One of the greatest social injustices is that people who are marginalized experience more illnesses, disability, and shorter lives than those who are more affluent (Benzeval, Judge, and Whitehead, 1995). In this dissertation I critique the notion that health is affected by poverty through primarily material factors. In fact, poor women are systematically excluded from resources and opportunities to pursue their health. This feminist action research project addressed how poverty and exclusion influenced poor women's health, examined how a group of women negotiated their experiences of poverty and health, and developed action strategies to address their shared concerns. For 1 V2 years I worked with a group of 30 poor women and gathered qualitative data from 15 meetings, 32 interviews, and 30 sets of fieldnotes. The women lived in material deprivation and could not afford the most basic living necessities. They felt stereotyped, excluded, and invisible in their every day lives. The stereotype of the "welfare recipient" fueled institutional stigmatization and surveillance. Welfare, health care, and community recreation workers were threatening, withheld important information, and limited the women's access to services through chscriminatory practices and policies. The women had limited access to health-promoting resources, and their interactions with authorities were shaming which negatively influenced their psychosocial health through stress, depression, low self-esteem, and anger. Services that were meant to help them labelled them as poor and hurniliated them. The women's shame, material scarcity, and limited access to resources engendered feelings of lack of control and hopelessness and influenced their health. The women's varied discourses of poverty and health reflected attempts at finding legitimacy in a society that systematically excluded and de-legitimized them. Through their conversations and our feminist action research work together, they uncovered legitimate identities within experiences of poverty and ill-health and advocated action and social change. They cited a "livable" income, accessible health-promoting resources, and redressing stigmatizing practices and policies as changes required to improve their health. These findings confirmed that the social determinants of health must be reframed to better understand the effects of exclusion on poor women's health and that inclusion, respect, and dignity are fundamental conditions for promoting health. / Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies / Graduate

The current study investigates whether there are there ethnic differences between Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic women in (a) weight bias, (b) body ideals, (c) social awareness and internalization of appearance standards and (d) physical activity in relation to these constructs. Participants included 130 Caucasian, 103 African American, and 52 Hispanic undergraduate female students. Participants completed a demographic survey, the Antifat Attitudes Test, the Figure Rating Scale, the Sociocultural Attitudes toward Appearance Questionnaire, and the Multiethnic Identity Measure questionnaire. No significant ethnic group differences in weight bias emerged. Differences were found for participants' perceptions of the culturally ideal female body shape, as well as awareness and internalization. No relationship was found between physical activity and weight bias, body ideals, and appearance standards. Future researchers should use health weight classifications, in addition to ethnicity, to examine weight bias, body ideals, and physical activity.

No description available.

This project investigated body image issues of girls aged 13-19 years old. It surveyed a random sample of 100 girls via a self-administered questionnaire. The study found that most teen girls have a celebrity actor idol and that the majority of teen girls are self conscious regarding body shape and weight.

Thesis (DPhil (Psychology))—University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Statistics show that young, heterosexual, low-income women are the fastest growing HIVinfected population in South Africa and in the rest of the world. Despite the rapidly growing numbers of women with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome), there is a scarcity of research that focuses primarily on how poor minority and disadvantaged women of colour experience being HIV-positive, how these women actually live and cope with their diagnosis. Furthermore, no research studies on minority groups, such as the Coloured women in the Western Cape, exploring these issues have been reported. Consequently, there is an urgent need for research studies in South Africa to explore the range of discourses revealed by low-income and minority women regarding their lives and experiences of HIV/AIDS, in order to generate understanding and knowledge which could contribute to possible interventions, support and care. The present study aimed to: 1) explore the psychosocial concerns and mental health needs of HIV-infected low-income Coloured mothers in everyday life; 2) construct a testable Grounded Theory regarding the illness experience of low-income Coloured mothers; and 3) recommend guidelines for health workers. The study was a systematic analysis and documentation of how the illness (HIV/AIDS) was constructed in narratives of one particular group of women in South Africa. Eleven suitable and willing HIV-infected Coloured mothers were recruited by means of convenience and theoretical sampling. The research study was conducted within a socialconstructionist framework where the focus was on how HIV-infected, low-income Coloured women make sense of their world and illness experience. Grounded Theory was applied within the framework of qualitative research to analyse the data and to explore the participants’ constructions of the illness. As qualitative measure, a semi-structured in-depth interview schedule was developed according to Grounded Theory protocol. To reach the aims of the present study, questions focused on specific behaviours, experiences, thoughts and feelings that related to living with a positive HIV-diagnosis. In the participants’ accounts of their illness experience, two dominant discourses were identified: a discourse of HIV/AIDS, within which the illness was constructed as an stigmatised, incurable and deadly illness; as a shameful illness that someone should be blamed for; and as being associated with secrecy, silence, separation, pain and suffering, loss, and loneliness, as well as a discourse of mothering, what it means to be a “good” woman/mother; constructed as someone that should primarily take care of her children and family, and not be separated from them, or neglect or abandon them through illness or death. It is suggested that the two dominant discourses found in the participants’ accounts of their illness experiences, namely the meaning of HIV/AIDS as an illness (a stigmatised, incurable, and deadly illness, a shameful and blameworthy illness, an illness of secrecy, silence, separation, pain and suffering, loss, and loneliness), and the imperatives of mothering, what it means to be a “good” woman/mother (the primary caregiver of children, someone who is connected, physically strong, healthy and productive, and someone who is able to cope with her caregiving responsibilities even when in distress herself) are irreconcilable. It seems that these distressing and disempowering experiences of being HIV-infected, while also being a primary caregiver and mother of children, caused the participants in the present study severe psychological distress and suffering. Given these discourses and the context of the participants’ lives within their specific socio-economic circumstances, namely their lack of emotional and social support from friends and family, abusive relationships, substance abuse, economic hardships, absence of treatment options, as well as their experience of an incapacitating, incurable, stigmatised illness causing them severe physical and psychological distress, it was argued that the majority of the participants in the present study were in some state of depression and were in need of psychosocial support and mental healthcare.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: An exploratory study was conducted to determine the psychosocial stressors of women living with HIV/AlDS. The study also included the utilisation of group work by social workers to support HIV positive women. The exploratory study was also conducted to determine HIV positive women's experiences in a support group. The researcher's interest in group work, as well as her involvement with a support group with HIV positive women, is the motivation for the study. The aim of the study is to provide an explanation of the psychosocial stressors that HIV positive women experience and also to capture their experiences regarding the support group they attend. Nine psychosocial stressors, namely anger, fear, loss, grieve, guilt, denial and disclosure, depression, suicidal behaviour and anxiety, were included in the literature study. The advantages, disadvantages and components of group work, as well as comparisons of effective and ineffective groups, were highlighted. The research also focused on planning a group for women with HIV/AlDS, with special attention given to the needs assessment, the purpose of the group, the group composition and the structure of the group. The value of group work with HIV positive women was investigated. The universum was HIV positive women at the Walvis Bay Multi-Purpose Centre. The qualitative research method that was used took the form of structured interviews. The results of this study generally confirmed the findings of the literature study. Recommendations include ways in which social workers can assist HIV positive women not only on an individual basis but also especially in a group setting, and recommendations concerning future research. The importance of future research with HIV positive women was especially recommended. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: 'n Verkennende studie is onderneem om die psigososiale stresfaktore wat HIV positiewe vroue ondervind, te bepaal. Die studie het ook maatskaplike werkers se gebruik van groepwerk om HIV positiewe vroue te ondersteun, ondersoek. Die navorsing is voorts onderneem om HIV positiewe vroue se ervarings van 'n ondersteunersgroep te bepaal. Die navorser se belangstelling in groepwerk, en haar betrokkenheid by 'n ondersteunersgroep vir HIV positiewe vroue, was die motivering om die studie te onderneem. Die doel met die studie is om die psigososiale stresfaktore wat HIV positiewe vroue ondervind, te beskryf en te verduidelik, en ook om sommige van die ervarings wat sulke vroue in 'n ondersteunersgroep ondervind, te boekstaaf. Nege psigososiale stresfaktore, naamlik woede, vrees, verlies, droefheid, skuldgevoel, ontkenning en onthulling, depressie, selfmoordgedrag en angs, is in die literatuurstudie bestudeer. Die komponente en voor- en nadele van groepwerk, asook 'n vergelyking van effektiewe en oneffektiewe groepe is ook ingesluit. Die beplanning van 'n groep vir HIV positiewe vroue is benadruk, met spesiale verwysing na die behoeftebepaling, en die doel, die samestelling en die struktuur van die groep. Die waarde van groepwerk vir HIV positiewe vroue is ook ondersoek. Die universum is HIV positiewe vroue by die Walvisbaai Multi-Purpose Centre. Die kwalitatiewe navorsingsmetode wat gebruik is, is gestruktureerde onderhoude. Die resultate van die studie het in die algemeen die bevindinge van die literatuurstudie onderskryf. Aanbevelings sluit in wyses waarop maatskaplike werkers HIV positiewe vroue nie alleen op 'n individuele basis nie, maar ook in groepsverband kan ondersteun, asook moontlike gebiede vir verdere navorsing. Die belang van verdere navorsing met HIV positiewe vroue word veraI beklemtoon.

This dissertation layers trauma studies theory with feminist theories of performance and autobiography to investigate how women's autobiographically based performances of illness experience disrupt and/or reinforce master discourses of medicine, identity, and knowledge. Feminist theories of performance and autobiography share with trauma studies the distrust of traditional frames and mechanisms of representation, and seek to discover new methods of interpreting experiences that lie "outside the realm" of normative discourse. These theories are further linked by their shared focus on agency and identity construction and an understanding of autobiography that emphasizes the limitations of language and memory which allows for aporia, contradiction, and dissonance, and the belief that testimony functions as a politicized performative of truth. Employing these theoretical perspectives, Carr investigates how these performances witness to radical reconfigurations of identity through the transference of trauma into conveyable life narrative -- even when those narratives falls outside the paradigm of traditional storytelling structures. Carr questions how the structures and content of these performances reveal what traumas are inflicted not only through illness, but also through treatment and care within the western medical model. Throughout the study Carr examines the moments when the cognitive structures of trauma are transmitted into performance through a variety of feminist and avant-garde performance techniques. Carr investigates the work of specific performers and contextualizes the performances within popular culture and medical discourse. Performances analyzed include; Robbie McCauley's Sugar, Susan Miller's My Left Breast, Brandyn Barbara Artis's Sister Girl, and Deb Margolin's bringing the fishermen home and Three Seconds in the Key. Carr questions how the formerly or currently ill female body performing in public disrupts notions of fixed and stable identity while examining the myriad identity constructions embedded within illness narrative. Rather than simplistic triumphant stories of individual cure and recovery, these complex expressions of traumatic experience reveal patterns of cultural oppression that keep the ill female body isolated and silenced. This study attempts to intervene in that silence by foregrounding these politicized performances.

Leprosy in biblical times was a stigmatised skin disease. It was not an easily recognisable skin disease because any skin disease was suspected of being leprosy . However leprosy as a skin disease could not be hidden , because it showed quite easily . People who had contracted leprosy were considered impure and unclean and were cast out of society. Today however, we have a cure for people with leprosy and it is not considered a terminal disease. However, we have indeed an incurable disease, namely AIDS. My question is, how do we consider people with AIDS today, especially women. Are they being treated as unclean, even though we cannot see the disease, or are they also the outcasts of our society today? My guess is that women are the victims today, as much as they were in biblical times, rather than the perpetrators. Women living with AIDS today is what motivated me to investigate the ancient biblical times to see how women at that time coped with an incurable disease in a society that treated them as outcasts. Thus , my study will focus on women with leprosy in ancient biblical times , but also will include a section on women with AIDS today for the sake of relevance. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2003.

A história narra as peculiaridades do papel atribuído à mulher na sociedade. Ao longo dos séculos este foi sendo transformado a partir das novas formas de se pensar e representar o mundo e as relações de gênero. Por muito tempo a representação dominante era a religiosa mais precisamente, na cultura ocidental, a judaico-cristã. Continuamos atualmente recebendo influências dessa visão de mundo, porém de maneira muito particular, modificada pelo contexto socioeconômico da pós-modernidade. Por sermos constituídos enquanto sujeitos dentro de um contexto sociocultural, do qual a religião faz parte, surge o questionamento: como pensar a identidade feminina a partir da ótica da experiência religiosa. Desta forma, a presente pesquisa procurou apreender a representação da Identidade Feminina apresentada por mulheres evangélicas, residentes na cidade do Recife, analisando a forma como entendem o lugar da mulher na família, no espaço público e as influências dos códigos religiosos cristãos protestantes sobre essa representação. Para isso, participaram deste estudo quinze mulheres, pertencentes à camada sociocultural média, com idade entre 20 e 35 anos, criadas em um lar cristão protestante e que, atualmente, congregam em Igrejas Históricas (Batista; Presbiteriana e Episcopal). Os indicadores sociais levados em consideração para definir a camada social foram: grau de instrução, profissão, local de residência e renda mensal. Realizamos entrevistas semi-estruturadas, no horário e local de conveniência das participantes, partindo de uma questão disparadora, a saber: O que significa, para você, ser mulher?. Para analisar o material fornecido, transcrevemos a fala das participantes, e orientados pelos objetivos da pesquisa, fizemos uso da Análise do Conteúdo. Identificamos dois núcleos de sentido: Relações de Gênero: na família, no trabalho e na igreja e Mulheres de antigamente e de hoje em dia. Tomamos emprestado da Teoria do Cinema o termo modos de endereçamento a fim de explanar o que são as representações sociais a partir de uma perspectiva pós-estruturalista, e, em seguida, compreender a interpretação dessas mulheres sobre o que significa ser mulher. Em relação ao atravessamento dessas identidades pelo discurso religioso, vimos que a transmissão e o investimento em tais posicionamentos requerem a crença no conteúdo revelado de escrituras como sendo da ordem do sagrado. Logo, fora dos sistemas de significação religiosos, essas posições receberiam outras valorações. Nesse contexto, as participantes utilizam-se do mito criacional de Adão e Eva a fim de explicar as relações de Gênero estabelecidas dentro dos espaços que ocupam. Por acreditarem que a mulher foi feita para o homem, visando complementá-lo, esta é representada como sendo sua auxiliadora. Nessa relação, o homem é apontado enquanto líder do casal nomeadamente cabeça do lar devendo a mulher submeter-se à sua liderança. Não obstante, a temática da submissão está diretamente ligada ao tipo de relação de gênero estabelecida dentro de um espaço social (seja este privado ou público).Concomitantemente, estas mesmas mulheres recebem endereçamentos outros, de discursos mais variados, que influenciam na releitura e redirecionamento das posições recebidas pelo discurso religioso cristão protestante. Releituras estas identificadas através das variações de significação apresentadas. / The history tells the peculiarity of the roll attributed to women in society. Through out the centuries this roll has been transformed along with the new ways of thinking and representing the world and the gender relations. For a long period of time the dominant representation was the religious one to be more precise, in the western culture, the Jewish and Christian. We continue to receive influences from this specific view of world, but in a very particular way considering the changes and the new social, economical and cultural context of post-modernity. As we become subjects in a cultural and social context of which religion is part, the following question arises: What is the possibility of thinking about the feminine identity having the religious experience as a starting point. Therefore, the present study searched to apprehend the representation of Feminine Identity presented by evangelical women, living in the metropolitan area of Recife, by analyzing how they comprehend the roll of woman in family, public space and the influences of the religious Christian protestant code. For this, fifteen women pertaining to the average sociocultural layer, with age between 20 and 35 years, created in a protestant Christian home and that has been currently congregating in Historical Churches (Baptist; Presbyterian and Episcopal) participated in this study. The social pointers taken in consideration to define the social class were: instruction degree, profession, place of residence and monthly income. We carried out half-structuralized interviews, in the schedule and place of convenience of the participants, by asking the following starting question: What it means, for you, to be woman?. To analyze the supplied material, we transcribed the participants speeches, and guided by the objectives of the research, we made use of the Analysis of the Content. We identified two main groups: Gender relations: in the family, at work and at church and Women of other times and of nowadays. We loaned from the Theory of the Cinema the term addressing ways in order to explain what are the social representations from a post-structuralism perspective, and after that, to understand the interpretation of these women on what it means to be woman. In relation to these identities crossed by the religious speech, we saw that the transmission and the investment in such positionings require the belief in the disclosed content as Holy. So, out of the religious significance systems, these positions would receive other valuations. In this context, the participants make use of Adam and Eve criacional myth in order to explain the established gender relations inside the spaces they occupy. For believing that the woman was made for the man, aiming at to complement it, they are represented as being its helper. In this relation, the man is pointed out to be the couple1s leader - nominated head of the home - having the woman to submit to his leadership. Nevertheless, the thematic of submission is directly related with the kind of gender relation established inside a social space (either private or public). Concomitantly, these same women receive other addressings, from varied speeches, influencing the reading and redirection of the positions received from the Christian protestant religious speech. Reading and redirection identified through the presented variations of significations.

No Brasil, a expectativa de vida da população com 60 anos ou mais vem aumentando, dentre essa realidade, destacamos a quantidade de lares formados por idosas que são solteiras e que moram sozinhas. Partindo-se da perspectiva que o suporte de um sistema relacional é de grande importância, pois proporciona trocas, apoio e proteção, deve-se reconhecer que quanto mais o sujeito envelhece, tende a apresentar limitações que o levam a depender de outras pessoas, sejam familiares, amigos ou profissionais pagos. Diante desse panorama, constata-se que a realidade de idosas que não possuem filhos e cônjuges, e que habitam um domicílio unipessoal, é pouco conhecida, especialmente no estado de Pernambuco. Frente ao exposto, o objetivo geral desta pesquisa foi descrever como as idosas, que não são casadas e não possuem filhos, constroem suas redes de relacionamento, visando ao apoio e ao cuidado. Os objetivos específicos foram: identificar o perfil sociodemográfico delas; analisar como elas percebem seu processo de envelhecimento; identificar suas necessidades e sentimentos acerca do fato de morar sozinhas e suas expectativas para o futuro. e os motivos que as levaram a morar sozinha. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, da qual participaram oito idosas com idade cronológica acima de 60 anos, solteiras e que moram sozinhas. O instrumento utilizado foi uma entrevista constituída de questões que atendiam aos objetivos da pesquisa e também aos dados sociodemográficos das participantes. As entrevistas foram analisadas de acordo com a técnica da análise de conteúdo temática. Os principais resultados evidenciaram: 1) a heterogeneidade do envelhecimento, uma vez que as idosas enfatizaram a importância de ter um estilo de vida próprio que proporcione autonomia e satisfação com a vida; 2) a construção da rede de relacionamento, apoio e cuidados tem na família a fonte primordial (especialmente irmãos e sobrinhos), seguida pela espiritualidade/religiosidade e amizades; 3) a renda, aliada a uma boa escolaridade, apareceu como propiciando segurança e independência; 4) a experiência de morar sozinha, em geral, foi vista de forma positiva uma vez que as idosas vivem a velhice com prazer, saúde satisfatória e ocupações. Espera-se que a pesquisa contribua com conhecimentos acerca da realidade dessas idosas, como também possa subsidiar o trabalho dos profissionais que a elas atendem ou que estão interessados na temática do envelhecimento. / In Brazil, the expectation of the people's living 60 years or more has increased, from this reality, we highlight the amount of homes formed by older who are single and living alone. Starting from the perspective that the support of a relational system is of great importance as it provides exchanges, support and protection, it must be recognized that the more the subject age, tends to have limitations which cause them to depend on others, are family, friends or paid professionals. Against this background, it appears that the reality of elderly who do not have children and spouses, and inhabiting a one-person household, is little known, especially in the state of Pernambuco. Based on these, the general objective of this research was to describe as the elderly, who are not married and have no children, build their networks in order to support and care. The specific objectives were to identify the sociodemographic profile of them; analyze how they perceive their aging process; and identify their needs and feelings about the fact of living alone and their expectations for the future and the reasons that led them to live alone. It is a qualitative research, which was attended by eight elderly women with chronological age of 60, unmarried and living alone. The instrument used was an interview consists of questions that met the research objectives and also to the socio-demographic data of the participants. The interviews were analyzed according to the technique of thematic content analysis. The main results showed: 1) the heterogeneity of aging, since older emphasized the importance of having a proper lifestyle that provides autonomy and satisfaction with life; 2) the construction of social networking, support and care in the family has the primary source (especially brothers and nephews), followed by spirituality / religiosity and friendships; 3) income, combined with a good education, appeared as providing security and independence; 4) the experience of living alone, in general, was viewed positively because the elderly live to old age soon, satisfactory health and occupations. It is hoped that the research contributes to knowledge about the reality of these older, as can also support the work of the professionals that they meet or are interested in aging theme.