The findings of this study suggest that culturally-sensitive preconception counseling could be beneficial for transgender and gender-variant individuals. The grounded theory produced by this pilot investigation also provides insights that will be useful to health care providers and others working with male-identified and gender-variant prospective parents.

Investigators who use phenomenological approaches to understand experiences of human healing, caring, and wholeness need to consider the differences that exist between descriptive and hermeneutic phenomenology. In this article, these two approaches are compared and contrasted with respect to roots, similarities, and differences. Guidelines are offered to assist prospective investigators in selecting the approach most suitable to personal cognitive style and beliefs about the ways humans experience and find meanings during transitions through wellness and illness to advance nursing knowledge in a holistic view.

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Aims: The purpose of this randomized controlled clinical trial was to examine the effects of three couplesfocused interventions and a control condition on women and men's resolution of depression and grief during the first year after miscarriage. Methods: Three hundred forty-one couples were randomly assigned to nurse caring (NC) (three counseling sessions), self-caring (SC) (three video and workbook modules), combined caring (CC) (one counseling session plus three SC modules), or control (no treatment). Interventions, based on Swanson's Caring Theory and Meaning of Miscarriage Model, were offered 1, 5, and 11 weeks after enrollment. Outcomes included depression (CES-D) and grief, pure grief (PG) and grief-related emotions (GRE). Differences in rates of recovery were estimated via multilevel modeling conducted in a Bayesian framework. Results: Bayesian odds (BO) ranging from 3.0 to 7.9 favored NC over all other conditions for accelerating women's resolution of depression. BO of 3.2-6.6 favored NC and no treatment over SC and CC for resolving men's depression. BO of 3.1-7.0 favored all three interventions over no treatment for accelerating women's PG resolution, and BO of 18.7-22.6 favored NC and CC over SC or no treatment for resolving men's PG. BO ranging from 2.4 to 6.1 favored NC and SC over CC or no treatment for hastening women's resolution of GRE. BO from 3.5 to 17.9 favored NC, CC, and control over SC for resolving men's GRE. Conclusions: NC had the overall broadest positive impact on couples' resolution of grief and depression. In addition, grief resolution (PG and GRE) was accelerated by SC for women and CC for men.

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HIV transmission from husbands to wives in stable marital relationships has increased. Our study explored women's perspectives on their life changes after being infected with HIV by their husbands. The interpretive phenomenological approach guided the study. Cambodian women (n = 15) who self-identified their infections as coming from their husbands participated in two in-depth interviews. The participants underwent significant changes in interpersonal and intimate relationships with their spouses, reporting that their partners became more devoted husbands and agreed to follow safer sex practices within the marriage. However, families suffered from hunger and poverty due to the parents' physical weaknesses. Both the husbands' changed behavior and their children gave these women the strength to not only go on with their life routines, but also to report that life was better than before the HIV diagnosis. These results inform health policies and programs targeting families where HIV affects both spouses.

This was a descriptive phenomenological study of 10 self-identified lesbian couples who had experienced miscarriage in the context of a committed relationship. Analysis of individual and joint open-ended interviews revealed that the experience of miscarriage for lesbian couples must be viewed from the perspective of the difficulties surrounding conception as well as the actual pregnancy loss. The overarching theme, "We are not in control," captures the struggles lesbian couples faced in conceiving their pregnancies and the sense of loss that accompanied miscarrying. These experiences constituted two sub-themes: "We work so hard to get a baby" and "It hurts so bad: The sorrow of miscarriage." Our results indicate that the experience of miscarriage is compounded by the complexities of planning and achieving pregnancy. Practitioners need to be aware of the unique perspectives lesbian couples have on pregnancy and miscarriage and remain sensitive to their unique needs. Findings may serve as an intervention framework for nurse midwives and others caring for lesbian couples after miscarriage.

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