedly in both transmission patterns and clinical outcomes, the Sierra Leonean government repeatedly invoked Ebola when responding to COVID-19, framing the new outbreak through the lens of the old. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with policymakers, response personnel, health workers, and members of the public, the paper analyses how Ebola's imprint surfaced across four domains of the COVID-19 response: public and governmental framings, the design and implementation of key control measures, disputes over incentives and hazard pay, and practices of data and testing. It shows that when confronting a new outbreak, the past manifests in diverse ways. The analysis reveals how these 'epidemic pasts' - contained in lessons, memories, legacies, and assumptions - actively constitute 'epidemic presents'; and should be understood as politically mobilised and socially contested, shaping responses in both enabling and constraining ways. As such, it is suggested that past experience has been under-explored in preparedness and response, and that formal 'lessons learned' exercises offer a limited view of how the past is relevant.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"121-138"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147515849","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Shifting power in pandemics: perspectives from African settings.","authors":"Melissa Leach, Hayley MacGregor, Melissa Parker","doi":"10.1017/S0021932026100571","DOIUrl":"10.1017/S0021932026100571","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>What can be learned about pandemic preparedness from greater attention to perspectives of people who live in regions labelled as 'hotspots' for disease outbreaks? And how might such attention require us to reconfigure science, policy, and practice - as part of a broader shifting of power in pandemics? These are the questions that motivate and are explored through the papers in this special issue on pandemic preparedness, for which this paper serves as Introduction. All the contributions to this special issue present perspectives, experiences, and reflections from African settings, drawing on research co-designed and conducted in close engagement with local communities or in dialogue with African scientists and public health actors. They approach biosocial questions from the concerns of the disciplinary fields of social, medical, and political anthropology, of engaged interdisciplinary social science, and, crucially, of embedded, 'grassroots' fieldwork by researchers who have grown up with the communities they are studying. The team bringing these complementary areas of expertise came together for a collaborative programme on 'Pandemic preparedness: local and global concepts and practices in tackling disease threats in Africa' supported by a collaborative award from the Wellcome Trust during 2018-2023. This special issue thus forms part of wider advocacy for rethinking pandemic preparedness and for the value of anthropology in informing its meanings and practices, now more than ever.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"63-73"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147934508","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Does epidemiological evidence support the success story of Uganda's response to COVID-19?","authors":"Nicolas Laing, Sophie Mylan, Melissa Parker","doi":"10.1017/S0021932024000117","DOIUrl":"10.1017/S0021932024000117","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Uganda has received praise for its success in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. This opinion piece uses publically available data from Johns Hopkins University to suggest that it is far from clear whether the Public Health and Social Measures (PHSM) introduced in Uganda influenced the course of the first outbreak. In addition, the analysis of data from the second and third waves in Uganda suggest that government action had little or no effect on these outbreaks. The dominant narrative of successful PHSM, therefore, needs to be reconsidered, and alternative explanations for the low rates of COVID-19-related mortality in the country need to be further understood.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"139-146"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7616485/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140094912","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pandemic preparedness: what difference does experience make?","authors":"Marion Nyakoi","doi":"10.1017/S0021932025000185","DOIUrl":"10.1017/S0021932025000185","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This ethnographic study, conducted as part of the Pandemic Preparedness Project, explores the pandemic preparedness of communities in NG and its satellite settlements within Kailahun District, Eastern Province, Sierra Leone. The research site was particularly significant due to its history as one of the hardest-hit areas during the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak. NG is served by a Peripheral Health Unit (PHU) that provides health services to seven villages, as well as one distant village far from its designated facility. The study employed long-term observational research methods, where the researcher lived within the community, becoming an integrated observer familiar with local customs and daily life. This ethnographic approach aimed to understand the health-seeking behaviors of residents following the Ebola crisis. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic during the study period shifted the focus to examine how the community understood and responded to a new pandemic threat. Additionally, the study reflects on the challenges faced by female social scientists in Sierra Leone, where few are trained in ethnographic methods. This article offers insights into the process of conducting ethnographic research in a challenging context, providing valuable guidance for other female researchers seeking to engage in similar bio-social studies.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"81-85"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7617603/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143988237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparing social responses to Ebola and Covid-19 in Sierra Leone: an institutional analysis.","authors":"Paul Richards, Foday Kamara, Esther Mokuwa, Marion Nyakoi","doi":"10.1017/S002193202400021X","DOIUrl":"10.1017/S002193202400021X","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper compares community responses to Ebola and Covid-19 in two regions of southern and eastern Sierra Leone with reference to the theory of institutional dynamics proposed by the anthropologist Mary Douglas. Institutions, Douglas argued, are conveyed by styles of thought, shaped by the ways human communities, through everyday practices, reinforce systems of classification and denotation. Pandemic advice to 'follow the science' proved problematic, since there is no single institution of science, and institutions never stand alone but are bundled with other institutions, reflecting the manifold and intertwined practices of human social life. The paper explores some of the ways a traumatic epidemic of Ebola Virus Disease in Sierra Leone shaped a distinctive local response to this deadly infectious disease in the absence of an effective vaccine. This local approach emphasised social rules based on ideas about sequestration and testing. Communities then proposed to continue this rules-based approach to the pandemic of Covid-19 and showed little initial enthusiasm for vaccination. With Ebola, the adoption of rules resulted in dramatic drops in infection rates. But Covid-19 spreads in different ways, and good results from the application of social rules were much less apparent. The paper shows how communities began to grapple with this new situation. In some cases, vaccine hesitation was overcome by treating the requirement for vaccination as a new form of social discipline. More generally, it is concluded that epidemiologists need to pay specific attention to institutions and institutional dynamics in order to better understand and anticipate public reactions to new disease threats.</p>","PeriodicalId":47742,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Biosocial Science","volume":" ","pages":"86-101"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7616509/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140946233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}