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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.

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När ett barn drabbas av cancer berör det både barnet och föräldrarna. Föräldrarna måste hantera sina egna känslor och funderingar och samtidigt finnas där för det drabbade barnet. Känslorna kan vara överväldigande och kommer att påverka både barnets men framförallt föräldrarnas vardagsliv. Syftet var därför att belysa föräldrars copingstrategier när deras barn drabbas av cancer. Det genomfördes en systematisk litteratursökning som gav 13 stycken vetenskapliga artiklar. Föräldrarna sökte stöd från vänner, kollegor, familj, släktingar, andra föräldrar och vårdpersonal. Att söka stöd i andlighet och tro gav föräldrarna tröst, hopp, ny energi och styrka att fortsätta vidare. Olika handlingar eller aktiviteter utfördes för att hantera svåra känslor eller situationer genom exempelvis brainstorming eller dans. Föräldrarnas erfarenheter kring barnets cancer fick dem att se nya perspektiv i livet, såsom att leva i nuet. När föräldrarna hade svårt att hantera barnets cancer blev deras coping ineffektiv vilket kunde yttra sig som substansintag av till exempel alkohol och tobak, att de tryckte undan känslor eller tröståt. Det behövs mer forskning om hur familjer till barn med cancer påverkas och hur sjuksköterskan kan hjälpa föräldrarna genom denna svåra tid i deras liv

This qualitative pilot study investigated the bullying experiences of children who stutter, the type of coping strategies that they use to deal with these experiences, and their perceptions of the effectiveness of their coping strategies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven 10- to 13-year-old children who stutter. Grounded theory methodology was used to analyze the interview data. Data analysis resulted in a preliminary four-element conceptualization of the process by which children who stutter experience and respond to bullying and the emergence of two themes: Individual Factors and Recommendations. Individual factors were found to influence the process of experiencing and responding to bullying, and recommendations are provided for how children who stutter may respond to bullying and how adults can help them. These recommendations may be used by speech-language pathologists, school psychologists, counselors, teachers, and parents. The findings of this study support previous research with typical children and children who stutter. / Speech Language Pathology

The purpose of this study in the psychology of religion is to explore the process of an individual’s shift in orienting system, from a religious to an atheistic. The materials used are autobiographical accounts obtained from two books. One that has been used as a primary source and one as a secondary. By using Rambo’s process oriented theory of religious conversion relevant themes and categories were chosen and later subjected to further analysis using Pargament’s theory of religion and coping. In the first stage analysis themes and categories were chosen according to Rambo’s seven stages of conversion. In the second stage Pargament’s theory enabled an analysis of how the person’s means in different circumstances changed to reach certain important goals, significance. Results showed that the individual went through several of the stages and conversion motifs described by Rambo. In this process of conversion Pargament’s theory contributed to further explain the psychological transformation of the individual in each of these stages. Further research describing the process of an individual’s journey to atheism needs to be done and this paper might contribute to the understanding of this phenomena.

This thesis describes the relationship between adult attachment style, coping strategies, identity development and perception of social support. 107 participants answered four self-report questionnaires examining their attachment style, coping strategies, identity development status and perception of social support. Correlation analyses were used. Results showed secure attachment to significantly positively correlate with identity moratorium and to negatively correlate with identity foreclosure. Avoidant attachment significantly positively correlated with denial and mental disengagement and negatively correlated with seeking social support. Individuals with high avoidant attachment scores were more likely to have high scores for identity diffusion, more likely to perceive fewer available social supports and were less likely to be satisfied with this support. Anxious ambivalence positively correlated with denial and mental, behavioural and alcohol/drug disengagement, and negatively correlated with active and planning which are pro-active coping strategies. Anxious ambivalence positively correlated with identity diffusion and negatively with identity foreclosure. Individuals with high anxious ambivalence scores were more likely to be dissatisfied with social support. Overall, secure attachment was found to correlate with acknowledging the need for an identity search. Insecure attachment was found to relate to less effective coping methods, to correlate with not acknowledging the need for an identity search and dissatisfaction with social support. Results are considered in terms of attachment styles and applications, for example in therapeutic settings.