ObjectivesAround 1% of patients who have a hip replacement have deep prosthetic joint infection (PJI) afterwards. PJI is often treated with antibiotics plus a single revision operation (1-stage revision), or antibiotics plus a 2-stage revision process involving more than 1 operation. This study aimed to characterise the impact and experience of PJI and treatment on patients, including comparison of 1-stage with 2-stage revision treatment.DesignQualitative semistructured interviews with patients who had undergone surgical revision treatment for PJI. Patients were interviewed between 2 weeks and 12 months postdischarge. Data were audio-recorded, transcribed, anonymised and analysed using a thematic approach, with 20% of transcripts double-coded.SettingPatients from 5 National Health Service (NHS) orthopaedic departments treating PJI in England and Wales were interviewed in their homes (n=18) or at hospital (n=1).Participants19 patients participated (12 men, 7 women, age range 56–88 years, mean age 73.2 years).ResultsParticipants reported receiving between 1 and 15 revision operations after their primary joint replacement. Analysis indicated that participants made sense of their experience through reference to 3 key phases: the period of symptom onset, the treatment period and protracted recovery after treatment. By conceptualising their experience in this way, and through themes that emerged in these periods, they conveyed the ordeal that PJI represented. Finally, in light of the challenges of PJI, they described the need for support in all of these phases. 2-stage revision had greater impact on participants’ mobility, and further burdens associated with additional complications.ConclusionsDeep PJI impacted on all aspects of patients’ lives. 2-stage revision had greater impact than 1-stage revision on participants’ well-being because the time in between revision procedures meant long periods of immobility and related psychological distress. Participants expressed a need for more psychological and rehabilitative support during treatment and long-term recovery.

No abstract

Interest continues to gather in relation to the sociology of the body, gendered embodiment and the theoretical links between these in both health and ill-health contexts. However, the available empirical work that links embodiment, masculinities and health remains sparse. This paper presents secondary data analysis from an original study that aimed to consider the similarities and differences in the experience of a continuing (phase four) cardiac rehabilitation programme for individuals choosing to participate in either an exercise or yoga component. The data presented are derived from two in-depth interviews, carried out a year apart, with each of the 34 men who completed the original study.Watson's (2000) 'male body schema' was used to guide initial data coding and the subsequent analysis generated four overarching themes: 'embodied emotionality'; 'renegotiated embodiment'; 'embodiment and fitness' and 'knowing the hidden body'. An approach that theorises from, rather than about, men's bodies is fostered, and questions are raised about previous work that suggests men are emotionally 'disconnected' from their bodies and ⁄ or that they have a wholly mechanistic view of bodily function.