The purpose of this thesis is to argue for the permissibility of assisted suicide in certain cases. Since the practice of assisted suicide involves the act of suicide, I have chosen to focus my arguments on a defense of the act of suicide in certain cases. I then argue that there is no moral difference between suicide and assisted suicide, so that in most cases if it is permissible for a person to take his or her own life then it ought to be permissible for him or her to receive suicide assistance. I accomplish this first by critically analzying the psychological view of suicide, which gives to rise to the incompetency argument, and by refuting numerous other arguments offered to demonstrate the unconditional moral impermissibility of suicide. I then defend suicide as being morally permissible if 1) the agent is competent; and 2) the suicide does not violate any overriding obligations that would not otherwise be violated. I also defend a notion of 'full permissibility', meaning an action that a person ought to be free to perform without justified paternalistic interference from others. An action, and thus a suicide, is fully permissible if it is morally permissible as well as rational for the person in question. In the final chapter I make the move from defending suicide in certain cases if it is permissible for a person to take his or her own life then it also ought to be permissible for him or her to receive assistance. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

The National Alliance of Mental Illness’s Ending the Silence (ETS) program focuses on the epidemic of mental illness stigma among school- aged youth. The program is targeted specifically at high school- age youth, and aims to educate, dispel myths about mental illness and instill a message of hope and recovery all while encouraging students to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness. A trained presentation team containing two people, one of whom is a young adult who is living with mental illness or recovered from mental illness, delivers the program. Participants (n=142) completed assessments measuring their thoughts and attitudes towards people with mental illness, as well as a mental health facts questionnaire. Data wereas gathered from participants before the ETS presentation, after the ETS presentation, and 6 weeks later. The assessments consisted of both qualitative and quantitative data. Content analysis of the qualitative data revealed a consistent improvement in participants’ understanding and definition of mental illness. Youth reported understanding that mental illness can be a biological as well as developed illness. The majority of students (61.3%) self-reported their attitudes towards people with mental illness had become more positive after the presentation. The results of this study indicate that the Ending the Silence program is meeting its identified goals and objectives.

Stigma about mental illness is often identified as one of the most prominent obstacles to seeking mental health services. This seems to be particularly true among first responders. Unfortunately, the research regarding stigma in first responders is lacking. This may be due, in part, to the absence of appropriate measurement tools to allow such research. Stuart’s Police Officer Stigma Scale (POSS) has recently been developed to address this issue, but its psychometric properties have gone largely untested. Therefore, this study sought to identify the underlying factor structure and internal consistency of the POSS. This paper used a sample of one hundred and thirty-five first responders. This paper used a sample of one hundred and thirty-five first responders. Sixty participants were police officers, forty-eight were firefighters/EMTs, three were dispatchers, and twenty-four did not complete some portion of the scale/training and were omitted. Using factor analysis with an orthogonal rotation on Stuart’s eleven-item POSS, the participant’s results revealed two main components. Component one is “maltreatment of colleagues with a mental disorder,” and component two is “fear of disclosing a mental disorder.” Findings from this research are similar to the results of previous studies with components such as unwillingness to disclose a mental health condition, fear of how the public will treat an individual with a mental disorder, and anger towards those who decide to seek treatment or get diagnosed with a mental illness. These findings imply that Stuart’s POSS is reliable but needs to include two components rather than one. With the two main components, further research can now be conducted to understand why and ultimately mitigate maltreatment or stigma against first responders with a mental health condition.

Bakgrund: Schizofreni kännetecknas av en förvrängd verklighetsuppfattning, och att man haft en psykos som varat längre än sex månader. Framträdande är ett desorienterat tänkande och röstahallucinationer, även om störningen huvudsakligen är kognitiv så yttrar den sig oftast på beteendemässiga och känslomässiga plan. Attityderna gentemot schizofrena har under de senare åren generellt förbättrats i det svenska samhället och inom sjukvården. Men ändå är negativa attityder fortfarande vanligt förekommande. En attityd är en uppfattning som man bildar sig gentemot ett visst fenomen, en persons medvetna eller omedvetna inställning till en person eller ting och kan vara positiv eller negativ. En bättre förståelse för vilka faktorer det är som påverkar attityder och hur de uppkommer kan bidra till att de negativa attityderna minskar, då vårdpersonalens attityder är färgade historiskt av att se patienten som en karaktär snarare än en individ. Syfte: Att beskriva syn på och aspekter av attityder gentemot patienter med schizofrenidiagnos. Metod: Elva kvantitativa artiklar analyserades för att se vilka faktorer som bidrar till utveckling av attityder, sökningen av artiklarna gjordes i ett flertal olika vårdvetenskapliga och medicinska databaser. Artiklarna bearbetades sedan för att få fram gemensamma huvudteman. Resultat: Attitydernas uppkomst och förekomst skiljer sig åt mellan vårdinrättningar och nationer, där etnisk och kulturell bakgrund, kön, utbildningsnivå hos personalen, arbetsplats samt arbetslivserfarenhet är faktorer som starkt påverkar attityderna, både på ett positivt och negativt sätt. Samt att vårdpersonalen upplever patienterna som farliga och opålitliga. Diskussion: Sjuksköterskans attityd gentemot patienter med diagnosen schizofreni är högst personlig och påverkas av olika sociodemografiska faktorer.  Detta diskuteras utifrån Travelbees Human-To-Human Relationship Model och omvårdnadsvetenskapens konsensusbegrepp miljö. / Background: Schizophrenia is characterized by a distorted perception of reality, where a person must have had a psychosis that lasted longer than six months. Dominant in the disorder is disoriented thinking and voice hallucinations, even if it´s primarily a cognitive disease and it manifests itself mostly on a behavioral and emotional level. Attitudes towards schizophrenics have in recent years generally improved in the Swedish society and in health care departments. Yet negative attitudes are still prevalent. An attitude is a perception that forms itself against a certain phenomenon, a person's intentional and unintentional feeling toward a person or thing, and it may be positive or negative. A better understanding of the factors that influence attitudes and how they occur may contribute to that the negative attitudes decrease. Objective: To describe the approach to and aspects of attitudes towards patients with a schizophrenia diagnosis. Method: Eleven quantitative articles were analyzed to see which factors contribute to the development of attitudes, the search of articles were made in a variety ofnursing science and medical databases. The articles were then processed to obtain common key themes. Results: Showed that the attitudes of the emergence and prevalence differ between health care institutions and between nations. Where ethnic and cultural background, gender, education levels, workplace and work experience of the staff are factors that strongly influences attitudes, both in a positive and negative way. Caregivers also perceive patients as dangerous and untrustworthy. Discussion: Nurse's attitude towards patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia is a highly personal and a person's individual attitude, which is influenced by various socio-demographic factors. This is discussed from Travelbees Human-To-Human Relationship Model and the nursing science consensus concept environment.

Many mental health organizations have developed campaigns that concentrate on reducing the stigma towards mental health with the intentions of increasing access and utilization for people with mental illnesses that are not receiving appropriate mental health services. The mental health campaigns predominantly focus on establishing awareness and education related to the number of people with mental illnesses and diagnoses so that people will not be ashamed or embarrassed to have mental illnesses or access mental health treatments. However, societal prejudices have caused many people diagnosed with mental illnesses to lose jobs, homes, and families; therefore, in general, people are afraid of being diagnosed as mentally ill and seeking mental health treatments. Additionally, recent national attention and media reports of tragic and senseless events caused by people diagnosed with mental illnesses intensified the societal prejudices and stigma towards people with mental illnesses, which have depicted these people as extremely harmful to themselves and others . Consequently, societal demands magnified the need for public changes to prevent future tragedies, which contributed to President Barack Obama proposing regulations and policy agendas aimed at reducing stigma towards mental health and increasing access and utilization of mental health services. The mental health campaign initiatives and legislative proposals are supportive to the cause by reducing prejudices and barriers for people diagnosed with mental illnesses, and hopefully, preventing future tragic events. However, the research indicated that there is another barrier to mental health services impacting the lower levels of access and utilization. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / Health Care Ethics / PhD; / Dissertation;

Internetdejting har sedan 1990-talet blivit allt mer populärt och har under de senaste åren förflyttats från webbplatser till appar i smartphones som effektiviserar processen att träffa andra individer. En av dessa appar är Tinder som revolutionerat internetdejting genom sitt säregna sätt att matcha ihop användare. Trots att många använder applikationen verkar det inte vara fullt ut accepterat att använda den. Användningen av appen kopplas till liknande förlägenhet som identifierats i forskning om internetdejting på webbplatser. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur Tinderanvändare normaliserar sitt användande och de strategier de använder sig av för att normalisera sitt användande och hur man kan förstå sambandet mellan förlägenhet och normalisering. Undersökningen baseras på semistrukturerade intervjuer där 10 studenter vid Uppsala universitet som aktivt använt Tinder. Uppsatsens teoretiska ramverk bygger på stämplingsteori där sociala normer, mjuka och hårda stigman, normalisering, normifering och strategier för att undvika stigma utgör centrala begrepp. Tinder har normaliserats bland dess användare. Men att det är normalt innebär också att de måste bete sig på ett visst sätt när de använder appen. Det är en normalisering inom vissa ramar. De använder strategier för att undvika den förlägenhet som förknippas med kopplingen mellan appen och så kallad hookupkultur eller att man ska ses som desperat i sökandet efter en längre ”seriös” relation. Den förklarade normaliseringen och den upplevda förlägenheten förknippat med stigmatisering hanteras med hjälp av olika strategier och verkar ta sig olika form beroende på vad förlägenheten grundar sig i. Tidigare forskning har visat att internetdejting kopplats till stigma men att detta stigma har avtagit i kraft under de senaste 20 åren. Dock har tidigare forskning inte belyst de normaliseringsprocesser och de strategier som förekommer för att normalisera och hantera stigmat. De strategier som kunnat identifieras i undersökningen föreföll sig i största delen vara samma som tidigare forskning även sett, med undantag för Avsägande av det egna engagemanget som kunde identifieras här. Vi menar att Tinderanvändare använder sig av Utbildning som strategi för att normalisera sitt användande och framhåller användande som något helt normalt. Övriga strategier som identifierades användes för att normifiera användande. Att normifiera innebär att konstruera sitt användande så att det faller inom det som är socialt accepterat. / Internet dating has, since the 1990s, become increasingly popular and has in recent years moved from websites to apps in smartphones that streamline the process of meeting other individuals. One of these apps is Tinder, which revolutionized internet dating through its peculiar way to match users. Although the app is very popular it seems that it is not fully acceptable to use it. The use of the app has been compared to similar embarrassment identified in research on Internet dating sites. The purpose of this paper is to examine how Tinder-users normalize their use and the strategies they use to normalize it, and to understand the relationship between embarrassment and normalization. The study is based on semistructured interviews conducted with 10 students at Uppsala University who actively used Tinder. The theoretical framework is based on a number of key concepts, labeling theory, social norms, soft and hard stigma, normalization, normification and strategies to avoid the stigma. Tinder is normalized among its users. But even tho the app is considered normal the users still have to behave in a certain way when they use the app. It is a normalization within certain limits. They use strategies to avoid the embarrassment associated with so-called hookup culture or the perception of users as desperate in the search for a more "serious" relationship. The declared normalization and the perceived embarrassment associated with soft stigma are managed using various strategies and seem to take different forms depending on what embarrassment is based in. Previous research has shown that internet dating is linked to stigma, but that stigma has diminished in power over the last 20 years. However, previous research has not highlighted the normalization processes and the strategies that appear to normalize the internet dating and manage the stigma. The strategies identified in the material for this thesis appeared in previous research, except for the strategy “renouncement of personal commitment”. We believe that Tinder-users adapt education as a strategy to normalize its use and stresses usage as something quite normal. Other strategies were used to normify use. To normify means to construct an action or behavior so that it falls within the boundaries of what is socially acceptable.

<p>Denna uppsats handlar om ungdomar boendes i de centrala delarna av stadsdelen Skärholmen i relation till områdets territoriella stigma. Undersökningen är av kvalitativ karaktär baserad på djupintervjuer gjorda med sju stycken ungdomar, fyra unga män och tre unga kvinnor, angående den upplevda stigmatiseringen av området. Gemensamt för dessa ungdomar var att alla ville flytta från området och att alla talade om segregering i bemärkelsen avsaknaden av etniska svenskar som en stigmatiseringsaspekt av området. Eftersom den svenska allmänheten ofta utmålar ”invandrartäta områden” som något problematiskt i sig, innebär den höga andelen invandrare i Skärholmen att området stigmatiseras. Dessutom framkom det tydligt i denna undersökning att de unga männen blivit mer påverkade av effekterna av områdets stigma jämfört med de unga kvinnorna i denna undersökning. Klart står att mer kunskap och en utvidgad diskussion kring territoriellt stigma och dess inverkan på ungdomars vardagsvillkor behövs. </p> / <p>This paper is about young people living in the central parts of the Stockholm town district Skärholmen, in relation to the territorial stigma of this residential area. The study is a qualitative one, containing in-depth interviews with seven local youths concerning the way they perceive the areas stigmatisation. These youths all shared a common will to move to a different residential area, and they all spoke about segregation in the sense of the lack of ethnic Swedes in the area, as an aspect of the territorial stigma. As the Swedish public often refers to residential areas with a high-level of immigrant population as something problematic, the high-level of immigrants in Skärholmen is a contributing factor of the territorial stigma. Furthermore, it clearly appeared in this study that the young men had been more exposed to the effects of territorial stigma compared to the young women. Clearly, more extended knowledge and more profound discussions about territorial stigma and its effect on youth’s living conditions, is needed.</p>

Denna uppsats handlar om ungdomar boendes i de centrala delarna av stadsdelen Skärholmen i relation till områdets territoriella stigma. Undersökningen är av kvalitativ karaktär baserad på djupintervjuer gjorda med sju stycken ungdomar, fyra unga män och tre unga kvinnor, angående den upplevda stigmatiseringen av området. Gemensamt för dessa ungdomar var att alla ville flytta från området och att alla talade om segregering i bemärkelsen avsaknaden av etniska svenskar som en stigmatiseringsaspekt av området. Eftersom den svenska allmänheten ofta utmålar ”invandrartäta områden” som något problematiskt i sig, innebär den höga andelen invandrare i Skärholmen att området stigmatiseras. Dessutom framkom det tydligt i denna undersökning att de unga männen blivit mer påverkade av effekterna av områdets stigma jämfört med de unga kvinnorna i denna undersökning. Klart står att mer kunskap och en utvidgad diskussion kring territoriellt stigma och dess inverkan på ungdomars vardagsvillkor behövs. / This paper is about young people living in the central parts of the Stockholm town district Skärholmen, in relation to the territorial stigma of this residential area. The study is a qualitative one, containing in-depth interviews with seven local youths concerning the way they perceive the areas stigmatisation. These youths all shared a common will to move to a different residential area, and they all spoke about segregation in the sense of the lack of ethnic Swedes in the area, as an aspect of the territorial stigma. As the Swedish public often refers to residential areas with a high-level of immigrant population as something problematic, the high-level of immigrants in Skärholmen is a contributing factor of the territorial stigma. Furthermore, it clearly appeared in this study that the young men had been more exposed to the effects of territorial stigma compared to the young women. Clearly, more extended knowledge and more profound discussions about territorial stigma and its effect on youth’s living conditions, is needed.

This thesis presents qualitative exploratory research findings on the phenomenon of feederism. Feederism, also referred to as "erotic weight gain," involves people who are sexually aroused by gaining weight (called "feedees" or "gainers") or encouraging others to gain weight (called "feeders" or "encouragers"). Sometimes feederism is practiced within relationships and sometimes it is practiced alone. Respondents emphasize the importance that fantasy plays within feederism. The experiences and understandings of 30 respondents are considered in an attempt to examine how those who are interested in feederism might be stigmatized and how they may cope with having this stigma.

This thesis presents qualitative exploratory research findings on the phenomenon of feederism. Feederism, also referred to as "erotic weight gain," involves people who are sexually aroused by gaining weight (called "feedees" or "gainers") or encouraging others to gain weight (called "feeders" or "encouragers"). Sometimes feederism is practiced within relationships and sometimes it is practiced alone. Respondents emphasize the importance that fantasy plays within feederism. The experiences and understandings of 30 respondents are considered in an attempt to examine how those who are interested in feederism might be stigmatized and how they may cope with having this stigma.