The aim of this study was to examine how Russian press represents people with disabilities. The study was conducted using the method of qualitative content analysis. The material for the analysis consisted of sixty articles selected from Russian's four national newspapers. The study covered a period of the year 2011. Labeling theory and stigma were used for the analysis of the results. The results showed that Russian press described discrimination of people with disabilities, social support provided to them by the Government and their active way of life. The newspaper articles mentioned that the Russian Government tries to integrate disabled people into society. The study did not find any significant differences in the representation of people with disabilities in various newspapers. It was found that the articles covered physical disabilities, such as mobility, hearing and visual impairments.

Abstract We have chosen to examine how it can be to be diagnosed with ADHD in adults. Our purpose of this study was to examine the experience of being diagnosed with ADHD in adulthood. We wanted to investigate if people feel that the diagnosis has led to a change and if so, in what way. We also wanted to investigate the impact that the participants attribute the diagnosis. We have made a qualitative study in which we interviewed five men aged 31-45 years, who have all had their diagnosis for a year or more. We have analyzed our material from our theoretical premises, which has been the SOC and Stigma theory. Our results demonstrate that the people we interviewed, to some extent have experienced a change in their lives as a result of the diagnosis of ADHD. The diagnosis has worked for them as an explanation for their difficulties and as an opportunity to get support and help, such as medication. Some of those we interviewed also felt that the diagnosis has had a negative impact on their lives by an unsympathetic environment and a sense of being different. The people we interviewed attributed the diagnosis of great importance because it contributed to an explanation of their difficulties, as well as access to support and help, and secondly that they believe they have been a different situation if they had been diagnosed as a child. We do not want to draw any general conclusions from the results we obtained in the study, but we can see that the people we interviewed told us about a higher degree of comprehensibility and manageability after being diagnosed with ADHD. We do not see that they experienced an increased sense of purpose after they were diagnosed with ADHD, which is why we can´t say if they have received an increased SOC in its entirety as a result of the diagnosis. We also see that for some has been a stigma attached to being diagnosed with ADHD, while others describe it as a stigma of living with ADHD problems without knowing the cause of it. Keywords: ADHD, SOC, stigma, adult men, experience of diagnosis / Sammanfattning  Vi har valt att undersöka hur det kan vara att bli diagnostiserad med ADHD för vuxna personer. Vårt syfte med studien har varit att undersöka upplevelsen av att bli diagnostiserad med ADHD i vuxen ålder. Vi ville undersöka om personerna upplever att diagnostiseringen har lett till en förändring och i så fall på vilket sätt. Vi ville också undersöka vilken betydelse personerna tillskriver diagnosen. Vi har gjort en kvalitativ studie där vi intervjuat fem män i åldrarna 31-45 år, som alla har haft sin diagnos i ett år eller mer. Vi har analyserat vårt material utifrån våra teoretiska utgångspunkter, som har varit KASAM och Stigmateorin. Studiens resultat visar att de personer som vi har intervjuat till viss del har upplevt en förändring i sina liv till följd av diagnostiseringen av ADHD. Diagnosen har för dessa fungerat som en förklaring till deras svårigheter och som en möjlighet att få stöd och hjälp, exempelvis genom medicinering. En del av de vi har intervjuat upplever också att diagnosen har haft en negativ påverkan på deras liv genom en oförstående omgivning och genom en känsla av att vara annorlunda. De personer vi intervjuat tillskriver diagnosen en stor betydelse, dels då den bidragit till en förklaring på deras svårigheter, dels som en tillgång till stöd och hjälp och dels att de tror sig ha haft en annan livssituation om de blivit diagnostiserade som barn.  Vi vill inte dra några generella slutsatser utifrån de resultat som vi fått i studien men vi kan se att de personer som vi intervjuat har berättat om en högre grad av begriplighet och hanterbarhet efter att de blivit diagnostiserade med ADHD. Vi ser dock inte att de upplever någon ökad känsla av meningsfullhet efter att de diagnostiserats med ADHD, varför vi inte kan uttala oss om de har fått en ökad KASAM i sin helhet till följd av diagnostiseringen. Vi ser också att det för vissa har varit stigmatiserande att bli diagnostiserad med ADHD, samtidigt som andra beskriver det som stigmatiserande att leva med ADHD-problematik utan att veta orsaken till den. Nyckelord: ADHD, KASAM, stigma, vuxna män, upplevelse av diagnos

Clients experiences in attempting to access counselling help have rarely been studied. As such, a full and clear understanding of clients experiences with accessing services, as well as identification of the barriers encountered by clients and clients ideas about what would make accessing more comfortable, have eluded researchers. Typically, the research focus has been quantitative investigations of the no-show phenomenon, whereby clients fail to arrive at pre-booked counselling appointments. Such studies have left 24% of the variance in the unexplained "other" category. More recently, researchers have begun to question whether or not mental health stigma impacts counselling attendance. The present study sought to describe the experience of individuals who self identified as having booked a counselling appointment within the previous 8-months and then had failed to attend. A basic interpretive qualitative research design (Merriam, 2002) was employed for the purpose of describing and understanding this phenomenon, with special emphasis given to identifying possible barriers to accessing counselling. Interviews with four middle class Caucasian adults aged 27-33; two of whom had accessed counselling previously and two of whom had not, were conducted. Transcripts were analyzed in terms of a shared meaning and descriptive categories (Kearney, 2001). Findings revealed that stigma, self-stigma, several fears, and some counselling practices functioned as barriers. However, participants also expressed positive emotions associated with reaching out and accessing counselling help and a desire for information about what to expect in counselling, whether they had accessed previously or not. The beginnings of a pattern associated with accessing counselling are discussed and implications for counselling practice and future research are described.

Marginalization and stigmatization heighten the vulnerability of sexual minorities to inequitable health outcomes. Although men who have sex with men (MSM) are at elevated risk for HIV infection in India in comparison with the general population, there is a lack of MSM-focused research—particularly regarding stigma and mental health outcomes. This dissertation aimed to explore the influence of sexual stigma, gender non-conformity stigma and HIV-related stigma on depression and life satisfaction among MSM in South India. This study used a cross-sectional survey design and was conducted with MSM (n=200) in two locations in Tamil Nadu, South India: Chennai (urban) and Kumbakonam (semi-urban). Due to multicollinearity between sexual stigma and gender non-conformity stigma, the stronger predictor of each outcome (gender non-conformity stigma) was included in regression models. Results were analyzed to identify the associations between independent (gender non-conformity stigma, HIV-related stigma), moderator (social support, resilient coping) and dependent (depression, life satisfaction) variables. Due to significant differences between locations across a substantial number of variables, block regression analyses were conducted separately for each location. Higher levels of depression were predicted by gender non-conformity stigma in both locations, and also by HIV-related stigma in Kumbakonam. Lower levels of depression in both locations were predicted by higher levels of social support and resilient coping. Higher life satisfaction was predicted by social support and resilient coping in both Chennai and Kumbakonam. Lower life satisfaction was predicted by gender non-conformity stigma and HIV-related stigma in Kumbakonam, but not in Chennai. Social support and resilient coping did not moderate the impact of stigma(s) on depression or life satisfaction in either location. The results indicate that the majority of participants experienced stigmatization based on same-sex sexual behaviour and/or gender non-conformity. Another striking finding of the study was the alarmingly high rates of depression, whereby over half of participants in each region reported moderate to severe depression scores. Practice and policy implications include the development, implementation and evaluation of: multi-level stigma reduction interventions that account for socio-environmental and contextual factors; mental health interventions that promote resiliency and build social support; and policy initiatives to advance human rights protection.

Friendship matters. Practical support, caring, moral guidance, enjoyment, improved health and greater life expectancy are but a few of its benefits. Despite living in a stigmatizing social environment where isolation is common among disabled youth, some disabled teens establish strong friendships. A nuanced understanding of these meaningful friendships from the perspective of disabled teens was constructed through this qualitative study. Teens aged 15 to 20 who self-identified as experiencing stigma due to disability were recruited from urban, suburban and rural areas of Nova Scotia, Canada. Each teen was involved in a friendship of at least six months duration and had a close friend (with or without a disability) who was also willing to participate. Seven boys and seven girls, all but one of whom were disabled teens, took part in the study. These seven sets of friends engaged in research interviews and participant observation sessions. Nine adults who witnessed the friendships develop over time were also interviewed. Preliminary coding was completed using Atlas.ti. This was followed by a deeper, critical approach to analysis which generated three inter-connected themes. The first theme outlines how stigma disrupts the friendships of disabled youth though a range of processes (labeling, stereotyping, status loss, separation) that arise from and contribute to ableism discrimination against disabled people. The second theme, finding a balance between adult support and surveillance, emphasizes the crucial role adults play in facilitating the friendships of disabled youth. The final theme, disrupting oppression to create enduring friendship, highlights the strategies used by these disabled teens to make and keep friends in a stigmatizing society. Strategies most often used that appeared to be effective for participants were disrupting norms about friendship, coming out as disabled, connecting through stigma, and choosing self-exclusion. Two strategies horizontal hostility and passing as nondisabled were potentially harmful to disabled youth and in some ways limited friendship opportunities. Ideas to counter the harmful effects of ableism while creating lasting friendships are addressed to disabled teens, to their families, to allies in the education system, and to the broader community.

Studien syftar till att belysa en aspekt av livsvillkoren för personer med funktionsnedsättningar. Hur professionen inom LSS uppfattar och resonerar om klienters sexuella behov. För underlag till vår studie använde vi oss av kvalitativa intervjuer av professionella som dagligen genom sina arbeten kommer i kontakt med människor med funktionsnedsättning. Arbetet har analyserats utifrån teoretiska perspektiv så som stigmatisering och skam. Hur beskriver professionella att klienternas sexuella behov uppmärksammas? Hur uppfattar professionella sina möjligheter att möta dessa behov? Lagstiftning som LSS och Socialtjänstlagen skall ge funktionshindrade möjligheter till ett "normalt" liv så som icke funktionshindrade i samhället. Även FNs rättigheter ger vid handen att behov som rätt till sexualitet är av vikt även för funktionshindrade. Resultatet visar att sexualitet hos människor med funktionsnedsättningar fortfarande är skamfullt att samtala om. Avseende möjlighet att stödja funktionshindrade till att bygga ett förhållande, så har professionen kommit olika långt i hur de bemöter klienten. Resultatet visar vidare att den funktionsnedsattas sexualitet till viss del uppmärksammas och att det kan skilja sig åt hur professionen bemöter detta. Inom en del verksamhet är det mer tillåtet med sexualhjälpmedel medan det är mindre tillåtande vid andra boenden. / The study aim to highlight one aspect of the lives of people with disabilities. How the professionals within LSS perceive and reason about clients sexual needs. For input to our study, we used qualitative interviews of professionals who through their daily basis work are in contact with people with disabilities. The work has been analyzed by theoretical perspectives such as stigma and shame. How do professional describe how cients sexual needs are intented to? How do professionals do about the opportunities to meet those needs? Legislation to LSS and Social Services Act shall provide opportunities to have such a "normal" life as nondisabled people in society. Even UN has suggested that it is important even for people with disabilities. The result shows that the sexuality of people with disabilities is still shameful to talk about. Regarding the possibility of supporting disabled people to build a relationship, has the profession reach different stages of how they respond to the client. The results further shows that the disabled people´s sexuality to some extent recognized and that it may vary how the profession responds to this. In some social businesses, it is more accepted sexual aids, while it is less tolerant at other accommodations.

Compared to their uninfected peers, youth living with HIV experience greater distress related to a multitude of stressors they face. In order to enhance the lives of youth who are living with HIV, it is important to identify the personal and social resources that these individuals might bring to coping with their disease. Using the compensatory hypothesis and resiliency theory as conceptual frameworks, the present study examined the function of both psychological acceptance and sibling relationships for youths in managing depression and HIV-related stigma. In addition, the current study investigated the interactive effects of psychological acceptance and sibling relationship quality on these outcomes for youths living with HIV. The participants for the current study included 68 youth who were recruited as part of another study examining adolescents infected with HIV and their caregivers. The racial composition of the final sample consisted of 94% African Americans and 6 % who identified as another racial minority. The current sample consisted of 28 males, 38 females, and 2 transgendered youth between the ages of 12 and 23 (M= 17.9, SD= 2.8). In the sample, 56% of youth were perinatally infected and 44% were behaviorally infected. Regression analyses indicated no support for the complex associations among resources posited in the resiliency model and the compensatory hypothesis. Greater psychological acceptance was associated with both less depression and less stigma. Both the positive and negative aspects of sibling relationships demonstrated importance for youth’s psychological well-being, such that supportive sibling relationships were associated with lower depression and negative sibling relationships were associated with greater perceived stigma. Exploratory analyses demonstrated interactions with gender, age, and route of transmission not explained by the proposed models, which suggests that further research is needed to understand their impact. Future research endeavors should examine the efficacy of intervention programs in individual and group settings to determine if the predicted benefit of both personal and social resources are compounding factors in the psychosocial well-being for youth living with HIV.

The intergroup contact effect is well-documented in the research literature (for a meta-analysis see Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006). Although researchers have identified a few moderators of the contact effect, the constraints under which the contact effect is optimally effective are not well understood. The current research explored two individual difference measures related to anti-gay attitudes, AIDS stigma and motivation to respond without prejudice (internal and external motivation), as potential moderators of the contact effect on heterosexual men’s attitudes towards gay men. Results indicated that increased external motivation and AIDS stigma hinder the benefits of contact for anti-gay attitudes. Implications of these findings for understanding how intergroup contact serves as a prejudice-reduction technique are discussed.

Sömnparalys innebär att man vaknar upp men inte kan röra sig, och ofta har man skrämmande sinnesupplevelser. Tolkningen och upplevelsen under en sömnparalys kan leda till rädsla att berätta om paralysen, och även om man berättar kan det leda till social stigmatisering och feldiagnostisering.En enkätinsamling gjordes med 100 studenter. Huvudfrågan var om upplevarna av sömnparalys var oroliga för att berätta om det, för att de är rädda att ses som psykiskt sjuka. De som haft sömnparalys berättade för andra, men hellre för någon de känner väl. De och dem som inte upplevt sömnparalys såg det som ett fysiskt problem snarare än ett psykiskt. Risken för stigmatisering och psykisk feldiagnostisering är reducerad, men mer forskning och utbildning i ämnet behövs. / Sleep paralysis means waking up and being unable to move, and are often accompanied with frightening perceptual experiences. The interpretation and experience perceived during sleep paralysis, may lead to fear of telling others about the paralysis, because of the risk for social stigma and misdiagnosis. A survey was conducted with a group of hundred students. The main question was if experiencers are afraid to tell others with the fear of risking been perceived as mentally ill. The experiencers did tell others, but rather to those they knew well. They as well as the non-experiencers viewed it as a physical problem rather than a psychological one. The risk of social stigma and misdiagnosis are reduced, but more research and education in the subject is needed.

Although the prevalence of mental pathology is high, public’s mental health literacy (i.e. knowledge about mental disorders) has not been examined to a great extent. The main purpose of this study was to examine mental health literacy concerning depression and schizophrenia in a setting of adolescents in Sweden. A secondary aim was to explore stigmatizing attitudes towards mentally ill and levels of altruism among adolescents regarding help-seeking behavior. The present study employed qualitative methodology and data were collected through vignettes. A total of 426 high school students living in Stockholm formed the respondents and content analysis showed that among teenagers recognition of both depression and schizophrenia was poor. Moreover, friends and informal sources of help were regarded as best types of help. Furthermore, results indicated stigmatizing beliefs about mental disorders and low levels of altruistic behavior. These results are supported from other similar studies and suggest awareness campaigns to increase mental health literacy among adolescents. Recommendations for future research are also discussed.