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Japan has made some progress in recognizing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) rights, such as passing laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in some cities. However, there is still a long way to go in terms of legal protection and social acceptance. Understanding citizens' attitudes toward homosexuality can help inform policies and interventions that promote LGBTQ rights and reduce discrimination. This study explores factors that influence citizens' attitudes toward homosexuality in Japan.

The research was conducted through a web-based questionnaire with 1,806 participants, where they were asked about their views on same-sex partnership recognition, homosexual rights and traditional Japanese family systems. The collected data were statistically analyzed to determine the factors that affect individuals' opinions regarding homosexuality.

The study determined that in Japan, traditional views are inversely related to same-sex partnership registration. Conversely, local government support for LGBTQ+ rights is directly associated with societal acceptance. Additionally, closer contact with the LGBTQ+ community promotes acceptance.

The study provides insights into the factors that shape societal attitudes toward homosexuality in Japan and highlights the importance of policies promoting diversity and inclusivity. By identifying these determinants, this study could help policymakers and advocates create effective strategies for promoting acceptance and equality for the LGBTQ+ community in Japan.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that focuses on understanding the factors that influence the attitudes of Japanese citizens toward homosexuality.

While exploring the information experience within multispecies families, the subjective nature of humans and non-human entities, living beings and non-living objects becomes evident. This paper aims to reveal the underlying significance of information within socio-physical living environments shared among humans, cats and dogs as companions.

Gaining inspiration from the information experience approach and posthumanism, this is a phenomenological paper. Empirical material related to lived experiences of participating families were gathered through multispecies ethnography methods, followed by phenomenological reflections. The paper has been written based on excerpt-commentary-units and the inclusion of videos and images as an approach to convey the richness of the lived experiences and multiple perspectives.

Findings are organised into three main sections, each capturing lived experiences of information and its utilization from various frames. The paper shows how living beings, both human and animal, use their physical, sensual and moving bodies to acquire and convey information to and from each other. Moving beyond the living beings, the study discusses how non-living objects in the physical environment of a multispecies family also shape information. Material objects, spatial locations and even plants became sources of information for the family members. Lastly, the paper delves into the social environment of the family, where all members, human and animal, are actively shaped by information within their social interactions and companionship.

Considering information distributed across species and material objects in a shared, more-than-human environment, the article suggests implications for an information experience approach. It emphasizes how information shapes the in-between humans, animals and their environment, highlighting their reliance on each other for understanding and living a good shared life. There is a need for future research to explore the information experience within the internal subjective minds of members of multispecies families, bridging the gap in the understanding of these external information and their internal information processes.

The purpose of this paper was to explore the health of trafficking survivors in Spain, which is relatively unstudied (Sweileh, 2018). Therefore, the objectives of this study are to describe the health conditions, access to health-care facilities, COVID-19 protection and health challenges in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic reported by women survivors of human trafficking in Spain.

Due to the pandemic situation, limited research and the complexity of the issue, the authors took a qualitative approach. A cross-sectional study was carried out through interviews with women survivors of human trafficking for sexual exploitation in Spain. Prior to the interviews, the researchers conducted written interviews with social workers to understand the most important challenges that the women survivors were experiencing during confinement. As a result of these written interviews, the interview script for the survivors was modified.

To sum up, the COVID-19 situation poses several challenges, including social difficulties (food insecurity; violence; terrible housing conditions; working pressure; poor sleeping habits; and cultural, linguistic and religious challenges), medical insecurity (due to lockdowns, negative experiences in care, lack of official documents, collapse of hospitals, telephone monitoring and fear of contagion), great emotional distress reported by women (anxiety, fear, sadness, post-traumatic stress disorder, stigma and substance use) and physical health problems (serious weight loss, muscle pains, dental problems and sexual and reproductive health-care limitations).

As is usual in qualitative research, rather than obtain generalizable results, the main objective was to delve deeper into under-researched or complex issues (Polit and Beck, 2010). While this report provides a timely overview marked by COVID-19 of an important population, there are some limitations. The major limitation of this research was the sample representativity, because the sample was conducted with only one non-governmental organization and only individuals who voluntarily agreed to make the interview; as such, other victim profiles may not be represented.

The findings can provide information for detecting victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation and contribute to understanding the pandemic’s impact. Furthermore, the paper emphasizes the need to adopt measures for the recovery of victims, such as medical and psychological assistance, in accordance with the Palermo Protocol. As people transition out of the pandemic, it is crucial for Spain, along with other European countries, to guarantee that all residents, particularly the victims of human trafficking, have access to social and health-care protections during times of crisis.

As already mentioned, further investigation should be done to fill the gaps on health of human trafficking (Sweileh, 2018) and improve the recovery of victims of trafficking (García-Vázquez and Meneses-Falcón, 2023 0; Sweileh, 2018). The paper acknowledges the existing research gap in the field and emphasizes the importance of future studies to delve deeper into the challenges faced by victims, calling for a more nuanced understanding of health.

The Coronavirus pandemic has increased and reinforced the vulnerability of sex-trafficked victims, especially creating different mental health problems. One of the biggest concerns for this group has been the difficulty of access to basic goods such as food. Furthermore, psychological distress impacted the well-being of trafficking victims, and many suffered from eating disorders. Less than half of the women who were forced to continue in prostitution did not have the means to protect themselves against COVID-19 and did not have easy situations to overcome illness.