Psychological stigma costs as barriers to healthcare use in former soldiers of the German Armed Forces: A qualitative analysis

Individuals decide to use healthcare when the expected benefits outweigh the perceived costs. One of these cost factors in this decision can be stigma. So far, it has not been researched how former soldiers of the German Armed Forces with a service-induced mental illness perceive stigma and how it influences their healthcare use. As stigma is shaped by the socio-cultural context, the setting of the potential healthcare use must be considered. Narrative interviews were conducted with 33 former soldiers with mental health problems. The data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach, in which codes were formed and emerging themes were systemized. The relationship between stigma and healthcare use was analyzed. Occupational discrimination and social exclusion were experienced in both in the military and civilian context, but stigma functioned differently in each context. In the military context, former soldiers’ self-stigma of mentally ill individuals being weak was in stark contrast to their internalized military standards. This contrast let them avoid disclosure and subsequent healthcare use. In civilian context, the participants perceived 2 different stigma costs: mental illness stigma and former soldier stigma (i.e., stigmatization because of their military past). Both were perceived as barriers to healthcare use. A model, illustrating these different stigma costs in the different contexts, was developed. Further research on the link between stigma and healthcare use of this group is urgently needed.     

Enantiomorphy through the looking glass: literacy effects on mirror-image discrimination

To examine whether enantiomorphy (i.e., the ability to discriminate lateral mirror images) is influenced by the acquisition of a written system that incorporates mirrored letters (e.g., b and d), unschooled illiterate adults were compared with people reading the Latin alphabet, namely, both schooled literate adults and unschooled adults alphabetized in adulthood. In various sorting and same-different comparison tasks with nonlinguistic materials, illiterate participants displayed some sensitivity to enantiomorphic contrasts but performed far worse than all the other participant groups when the task required paying attention to such contrasts. The difficulties of illiterate participants were more severe with enantiomorphs than with rotations in the plane or shape contrasts. Learning a written system that incorporates enantiomorphic letters thus pushes the beginning reader to break the mirror invariance characteristic of the visual system, and this process generalizes beyond the realm of symbolic characters.     

A novel integrative method for analyzing eye and hand behaviour during reaching and grasping in an MRI environment

The development of noninvasive neuroimaging techniques, such as fMRI, has rapidly advanced our understanding of the neural systems underlying the integration of visual and motor information. However, the fMRI experimental design is restricted by several environmental elements, such as the presence of the magnetic field and the restricted view of the participant, making it difficult to monitor and measure behaviour. The present article describes a novel, specialized software package developed in our laboratory called Biometric Integration Recording and Analysis (BIRA). BIRA integrates video with kinematic data derived from the hand and eye, acquired using MRI-compatible equipment. The present article demonstrates the acquisition and analysis of eye and hand data using BIRA in a mock (0 Tesla) scanner. A method for collecting and integrating gaze and kinematic data in fMRI studies on visuomotor behaviour has several advantages: Specifically, it will allow for more sophisticated, behaviourally driven analyses and eliminate potential confounds of gaze or kinematic data.     

Still Photography Provides Data for Community-Based Initiatives

We use community psychology's accent on methodological pluralism and giving voice to the marginalised as a platform to critically examine the utility and outcome of photography as a data collection and community engagement method. Accordingly we focus on two community projects that used still photographs to identify environmental and household childhood injury risks respectively. The first project involved the visual documentation, examination and analysis of environmental threats in an informal settlement. The second project focused on the documentation and identification of selected childhood injury risks in and outside homes in an informal settlement. This study provided visual images that are detailed and complex and that allowed the researchers to acquire greater understandings than would have been possible from written texts alone. These photographs may be used to create injury risk awareness in the respective communities and among other relevant stakeholders.     

Integrated Behavioral Health in Rural Settings: A Course Design

ABSTRACT

Rurality is a vital component of cultural diversity, making it essential to train future counselors on comprehensive mental health counseling practice with rural populations. In this article, we describe the development of a master’s level course that reflects an integrated approach to providing mental health counseling services in rural communities. First, the pedagogical foundation for the course design and positionality are discussed. Second, the course objectives are outlined, and corresponding teaching methods and creative learning assignments are provided. Last, we discuss the strengths and challenges of the course design and implementation.