Diss. : Philosophie : Zürich : 1985. / Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral--Universität Zürich, 1983).

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2009.

The aim of this project is to establish whether video self-modelling is an effective approach in decreasing fear responses in children with ASD aged between five and 15 years. Participants were recruited through a flyer that was posted in the Autism New Zealand Canterbury newsletter and the Autism in New Zealand Facebook page. Three participants were recruited who were aged 11 to 12 years, who had a diagnosis of ASD and a fear. This study used a single-case, AB design replicated across the three participants. The participants met with the researcher to discuss their fear and what the study entailed. Baseline measures were obtained and videos were created to depict the child being in the same environment as their feared stimulus. Participants watched their videos for a two-week period then the baseline measures were repeated twice. Two out of the three participants showed some increase in steps achieved in their fear hierarchies. A similar pattern was found with the self-reported levels of fear, one participant showed a decrease in post intervention measure, the second showed variability and the third was not able to complete the intervention due to his extreme fear response. The results of this study reflect some of the literature, which suggest that while VSM can result in rapid learning, in some cases it may not work for all participants and individual differences can account for some of this variability. Due to the variation in the results and individual differences, it is difficult to determine the effects of this type of intervention for fears and phobias in children with ASD. Limitations on this study included the number of participants, as a larger number would have provided more data on the effects of VSM for different participants and the amount of time that was allocated to complete the study.

Fear of crime has been a major social and political issue in Western societies. Previous studies have established that older people are disturbed disproportionately by fear of crime, which can accelerate their loss of physical and social functioning. Despite the rapidly ageing population and the sharp rise of crime in urban China, there is a paucity of research on the fear of crime in older Chinese, not to mention the lack of sound psychometric instruments or any established theoretical model. This study systematically investigated the fear of crime in older Chinese living in urban China. It involves two phases. In Phase One of the study, existing measures on fear of crime, perceived risk of crime and constrained behaviors were culturally adapted through a series of consultation with expert panels and pilot testing. Results indicated that all adapted scales exhibited satisfactory internal reliability with Cronbach’s alphas ranging from .81 to .94. In Phase Two of this study, an integrated theoretical model incorporating the vulnerability, environment perception, victimization and risk interpretation models was tested. The model takes into account relevant Chinese cultural values, while simultaneously addressing the impacts of fear of crime on mental health and constrained behaviors. A representative sample of 453 older adults aged 60 years or above was recruited from urban communities in Kunming, Yunnan using multistage sampling methods. Participants were individually interviewed. Results show that fear of crime was prevalent in this sample with 258 participants (57.0%) reporting fear of one or more types of depicted crimes. Path analyses show that the proposed integrated theoretical framework effectively captures the relationship between fear of crime and various hypothesized factors. The model accounted for 22.1% of the variance in perceived risk of crime, 35.8% in fear of crime, 31.2% in poor mental health and 21.4% in constrained behaviors. Perceived risk of crime played a central role in inducing fear of crime and mediated the associations between fear of crime and various hypothesized risk factors, including female gender, a younger age, higher perceived social instability, lower adherence to the Chinese cultural value of Harmony and more direct victimization by crime. In regard to impact, being fearful of crime predisposes participants to more constrained behaviors, while a high level of perceived risk impaired their mental health. This study is among the first empirical endeavors to investigate fear of crime experienced by older Chinese. It provides preliminary support for the applicability of various prominent theoretical models in the Chinese setting. Results also established a novel association between fear of crime and the Chinese cultural value of Harmony. The integrated model provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the underlying genesis mechanism of fear of crime experienced by older Chinese. / published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

In Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, the city of Las Vegasrepresents a country that is torn between the flippant capitalism and the dream ofprogress on the one hand, and the need to come closer to your own humanity on theother. Critics have had much interest in the novel and Thompson’s personal relation toit, although they have not treated the dynamic of zoomorphism that informs therelationship between man and animal of the whole novel and how the animal representdifferent values depending on circumstance. This essay provides a new approach to theideas of animalism and to Thompson’s relation to it, and the analysis examines thenovel’s representation of the relation between society, man and animal and how it canbe connected to contemporary 1972 political and personal relations. This essay’s aim isto investigate how the novel through a Bakhtinian carnival reading, together withaforementioned concept of zoomorphism, handles the issue of the underlyinganimalistic tendencies of humans and how those tendencies can represent differentthings depending on context.First, I begin with a description of the concepts and theories of significance that shall beof use in the analysis, mainly that of the Bakhtinian concept of the carnival and to alesser extent Wendy Doniger’s take on zoomorphism, which will then be connectedwith instances in the novel that handles the issue of man and animal coexistence.

Bakgrund: Av olika anledningar kan barn behöva uppsöka hälsocentraler och sjukhus där de genomgår vårdprocedurer av olika slag. Dessa vårdprocedurer kan leda till att barn upplever rädsla, oro och smärta. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att beskriva omvårdnadsinterventioners effekt på barns rädsla, oro och smärta vid vårdprocedurer samt beskriva undersökningsgruppen i inkluderade artiklar. Metod: En deskriptiv design användes för att besvara litteraturstudiens syfte och frågeställningar. Studien baserades på tolv vetenskapliga kvantitativa artiklar som framkom vid sökningar i databaserna PubMed och CINAHL. Huvudresultat: Föreliggande studie har visat att omvårdnadsinterventioner har haft lindrande effekt på barns rädsla, oro och smärta eftersom att de inkluderade artiklarnas resultat har påvisat statistisk signifikans. Effekterna har uppmäts genom barns självskattningar, föräldrars, sjuksköterskors och forskares observationsskattningar samt genom mätning av fysiologiska reaktioner. Slutsats: Resultatet i föreliggande studie har visat att omvårdnadsåtgärder kan lindra rädsla, oro och smärta hos barn vid vårdprocedurer. Omvårdnadsåtgärderna som framkommit i interventionsstudierna kan användas i den dagliga kliniska verksamheten inom hälso- och sjukvård eftersom att samtliga studier påvisat signifikant reducering av rädsla, oro eller smärta. / Background: For various reasons, children may need to visit health care and hospitals where they undergo clinical procedures of various kinds. These procedures can cause the children to experiencing fear, anxiety and pain. Aim: The aim of the study was to describe nursing interventions effect on children’s fear, anxiety and pain during clinical procedures and to describe the samples in the included articles. Method: A descriptive design were used to respond to the aim and problem statements of the literature review. The study was based on twelve quantitative scientific articles found through search in PubMed and CINAHL. Result: The present study has shown that nursing interventions had relieving effects on the child's fear, anxiety and pain, for the included articles results has been shown statistical significance. The effects where measured by self-report of children, through observations made by parents, nurses and researchers and by measuring physiological responses. Conclusion: The results of the present study have shown that nursing interventions can alleviate children’s fear, anxiety and pain during clinical procedures. The nursing activities in the intervention studies can be used in daily clinical practice in health care, because all of the studies demonstrated significant reduction of fear, anxiety or pain.

Arising out of widespread concerns that incidents of street violence amongst young people in the UK were spiralling out of control, this research draws on feminist deconstructions of the public-private space divide to emphasise the importance of a social constructionist perspective on street violence; street violence as it is experienced, understood and constructed by young people. Methodologically this research combines ethnography with Critical Discourse Analysis in what has been referred to as critical ethnography (Fairclough, 2001). Adopting a practitioner research approach within a primarily street based youth work setting, accounts were drawn from a range of sources, including interviews and participant observation with youth workers, young people and local public figures. This study draws out the implications for young men’s subjective experiences of the inner city streets near where they live, focusing on the construction of masculinities in the context of political pressures and institutionalised discourses of young people. The young men in this research experienced uncertain and often fearful public spaces in which the ability to construct a credible propensity for violence was an essential part of a successful masculine identity. It is suggested that a significantly greater focus is required on critical gender identity work with young men, specifically in relation to their identity constructions in public space.

This thesis explores how the 2003 epidemic of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, threw into relief the myriad historical, political and economic factors that shape understandings of and responses to a new disease. The author traces how the historic "othering" of Chinese immigrants and their descendents in the United States was combined with dominant discourses of risk and blame to understand SARS and the potential for a domestic epidemic. Narratives from community members of Manhattan's Chinatown are used to investigate the local impacts of the production of these discourses during the SARS epidemic. Finally, the author explores how these dominant discourses were applied locally within Chinatown understand local and personal risk.

Stigmatisering kring människor som lever med humant immunbristvirus (HIV) är utbredd. Patienter som lever med viruset har inte bara symptomen av infektionen att ta itu med, de måste också handskas med den diskriminering och de fördomar som finns. Tidigare studier har visat att kunskapsnivån om hiv är låg bland hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal och att de är rädda för att själva smittas när de vårdar hivsmittade patienter. Tidigare studier visar även att sjukvårdpersonal dömer människor med HIV på grund av fördomar kring människors bakgrund och livsstil. Syftet med denna studie var att belysa patienter med HIV/AIDS upplevelser av mötet med vården. En kvalitativ metod användes för att samla in och analysera data som bestod av fyra självbiografier och fjorton berättelser. Ur analysen formades fyra huvudteman och två subteman. Huvudteman är: Kränkt i sin sjukdom, bekräftad i stunden, att inte få rätt information och skyldig enligt lag. Resultatet visade att patienterna kände sig kränkta och behandlade utan respekt när vårdpersonalen agerade med okunskap och rädsla. Patienterna kände otrygghet inför att söka konsultation på grund av att personalen har rapporteringsskyldighet enligt Smittskyddslagen. Resultaten i studien kan öka sjuksköterskan förståelse för patienter som lever med HIV/AIDS och därmed förbättra vårdgivare -patient relationen. / Stigma around people living with Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is widespread. Patients living with HIV not only have to deal with the symptoms of the infection but also with the discrimination and prejudice. Previous studies have shown that knowledge about HIV is low among healthcare professionals and that they are afraid of being infected themselves when they care for HIV patients. Previous studies also show that healthcare givers judge people with HIV because of prejudges concerning patients background and lifestyle. The aim of this study was to enlighten patients with HIV/AIDS experiences when meeting healthcare. A qualitative method was used to collect and analyze the data which consist of four autobiographies and fourteen stories. The analysis revealed four main themes and two sub themes. The main themes are: Violated within the illness, confirmed within the moment, not getting the right information and obligated by law. The results showed that patient’s felt violated and treated without respect when nursing staff acted with ignorance and fear. Patients felt insecure when seeking consultation because of the staff’s reporting obligation. These results may increase the nurses understanding of patients living with HIV/AIDS and thereby improve the caregiver-patient relationship.

This thesis explores how fear is used as a communication strategy to create and enhance power in conflict setting. I drew the data from six in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted in northern Uganda, a region that was ravaged by war for over two decades, as well as from my own experiences of fear in the field, because terror shaped the very nature of my interactions in Uganda. Building on symbolic interaction theory, the analysis explores how the participants created the meaning of "fear" through symbols, culture, language and experiences during and after the war and how fear was used as an agent of control externally and as a dis-enabler internally. The findings support the idea that fear, perceived or otherwise, is strategically important because of its influence on conflict outcomes.