Hypertension remains a leading cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Although effective antihypertensive therapies are available, sustained blood pressure control remains suboptimal due to inconsistent medication use. Most adherence research is quantitative and offers limited understanding of how individuals interpret lifelong treatment within daily life, particularly in culturally grounded contexts. To explore the lived experiences of Filipino adults taking antihypertensive medication. A qualitative study grounded in Heideggerian interpretive phenomenology was conducted. Ten Filipino adults diagnosed with hypertension were purposively recruited from outpatient clinics in Manila, Philippines. In-depth semi-structured interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using the six-step IPA framework. Analysis revealed six interconnected themes describing how participants interpreted and sustained medication use: (1) Diagnosis as Disruption; (2) Medication as Protection and Responsibility; (3) The Paradox of the Silent Illness; (4) Everyday Barriers to Sustained Treatment; (5) Constructing Routine and Adaptive Self-Management; and (6) Family as Anchor within Cultural Contexts. These themes reflected emotional adjustment, symptom-driven adherence, financial and work-related barriers, adaptive coping strategies, and strong family-centered motivation. Medication-taking was experienced as an ongoing negotiation shaped by bodily cues, daily demands, and relational obligations. Conclusion: Antihypertensive medication use is shaped by relational, cultural, and socioeconomic contexts, underscoring the need for family-inclusive and culturally responsive hypertension care.

This paper examined the language of persuasion and negotiation in the Ghanaian market context using a local community market (Agartha Market) in Koforidua as a case study. It investigates how the language of persuasion and negotiation is couched in the context of the market by both traders and customers. The theoretical framework within which this study is hinged is the stylistic theory of Leech and Short [1]. Specifically, the grammatical and figure-of-speech prong of the theory have been used. While observation and audio recordings were used to collect the data, the content descriptive method was used in the description and analysis of the data. The findings revealed that, relative to sentence complexity, persuasion and negotiation made adequate use of compound sentences than simple sentence structures. While simple sentence structures are used by traders to attract customers’ attention and arouse their psychological interest and curiosity, customers used them in negotiations for mainly interrogative and position-shift purposes. Compound and complex structures were used by traders for elaborative purposes in order to espouse the good qualities that are inherent in their products in order to convince their customers to buy their wares. Figuratively, repetition, hyperbole, and suspense are the key tropes used. These tropes are dominant in persuasion than in negotiation. Again, while the language of persuasion is monologue that of negotiation is dialogue. Code-mixing is also common characteristic in the language of negotiation and persuasion. The dominant local language (Twi) and the official language (English) are usually used in the communication process. This research thus has implication for research and pedagogy as it extends the literature and can also influence the restructuring of educational polices especially those related to language since society and school (education) are intricately related.

The bottom-up or informal placemaking process is “illegal”, practised only by the “poor” and “unintellectual” classes. The author argues that various classes practise informal placemaking regardless of their economic status or educational level. Studying the spatial manifestation of informal placemaking helps to understand the concrete needs of the residents and reconsider their role in identifying places. Aiming to comprehend informal placemaking and its importance, this study investigates informal placemaking in Sheraton Residence, Heliopolis, Cairo. The area is chosen for its formality, socio-economic and cultural patterns. Cases of informal placemaking in Sheraton Residence are described and analysed to pinpoint their role in creating a sense of place, territorial identity and comprehending their meaning. A comparison with cases in informal low-income housing is conducted to construct diversities and similarities. The study encourages the re-thinking of the public role in placemaking as a place of negotiation and belonging. We can improve their urban quality by re-thinking informal placemaking and looking at how people use the place. The general impression that only informal housing and low-educated classes practise informal placemaking is incorrect.