Silent slips, trips and broken hips in the under 60s: A review of the literature

Lingering challenges in everyday life for adults under age 60 with hip fractures - a qualitative study of the lived experience during the first three years

PURPOSE

We aimed to illuminate the lived experiences and the path of recovery for adults sustaining a hip fracture before the age of 60.

METHODS

Participants were purposively sampled from a prospective multicenter cohort study in Sweden and Denmark, and narrative interviews were conducted with 19 individuals 0.7-3.5 years after the fracture. We used a phenomenological hermeneutic method to describe the participants' expressed essential meaning.

RESULTS

The experience of sustaining a hip fracture was expressed as a painful and protracted process of regaining self-confidence, function, and independence. It also implied a sense of growing old from one day to the next. Participants were afraid of new falls and fractures, resulting in an increased wariness. When expressing fears and persisting symptoms, participants described being neglected and marginalized by the healthcare system, which was perceived as non-receptive and routinely driven by a notion that hip fractures affect only the elderly. Rehabilitation targeted towards needs different from those of elderly individuals was requested.

CONCLUSION

The lived experience of sustaining a hip fracture in individuals under 60 includes substantial challenges in everyday life, even up to 3.5 years after the injury. Rehabilitation pathways tailored to the needs of younger patients are requested.

Silenced Knowing: An Intersectional Framework for Exploring Black Women's Health and Diasporic Identities

Understanding the needs of Black women within a cultural and medical framework which recognizes the impact on health and well-being on the spaces where culture, health, and expectation intersect remains a challenge. In the UK, Black women are often more likely to have poor prognosis, worse outcomes and greater morbidity from treatable and preventable health conditions than their white peers. UK researchers have struggled to find a culturally appropriate safe methodological framework to help explore the challenges faced by Black women and their families in safeguarding their health, particularly around sensitive issues such as sexual and reproductive health. This article presents a relatively new intersectional framework which has been use for conducting health research on culturally sensitive health issues. The Silences Framework introduces the notion of "Screaming Silences." Screaming Silences (or Silences) reflect the unsaid or unshared aspects of how beliefs, values and experiences of (or about) some groups affect their health and life chances. The article will explore how, the framework aligns with existing Intersectional approaches and how it could be used to expose intersectional nature of issues which influence and inform both individual and group understandings Black Women's health using examples relating to sexual health and life chances for Black women in the Diaspora.