Perceived social support as related to social wellbeing in patients with Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD)

Background

People diagnosed with EUPD also known as borderline personality disorder (BPD) experience different challenges in their lives. These challenges include compulsive behavior, irritability, depression, sadness, guilt, shame, loneliness, grandiosity, and feeling of worthlessness. It is noteworthy that such challenges trigger among them a self-destructive behaviour, in addition to social isolation, and impaired social relationships. It is also found to significantly impact their physical, mental, and social wellbeing. This study is a humble attempt to examine the role of perceived social support in improving the social wellbeing of BPD outpatients. Through the purposive sampling technique, 100 BPD outpatients were selected for the study. The mean age of the participant was 25 years.

Results

It was found that perceived social support (family, friends, and significant others) plays a vital role in the wellbeing of these participants. The correlation between the two is positive as well as statistically significant. This means higher the support these patients experience from their relatives, the better is their social wellbeing.

Conclusions

This study has practical implications for counselors, clinical psychologists, and psychiatrists working in the field.

Perceived Social Support and Stress: a Study of 1st Year Students in Ireland

Social support is consistently associated with positive outcomes for students, in terms of wellbeing and academic achievement. For first year students, social support offers a way to deal with stressors associated with the challenge of transitioning to university. The current research was conducted with a range of first year students (n = 315) early in their first semester in university. Both male and female students reported moderate levels of social support and perceived stress, while those with higher levels of social support reported lower levels of stress. Gender differences were apparent in both the levels and sources of social support that students perceived as available to them. Female students reported higher levels of social support and stress than males, suggesting that university initiatives for enhancing social support and dealing with stress may require a gender-specific focus. The results are discussed in terms of recommendations for developing students' social supports during first year, in order to mitigate for the experience of stress and to enhance student experience of their educational journey.

Factors influencing school re-entry among adolescents in Kenya

BACKGROUND

The number of out-of-school children and adolescents has been increasing globally. In sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 23 million adolescents leave school due to poverty, teenage pregnancy, and unspecified illnesses. The reasons for absenteeism are well-known but the factors involved in the decision to return to school have not been analyzed. This study aimed to identify the factors that promote primary school re-entry among chronic adolescent absentees in rural sub-Saharan Africa.

METHODS

Qualitative data were gathered through participant observation, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions involving nine pupils who returned to school after chronic absenteeism and 140 adult stakeholders in Mbita sub-county, Kenya. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.

RESULTS

The thematic analysis results showed that four factors promoted school re-entry, namely: (1) social norms: "school for a better life"; (2) linkage of community and school; (3) supportive environment; and (4) using discipline to make adolescents serious about their education.

CONCLUSIONS

School re-entry among chronic absentees in Mbita sub-county is promoted by both community and school factors. It was observed that social norms regarded an education as a "passport to a better life." Adolescents, teachers, and community leaders view education as a means of improving one's socio-economic status. Two essential elements of health-promoting schools, a supportive environment and a linkage with community, effectively promoted returning to the school among adolescents. The introduction of health-promoting schools was recommended to implement a school re-entry policy in Kenya effectively.

A cultural heuristic approach to the study of Jamaican undergraduate students' achievement motivation

BACKGROUND

In recent years, there have been increasing calls to develop a more contextually based sociocultural perspective of achievement motivation.

AIM

This mixed-methods study examined why Jamaican undergraduate students are motivated or unmotivated and how this relates to the extant literature on achievement motivation.

SAMPLE(S)

This study was conducted in two phases and consisted of 175 and 189 Jamaican undergraduate students across phases one and two, respectively.

METHODS

First, a qualitative investigation using open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews explored Jamaican undergraduate students' conceptualization of motivation and the factors that positively or negatively impacted their motivation. The second phase consisted of using prototype theory to capture a hierarchical cognitive representation of Jamaican students' motivation using coded themes derived from phase one of the study.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

The overall results indicated that personal, cognitive, contextual, and sociocultural factors are important determinants of Jamaican undergraduate students' academic motivation and that sociocultural (e.g., familial, economic, religious) factors appear to play a more critical role in impacting their motivation.