Papers by Antje Lindenmeyer
Sociology of Health & Illness, 2008
Article Title: The influence of patient and doctor gender on diagnosing coronary heart disease
Biography, 2001
ABSTRACT Biography 24.1 (2001) 25-34 In this passage, Wieland Herzfelde evocatively remembers a p... more ABSTRACT Biography 24.1 (2001) 25-34 In this passage, Wieland Herzfelde evocatively remembers a public poetry reading Else Lasker-Schüler held in 1914. She is dressed up as the character that is the protagonist of many of her works: Prince Jussuf of Thebes, who is sometimes masculine, sometimes an androgynous youth, and sometimes identified with the biblical Joseph. Although this description relies heavily on gendered stereotypes, it captures how Else Lasker-Schüler's performance thrives on playing with gendered identities. By appearing in public as the protagonist of her written work, Else Lasker-Schüler blurs the boundaries between self and writing, "life" and "work." Many of the issues I want to explore in this article are already touched on in this quotation: the autobiographical performance as playing with gender and difference, the relationship between body and self or body and voice, and the significance of a change of clothes as a sign of an inner metamorphosis. Else Lasker-Schüler (1869-1945) was a German-Jewish poet, playwright, and prose writer. As a bohemian Jewish woman poet, she has been described as an incarnation of the manifold Other (O'Brien 1). She fits uneasily into German literary history; usually she is pigeonholed as a minor player in the Expressionist movement, with roots in Jugendstil (art nouveau) and in German romanticism (see Klüsener). She is best known for her poems written from the turn of the century to the 1920s, which have found their way into various anthologies. At that time she was a well-known figure in the Berlin art scene, famous for her public appearances as "Prince Jussuf," and her friendships with more famous Expressionist men, among them Gottfried Benn, Franz Marc, and Georg Trakl. However, her oeuvre also includes two collections of short stories set in a fantastic Orient, two ironically self-reflexive epistolary mini-novels, three plays, various essays, and a book-length account of her travels in Palestine. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, she had to emigrate, first to Switzerland and then to Palestine, where she died in 1945. All her works have clearly autobiographical elements, and most of them include, as poetic I, as a protagonist, or in a supporting role, one of her many literary alter egos. They are varied, reaching from the exotic Princess Tino of Baghdad, to Amadeus, the rent-boy with a heart of glass. The alter ego she uses most frequently and importantly, however, is Prince Jussuf of Thebes. Biographers, following the widespread assumption that writing by women can only be autobiographical (see Stanton 4), have frequently used the literary texts to gain an insight into her life. However, Else Lasker-Schüler herself flies in the face of this assumption by proclaiming her fantastic biography to be more important than her real one. Asked for a short biographical entry for Menschheitsd¨ammerung [Twilight of Man], a definitive collection of Expressionist poetry, she wrote: "I was born in Thebes (Egypt), even though I came into the world in Elberfeld, in the Rhineland" ("Biographical Note"). This stance has confounded many of the literary critics who have analyzed her work: Else Lasker-Schüler writes prose texts and poems set in a fantastic Orient, but at the same time she populates them with clearly recognizable friends and acquaintances. She often uses elements of her own biography -- her loves and friendships, her divorce, and the birth of her son. Critics have attempted to extract the "real" autobiographical elements and separate them from the fantastic fiction. But looking for the "real" life within the fantastic is pointless: the constructed, fantastic "second" life and the "Prince Jussuf" self are, for the author, more real than the "real" life could ever be. Moreover, the fantastic life encroaches...
European Diabetes Nursing, 2006
SummaryNurses now provide the majority of education and support for people with diabetes both in ... more SummaryNurses now provide the majority of education and support for people with diabetes both in community and hospital settings. However, there are very few studies on nurse-led interventions to improve adherence to medication, a crucial element of the self-management of diabetes.The four studies reviewed formed a subgroup of a Cochrane review on interventions to improve adherence to medication in people with type 2 diabetes. Search terms were ‘type 2 diabetes mellitus’ and ‘compliance’ or ‘adherence’. Studies were included if they assessed adherence to medical treatment specifically, rather than other aspects of self-management. Out of the 21 studies selected for review, four described an intervention delivered by a nurse.All four studies were from the USA and used an intervention delivered by telephone. Different interventions (two educational programmes, one automated telephone management system, one tracking system for health service and medication use) were backed up by a scripted nurse call. While patients in two studies reported improvements in self-care behaviour, only one measured a significant improvement in blood glucose control. Although some studies asked patients to report on their adherence to medication taking, responses from patients were not explicitly presented.The studies reviewed show the potential for generating evidence for the effectiveness of nurse-led diabetes management programmes. Further high-quality studies into this area are desperately needed, and they should consider new ways of evaluating complex interventions to generate more evidence. Copyright © 2006 FEND.
Health Care for Women International, 2011
This article explores midlife women's experiences and approaches related to complementary and alt... more This article explores midlife women's experiences and approaches related to complementary and alternative therapies (CAMS). Ninety-six midlife women were asked about their use of CAMs as part of their overall approach to midlife health. Qualitative thematic analysis was combined with a case-based approach. Women set their experience of CAMs in the context of conventional medicine taking and discussed their safety and different uses. For treatments requiring direct contact with a practitioner, accessibility and quality of the relationship were crucial. Four overall approaches could be discerned (political–critical, pragmatic, careful and wellbeing-oriented) that dynamically interacted with women's experiences.
Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 2006
Background and objective: Pharmacists are now adopting a crucial role in the management of chron... more Background and objective: Pharmacists are now adopting a crucial role in the management of chronic illness in primary care, providing diabetes care and advice. This review aims to show whether a range of diabetes care interventions delivered by pharmacists is successful in improving adherence to medication.Methods: The studies reviewed formed a subgroup of a Cochrane review on interventions to improve adherence to medication in people with type 2 diabetes. Search terms were ‘type 2 diabetes mellitus’ and ‘compliance’ or ‘adherence’. Studies were included if they assessed adherence to medical treatment specifically, rather than other aspects of self-management. Out of the 21 studies selected for review, five described an intervention delivered by a pharmacist.Results and discussion: Two studies reported on attempts to improve adherence focused on the taking of medication. A system of reminders and packaging improved medication adherence, but measuring medicine taking through pill counts or Medication Event Monitoring System was not effective. Three studies evaluated pharmacist-led integrated management and education programmes designed to improve glycaemic control for under-served patient populations. They all succeeded in lowering glycated haemoglobin, but it remains unclear whether this resulted from improved patient adherence.Conclusion: This review indicates a potential benefit of pharmacist interventions to improve medication adherence in diabetes, especially in providing patient education.
Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, 2010
Purpose: To provide a systematic review of the best available research literature investigating t... more Purpose: To provide a systematic review of the best available research literature investigating the relation of oral and maxillofacial surgical procedures to the onset or relief of chronic painful temporomandibular disorder (TMD). Materials and Methods: A comprehensive review of the databases CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Embase, Medline, NHS Evidence-Oral Health, PsycINFO, Web of Knowledge, and MetaLib was undertaken by 2 authors (P.S., M.H.) up to June 2009 using search terms appropriate to establishing a relation between orofacial surgical procedures and TMD. The search was restricted to English-language publications. Results: Of the 1,777 titles reviewed, 35 articles were critically appraised but only 32 articles were considered eligible. These were observational studies that fell into 2 groups; 9 were seeking to establish a surgical cause for TMD. Of these, only 2 of a series of 3 claimed that there was a significant link, but this claim was based on weak data (health insurance records) and was abandoned in a subsequent report. Twenty-three studies were seeking to achieve relief by orthognathic surgical intervention. These were also negative overall, with 7 articles showing varying degrees of mostly nonsignificant improvement, whereas 16 showed no change or a worse outcome. No published report on the putative effect of implant insertion was found. Conclusion: These apparently contradictory approaches underline a belief that oral surgical trauma or gross malocclusion has a causative role in the onset of TMD. However, there was no overall evidence of a surgical causal etiology or orthognathic therapeutic value. This review emphasizes that it is in the patients' best interest to carry out prospective appropriately controlled randomized trials to clarify the situation.
Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, 2008
d i a b e t e s r e s e a r c h a n d c l i n i c a l p r a c t i c e 7 9 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 3 7 7 -3 8 8
Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2006
Background: As Internet use grows, health interventions are increasingly being delivered online. ... more Background: As Internet use grows, health interventions are increasingly being delivered online. Pioneering researchers are using the networking potential of the Internet, and several of them have evaluated these interventions.
Chronic Illness, 2010
To explore how people living with type 2 diabetes self-manage their condition in everyday life an... more To explore how people living with type 2 diabetes self-manage their condition in everyday life and the impact of the Diabetes Manual programme, a one-to-one structured educational intervention aiming to increase skills and confidence for self-management. Semi-structured interviews with 12 participants on the Diabetes Manual trial, sampled purposively according to baseline self-efficacy and educational attainment. When describing their experience of living with diabetes, there was little difference between intervention and control participants, although those who had received the programme talked more about the use of blood glucose self-assessment. Programme users were grouped into three categories, Programme Engagers (n = 2), Programme Browsers (n = 4) and Information Seekers (n = 6). Of the two participants engaging with the programme, one described a very positive experience, the other felt unsupported by their practice. None noticed a difference in the approach used by their health professional. Participants' approach to the Diabetes Manual programme suggests they will continue to use it as a resource in the future. Participants used the Diabetes Manual programme in different ways, choosing the timing and depth of engagement. Their experience suggests that the programme requires close communication and openness towards collaborative approaches to improve skills and confidence for self-management.
British Dental Journal, 2011
outcomes and increase mortality. 6 However, a meta-analysis reported that treatment of periodonta... more outcomes and increase mortality. 6 However, a meta-analysis reported that treatment of periodontal disease by scaling/root planning and oral hygiene in people with diabetes resulted in a mean reduction in HbA1c levels of 0.4%. 7 Despite growing evidence about the associations between oral health problems in patients with diabetes, there is limited research investigating oral health awareness in patients with diabetes.
Diabetic Medicine, 2006
Aims In order to measure the effectiveness of interventions claiming to improve adherence in dia... more Aims In order to measure the effectiveness of interventions claiming to improve adherence in diabetes, valid measurement of adherence is necessary. Any measurement must first be based on a definition. This study aimed to identify and categorize definitions and measurements of adherence in living with diabetes, from a review of the literature.Methods Publications were identified from the medline database. Adherence, compliance and concordance were used as terms in the search algorithm, along with diabetes, diabetes mellitus and treatment. Two hundred and ninety-three papers were identified. Abstracts of these papers were read by two researchers independently. Two hundred and thirty-nine papers did not contain definitions or measures of adherence and were discarded. Of the remaining 54 papers, 26 included definitions and 46 described measurements of adherence.Results Definitions and measurements fell into five categories: coincidence of behaviour with professional advice, relationship as part of the process of care, outcome and process targets, taking the medication as prescribed and others. No single definition of adherence emerged. Many authors did not provide definitions of adherence. Glycated haemoglobin was the most common measurement of adherence, although this can raise problems.Conclusion Research which claims to show an intervention has, or has not, improved adherence must be interpreted cautiously. Interventions which appear to fail may actually succeed in aspects of adherence which were not defined or measured in the study. Clinicians and researchers could use clear definitions and measurements, such as the ones presented in this review.
Health, 2008
Antje Lindenmeyer has an interdisciplinary background in gender studies, social studies and liter... more Antje Lindenmeyer has an interdisciplinary background in gender studies, social studies and literary studies, especially autobiography studies. She holds a PhD in Women and Gender Studies from the Centre for the Study of Women and Gender at the University of Warwick. She is a research fellow in primary care and has worked in the areas of patient involvement/ empowerment, the self-management of chronic conditions and coping with disfigurement and other appearance issues. Her main research interest is in autobiographical narratives of health and illness and their impact on health care encounters.
Health Expectations, 2007
Objective To assess the benefits of involving health-care users in diabetes research.Design and ... more Objective To assess the benefits of involving health-care users in diabetes research.Design and participants For this qualitative case study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with researchers who had worked extensively with the group. During regular meetings of the Research User Group, members discussed their views of the group’s effectiveness as part of the meeting’s agenda. Interviews and discussions were transcribed, coded using N-Vivo software and analysed using constant comparative methods.Results Involvement of users in research was generally seen as contributing to effective and meaningful research. However, the group should not be considered to be representative of the patient population or participants of future trials. An important contributor to the group’s success was its longstanding nature, enabling users to gain more insight into research and form constructive working relationships with researchers. The user-led nature of the group asserted itself, especially, in the language used during group meetings. A partial shift of power from researchers to users was generally acknowledged. Users’ main contribution was their practical expertise in living with diabetes, but their involvement also helped researchers to remain connected to the ‘real world’ in which research would be applied. While the group’s work fulfilled established principles of consumer involvement in research, important contributions relying on personal interaction between users and researchers were hard to evaluate by process measures alone.Conclusions We demonstrated the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of this longstanding, experienced, lay-led research advisory group. Its impact on research stems from the continuing interaction between researchers and users, and the general ethos of learning from each other in an on-going process. Both process measures and qualitative interviews with stakeholders are needed to evaluate the contributions of service users to health research.
Qualitative Health Research, 2010
We aim to answer the question: How can we develop an evidence base that will assist tailoring hea... more We aim to answer the question: How can we develop an evidence base that will assist tailoring health interventions to individual patients? Using social theory and interview data from people living with chronic illness, we developed a new approach to analysis. Individuals were considered as emergent complex systems, adjusting and adapting within their environment and sometimes transforming. The notion of illness trajectory brought our attention to data in the interviews about the "emergent present," the current period of time when all domains of life, from across time, have expression. We summarized patterns of adjustment and adaptation within the emergent present for people living with chronic back pain, depression, and diabetes. We considered the potential of this analysis approach to inform medical decision making. Our analysis approach is the first step in developing a categorization of individuals that might be useful in tailoring health care interventions to the individual.
Health, 2011
Clinicians are increasingly asking questions about family history to inform decision making, but ... more Clinicians are increasingly asking questions about family history to inform decision making, but the quality of decisions rests on the quality of information provided by the patient. In families with genetically transmitted diseases, research has found a strong collective understanding of inheritance and risk, developed through constant communication between family members. Here, we explore whether there are similar processes in families with more common conditions like heart disease, asthma or osteo-arthritis. From in-depth interviews with lay people, we found that families created a culture of 'health talk', especially between sisters. Caring for other family members was demonstrated through sharing vital health information; on the other hand care could be shown by not worrying family members by talking about possibly inherited illness. Patterns of inheritance and health were talked about in participants' families (resemblance, similar conditions and affected body areas). From these, a picture developed of what the family was 'like' in health terms. Overall, experiential knowledge and family narrative was interwoven with expert discourse to form a complex understanding of medical family histories.
Uploads
Papers by Antje Lindenmeyer