This study examined a mediational model of mental illness stigma, parent-child communication about mental health concerns, and help seeking attitudes/behaviors among young adults with at least one immigrant parent while considering the possible moderating effect of acculturation gap. The primary goal of this study was to examine whether the acculturation gap changed the relation between mental illness stigma and communication about personal mental health concerns with immigrant parents, which in turn could become a significant predictor of their help-seeking attitudes, as well as a barrier to seeking professional mental health services. Findings provided support to the direct and indirect effects of mental illness stigma through communication about mental health concerns on attitudes about help-seeking. The acculturation gap hypothesized to be a possible moderator for the stigma-communication about mental health concerns relationship among young adult ABCI was found to be significant for ABCI with a low mainstream culture acculturation gap. Discussion on the findings, limitations of the study, future research directions, and counseling implications are addressed.

This research focused on the experiences of HIV disclosure to significant others amongst people living with HIV. The aim of the research was to explore how people living with HIV experience disclosure of their HIV positive status to their significant others. The social constructionist perspective was utilized to gain a deeper understanding of the experience of HIV positive status disclosure to significant others. The study’s sample comprised of five participants who were recruited using purposive sampling strategy. Data was collected with using face to face semi structured interviews. Themes were extracted and analysed using thematic content analysis. An analysis was made as to whom participants choose to disclose to, the reaction of the people they disclosed to, as well as their reasons for disclosing. Results were reported as the participants’ experiences and noted as is or unadulterated. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This study is a hermeneutic phenomenology of transgenderism as it is valued and appreciated by adults who self-identify along the transgender spectrum. As a population-at-risk due to a social environment reliant on a dualistic notion of gender, transgender people are of particular concern to social workers, who are charged with identifying and building on client strengths. Yet the preponderance of the academic literature has reinforced a negative, problematic, or even pathological view of transgenderism. The literature also has tended to focus narrowly on transsexualism, leaving a gap in our knowledge of other forms of transgenderism. The present study—grounded primarily in the philosophy and methodology of Heideggerian phenomenology, but also drawing on Gadamerian hermeneutics—sought to understand the lived experience of transgenderism as it is appreciated by a range of transgender adults. A purposive sample of fifteen self-identified transgender adults who reported appreciating being transgender was recruited using snowball sampling across three Midwestern states. Each participated in an individual, open-ended interview designed to tap their lived experience with transgenderism as a valued aspect of life. Transcribed interview data were analyzed using Heideggerian hermeneutic phenomenological processes as suggested by various researchers in nursing, social work, and other disciplines. The results of this study suggest that intimate connections (with one’s self, with others, and with a larger purpose) constitute the essence of the lived experience of appreciating one’s transgenderism. These findings help prepare social workers to recognize the strengths of the transgender population and to engage in culturally competent practice. In addition, this research offers new knowledge for improving social work curricular content on transgenderism and for justifying trans-inclusive social policies. The study also contributes to the overall research literature on transgenderism and qualitative methods.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Shelby County has the fastest growing rate of HIV infection in the State of Tennessee and the majority of the people with HIV/AIDS are African Americans. 2011 CDC report stated Memphis had the fifth highest proportion of new HIV infections. The African American church is a natural and potentially powerful venue to facilitate health awareness. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the views of African American faith-based leaders (FBLs) toward offering HIV prevention services in faith-based organizations (FBOs). The theoretical framework for this study was the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). The fourth domain of CFIR, characteristics of the individuals, is concerned with organizational change which occurs on the individual level. CFIR provided a means to ensure effective implementations, data coding and analysis. Interpretative Descriptive (ID) design, which seeks to discover associations, relationships, and patterns within the described phenomenon, was used. The targeted population was African American Faith-based Leaders from areas known to have high rates of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Purposeful sampling was employed to recruit participants. Data was generated through face-to-face, semi-structured interviews. The researchers categorized and analyzed the data to form the concepts and themes identified using a coding scheme which was applied to all data. Faith-based leaders revealed that they had a role in HIV prevention. The themes that emerged were their role to provide education on HIV, minister with compassion, teach Biblical doctrine, maintain a community focus, and partner with expert healthcare professionals. Perceived barrier concepts identified were lack of knowledge, denial, stigma, fear, keeping issues private, and the breakdown of family and community values. Findings suggest that FBLs had some knowledge of the health disparities and ongoing stigma concerning HIV remains a major barrier. The participants interviewed were open to HIV preventions on different levels to address HIV but needed more education.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Stigma is a barrier to recovery for people with mental illness. Problematically, stigma also has been documented among mental health practitioners. To date, however, most research has focused on explicit attitudes regarding mental illness. Little research has examined implicit attitudes, which has the potential to reveal evaluations residing outside of conscious control or awareness. Moreover, research has tended to use a mixed sample of practitioners and programs. The extent to which both explicit and implicit stigma is endorsed by mental health practitioners utilizing evidence-based practices is unknown. The purposes of the current study were to 1) carefully examine implicit and explicit stigmatizing attitudes, or biases, among Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) staff and 2) explore the extent to which explicit and implicit biases predicted the use of treatment control mechanisms. Participants were 154 ACT staff from nine states. They completed implicit (Implicit Association Test) and explicit measures of stigma. Overall, participants exhibited positive explicit and implicit attitudes towards people with mental illness. When modeled using latent factors, implicit, but not explicit bias significantly predicted the endorsement of restrictive or controlling clinical interventions. Practitioners who perceived individuals with mental illness as relatively more dangerous and helpless (both explicit and implicit), as well as participants from Indiana and those with less education were more likely to endorse use of control mechanisms. Thus, despite overall positive attitudes toward those with mental illness for the sample as a whole, even low levels of stigma at the individual level were found to affect clinical care. Mental health professionals, and specifically ACT clinicians, should work to be aware of ways in which their biases influence how they intervene with consumers.

AIDS-related bereavement counselling programmes / The aim of this study was to determine whether there is a need for specific bereavement counselling programmes for women affected by HIV/AIDS in Indonesia, where death is believed to be fated. Six AIDS-bereaved women were recruited. Data analysis was conducted based on the women's interview transcripts and journal entries. The women experienced at least three traumatic life events. The most challenging experience was learning that they have contracted a disease they knew to be mostly associated with prostitution. Given the short lapse of time between their husbands' deaths and learning about their seropositivity, biographical disruption appeared to have acted as an "analgesic", while concerns to protect their children seemed to have triggered biographical reinforcement. This phenomenon may have brought about a positive bereavement outcome. Specific counselling programmes for women affected by HIV/AIDS are needed, but emphasis should first be placed on improving their wellbeing and their perception of stigma. / Sociology / M.A. (Sociology (Social Behaviour Studies in HIV/AIDS))

HIV/Aids is a worldwide pandemic and as South Africans we are at the epicentre of this global health crisis. The harrowing statistics are useful as a means to quantify a horrific situation; however, what these facts do not do is provide connection amidst the uncertainty surrounding the disease. This research aims to bridge the disconnection and break the silence that weaves a net around the illness and those infected by it. This is done by deconstructing one man’s story of his journey with HIV; by looking at his personal epistemology; and by contextualising his story within his family and within the society in which he lives, South Africa. Finally, it is my reflections and interpretations that form the bridge between a construct of HIV/Aids and a life lived with the disease. / Psychology / M. A. (Clinical Psychology)

A quantitative approach was used to investigate the stigmatization of HIV positive clients in the Leribe District of Lesotho. The study population included 5200 HIV positive patients who enrolled for ARV in government clinics. A randomly selected sample of 520 clients responded through a questionnaire and interviews. The statistical package (STATA version 9) was used to analyze data. The objectives of the study were to explore the type and level of stigmatization of HIV-positive clients and to describe ways in which health workers in the PHC can reduce the stigmatization of HIV-positive clients at the clinics. The findings revealed that types of stigmatization included separation, isolation, labeling and discrimination. Ways to reduce the stigma within a community based primary health care facility included educating people living with HIV on how to protect themselves from multiple infection, providing effective counselling to clients and families maintaining confidentiality, and using change strategies to change attitudes of health care providers. The integration of HIV-related activities is a strong recommendation and the importance of the consistent availability of ARV treatment was emphasized. / Public Health / M.A. (Public Health)

Three years into the human territory, the fight against HIV/AIDS still prevails. According to Fuller (2008), it is estimated that by 2025, 80 million Africans will have been killed by this pandemic, while 90 million are estimated to be infected by HIV. Close to 3 thousand women are infected with HIV daily. In the beginning of 2008, some 22,5 million sub-Saharan Africans were living with HIV (Fuller 2008). In South Africa, 5 million people are estimated to be infected with HIV, 250 thousand die each year due to AIDS-related deaths, while a thousand people die daily and 17 hundred get infected daily. South African women are the hardest hit population group, compared to their male counterparts (Fuller 2008; Zuberi 2004). In South Africa this epidemic crawled under the shadow of denial, fear, ignorance, stigma and discrimination, which disrupted efforts to prevent further spread and care for the infected and the affected individuals and groups. South African women are subjected to gender inequality, sexual violence and rape, and in the presence of HIV/AIDS their plight became exacerbated. They became subjected to blame and rejection because people do not want to associate themselves with this group, who possess the deadly infectious disease which is associated with commercial sex workers, intravenous drug users and homosexuals. The aim of this research was to investigate the plight of anticipated and enacted stigma among the South African women who receive treatment as outpatients in the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. The study was conducted among six women who are living with HIV/AIDS over a period of four weeks, with a qualitative research design adopted as research method. In-depth interviews were used as the primary tool for data collection. This study was conducted in order for the researcher to obtain insight into the subject of HIV- and AIDS-related stigma and to highlight the experiences of participants for policy and programme designing and development purposes.

This study investigated the exposure of employees in the South African Police Service (SAPS) to the HIV/AIDS workplace programme, levels of knowledge of HIV/AIDS, perceptions of stigma and discrimination and of participation by stakeholders in programme implementation. The researcher subscribes to the view that stigma and discrimination are major obstacles to the successful implementation of the HIV/AIDS workplace programme as this notion has been substantiated by numerous studies. Self-administered questionnaire was used as means of data collection. Findings suggest that the employees of SAPS based at the National Head Office have high levels of knowledge on HIV/AIDS. However, the majority of the respondents indicated that they would not feel comfortable to disclose their HIV positive status, fearing the consequences thereof. / Sociology / M.A. (Social Behaviour Studies in HIV/AIDS)