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To explore how Chinese women with gestational diabetes mellitus understand and navigate dietary management within family power dynamics and the factors influencing these management practices.
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.
Fifteen women with gestational diabetes were purposively recruited from two tertiary hospitals in Jiangsu Province, China. Semi-structured interviews and participant-provided artefacts were collected between April and July 2025. Data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, supplemented by metaphorical methods.
Five themes were identified, which included four interactional states of dietary management within family power dynamics: (1) Passive Compliance (Sailing with the current); (2) Strategic Compliance (Sailing over hidden undercurrents); (3) Mild Resistance (Rowing against the tide); (4) Collaborative Negotiation (Charting the course together). The fifth theme, Determinants (The riverbed shaping the flow), described factors influencing shifts across these states, including individual willingness, management capability and family power structures.
Dietary management in gestational diabetes mellitus is not merely an individual health behaviour but a dynamic process shaped by shifting family power dynamics. This perspective helps to explain differences in management and offers a novel framework for family-centered, culturally adaptable interventions in collectivist settings.
People's choices, including their personal experiences, perceived risks and individual values, were shaped by family power dynamics. Recognizing these factors is essential in improving patient-centered care and shared decision-making. Nurse-led patient education should identify women's current interactional states in dietary management and tailor support accordingly.
There is limited evidence exploring the experiences of women with gestational diabetes managing their diet within family power dynamics. This enriched understanding supports improvement of the care pathway and service delivery for these women and their families.
COREQ.
No patient or public contribution.
To evaluate bioecology and environmental influences of patients presenting with alopecia regarding decisions made for hair camouflage.
A descriptive qualitative design was used.
Sixteen adult patients with alopecia were purposefully recruited from two specialised trichology clinics across the Jiangsu Province, China. Surveys and in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted between October 2024 and December 2024. Practical thematic analysis of transcribed data was informed through Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory.
Five major facilitators (camouflaged demands drive, camouflaged psychological resilience, habituation and dependence, family resilience and cross-border support, social acceptance) and four major barriers (limited future orientation, perceived coordination barriers, marginalisation of camouflage-related information, runaway costs) to hair camouflage were identified. These themes align with different levels of the ecological systems theory.
This study captures the complex ecological and intersectional nature of choice, experience and decision-making in patients' views on hair camouflage amid alopecia. Nursing professionals must understand these complexities to provide informed support and evidence-based interventions throughout patients' experiences with alopecia.
This study uses patient voices to offer ecological insights for a holistic understanding of their experiences. It provides knowledge relevant to nursing practice and alopecia patient support. Understanding patient-identified barriers and facilitators in alopecia camouflage is essential to inform more patient-centred approaches to choice, decision-making and psychological adaptation. Nurses are pivotal in this process, making enhanced understanding crucial for improving patients' psychological wellbeing and quality of life.
Our research reveals factors that equip nurses and the broader healthcare team to develop targeted counselling strategies, educational programs and resources related to camouflage for patients with alopecia. The hair-camouflage industry can use these insights to create more personalised and accessible products, better addressing patients' concealment needs and preferences.
Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research.
No patient or public contribution.
FreshRSS 