The impact of stigma and discrimination against persons with mental illness is well documented. Less well researched are the interpersonal and intrapersonal mechanisms that mediate how acts of discrimination impact persons with mental illness, specifically social support. Past research has focused on the buffering, or moderating impact of perceived social support. We hypothesize that perceived social support is a psychological process, changed by interactions with the outside world, including stressful interactions. In this study, we explore perceived social support as a mediator between the impact of experienced discrimination and mental health. We also test the moderating hypotheses as a way to determine if past research on the role of perceived social support is a better model than the mediating model. We used data from a subset of the Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health. We tested the mediating role of perceived social support using the bootstrapped estimate of the 95% confidence interval of the indirect effect. We also tested the buffering hypothesis of perceived social support, using the product of the impact of decimation measure and perceived social support measure. The results suggest that perceived social support does mediate the relationship between the impact of experienced discrimination and mental health. The buffering hypothesis did not hold. Results suggest a new way to model the relationship of perceived social support, stigma, and mental health. Further, the results provide insights into the importance of intervening at the point of discrimination.
This book describes secondary traumatic stress in child welfare work, provides tools that help those entering child welfare work identify practical interventions to cope with secondary traumatic stress, and suggests how educators can help prevent dropout later. The book has seven chapters. There is an online manual available.
The number of children experiencing homelessness continues to rise at alarming rates. Schools are on the front lines of service delivery and face numerous barriers in an attempt to meet the educational and psychosocial needs of these children. This study explored the perceptions of homeless liaisons in three states about the implementation of the McKinney Vento Act within the school districts. While no differences were found across the states, significant differences were found between rural and urban geographic densities in the perceived implementation of the federal legislation. The significant differences relate to collaboration within the community and resonate with the lack of resources available to the families experiencing homelessness in rural areas.
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