EQ-5D-3L and quality of life in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) patients: beyond the index scores.

Background: Many patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) generate single number index scores that summarise responses to different questions within a questionnaire. Although these are valuable as unambiguous indicators of ill-health and changes in health, further information can be gained from examining the questionnaire responses themselves. This has additional importance since the patients' reports are those responses and not the index scores.

Access to fertility preservation for trans and non-binary people in Aotearoa New Zealand.

There is a growing need for healthcare professionals to discuss fertility preservation options with trans and non-binary people before commencing medical transition as part of informed consent-based models of care. In this article, we adapt the Five-A framework of healthcare access to examine fertility preservation information and services. To do so, we present an analysis of data from , the first comprehensive national survey in Aotearoa New Zealand of trans and non-binary people's health and the first study exploring their access to cryopreservation information and services.

Ka mura ka muri: understandings of organ donation and transplantation in Aotearoa New Zealand.

In this article, we refer to the separation of solid organs from the body as bio-objects. We suggest that the transfer of these bio-objects is connected to emotions and affects that carry a range of different social and cultural meanings specific to the context of Aotearoa New Zealand. The discussion draws on research findings from a series of qualitative indepth interview studies conducted from 2008 to 2013 with Māori (the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand) and Pākehā (European settler New Zealanders) concerning their views on organ donation and transplantation.

Altruism, solidarity and affect in live kidney donation and breastmilk sharing.

Social scientists have recently diverged from mainstream bioethical discussion on the topic of the medical use of human biological materials for therapeutic, reproductive and research purposes. Rather than justifying the donation and provision of biological materials solely in terms of alleviating physical, psychological and social suffering, saving or enhancing life, and advancing biomedical knowledge, this work looks beyond humanist bioethics to take a social justice approach to questions of the life sciences. In this article, I draw insight from these accounts to propose an approach to the sociology of live kidney and breastmilk donation that is situated at the interface of the new sociology of morality and affect studies.

When the treatment stops: A qualitative study of life post breast cancer treatment.

Public attention focuses on breast cancer treatment and fundraising; however, there is limited discussion about life post-treatment. Once treatment is complete, there can be societal expectations of newfound wellness. To understand this phenomenon, the narratives of nine women post-treatment were explored.

'Because you can't live on love': living kidney donors' perspectives on compensation and payment for organ donation.

Context And Objective: Living kidney donation accounts for approximately half of all kidney transplantation in many countries and is central to health policy focused on increasing organ supply. However, little examination of the economic consequences of living kidney donation has been undertaken from the perspective of donors themselves. This article documents living kidney donors' views regarding recompense and payment for organ donation, based on their experience.

Multiple meanings of "gift" and its value for organ donation.

The "gift of life" metaphor is used to promote organ donation where commercialization is prohibited. In this article, we explore how multiple parties involved in organ transfer procedures think of gift terminology by drawing on interview data with transplantation specialists, organ transplant recipients, living directed donors and living nondirected donors. The interviews took place across New Zealand between October 2008 and May 2012, in participants' homes and hospital workplaces.

Being-in-dialysis: The experience of the machine-body for home dialysis users.

New Zealand leads the world in rates of home dialysis use, yet little is known about the experience of home dialysis from the patient's perspective. This article contributes to the literature on the self-care of dialysis patients by examining the relevance of the concept of the machine-body and cyborg embodiment for the lived experience of people with end-stage renal failure. The article, which presents a discussion of 24 in-depth interviews undertaken between 2009 and 2012, shows that although dialysis therapy is disruptive of being and time, study participants experience home dialysis in terms of flexibility, control and independence.

Thanking and reciprocating under the New Zealand organ donation system.

Organ donation and transplantation has been extensively addressed in the biomedical and bioethics literature in relation to debates around organ allocation and procurement strategies, and concerns about consent, coercion and commodification. This article addresses the topic sociologically, drawing on data from face-to-face in-depth interviews undertaken between 2008 and 2010 with organ and tissue recipients, anonymous altruistic donors and donor family members to discuss questions of reciprocity and intercorporeality that arise in the course of tissue exchange. In particular, the article examines the place of anonymity protocol for organ donors and transplantation recipients in New Zealand and their responses to conventions and scripts surrounding this rule.

Perceptions of the gift relationship in organ and tissue donation: Views of intensivists and donor and recipient coordinators.

The international literature on organ donation and transplantation has drawn attention to the popularity of "gift of life" discourse among pro-donation advocates, transplantation specialists, and within organisations lobbying for improved donation rates to promote the benefits of organ donation among members of the general public. In Aotearoa/New Zealand, gift of life discourse is robust. Aside from attempts to elicit altruism by promoting tissue donation in the public domain, gift terminology separates the act of donation from that of commerce and the commodification of body tissues.

Towards disability ethics: a social science perspective.

In the social sciences, debates about the discursive and material constitution of subjectivity and identity no longer appear to be at loggerheads. This has important implications for how we are to construct a framework for thinking about disability ethics. Following recent inroads in disability theory and in the sociology of ethics, we would argue that one of the aims of a disability ethics is not to view disability exclusively as a question of impairment, but to reclaim the social aspects of impairment in conjunction with the embodied aspects of disability.