Parents of trans and gender-diverse youth can experience challenges navigating gender-affirming (GA) care such as stigma, transphobia, and lack of support. There is little information available about stressors, worries, and positive feelings of parents as they try to support their youth accessing GA care. This article presents baseline survey data on experiences and stressors of 160 parents/caregivers in the Trans Youth CAN! cohort study, which examined medical, social, and family outcomes in youth age 16 years or younger considering puberty blockers or GA hormones.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResearch about gender identity development is still in its infancy, especially among youth who experience gender dysphoria and are accessing gender-affirming medical care. This article contributes to the literature on how gender identity and gender dysphoria is experienced, expressed and addressed by youth who have started, or are just about to start, a gender-affirming medical intervention. The project draws from qualitative interviews with 36 trans children and youth of different ages and stages of puberty.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInfant feeding differences are strongly tied to socioeconomic status. The goal of this study is to compare determinants of early breastfeeding cessation incidence in socioeconomically marginalized (SEM) and socioeconomically privileged (SEP) populations, focusing on birthing parents who intended to breastfeed. This cohort study includes data from 451 birthing parents in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador who reported intention to breastfeed in the baseline prenatal survey.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Despite high rates of intention to exclusively breastfeed, rates of exclusive breastfeeding in Canada are low. Supplementation may begin in hospital and is associated with reduced breastfeeding duration. Research aim: The aim of this investigation was to explore determinants of in-hospital nonmedically indicated supplementation of infants whose birthing parents intended to exclusively breastfeed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOver 80% of weight loss surgery (WLS) patients are women, yet gender is overwhelmingly absent in WLS research. This article discusses the findings of 54 interviews with twenty-one women and six men waiting for WLS in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. We critically examine the ways that gender shapes the meaning of WLS in these narratives.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis article explores the perspectives of low-income women in order to better understand the social context that shapes their infant-feeding perspectives and experiences. The authors used purposive sampling to conduct 3 focus groups with 19 women who were formula-feeding their infants in 1 urban and 2 rural communities in the eastern region of the island of Newfoundland in Canada. Elements of the social context for infant-feeding included the prevalence of myths and misinformation about breastfeeding; cultural expectations about infant behaviour; the postnatal experience, including the medicalization of birth and breastfeeding; partner support and child-care workload; cultural stigma of breastfeeding; and a moralizing ideology that equates breastfeeding with "good mothering.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Equity Health
October 2013
Background: In Canada waiting lists for bariatric surgery are common, with wait times on average > 5 years. The meaning of waiting for bariatric surgery from the patients' perspective must be understood if health care providers are to act as facilitators in promoting satisfaction with care and quality care outcomes. The aims of this study were to explore patients' perceptions of waiting for bariatric surgery, the meaning and experience of waiting, the psychosocial and behavioral impact of waiting for treatment and identify health care provider and health system supportive measures that could potentially improve the waiting experience.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF