How deafness is perceived as a problem by society dictates what types of technologies are leveraged to address the problem, and, conversely, available technologies shape how deafness is perceived. In this dissertation, I draw on multiple methods to explore the meanings of deafne…
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Mental health stigma is a widespread deterrent of decisions to seek treatment for mental illness, yet little is known about how its discouraging effects compare to other treatment obstacles (e.g., external barriers) or its relationship with other mental health-related beliefs an…
Self-injury is a growing public health concern that impacts individuals of all ages, genders, and racial-ethnic backgrounds. While research on self-injury has primarily been conducted from a psychological and clinical perspective, this dissertation takes a social psychological a…
The increasing global reach of survey research provides sociologists with new opportunities to pursue theory building and refinement through comparative analysis. However, comparison across a broad array of diverse contexts introduces methodological complexities related to the d…
This dissertation explores the lived experiences and illness management of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) following the rollout of freely available anti-retroviral therapy (ART) in an ethnically and culturally diverse resource-poor setting. Employing a qualitative methodolo…
The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the impact of dominant discourses on welfare on the everyday lives of women caught up within the American welfare system. In the early 1990s, a moral crusade against welfare emerged, marking poor women as lazy, immoral, dependent, a…
Background: Asthma morbidity in women is increasing. Women report greater severity of asthma symptoms and their utilisation of acute health services is high. Asthma prevalence is high in the Middle East region. In Gulf countries, and Oman in particular, there is a dearth of data…
This thesis is an exploration of infertility and assisted conception in contemporary India. It explores some of the prominent themes underpinning the cultural engagement with reproductive disruption and seeks to understand how people - inflicted infertile individuals and treatme…
The unifying theme of the chapters presented in this thesis is how people who are not in paid work respond to the stigma of unemployment or the possibility of being regarded as (similar to the) unemployed. Although unemployment is a topic of continuing interdisciplinary interest…
This comparative research explores the work experiences of dementia care workers in nursing homes. The aim of this study is to understand concepts central to care and to gain insights from the care workers‟ perspectives. A comparative framework and symbolic interactionist approa…
People with diagnoses of mental illness have been described as the last minority group against whom it is socially acceptable to discriminate. Challenging the stigma of mental illness is a major social issue and public health concern. Despite a range of anti-stigma efforts being…
As of the end of 2005, there were 25.8 million people living with HIV/AIDS (PLA) throughout the world (UNAIDS, 2006). As a result, the fight against AIDS has become two-fold: preventing new infections and improving the life of the individuals living with the disease. At the cent…
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is one of the only regions throughout the world that saw an increase in new HIV infections from 2001 to 2009. Although UNAIDS estimates that 460,000 individuals are currently living with HIV in MENA, the exact number of women living with H…
Over the last several decades, the practices and philosophy of Sufi mystics from former Soviet Republics Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have spread into Russian society, and from there to much of Eastern Europe. Through the efforts of individuals such as Mirzakarim Sanakulovich Norbe…
Medical experts claim that Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among United States military service personnel, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan has contributed to an "epidemic of suicide" in the U.S. However, veterans, military commanders, and mental health providers argue that feel…
There is a need for epilepsy-based health education programs to enlighten Nigerian communities and reduce the stigma associated with epilepsy. Epilepsy in Nigeria is viewed by some as a contagious and an infectious disease or a condition imposed from the gods, possessed by demon…
This dissertation is an ethnographic and historical study of the urban transportation system in Nairobi, Kenya and the large youth workforce who operate it. Currently, the informal mini-bus taxi system made up of vehicles called matatus, carries nearly 80% of the urban populatio…
Introduction. Depression is the one of the most common mental health disorders that people with HIV experience, with some figures placing rates of depression among people with HIV as high as 50%. HIV related stigma has been associated with depressive symptoms in studies outside …
Although social environments do not cause stuttering, they influence how stuttering is experienced, how it develops, and how it affects people's lives. This project was conducted in two parts, Study 1 and Study 2. Study 1 employed the POSHA-S public opinion survey to explore Sud…