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.

Text in Afrikaans / The aim of this study was to determine the effect of labeling on a person's being from an educational-psychological perspective. The focus was therefore placed mainly on the following: § Labeling as a phenomenon, with specific reference to what labeling is and its effect on a person's being. § The use of the Edu-Psychological Relation Theory as a theoretical basis for determining the effect of labeling on a person's being. § The compilation of a diagnostic questionnaire within the framework of the Edu-Psychological Relation Theory that was used in the empirical study. It was found that the consequences of labeling are generally permanent and irreversible, and that they result in isolation of the individual. A diagnostic questionnaire was operationalised in terms of the Edu-Psychological Relation Theory, and was used to determine the effect of labeling. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Guidance)

The purpose of this research was to explore HIV/AIDS stigma in the workplace, with a special focus on the stigmatised. The sample consisted of 10 HIV/AIDS positive employees. A qualitative interview schedule was designed. The interview guide was used to facilitate one-on-one interviews with each participant. An analysis of the data revealed that the majority of the participants were shunned by family, friends and partners. Others were too ashamed or afraid to reveal their positive status. The majority of the participants did not feel comfortable revealing their positive status to their line managers and to their co-workers. All participants felt that others viewed people living with HIV/AIDS as dirty and unclean and many had been exposed to stigmatising behaviours towards them due to their HIV/AIDS positive status. As a coping mechanism, most participants noted that they would walk away if stigmatised against. Recommendations were made to address HIV/AIDS stigma in the workplace. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. A. (Industrial and Organisation Psychology)

A dissertação aborda como a deficiência, enquanto estigma, é socialmente estabelecida, os processos através dos quais as identidades das pessoas com deficiência são construídas dentro do meio social e qual a função da educação, em seu potencial reprodutor e transformador da sociedade, para a (re) produção dos estigmas de deficiência. Aborda, ainda, como direito a educação das pessoas com deficiência pode se prestar à desconstrução dos estigmas, construção de uma sociedade inclusiva, e alguns dos caminhos que podem ser seguidos para a realização de tal direito. Os dados foram obtidos através da revisão da bibliografia pertinente ao tema e estudo e reflexão sobre os discursos das pessoas com deficiência, aos quais tivemos acesso com base na leitura de obras escritas por pessoas com deficiência e através de pesquisa etnográfica, a qual nos deu acesso a relatos que, embora não estejam formalmente transcritos, permeiam todas as linhas e entrelinhas da presente dissertação

Orientador: Maria Lygia Quartim de Moraes / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-19T01:13:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Barbarini_TatianaAndrade_M.pdf: 1839081 bytes, checksum: 7b2de3ce818598665618aef8fcd37332 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: O Transtorno de Déficit de Atenção e Hiperatividade (TDAH) é um transtorno mental infantil que tem ganhado evidência nos ambulatórios e consultórios médicos, escolas e mídia. Não parar, parecer estar no "mundo da lua" e não obedecer às ordens dos adultos são alguns indícios, entre tantos outros, de que a criança é uma potencial portadora de TDAH. Ao considerar-se que o TDAH tem origem em disfunções genéticas e neurológicas, encerra-se o problema no corpo individual, em sua constituição biológica, o que dá autoridade aos médicos psiquiatras para diagnosticar e propor tratamentos - sendo o uso de medicamentos psicoestimulantes o método mais utilizado - e deixam-se de lado questões sociais, históricas, culturais, econômicas e políticas importantes. Assim, nesta dissertação pretende-se analisar e interpretar o TDAH, seu diagnóstico e seu tratamento médico (psiquiátrico) e medicamentoso designados a crianças, a fim de desnaturalizá-los e desvendar suas relações com a sociedade contemporânea. Nesse sentido, são explorados temas como a definição clínica do transtorno, os processos de medicalização social, patologização e estigmatização de comportamentos infantis e as imagens da criança com TDAH, estabelecendo o diálogo entre TDAH, sociedade e infância. A metodologia escolhida engloba uma pesquisa qualitativa etnográfica, dispondo de métodos e técnicas de observação participativa no Ambulatório de Psiquiatria Infantil do Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade Estadual de Campinas; de entrevistas semiestruturadas com profissionais de saúde atuantes no referido ambulatório, crianças, entre seis e doze anos de idade, diagnosticadas como portadoras do TDAH e atendidas no local, e seus pais ou representantes legais; e de produção e interpretação de desenhos infantis. Portanto, a partir das pesquisas bibliográfica e de campo, entende-se que o TDAH e seu tratamento psiquiátrico e medicamentoso definem-se como fenômenos complexos que ultrapassam os limites do campo da biologia e medicina por possuírem raízes sociais, históricas e culturais ligadas a uma sociedade que valoriza as crianças como vir-a-ser, como seres em formação para a vida adulta ativa, e que as enquadra em normas e regras socialmente definidas sobre comportamentos adequados. A partir dessa conformação, além de se fornecer pouco espaço à expressão infantil, classificam-se, punem-se e tenta-se corrigir as crianças que se desviam, entre elas, as crianças com TDAH. Portanto, é possível entender o TDAH e seu tratamento (especialmente o medicamentoso) como mecanismos de biopoder / Abstract: Attention Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) is a child mental disorder which has been increasingly drawing attention from medical clinics, schools and media. Being in constant active, seeming aloof and not obeying adults' orders are some signs, along with so many others, that indicate a child is a potential ADHD bearer. When it is considered that ADHD has a genetic neurological dysfunction cause, the problem becomes restricted to the individual, in his/her biological constitution. This gives psychiatrists authority to diagnose and prescribe treatments - the use of psycho stimulant drugs being the main one. However this approach disregards important social, historical, cultural, economical, and political questions. Therefore, in this dissertation I aim to analyze and understand ADHD, its diagnosis, its drugs and the medical (psychiatric) treatment given to children in order to denaturalize them and reveal their relations with contemporary society. In this way, some themes are investigated, such as the disorder clinical definition, the processes of social medicalization and the pathologization and stigmatization of some children's behaviors, and these children's images, establishing the dialogue among ADHD, society, and childhood. The methodology chosen covers an ethnographic qualitative research, with methods and techniques of participative observation at "Ambulatório de Psiquiatria Infantil do Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade Estadual de Campinas"; semi-structured interviews with health professionals from the above-mentioned clinic, children from six to twelve years old diagnosed as ADHD bearers and treated there, and their parents or legal guardians; as well as by interpreting children's drawings. Thus, from bibliographic and field research, it is understood that ADHD and its medicamental and psychiatric treatment are complex phenomena which surpass Biology and Medicine field limits because of their social, historical, and cultural roots. They are connected to a society which values the child as a developing human being into an active adult life, and conforms them to socially defined principles and rules about proper behaviors. This conformation gives little room to child expression and, moreover, label, punish, and try to correct deviant children, among them, children with ADHD. Hence, it is possible to understand ADHD and its treatment (especially medicamental one) as mechanisms of bio-power / Mestrado / Sociologia / Mestre em Sociologia

This study explores, through digital storytelling, the experiences of HIV- and AIDS-related stigma of rural community secondary school learners. HIV- and AIDS-related stigma is seen as an impediment to a proficient response to HIV and AIDS in communities, also rural communities, and requires addressing. The rural community in which the research is undertaken is particularly hard hit by HIV and AIDS. Learners’ experiences of HIV- and AIDS related stigma could therefore inform how school and community could engage with HIV- and AIDS-related stigma and how they could address it in a constructive way. The study attempts to respond to two research questions: What can digital storytelling reveal about secondary school learners’ experiences of HIV- and AIDS-related stigma in schools in a rural community? How can digital storytelling enable secondary school learners in school in a rural community to take action to address stigma? This qualitative study is positioned within a critical paradigm, and employs a community-based participatory research strategy. Twelve Grade 8 and 9 male and female learners aged 15 to 18 years, from two secondary schools in rural Vulindlela district of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, who experienced, witnessed or heard about HIV- and AIDS-related stigma participated. Digital storytelling, a visual participatory method, was used to generate the data, and this was complemented by group discussion and written pieces completed by the participants in reflection sessions. The thematic analysis of the data made use of participatory analysis: the analysis of the digital stories was done by the participants while the overarching analysis was done by the researcher. This study, located in the field of the Psychology of Education, is informed by the theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism. In terms of the experienced stigma, it was found that living with HIV and AIDS and the related stigma is perceived as a ‘hardship’. The stigma is experienced on many levels: in the family, at school, and from friends and members of the community. It has an impact on the individual on an intrapersonal and interpersonal level. The young person is caught up in a vicious cycle of silent suffering since there are no reliable and trustworthy people with whom he or she can share these challenges. Some so-called traditional beliefs and customs such as not talking about sex, and practices like virginity testing, also fuel HIV- and AIDS-related stigma. The use of derogatory terms and the severe criticism of early sexual debut along with the gossiping which is used to spread the stigmatising statements further complicate the hardship experienced by young people. Digital storytelling was found to not only enable the learners’ voices to be heard but also to enable their taking charge of the stigma and thus create the space for critical participation in this research. The implications for the study are that the pervasive stigma that young people experience should be addressed at every level of the community. The stakeholders such as the families, school, educators, the King (Inkosi) and Chiefs (Indunas) of the area, relevant departments with that of Education taking the lead, must work hand-in-hand with the affected young people. Such collaboration may allow for the identification of the problem, for reflection on it, and also for the addressing of it. HIV- and AIDS-related stigma, while it has changed since the emergence of HIV, still is an issue that many HIV-positive individuals have to contend with. This stigma is, however, contextual and how the individual is stigmatised fits in with the language, meaning and thought that a community constructs around stigma. While digital storytelling enables the uncovering of particular stories of stigma that learners experience in the context of a school in a rural community, the digital storytelling in and of itself enables a change in the language, meaning and thought around stigma in its drawing on the specifics of the stigma as experienced in the community. Also, digital storytelling is about sharing stories about, and experiences of HIV- and AIDS-related stigma and how these stories can be used as part of the solution. If such stories can be told, people can spread them just as gossip is spread, but in this case such spreading would work towards positive social change. I claim that in order to confront the challenges raised by the perpetuation of stigma, efforts must involve the communities and must tap into their own experiences of perpetuating or enduring stigmatisation. Suggestions by the very same people from the community who are at the front line of perpetuating and /or suffering the stigma must be considered. This may also become one way of instantly communicating the research findings back to the community involved in the research. Using digital storytelling can ensure getting self-tailored, contextual, specific views on how HIV- and AIDS-related stigma is experienced but also how it could be addressed.

The focus of this study is on the experiences of a small sample of local women who have been recently diagnosed with HIV. The aim of the research was to give these women an opportunity to express their first-hand, personal accounts of living with HIV. Five isiXhosa-speaking women were recruited and interviewed. These accounts were collected and analysed within in the methodological framework of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, a qualitative approach that is becoming increasingly popular in the broad fields of health and clinical psychology. Data was analysed for meaningful units, which were interpreted inductively and hermeneutically, and categorised into super-ordinate themes. Five themes within the participants’ experiences of living with HIV were identified: (1) experiences of diagnosis, (2) experiences of stigma, (3) social support, (4) coping strategies, and (5) HIV as one of many assaults to self. Implicated in these experiences are the ways in which these women have appraised themselves and their situation after an HIV-positive diagnosis, appraisals that are shaped by HIV-related stigma. A variety of negative emotional reactions are common following the diagnosis, often compounded by the direct experiences of HIV-related stigma. Women in the study adopted different kinds of coping strategies based on the resources and social support available to them. Also significant is that for these women who had typically endured a variety of traumatic life events, a positive diagnosis was simply one of many life challenges

Currently South Africa has the highest number of persons living with HIV-AIDS (PLWAs) in the world. Focus-group discussions conducted by Moon (2005:3) in the Eastern Cape indicated that people may not want to get tested for HIV or to access antiretroviral therapy (ART) for fear of disclosure of their HIV-positive status and of stigmatization. These findings prompted the researcher to conduct a study in this field. The objectives of this study are to explore and describe the experiences of PLWAs with regard to the comprehensive ART management received from registered nurses at selected public primary healthcare clinics in Nelson Mandela Bay; and to develop guidelines for registered nurses that could facilitate them in rendering appropriate comprehensive ART management. The research study is based on a qualitative, explorative, descriptive, phenomenological and contextual research design. The research population comprised of HIV-positive patients who received treatment at the selected public primary healthcare clinics. Criterion-based, purposive sampling was used to select participants for the interviews. Ten in-depth unstructured interviews were conducted. Data was then transcribed and coded. One central theme identified the fact that PLWAs experienced both positive and negative experiences at the clinics. The main findings of this research included evidence of various forms of stigma experienced by the PLWAs; distrust of the lay health counselors; but also that PLWAs were generally well-treated and satisfied with the service they had received. Broad guidelines for registered nurses was formulated that could facilitate them in rendering appropriate comprehensive ART management. The study concludes with recommendations made with regards to the areas of nursing practice, education and research. Throughout the study the researcher abided by the ethical considerations. The aspects of trustworthiness implemented in this study, included dependability, credibility, transferability and confirmability (Holloway & Wheeler, 2002:354).