The main objective of this study was to study individuals experience of panic disorder. The underlying method in the study was of qualitative art, were theme based analysis were used and semi structured interviews were conducted. Six interviews were conducted with individuals that for themselves or with the help of primary care for filled the DSM-IV criteria for panic disorder. The results showed that the participants felt that their panic disorder was more or less prominent depended on the stability of the participants subsistence. The participants felt less of their panic disorder if they had a more stable subsistence and felt the panic-disorder were more prominent if the participants felt more stressed. The interviews led to four themes, The Individuals experience of panic disorder, life situation, sense of losing control and a sense of no one would understand. / Syftet med studien är att undersöka individers upplevelse av panikångest. Studien är kvalitativ och bygger på tematisk innehållsanalys, för studien har sex semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts med individer som enligt sig själv eller sjukvården uppfyller DSM-IV kriterier för panikångest. Resultatet presenterar den enskilde individens upplevelse av panikångest. Resultatet visar att intervjupersonerna upplevde sin panikångest som mer eller mindre framträdande beroende av stabiliteten i deras tillvaro. En stabil tillvaro upplevdes av deltagara minska panikångesten och en mer stressad tillvaro, upplevdes av deltagarna att öka deras panikångest. Intervjuerna ledde fram till fyra teman, Individens upplevelse av panikångest, livssituation, känsla av total kontrollförlust samt känsla av att ingen skulle förstå.

The effectiveness of an educational psychotherapy presentation on Asians' therapy expectations and help-seeking attitudes was investigated. Subjects were foreign-born Asian university students. Compared to a non-Asian American normative sample, the Asian group demonstrated significantly less accurate expectations about therapy and less positive attitudes about seeking help for psychological problems. A psychotherapy presentation was used to modify expectations and attitudes. It consisted of an audiotaped lecture on therapist and client roles and the types of problems discussed in therapy. It also included a written transcript of therapist-client dialogues for subjects to read. The experimental group, which received the presentation, was compared to placebo control and delayed-treatment control groups. The psychotherapy presentation did not modify Asians' expectations or attitudes more than the control groups. Instead, all three groups showed improvement at posttest. Because there is a clear need to assess further the therapy expectations and attitudes of Asians, future research was recommended.

In Social Network Analysis (SNA) centrality measures focus on activity (degree), information access (betweenness), distance to all the nodes (closeness), or popularity (pagerank). We introduce a new measure quantifying the distance of nodes to the network center. It is called weighted distance to nearest center (WDNC) and it is based on edge-weighted closeness (EWC), a weighted version of closeness. It combines elements of weighted centrality as well as clustering. The WDNC will be tested on two e-mail networks of the R community, one of the most important open source programs for statistical computing and graphics. We will find that there is a relationship between the WDNC and the formal organization of the R community. / Series: Research Report Series / Department of Statistics and Mathematics

OBJECTIVE: The current study explored the applicability of the social norms approach to a new domain of study: psychological help-seeking. A number of questions that must be answered to determine whether the social norms model can be applied effectively to the help-seeking domain guided the study. METHOD: Data were collected from freshmen at five colleges and universities in the Mid-Atlantic region (N = 3021) during freshman orientation week. The study used a cross sectional design to examine personal attitudes and behaviors related to help-seeking as well as perceptions about others’ attitudes and behaviors related to help-seeking. RESULTS: Most participants reported that they were willing to seek help and viewed seeking help as a personal strength rather than personal weakness. However, discrepancies between “reality” and perception indicate that most freshmen in this sample misperceived reality. Most participants underestimated the extent to which peers are accepting of seeking psychological help and most participants were not accurate in their perceptions of peer help seeking behaviors. This misperception significantly influenced personal willingness to seek help. CONCLUSIONS: The data indicate that the social norms method of intervention is applicable to the domain of help seeking and efforts to reduce stigma. Implications, next steps for future research, and limitations of the current study are discussed.

This study was conducted with fourteen participants who lived in a rural Virginia community. The focus of the study was exploration of the nature of the experience of depression and of help-seeking for depression in one rural woman and in her community social network. The need for exploration of the community social network was influenced by the DeFacto Services Model of Rural Mental Health, which emphasized the influence of community factors in making decisions to seek mental health care. Findings of the study included the following themes, which related to the nature of depression: 1) linkage of experiential depression to diagnostic criteria; 2) overcoming depression using willpower; 3) connection of depression to abuse and violence, and 4) masking the inner world of depression. The following themes related to the nature of help-seeking emerged from the data: 1) family role in help-seeking; 2) insider/outsider status impact on help-seeking; 3) role of family and work functioning in help-seeking, and 4) role of informal and formal networks in help-seeking. Tentative conclusions were reached based on the findings that suggest depression and help-seeking may be experienced in distinctive ways by rural dwelling women in this particular community. Further research was suggested as a way of understanding more about how rural women seek help for depression within the context of their own community social networks.

Background: One-in-three carers of stroke survivors experience depression with no psychological treatments tailored to meet their needs, such as barriers to attending traditional face-to-face psychological services. A cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) self-help approach may represent an effective, acceptable solution. Methods: Informed by the MRC framework (2008) for complex interventions, six studies informed development, feasibility and piloting of a CBT self-help intervention for depressed carers of stroke survivors: Study One: Systematic review and meta-analysis of psychological interventions targeting depression and anxiety in carers of people with chronic health conditions; Study Two: Interviews to understand difficulties experienced by depressed and anxious carers; Study Three: Interviews to understand positive coping strategies used by non-depressed and non-anxious carers; Study Four: Drawing on results of Studies One to Three, iterative modelling to develop the CBT self-help intervention; Study Five: Feasibility randomised controlled trial to examine methodological and procedural uncertainties for a Phase III definitive trial; Study Six: Updated systematic review and meta-analysis. Results: Study One: 16 studies identified for inclusion yielding small and medium effect sizes for depression and anxiety respectively, with trends for individually delivered treatments over shorter session durations to be more effective for depression. Six additional studies were included in Study Six, replicating Study One results; Study Two: Depressed and anxious carers experience difficulties adapting to the caring role, managing uncertainty, lack of support and social isolation; Study Three: Non-depressed and non-anxious carers utilise problem-focused coping strategies to gain balance and adapt to caring role, use assertiveness, seek social support and positive reinterpretation; Study Four: Developed a theory-driven CBT self-help intervention; Study Five: Recruited 20 informal carers in 10-months, representing 0.08% of invited carers randomised with high attrition in the intervention arm. Lack of GP recognition, gatekeeping and barriers to accessing psychological support identified as reasons for poor recruitment. Conclusions: A greater appreciation is required concerning barriers experienced by informal carers of stroke survivors to accessing support for depression and type of acceptable psychological support.

This exploratory study investigates the hypothesis that case-based reasoning (CBR) systems have advantages over rule-based reasoning (RBR) systems in providing automated support for Tier-2 help desk operations. The literature suggests that rule-based systems are best suited for problem solving when the system being analyzed is a single-purpose, specialized system and the rules for solving the problems are clear and do not change with high frequency. Case-based systems, because of their ability to offer alternative solutions for a given problem, give help-desk technicians more flexibility. Specifically, this dissertation aims to answer the following questions: 1. Which paradigm, rule-based or case-based reasoning, results in more precise solutions to problems when compared to the solutions derived from system manuals? 2. Which paradigm, rule-based or case-based reasoning, is more convenient to maintain in terms of knowledge modification (i.e. addition, deletion, or modification of rules/cases)? 3. Which paradigm, rule-based or case-based reasoning, enables help-desk technicians to solve problems in shorter time, and therefore at lower cost? This is an exploratory study based on data collected from field experiments. RBR and CBR based prototypes were set up to support Tier-2 help desk operations. Trained help desk operators used the system to solve a set of benchmark problems. Data collected from this exercise was analyzed to answer the three research questions. This exploratory study supported the hypothesis that the case-based paradigm is better suited for use in help desk environments at the Tier-2 level than is the rule-based paradigm. The case-based paradigm, because of its ability to offer alternative solutions for a given problem, gave the help-desk technician flexibility in applying a solution. Alternatively, the rule-based paradigm provided a solution if, and only if, a rule existed for a solution meeting the exact problem specifications. Further, in the absence of a rule, problem research time, using the rule-based paradigm, extended the time required to formulate a solution thereby increasing the cost. This research provided sufficient information to show that the help-desk knowledge based system utilizing the case-based shell provided better overall solutions to problems than did the rule-based shell.

Thesis advisor: Judith Shindul-Rothschild PhD, MSN, RN / The issue of mental health awareness has been a familiar topic of concern in recent years, due to increasing incidence of suicide, PTSD, anxiety disorders, and other behavioral illnesses. Patient populations impacted by mental illness are diverse and research has focused on the recognition of symptoms and the treatment. Less research has investigated the barriers that hinder access to mental health services and the early identification of individuals who need mental health assistance. The specific aim of this study is to evaluate how the stigma of mental illness, both perceived and personal, may affect the willingness of college students to obtain behavioral health care. Based upon the findings, recommendations for improving access to mental health services on a college campus will be proposed. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2017. / Discipline: Nursing.

In the British welfare sector, the role of religious groups in offering faith based welfare provision is substantial and addresses a wide variety of needs. Such action is not confined to the Christian faith, since other religious faiths generate welfare initiatives of their own. Nor is faith motivated welfare provision restricted to meeting basic human needs, as it can include efforts to build community relations and also encompasses community development approaches that support citizens to come together to create self-help projects. In fact the latter themes sometimes appear linked in social policy where community development is seen as a way of generating cohesive and cooperative communities, particularly in areas where there are ethnic divides to be bridged (Pearmain and Hatamian 2011: 1-2). This thesis focusses on one aspect of faith involvement in the welfare sector. It investigates whether British churches can adopt a community development approach, and in so doing, produce the positive outcomes that are associated with community participation neighbourhood regeneration. In this chapter I show how that topic has become pertinent to today’s welfare climate and the community development profession. I introduce a number of research questions that must be answered in order to argue that churches can embrace a community development approach, and outline how these questions are addressed in my literature reviews and case studies of churches in the chapters that follow.

Essa dissertação é fruto de uma etnografia realizada por pouco mais de três anos na unidade da Missão Paz, uma instituição do terceiro setor vinculada à Igreja Nossa Senhora da Paz, no Glicério, centro de São Paulo, onde trabalhei como professor voluntário de português para imigrantes, além de auxiliar em outros serviços. Meu estudo enfoca as diversas relações de sociabilidade, permeadas pela noção de ajuda, dos imigrantes haitianos em São Paulo em confronto com diversos tipos de preconceito social, entre os quais aqueles marcados pela raça, pela classe, pela etnia, pala nacionalidade e pelo gênero. Trata-se de uma etnografia que analisa a formação de grupos imigrantes na cidade; os enquadramentos, os estereótipos e as categorias brasileiras sobre os haitianos; o contexto da marginalização social de imigrantes no espaço urbano; as sociabilidades haitianas citadinas; as aulas de português para estrangeiros; e as relações de ajuda e preconceito a nível público, institucional e social em São Paulo. / This M.A. thesis is the result of an ethnography carried out for more than three years at the Peace Mission unit of Nossa Senhora da Paz Church, a third sector institution, at the neighborhood of Glicério, central São Paulo, where I worked as a volunteer teacher of Portuguese for immigrants, as well as assisting in other services. My study focuses on the various social relations permeated by the notion of help, in which Haitian immigrants in Sao Paulo confronted various types of social prejudice, including those marked by race, class, ethnicity, nationality and gender. This ethnography analyzes the formation of immigrant groups in the city of São Paulo; the frames, stereotypes and categories about Haitians mobilized by local Brazilians; the context of social marginalization of immigrants in the urban space; the Haitian sociability; the Portuguese classes for foreigners; and the relations of help and prejudice at the public, the institutional and the social levels.