Clinicians’ attitudes and behaviors toward patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are affected by the label’s stigma. Complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) was proposed as a comprehensive and less stigmatizing diagnostic category for clients with BPD and a history of complex trauma. Given considerable similarities across both disorders’ diagnostic criteria, the CPTSD framework holds promise as a means to improve therapists’ attitudes towards clients with BPD and a history of complex trauma. However, this quality of CPTSD had not yet been examined empirically. Using vignettes in a between-subjects experimental design, this study investigated whether CPTSD is a less stigmatizing label than BPD for trauma survivors. Participants were 322 practicing psychotherapists. Evidence of BPD stigma was found, as was an affinity for CPTSD. Results generally supported CPTSD as a less stigmatizing label than BPD; therapists presented with a CPTSD-labeled vignette were somewhat less likely to blame the client for her symptomatic behavior and expected slightly stronger working alliance with the client than therapists presented with the BPD-labeled vignette. However, therapists’ agreement with the BPD diagnosis and theoretical orientation were found to be more salient than diagnostic label in affecting concepts related to the stigmatization of BPD clients. Additionally, familiarity with CPTSD was related to more favorable attitudes toward the client and her course of treatment. Regardless of CPTSD’s recognition as a formal diagnosis, education about the construct is widely recommended for therapists.

Heroin addiction is inclined to arouse fear, rejection and discriminatory behavior among the general public. Evidence shows that the public perceives heroin as harmful and addictive. Heroin is ranked as the most stigmatized condition. While there is robust literature on mental illness stigma, there is limited research concerning addiction-related stigma. There are very few standardized stigma measures related to perceptions toward persons addicted to heroin. The overall aim of the dissertation was to validate an attribution measurement model toward persons addicted to heroin and to determine its psychometric properties. The dissertation’s study employed an adapted 7-factor measurement model (Corrigan et al., 2002) to examine stigmatizing perceptions towards persons addicted to heroin. This is the first study to systematically evaluate model fit by implementing Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM). A total of 657 Sociology students were analyzed over four stages: questionnaire review by expert panel, pilot-test, validation and replication. The study tested multiple incremental models and successfully determined that the results met multiple goodness-of-fit indices. Through ESEM, Sociology-Social Control students supported the hypothesis that the adapted 7-factor attribution measurement model would fit data. The model included: Personal Responsibility, Pity, Anger, Helping Behavior, Dangerousness, Fear and Social Distance factors. Adequate power and sample size was demonstrated to support acceptance of the null hypothesis. In addition to conducting Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), ESEM tested the psychometric properties of the attribution measurement model. Implementing maximum likelihood extraction with oblique geomin rotation using Mplus software, the Sociology-Social Control students’ validation and replication datasets showed an excellent model fit to the data. Results confirmed support for the superiority of the ESEM solution. The ESEM attribution measurement model fit better than the CFA model. Compared to the ESEM model, elevated factor correlations found in the CFA model were caused by the exclusion of meaningful cross-loadings. Strong psychometric properties for the ESEM attribution model were evidenced, with good internal consistency and excellent test-retest reliability. The factor structure was replicable across the two groups of Sociology-Social Control students. Adequate ESEM incremental and convergent validity was supported by the simultaneous examination of the Social Distance scale and the Personal Consequences of Criminal Stigma measures with the measurement model. In the replication sample, familiarity demonstrated less stigmatizing perceptions than the SOC313 Course. Our findings highlight marked differences between the Sociology-Social Control students and the general population’s perceptions of heroin addicts. The Sociology-Social Control students are not afraid of persons addicted to heroin, nor do they hold them responsible for their condition. To conclude, the study provides newly validated measures with adequate reliability to allow investigators to assess other students’ level of addiction stigma. It is anticipated that the dissertation’s study will lead to further comparative psychometric testing with healthcare students that are directly involved with the care and treatment of persons addicted to heroin to provide a better understanding of the factorial structure of the attribution measurement model. Longitudinal data is also needed to examine our model and how levels of perceptions change over time.

This thesis explores gender, disability and literature in the Global South through an examination of the writings of two physically disabled contemporary women writers from Nepal, BIshnu Kumari Waiwa and Jhamak Ghimire. I show how these renowned contemporary writers challenge stigmas of the disabled body by deconstructiong the "ideology of ability" through their poetry, fiction, and autobiographical narratives. Religious and cultural values disable women's autonomy in general, and create even greater disadvantages for women who are physically disabled. Challenging these cultural stigmas, Waiwa and Ghimire celebrate sexuality and disability as sources of creativity, agency, and identity in narratives that deconstruct cultural or social models of sexuality, motherhood, and beauty. In this thesis feminist disability and feminist theory guide an analysis of Waiwa and Ghimire's writing to advance our understanding of gender, culture, disability and literature in the Global South. / by Tulasi Acharya. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

The aims of the current research program were to examine the social-cognitive and sociological models of stigma in relation to student attitudes towards an individual experiencing a mood disorder. Two experiments (Studies 1 and 2) sought to empirically distinguish between controllability and responsibility, both constructs of the attribution model which is subsidiary to the social-cognitive model of stigma. Despite manipulating controllability, participants were reluctant to attribute controllability of cause to individuals experiencing depression or bipolar disorder. The stability of beliefs about the controllability of cause for condition onset was consistent with research suggesting that the Australian public increasingly conceptualise mental disorders in terms of biochemical and genetic causal factors. These findings, in combination with past research linking biogenetic beliefs to negative attitudes, resulted in a change in focus of investigation in Studies 3, 4, 5 and 6 to explain why, contrary to the prediction of the attribution model, biogenetic explanations of mental disorders are associated with the proliferation of stigma. To measure causal beliefs, the Causal Belief Inventory (CBI) was developed in Study 3 and refined in Study 4. The correlational results examined in Studies 4, 5 and 6 found that genetic and biochemical causal beliefs were associated with a number of positive attitudes towards individuals experiencing a mood disorder and that genetic cause was associated with a reduced implicit bias against major depression. Furthermore, each study pointed to the centrality of judgments of differentness in determining affective responses and direct and proxy measures of behaviour. In contrast, manipulation of genetic and psychosocial cause in Study 5 found that causal condition largely failed to impact upon student attitudes. Mediator analysis did, however, find that beliefs about the stability of the vignette actor's condition fully mediated the relationship between the negative influence of genetic cause on proxy helping behaviour. Manipulation of psychosocial, genetic and biochemical cause with the inclusion of a non-depressed control in Study 6 resulted in more ambiguous findings. The combination of findings from Studies 1 to 6 suggest that focusing on the impact of the controllability of cause of depression onset on student attitudes is unwarranted. Instead researchers and public health educators should be examining models which facilitate the examination of the cognitive factors that mediate these relationships. Two such models, namely the social-cognitive and sociological models of stigma, were found to adequately fit the data. Recommendations for integrating these two models of stigma are discussed.

In response to the HIV epidemics since its onset in 1981, several preventive measures have been applied or employed to combat the epidemics. Up to date, the epidemics have reported limited success and/or increased incidence inspite of various interventions. It is widely known that stigma constitute a major setback to preventive interventions of this disease. This informed, amongst others, information, education and communication (IEC) interventions directed at combating HIV stigma through the enhancement and creation of awareness on HIV knowledge. However, lack of adequate and correct knowledge on HIV and AIDS is believed to be a main pre-cursor to HIV stigma. This cross sectional study therefore investigates and reports findings on the associations between HIV stigma and other relevant variables such as HIV related knowledge, exposure to mass media and some socio-demographic characteristics among representatives of the ethnic groups aged between 18 and 49 in the broader Rustenburg community (N = 351). The study utilized some data collected by the Aurum Institute of Health Research in partnership with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and the European Union. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistical methods and presented in figures and tables. Independent sample T-tests and ANOVA were employed to compare means while the Pearson’s product moment was used to find the association between variables. A standard multiple regression analysis was applied to assess the predictors of HIV/AIDS stigma. Findings from the study showed an adequate knowledge of HIV/AIDS as 72.8% scored more than 17 out of the 24 basic questions on HIV/AIDS correctly. The respondents’ overall mean HIV/AIDS knowledge score was 18.22±3.80 out of 24 points. However there was a deficit in knowledge on the preventive role of male circumcision in HIV transmission (27.6%) and the high chance of getting HIV infection from sexual intercourse with a recently HIV infected individual (48.4%). Misconceptions existed among the respondents about the association between ritual cleansing of widows and HIV transmission (43.0%) and the stopping of ART at will due to side effects (54.1%). With respect to knowledge acquisition, the leading source of information is the electronic media (52.9% for radio, 75.8% for TV and 81.4% for cell phone) while newspapers (17.2%) are a minor source. Regarding HIV stigma, the findings revealed that HIV stigma is intertwined with other contextual stigmas of gender and sexual immorality. There was a high prevalence in the attribution of blame on female prostitution and promiscuity for the cause of HIV infection in this study. Furthermore, the findings in this study showed very pronounced negative stigmatising attitudes towards HIV infected women in the community especially in relation to child bearing. Levels of HIV/AIDS knowledge and AIDS stigma were influenced by education, perceived socio-economic status, living standard, media exposure, racial differences and employment status (p<0.05). The study revealed that there was a significant main effect of age group (18-24, 25-35, 36-49), specifically with knowledge regarding HIV transmission and the physiological impact of HIV; social distance towards PLWHA and stigmatising attitude towards HIV infected women.This study underscore the importance of developing and implementing stigma reduction interventions in the community to address attitudinal biases towards PLWHA especially regarding the females by encouraging social cohesion and support, HIV disclosure and involvement of role models, more greater awareness regarding PMTCT. Education on the importance of male circumcision and the long life usage of ART are also of utmost importance. To lend support to the current intervention measures on HIV/AIDS messages via a telephone helpline, there is need of sending text messages as a means of increasing HIV/AIDS knowledge should be encouraged. Finally, there is need for further explorative studies in acceptability, perceptions and barriers to male circumcision; the perceptions of ART and HIV infection and the relevance of ART in HIV stigma as well as AIDS stigma regarding childbearing and HIV infected women. Findings from this study have implications for the reduction of HIV related stigma and prevention. It is hoped that these findings and recommendations will greatly inspire, influence and inform policy makers, communities, stakeholders, empower PLWHA to cope with stigma as well as reduce stigma prevalence in the study area in particular and South Africa. Areas of further research that require urgent attention are also highlighted. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 1988. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 283-301).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-100).

Assignment (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

This thesis is concerned with philosophical perspectives on the stigma of mental illness, with each chapter exploring different philosophical issues. Chapter one delineates the central concept around which the rest of the work revolves: the stigma of mental illness. It provides an outline of the stigma mechanism, how it applies to mental illness, why it is such a large public health concern and what has been done so far to combat it. Chapter two is concerned with the application of recent literature in the philosophy of implicit bias to the topic of mental illness. It suggests that we have hitherto been preoccupied with explicit formulations of the stigma mechanism, but argues that there are distinctive issues involved in combatting forms of discrimination in which the participants are not cognisant of their attitudes or actions, and that anti-stigma initiatives for mental illness should take note. Chapter three applies the philosophical literature concerning the ethics of our epistemic practices to the stigma of mental illness. It contains an analysis of how epistemic injustice- primarily in the forms of testimonial injustice and stereotype threat- affects those with mental illnesses. The fourth chapter brings in issues in the philosophy of science (particularly the philosophy of psychiatry) to explore the possibility of intervening on the stigma process to halt the stigma of mental illness. The first candidate (preventing labelling) is discounted, and the second (combatting stereotype) is tentatively endorsed. The fifth chapter is concerned with how language facilitates the stigma of mental illness. It suggests that using generics to talk about mental illness (whether the knowledge structure conveyed is inaccurate or accurate) is deeply problematic. In the former, it conveys insidious forms of social stereotyping. In the latter, it propagates misinformation by presenting the category as a quintessential one.

The existence of HIV related stigma and discrimination in institutions of learning across the world is well-documented in the literature. It is also well known that factors such as knowledge about stigma and discrimination, fear of infection, social judgment, legal and policy environment act as actionable drivers and facilitators of HIV related stigma and discrimination. However, research works focusing on how various actionable drivers and facilitators are related to different forms of HIV related stigma and discrimination at universities in Nigeria are scanty. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the individual correlates of HIV-related stigma among undergraduate students at a public university in Nigeria. Methods: Quantitative cross-sectional descriptive design was used. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of the University of South Africa. Permission to access the participants was obtained. The study was conducted at Ambrose Alli University which has a population of over 20,000 students. Informed consent was obtained from the participants. Simple random sampling was used to select 404 participants who were handed self-administered questionnaire. Collected data was analysed using All Pearson Chi-square test and Fishers Exact Test (p<0.05). Validity and reliability were also considered. A total of 391 questionnaires (97%) were returned and considered for analysis. Descriptive summary statistics and cross tabulations were used to analyse The results showed that a high proportion of undergraduate students still have stigmatising behaviours toward people living with HIV. These stigmatising behaviours are associated with certain individual characteristics. Recommendation: There is an urgent need for political leaders and heads of universities to implement policies and programmes that will enhance knowledge regarding HIV AND AIDS and thereby reduce stigmatizing attitudes among undergraduate students. / Health Studies / M.P.H.