The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and better understand the stigma experienced by a specific subgroup of the population experiencing mental illness---older adults. Using the framework of the Modified Labelling theory, the effect and significance of stigma on their self-image was investigated. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten seniors who participate in the Community Mental Health Program at the Cummings Jewish Centre for Seniors in Montreal, Quebec. Using a purposive sample, study participants were included according to: age (i.e., 50 plus), participation in a mental health program in a community center, and having a diagnosis of a mental illness. Interviews were analyzed according to individual coping strategies as well as thematic content across interviews. Study results enhance understandings of how older people resist dominant discourses of stigma attached to mental illness and how personal perceptions on mental illness, age and health influence self-image.

As we enter the third decade of a devastating worldwide epidemic, much has been done to stem the flow of HIV/AIDS, in particular within North America and Western European urban centres. However, much is still needed in the developing world. In this study 153 people living with HIV/AIDS in Egypt were interviewed, along with their caregivers. Data were collected on demographics, burden and strain level of caregivers, as well as psychological, psychosocial and health needs. / Using a cross-sectional design, it was found that HIV infection had a negative psychosocial impact on both those infected with and affected by it. Perceived or actual stigma, discrimination, health needs and sexual health status added to this impact. It was also found that caregivers' burden and strain level was higher than a sample of caregivers of renal transplant patients and a sample of caregivers of stroke patients respectively. This suggests that provision of different forms of psychosocial support would help people living with HIV and their caregivers in Egypt cope with the negative impacts of the infection.

The relationship between provincial social service spending and subsequent rates of volunteerism in Quebec was evaluated using information contained in a Montreal volunteer database (N = 2784) and revenue and expenditure data from the Department of Finance. A secondary analysis was performed to identify possible structural correlates to volunteerism, thus providing an alternative to existing theoretical approaches, which predominantly focus on the study of individual differences between volunteers. / The results of the correlation analysis revealed a positive relationship between public spending and volunteer rates. In addition, a positive correlation was found to exist between levels of coordination activity and rates of volunteerism, lending strength to the contention that organizational infrastructure is related to volunteer rates. In general, the results highlight the integral role of public monies to the sustainability of Quebec's voluntary sector.

This dissertation represents an attempt to better understand why physically abused children are more likely to develop aggressive tendencies. A sample of adolescents receiving child protection services was administered a battery of self-report measures on maltreatment, health, and well-being; an aggression measure was administered a year later. The specific focus was to determine whether aggressive youth were more likely to (1) have suffered harsher physical abuse, (2) generate violence outcome expectancies that favour recourse to aggression, and (3) report higher levels of abuse-related shame. Respectively, the second and third hypotheses were based on social information processing and shame-rage models of aggression. / Only the hypothesis of the fast study on maltreatment characteristics was supported. Victims of frequent and severe abuse were more likely to report aggression. As for the second and third study, the expectation of positive outcomes from violence and feelings of shame-rage (as indicated by high levels of guilt-free shame) were actually inversely related to aggression. / Even though these results went in the opposite direction of the hypotheses, they are not altogether in conflict with theoretical models. According to L. Rowell Huesmann's description of social information processing, a hostile worldview was considered a mediating factor in the development of aggression problems. The tendency for aggressive youth to expect negative rather than positive outcomes from violence can be interpreted as support for this view. Abuse-related shame was not related to aggression, but it did demonstrate the predicted association with anger and hostility. The suggestion therefore is that feeling shame as a result of abuse leads to pent-up rather than expressed rage. / Given these results, it is suggested that victims of harsh maltreatment be targeted for appropriate prevention and skills promotion programs. Also, future research should investigate whether the formation of problematic relationship schemas and the tendency to suppress abuse-related emotions contribute to the maintenance of aggression problems.

This study delineates circumstances contributing to the employment status of a group or twenty-five seizure patients attending the Out-Patient Neurological Clinics of the Montreal Neurological Institute. Certain aspects of the social and employment experiences of ten unemployed and fifteen employed patients are studied in detail. [...]

The aim of this research was to enhance existing knowledge about the runaway child in order that guidelines for future preventive work be considered.The study was conducted at the Children's Service Centre, Montreal, and covered the period from June ,30, 1962 to June 30, 1963. The sample consisted of 25 foster children, all of whom were in care at the time of the runaway episode. [...]

The role of the social worker in the school system has been receiving considerable attention in professional circles in recent years. Basic to this is the realisation that family life is suffering because of the increasing complexities and insecurities of modern living, and that the strains and maladjustments in the home are being reflected in the children. As these children with their problems are concentrated in the school for at least five hours each day, and as the principal and the teacher, who are also subject to the pressures of modern society, are, for the most part, having to carry the burden of these alone, it has been felt that they ought to be receiving assistance from one of the helping professions. [...]

The use of authority in casework often presents a problem for the social work practitioner because of the great emphasis in the profession on client self determination. At times, a discrepancy arises between this principle and what is therapeutically indicated for the client. Caseworkers are often faced with the conflict between creating an accepting and permissive atmosphere, and acting authoritatively in the best interests of the client. This presents a problem, but also a challenge. A clearer and fuller knowledge of some of the aspects of the use of authority in casework could well be of great assistance to the worker in the pursuit of a more competent practice. [...]

This is a comparative study of cultural variations in parental attitudes towards children with viaible congenital disab1lities. These attitudes were compared with the respective cultural value orientations of three ethnic groups in Montreal, (English-Canadian, Italian-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian). The three samples consisted of thirty-one members of children from lower-middle class families, who attend the Cerebral Palsy Clinic at the Montreal Children's Hospital. An interview was conducted with eacb mother to elicit underlying attitudes to her child and to establiah her basic cultural value orientations.

This study examined the role performance of 45 French-Canadian foster mothers serviced by the Societe de Service Social aux Familles de Montréal. It represented a beginning of a more extensive description of foster mothers' child-rearing attitudes and foster mother role performance assessments by caseworkers. It was found that French-Canadian foster mothers differed signiticantly from the normative reference group of Pittsburgh foster mothers on whom the research design and procedures had been developed. [...]