This thesis follows and examines the lives of people in Atlanta, Georgia who own and advocate for the controversial group of dog breeds and mixed breeds known as “pit bulls.” The greater meaning of pit bulls within the United States is also considered from a historical and anthropological lens. This thesis uses pit bulls as a medium to explore issues of race, gender, and stigma in the United States and to consider how pit bull owners and activists use their understanding of the public around them to change ideas surrounding their dogs.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur individer, som fått en ADHD-diagnos i vuxen ålder, idag beskriver sin och omgivningens interaktion under livets gång, i huvudsak med fokus på självbild. Studiens datainsamlingsmetod var semistrukturerade intervjuer. Under bearbetningen av intervjumaterialet skapades ett övergripande tema kallat självbild, omgivning & ADHD. Materialet har även brytits ner i kategorier och underkategorier. Resutatet analyserades med utgångspunkt i George Herbert Mead och Herbert Blumers symboliska interaktionism samt Erving Goffmans teoribildning om Stigma. Resultatet visar att alla informanter sett det som övervägande positivt att få diagnosen ADHD och att alla var öppna med att prata om sin ADHD-diagnos med andra. Resultatet visar även att alla känt sig "dumma" under uppväxten samt att skolmiljön inte varit anpassad för dem. Samtliga beskrev att de som barn varit utfrysta eller mobbade. Alla pratade även om att de under barndomen varit jobbiga, stökiga eller bråkiga. Informanterna beskrev att de hade behövt hjälp tidigare i livet. De beskrev också en förbättrad självkänsla i vuxen ålder i koppling till någonting de åstadkommit i sitt liv. Informanterna pratade även om negativa upplevelser av bemötande från myndigheter. Upplevelserna och bemötandet var på olika vis kopplade till deras ADHD.

Moral habilitation is the intentional and directed shaping of a new subjectivity in accordance with a culturally sanctioned, pro-social standard of daily ethical conduct. Treatment programs for sexual offenders are enterprises in moral habilitation that involve instilling participants with new values, beliefs, and practices. This research represents a person-centred ethnography that combined concepts of morality, stigma, selfhood, and agency with the treatment and community (re)integration of sexual offenders to learn how some of these men narrated their transformations from dysfunction to a state of self-regulation and greater wellbeing. To this end, 18 men of Euro-Canadian or Aboriginal ancestry living in western Canada were interviewed about their experiences in sexual offender treatment programs, their transitions from prison to community life, and their changing self-concepts. In this transition, participants described their motivations to change as derived from their experiences of (a) a stigmatized, unfulfilling life, (b) the desire for a better or “normal” life, (c) social supports, and (d) a determined and willful mindset. They adopted multiple narrative strategies to protect their self-concepts while the progression of time and ethical self-reformation facilitated a transition from shame and self-doubt to self-acceptance. Through this research, I propose a model of Ethical Self-Reformation (ESR) that combines the institutional morality of treatment programs with stigmatizing public moral discourses to individuals’ enactments of agency, will, and motivation to sustain what is in effect amoral enterprise. Moral habilitation is conceptualized as the internalized, automatic responses of an embodied morality as practiced through the ESR model. This research concludes that sexual offender treatment programs can effectively lead to moral habilitation if the offender is willing to submit to the process; but it also advises that programs need to be more individualized if treatment responsivity is to be enhanced.

This study aimed to examine how variants in diagnostic labels might alter stigma toward Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) sufferers and secondly, to evaluate an existing scale (GASS) designed to measure that stigma. Data was collected from Swedish university students (N=447) where the impact of labeling upon stigma was measured by manipulating the presence and content of a label. Psychometric properties of the GASS were investigated and compared to the properties reported by the developers of the scale. Due to conflicting findings, further examination appears necessary. Results revealed that the presence of a general label (diagnosis cluster) reduced stigma opposed to the absence of a label. Conclusion was drawn that GAD sufferers should specify their problems with a general label to reduce stigma held toward them. / Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur skillnader av framställd diagnosetikett påverkar stigma mot personer med Generaliserat Ångestsyndrom, samt att utvärdera ett befintligt mätinstrument (GASS) vilken mäter detta stigma. Data samlades in från svenska universitetsstudenter (N=447) och stigmats påverkan av etiketter mättes genom manipulation av närvarande, samt typ, av etikett. Mätinstrumentet utvärderades genom jämförelse med tidigare resultat vilka presenterats av mätinstrumentets utvecklare. Med hänvisning till motstridiga resultat behövs ytterligare utvärdering av mätinstrumentet. Resultat visade att en generell etikett (diagnosens kluster) minskade stigma i jämförelse med frånvaro av en etikett. Slutsats drogs att de som lider av GAD, bör specificera sina problem på generell nivå för att minska stigma mot sig.

Bakgrund: En procent av den svenska befolkningen får någon gång i livet diagnosen schizofreni. Sjukdomen kan leda till funktionsnedsättningar som påverkar det dagliga livet. Det kan vara svårt att förstå upplevelsen av att leva med schizofreni. Det finns positiva symtom som rösthallucinationer och vanföreställningar, det finns även negativa symtom som viljelöshet, apati och osocialt beteende. Syfte: Att belysa personers upplevelser av att leva med schizofreni. Metod: Litteraturstudie baserad på sexton kvalitativa artiklar. Resultat: Åtta kategorier erhölls utifrån analys av personers upplevelser av att leva med schizofreni, utöver detta identifierades utanförskap som ett övergripande tema. Diskussion: Utanförskapet berodde på en oförstående omgivning som i sin tur delvis berodde på stigmatisering av personer med schizofreni. Personer med schizofreni valde att isolera sig vilket delvis kunde bero på ekonomiska svårigheter. Sjuksköterskan kan vara en viktig del i att personer med schizofreni återhämtar sig och kan bryta upplevelsen av utanförskap. Slutsats: Vid omvårdnaden av personer med schizofreni kan det vara avgörande att sjuksköterskan är medveten om och arbetar aktivt för att bryta det upplevda utanförskapet. Denna studie kan vara en påminnelse om vilka områden som sjuksköterskan kan beakta vid omvårdnaden av personer med schizofreni.

S. Krutulienė ir G. Zdanavičiūtė (Lekt. V. Jakutienė, Prof. Habil. Dr. A. Bagdonas) EPILEPSIJA SERGANČIŲ ASMENŲ SPECIALIŲ POREIKIŲ IR JŲ TENKINIMO ANALIZĖ Magistro darbas V.: VU Socialinio darbo katedra, 2007, 93 p. SANTRAUKA Epilepsija vienas iš dažniausių neurologinių sutrikimų. Lietuvoje per metus priskaičiuojama 1300 naujų epilepsijos atvejų (MOSES, 2006), tačiau epilepsija sergančių asmenų psichosocialinė situacija ir specialieji poreikiai mažai tyrinėta sritis. Anketavimo būdu buvo surinkta duomenų apie 186 įvairaus amžiaus epilepsija sergančius asmenis (vaikus, suaugusius, pagyvenusius). Apie epilepsija sergančius vaikus informacija gauta iš vaikų motinų. Tyrimo metu paaiškėjo, jog epilepsija sergantiems suaugusiems asmenims (ESA) ir epilepsija sergantiems vaikams (ESV) kyla psichologinių, tarpasmeninių santykių problemų. ESA dažniau nei ESV šeimos jaučia stigmą. ESA jaučiama stigma dažniausiai nėra susijusi su neuroepilepsiniais ir sociodemografiniais veiksniais. Tyrimas parodė, jog ESA ir ESV šeimų poreikiai yra mažai tenkinami. Didžiausi tiriamųjų poreikiai buvo informavimo bei psichologinės pagalbos, taip pat reabilitacijos ir savipagalbos grupių. ESV šeimoms taip pat reikalinga pagalba, susijusi su vaiko priežiūra ir ugdymu. ESA išreiškė maitinimo organizavimo ir labdaros poreikius. Dauguma ESA yra neužimti, tačiau poreikio dirbti neišreiškė. / THE ANALYSIS AND SITUATION OF MEETING OF SPECIAL NEEDS OF PEOPLE WITH EPILEPSY Master work V.: VU Department of Social Work SUMMARY Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders. Every year about 1300 people are diagnosed having epilepsy in Lithuania. However, the special needs and psychosocial situation of these people is not extensively studied yet. The data have been collected about 186 people with epilepsy of different age groups (children, adults and the elderly) by using questionnaires. Mothers filled in the questionnaires in order to give information about their children with epilepsy as they could not do it themselves. The results of the research show that both children and adults with epilepsy have psychological and interpersonal relationships problems. Adults face stigma more often than families having children with epilepsy. Stigma is not related to neuroepileptical and sociodemografical factors. Moreover, the research shows that special needs of both families having children with epilepsy and adults with epilepsy are not fully met. Briefing, psychological support, rehabilitation and involvement in mutual assistance groups are essential for people with epilepsy. Families having children with epilepsy also need assistance concerning care and education of their children. Adults with epilepsy are in the need of charity and food supply. Most of the adults with epilepsy are not employed, however, they did not express the need to work.

S. Krutulienė ir G. Zdanavičiūtė (Lekt. V. Jakutienė, Prof. Habil. Dr. A. Bagdonas) EPILEPSIJA SERGANČIŲ ASMENŲ SPECIALIŲ POREIKIŲ IR JŲ TENKINIMO ANALIZĖ Magistro darbas V.: VU Socialinio darbo katedra, 2007, 93 p. SANTRAUKA Epilepsija vienas iš dažniausių neurologinių sutrikimų. Lietuvoje per metus priskaičiuojama 1300 naujų epilepsijos atvejų (MOSES, 2006), tačiau epilepsija sergančių asmenų psichosocialinė situacija ir specialieji poreikiai mažai tyrinėta sritis. Anketavimo būdu buvo surinkta duomenų apie 186 įvairaus amžiaus epilepsija sergančius asmenis (vaikus, suaugusius, pagyvenusius). Apie epilepsija sergančius vaikus informacija gauta iš vaikų motinų. Tyrimo metu paaiškėjo, jog epilepsija sergantiems suaugusiems asmenims (ESA) ir epilepsija sergantiems vaikams (ESV) kyla psichologinių, tarpasmeninių santykių problemų. ESA dažniau nei ESV šeimos jaučia stigmą. ESA jaučiama stigma dažniausiai nėra susijusi su neuroepilepsiniais ir sociodemografiniais veiksniais. Tyrimas parodė, jog ESA ir ESV šeimų poreikiai yra mažai tenkinami. Didžiausi tiriamųjų poreikiai buvo informavimo bei psichologinės pagalbos, taip pat reabilitacijos ir savipagalbos grupių. ESV šeimoms taip pat reikalinga pagalba, susijusi su vaiko priežiūra ir ugdymu. ESA išreiškė maitinimo organizavimo ir labdaros poreikius. Dauguma ESA yra neužimti, tačiau poreikio dirbti neišreiškė. / THE ANALYSIS AND SITUATION OF MEETING OF SPECIAL NEEDS OF PEOPLE WITH EPILEPSY Master work V.: VU Department of Social Work SUMMARY Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders. Every year about 1300 people are diagnosed having epilepsy in Lithuania. However, the special needs and psychosocial situation of these people is not extensively studied yet. The data have been collected about 186 people with epilepsy of different age groups (children, adults and the elderly) by using questionnaires. Mothers filled in the questionnaires in order to give information about their children with epilepsy as they could not do it themselves. The results of the research show that both children and adults with epilepsy have psychological and interpersonal relationships problems. Adults face stigma more often than families having children with epilepsy. Stigma is not related to neuroepileptical and sociodemografical factors. Moreover, the research shows that special needs of both families having children with epilepsy and adults with epilepsy are not fully met. Briefing, psychological support, rehabilitation and involvement in mutual assistance groups are essential for people with epilepsy. Families having children with epilepsy also need assistance concerning care and education of their children. Adults with epilepsy are in the need of charity and food supply. Most of the adults with epilepsy are not employed, however, they did not express the need to work.

Background: Homeless persons who suffer of mental illness are one group which is marginalized worldwide. Homeless people have a fragmentary contact with healthcare and many of those who have drug abuse problems and mental illness are still undiagnosed. Still, this is not their only issue when various state agencies argue about who will take responsibility for this persons. Aim: To describe the factors that are perceived supportive or restrictive by homeless people with mental illness. Method: The material has been gathered via systematic and unsystematic searches and the study was designed as a literature review. The articles which responded to the aim of this study were included and it resulted in twelve articles. Results: The approach and attitudes of the healthcare workers is experienced negatively by the homeless persons because of their discrimination and stigmatization. Experiences suck as lack of coordination and cooperation between healthcare, lack of health insurance, social isolation and poor paid jobs or no jobs at all are also common. Still, there were some positive experience such as healthcare workers and staff who listened, care and implicated themselves in the homeless person’s problems and situation, they gave them presents or made jokes. Conclusion: The healthcare workers needs knowledge about homeless people’s experience of various factors that promote or sets limits in promoting health. This knowledge is needed in order to improve the healthcare workers approach.

The prevalence of overweight and obesity is on the rise. Being overweight or obese is associated with serious medical, psychological, and social consequences. The main social consequence of being overweight or obese is stigma, which is detrimental to overweight and obese people. Three types of obesity stigma reduction interventions have been proposed and tested: changing attributions, increasing empathy, and social consensus. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of these interventions and to determine the effectiveness of an intervention that incorporates major elements of the three interventions. Three hundred eighty one University of Manitoba undergraduate students participated in this study. They were randomly assigned to one of five intervention groups: status quo group, changing attributions group, increasing empathy group, social consensus group, and multi-level intervention group. The interventions involved presenting participants with information intended to influence participants’ perceptions of overweight and obese individuals. Pre-test and post-test ratings were obtained on participants’ attributions about weight, feelings about obese people, and endorsement of positive and negative stereotypes of obese people. Analyses of these ratings revealed that the empathy and multi-level interventions are the only interventions that improved attributions, feelings, and endorsement of stereotypes, and this suggests that the multi-level and empathy interventions were the most powerful. On the other hand, the attribution intervention had the largest overall effect and affected attributions, feelings, and negative stereotypes. Therefore, there are reasons to believe that the attribution intervention was the most powerful in this study. Participants were subsequently asked to rate a target overweight person. Half of all participants were informed that the target was overweight because of medical reasons, while the other half were informed that the target was overweight because of regular overeating and a sedentary lifestyle. Surprisingly, the intervention groups did not significantly differ in target ratings on any variable. Reasons for this lack of effect are discussed. A main effect did occur in the ratings of the target for controllability information. Specifically, participants who were informed that the target was overweight for uncontrollable reasons (e.g., glandular disorder) reported more favorable ratings in liking her and not blaming her, as compared to participants who were informed that the target was overweight for controllable reasons (e.g., regular overeating and sedentary lifestyle). Ratings of the target’s characteristics and physical attractiveness did not change with this manipulation. Overall, this study provided logical and consistent results, while adding specific information to the literature. Further, this study offered a new, effective intervention for obesity stigma reduction, as well as providing some support for the empathy and attribution interventions. These three interventions proved to be the strongest in this study, and perhaps they will one day be used as part of a more global intervention to reduce stigma and discrimination toward overweight and obese people.

The previous study on the experiences of widowhood and beliefs about the mourning process of the Batswana people found that widows were stigmatised due to cultural beliefs that made coping a difficult process for the widow. The literature revealed that widowhood following the death of a partner from AIDS is a difficult process due to HIV and AIDS being highly stigmatized. Stigma is an attribute that is deeply discrediting and devaluating to an individual social identity. It also reduces the person from her usual status to one with a tainted image due to the belief that having contracted HIV and AIDS is a choice and that an individual is responsible for her immoral behaviour. This negative attitude that amounts to prejudice contributes to the women's feelings of unworthiness. It was also found that the stigma against people living with HIV and AIDS is not only directed at them, but also to those having close relationships with them namely, their spouses, children, relatives, as well as health workers, which is known as secondary or associated stigma. The stigma was found to be attributed to discrimination based on gender, age, sexual orientation and race, hence women living with HIV and AIDS were found to be more stigmatised than men. Women whose partners died of AIDS were thus perceived by the community as having infected their partners, therefore, they were blamed, isolated and excluded from community activities. Coping with the loss of a partner was found to be a difficult process for the widow, aggravated by the death from AIDS. Some women coped by denying their late partner's status, while others kept it secret to avoid stigmatization. Some women, however, coped by challenging perpetrators of stigma about their attitude. This study was motivated by the challenge perceived by the researcher concerning women who lost their partners to AIDS who had to be assisted with coping with stigma associated with them having had a partner who was infected and died from AIDS. The objectives of this study were to explore and describe the experiences of coping with stigma by women whose partners died of AIDS, as well as to develop, implement and evaluate a programme to assist women whose partners died of aids to cope with the stigma associated with their partner having had a relationship with an infected partner who died of AIDS. The literature was studied in order to contextualize both stigma and coping. A qualitative phenomenological design was followed in phase one of the study as well as a case study in phase two. A purposive sample was used in phase one as well as in phase two. Data were collected by means of single open ended questions. In-depth interviews were recorded on audio tape and transcribed verbatim. Personal, observational as well as methodological field notes were written after each interview. Data analysis was conducted according to the content analysis technique of Tesch. The co-coder and the researcher analysed the data independently, after which a consensus meeting was held to finalise data. Ethical principles were applied according to Burns and Grove, as well as the Democratic Nurses Organisation of South Africa and the Department of Health. Trustworthiness of the study was ensured through the model of Lincoln and Guba. The criteria of creditability, transferability, dependability, as well as confirmability were ensured. The findings of phase one of the study as well as the literature study of stigma intervention programmes assisted in the formulation of a programme. An eight sessions programme for coping with stigma for women whose partners died of AIDS was developed, implemented and evaluated. Phase two of the study consisted of a holistic multiple case design for presenting the developed programme. Data were collected by means of multiple sources of evidence. Data were analysed by means of a case record. Conclusions indicated that the programme for coping with stigma for women whose partners died of AIDS had a positive impact on the expansion of their coping skills. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Community Psychiatric Nursing))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.