Insufficient responses to rape in Ouagadougou: Reflections on the experiences of young female survivors

The rape of girls and women raises questions about both prevention and the response in Burkina Faso. This article looks at the inadequacy of the response to rape in Ouagadougou. It is based on an analysis of cases of rape experienced by young women in the city and documented between 2005 and 2009. The study highlights the gap between the attitude of the victims, whether or not they are inclined to report the act and seek support, and the existing response in this area, whether in their entourage, at the community level, or at the institutional level. The study concludes that there is a need for more in-depth research into the representations and experiences of rape survivors in Ouagadougou and, more broadly, in Burkina Faso. Such research will enable us to identify gaps and appropriate strategies so that survivors are offered a holistic response that is more conducive to respect for their sexual and reproductive rights. Appropriate responses should involve improving the response system, so as to minimize obstacles and make institutional support more accessible to survivors.

Social Representations and Experiences of Sexual Transactions Among Swiss Youth

This article relies on quantitative data collected in Switzerland as part of a research study on sexual transactions among youth. Building on an analytical framework that defines sexual transactions in terms of negotiated exchanges rooted in social representations, we explored how they were perceived by the Swiss young people included in our sample at a cognitive, ethical, and political level. We found that research participants who reported having experienced sexual transactions viewed them much more positively than those who reported never having engaged in such exchanges. While this was especially true among young women, we also found that the tendency of respondents to perceive sexual transactions negatively increased with age. When analyzed in light of the qualitative results of our study, these quantitative findings suggest that negative representations of sexual transactions are less likely to be based on lived experience than on an ideal-type of sexual behavior. In other words, our research highlights how young people interpret sexuality according to norms developed within a heteronormative matrix.

Navigating Love in a Post-Pandemic World: Understanding Young Adults' Views on Short- and Long-Term Romantic Relationships

The uncertain future due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the technological advancements may have altered young adults' experiences of romantic relationships. It is unclear whether individuals will continue to prefer traditional long-term romantic relationships (LTRR) or opt for short-term ones (STRR). This research describes how young adults in Malaysia perceive LTRR and STRR. Using the structured approach of the theory of social representations, data were collected from 512 participants; 238 (46.48%) male; Mage 21.75; majority were heterosexual and students, and analyzed using prototypical analysis to reveal high consensus elements. Five observations were made: (1) females prioritize "love" in both STRR and LTRR, while males prioritize "love" only in LTRR; (2) females prioritize "marriage" in LTRR, while males prioritize "trust," "comfort," and "stability." Males do not consider "marriage" as part of a LTRR; (3) both males and females view STRR positively, while LTRR are viewed more practically; (4) "sex" is a core element in STRR but is absent in LTRR; (5) males differentiate between STRR and LTRR with no overlapping elements. These findings provide insight into the social representations of romantic relationships among young adults in Malaysia and suggest future directions for research in the field.

What do medical students and graduated physicians think about infectious disease specialists?

OBJECTIVES

This study evaluated the social representation and stereotypes on infectious disease (ID) specialists among medical students and physicians in France after the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

A survey applying the hierarchical evocation model assessed the social representations (SRs) of ID specialists.

RESULTS

All in all, 372 answers were analyzed. The positive elements related to the personal and professional qualities of ID specialists ('intellectual prestige", "open-mindedness"), in contrast with negative stereotypes related to their perceived daily life and practice characteristics ("hospital-based", "intense", "overspecialized"). Variables such as "I would not have chosen (or I won't choose) ID after the national ranking exam" and "I know someone who is an ID specialist" were associated with worse SR scores (p < 0.001 and p = 0.022 respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

These findings provide insights into the attractiveness of ID as a specialty. Rounds in ID departments may enhance the interest of the specialty as a possible residency choice.

A topic models analysis of the news coverage of the Omicron variant in the United Kingdom press

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused numerous casualties, overloaded hospitals, reduced the wellbeing of many and had a substantial negative economic impact globally. As the population of the United Kingdom was preparing for recovery, the uncertainty relating to the discovery of the new Omicron variant on November 24 2021 threatened those plans. There was thus an important need for sensemaking, which could be provided, partly, through diffusion of information in the press, which we here examine.

METHOD

We used topic modeling, to extract 50 topics from close to 1,500 UK press articles published during a period of approximately one month from the appearance of Omicron. We performed ANOVAs in order to compare topics between full weeks, starting on week 48 of 2021.

RESULTS

The three topics documenting the new variant (Omicron origins, Virus mutations, News of a new variant) as well as mentions of vaccination excluding booster, Scotlands First minister statement (Communications) travel bans and mask wearing (Restrictions) and the impact of market and investing (Domains and events) decreased through time (all ps < .01). Some topics featured lower representation at week two or three with higher values before and after: Government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies recommendations (Communications), Situation in the US, Situation in Europe (Other countries and regions), all ps < .01. Several topics referring to symptoms and cases-e.g., rises of infections, hospitalisations, the pandemic the holidays, mild symptoms and care; restrictions and measures-e.g., financial help, Christmas and Plan B, restrictions and New Year; and domains of consequences and events-e.g., such as politics, NHS and patients, retail sales and airlines, featured increasing representation, (all ps < .01). Other topics featured less regular or non-significant patterns.

CONCLUSION

Changes in sensemaking in the press closely matched the changes in the official discourse relating to Omicron and reflects the trajectory of the infection and its local consequences.

Predictive factors for acceptance of a long-acting opiate substitution treatment studied through social representations and internalized stigma

OBJECTIVES

Opioid use disorder is a public health problem worldwide with a treatment gap partially due to sociocultural representation and stigma. Taking the opportunity of an authorization to a subcutaneous (SC) injectable solution of buprenorphine, the first and only injectable treatment for opioid dependence available in France, we investigate potential obstacles to its implementation in France.

METHODS

This study aimed to define the factors predicting the acceptance of a new SC form of opiate substitution treatment (OST) by comparing the social representations using an adapted version of the Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue (EMIC) and the internalized stigma of intravenous drug injection using the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness Inventory (ISMI) between participants receiving OST likely to accept the SC form or not. We also observed whether the fear of an opiate withdrawal syndrome could influence this choice.

RESULTS

Fifty OST patients were included, 54% of them accepted a new SC form of OST. Perceived causes of drug injection measured with EMIC were significantly lower among participants who would not accept the new SC form. No significant difference was found regarding the total score of the adapted ISMI or its items. The fear of opiate withdrawal syndrome did not seem to be statistically related to acceptance of a long-acting SC OST in either group. The most discriminating combination of factors in predicting patient acceptance of such treatment was related to the perceived causes of drug injection associated with a severe Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th version (DSM-5) diagnosis, and a lower alcohol consumption.

CONCLUSIONS

We observed significant differences in social representations but not in internalized stigma between the two groups. Moreover, the predictive factors linked to the acceptance of a new SC form of OST suggest a multifactorial combination of elements that will have to be tested in a larger and prospective study delivering long-acting high-dose buprenorphine.

Introspective Projection: Prototypical Representations of Policing in the Service of Rule of Law

Mass protests that have taken place over the past decade in various Western democracies have called into question the role of police in society, as officers have employed measures to contain rallies protesting for or against various issues. A number of these protests have resorted to violent means, resisting the police or protesting directly against their role and methods. The present study sought to investigate the prototypical representations of the police that lay citizens use to forge or desist identification with police officers. Social identification enables citizens to consider the police as ingroup members, facilitating respect for their authority. Conversely, identifying the police as outgroup precipitates resistance. The study involved 41 in-depth interviews carried out with citizens of Malta between May and June 2020. Thematic Networks Analysis revealed various points of consensus as well as a number of controversial themes. In particular, respondents demonstrated sceptical attitudes regarding policing on the beat for fear of overfamiliarity, rooted in introspective attributions projected at the police as merely human. Moreover, respondents expressed support for technological innovations that overcome natural psychological tendencies. The findings of this study suggest that seeking increasing trust in the police may be a red herring for policymakers. Rather, efforts should be directed at developing inter-objective systems, (e.g. body-cams), that overcome individual psychological propensities.

"I think I might be a bit wobbly in my corona moral" - young people's moral functioning during the COVID-19 lockdown: A social representations approach

In this paper, we use social representations theory to examine how young people made sense of COVID-19 and the emergent behavioral guidelines during the lockdown in Denmark in Spring 2020. Further, we discuss how this informed their moral functioning. This research is explored through triangulation, investigating how COVID-19 was represented in central speeches by Danish leaders (N = 4) and by young people in focus groups (n = 5, N = 25) and individual interviews (N = 10). Results suggest that young people's moral functioning during COVID-19 depended on multiple, often polemic, representations. Consequently, their moral functioning was found to be an ambivalent practice, resulting in coping strategies of adaptation to their surroundings and othering fellow citizens deviating from the guidelines. In this context, coherent communication by authorities and community values are identified as key to promoting behavior change. As the social impact of COVID-19 is unprecedented in many societies, including the Danish, this study contributes to the field of emerging infectious diseases providing insights that are essential for the continued management of this and future pandemics.

Social representations, media, and iconography: A semiodiscursive analysis of Facebook posts related to the COVID-19 pandemic

The aim of this study was to explore the COVID-19 pandemic social representation in the early stages of its development. Following a free association task and a categorical analysis, a corpus of COVID-19-related editorial illustrations from articles posted by leading French newspapers was collected. Iconographic analysis of editorial illustrations revealed 12 iconic patterns that seemed typical of the pandemic iconography. Findings suggest that articles eliciting the greatest engagement (i.e. reactions, comments, and shares) are those that use a stable iconography so that the topic can easily be identified by most Facebook users. Therefore, these images could play an important role in the objectification process development of the COVID-19 social representation. Future studies should therefore explore the impact of the relationship between the news media and their audiences on the visual representation of highly topical issues, in the light of the objectification process of social representation theory.

Work and the future as represented by French adolescents: the role of secondary school type and anticipated duration of post-secondary education

This study, conducted in France, sought to describe the organization of the content of the social representations that high school students in transition construct of work and their own future, taking into account two variables: their type of secondary school and the anticipated length of their post-secondary education. For this purpose, 669 adolescents enrolled at three types of secondary schools (middle school, general high school, and vocational high school) were given two free-association tasks (with the inducers "work" and "your future"). Prototypical analyses for each of the variables considered were carried out on the corpus of words collected. The results highlight the place occupied by money and post-secondary education in the set of representations and the advantage of taking into account the subjective variable "anticipated length of post-secondary education" to better understand the role that contemporary uncertainties play. Thus, students who do not plan to pursue higher studies seem more worried about their future than others. On the theoretical level, the article notably highlights the benefit of integrating certain concepts developed in social psychology along with studies developed in the field of career guidance. In terms of practice, finally, it argues for a better integration of anticipations in the support aimed at helping students plan their transitions.

How local stakeholders' social representations shape the future of ageing in place: Insights from 'health and care social innovations' in Wallonia (Belgium)

This research attempts to study the social representations underlying health and care social innovations (HCSI) implemented in Wallonia, Belgium to shift ageing policies and management towards the ageing in place paradigm. A panel of 34 experts was interviewed to understand their representations using a Delphi-based methodology. The data were processed using thematic content analysis. The core of social representations of health and care social innovations was related to five key dimensions: D1, responding to unmet or emerging health and care needs; D2, defining (new) targets and beneficiaries of HCSI; D3, disrupting care practices; D4, mobilising a network of key actors; and D5, encouraging political recognition of HCSI to favour its viability and sustainability. Local stakeholders' social representations tended to recognise only the goal-oriented dimensions in innovations and ignore process-oriented aspects. The blind spots for workers' participation and empowerment may jeopardise their working conditions, causing a cascade effect on the quality of services and the care relationship. This affected how health and care organisations responded to innovation and might also compromise the long-term sustainability of ageing in place practices in Wallonia.

Social representations of malaria in a southern malian community: an ethnographic qualitative study

Background

Malaria is one of the prime reasons for medical consultation and the major cause of morbidity and mortality in Mali. To assess and understand the dynamics of social representations of malaria, the anthropological research was conducted in the Wayerema II neighbourhood of the health district of Sikasso, southern Mali.

Methods

This was an ethnographic study conducted qualitatively in 2011 and 2016 through informal conversations, 70 semi-structured interviews, and participant observations with key actors. The observations, conversations, and interviews investigated local people’s perceptions and knowledge about malaria, and how and to what extent the cultural and popular representations of the disease can have an impact on therapeutic routes.

Results

Mosquitoes are the principal agent of the transmission of malaria. However, the ubiquitous yet casually-claimed aetiological agents, causative, nosographic entities differ from—although sometimes integrated into—the biomedical dimension. For example, some communities perceive Kono, a complicated and pernicious form of malaria that often occurs among children, to originate from a supernatural force. “Bird disease” is another term used for Kono in Mali and other West African countries. Thus, overall, Kono is defined through the entanglements with cultural factors, namely the idiosyncratic habits, customs, and beliefs of the population of Wayerema II neighbourhood in the health district of Sikasso, Southern Mali. Wayerema II residents particularly tend to link therapeutic recourse amongst the afflicted not only to biomedical models but to sociocultural and popular perceptions and representations of malaria.

Conclusion

In the findings, self-medication through both traditional and modern medical techniques was the most frequent therapeutic modality. Hence, the integration of local popular knowledge with the biomedical register can contribute to a comprehensive understanding of social representations and perceptions of malaria, and qualitative improvements in the malaria control programme.

"You get to understand we are all human beings": Community solidarity initiatives as spaces of recognition, resistance, and change

In Ireland the Direct Provision system segregates and excludes displaced people from the host community, and informal community solidarity initiatives (CSIs) were established nationwide to address this issue. We examined experiences of intergroup contact in CSIs and related contexts to identify how solidarity is produced, and for whom, through photovoice workshops (Study 1: n = 13) with displaced participants of two CSIs, and interviews (Study 2: n = 5) with resident/national stakeholders of four CSIs. In Study 1, we identified three themes: "Orienting to future and collective identities in Direct Provision," "Negotiating intersectional identities in public settings," and "Recognition of valued collective identities in the CSI." In Study 2, we identified two themes: "Negotiating privileged identities and power asymmetries," and "Facilitating change through social connections." CSIs offered temporary respite from the oppression and discrimination displaced people experienced in other contexts and enabled them to resist dehumanizing representations through expression and recognition of valued identities. Connections within and across groups fostered relational solidarity, shifted intergroup norms, and opened opportunities for displaced people to access resources. Accordingly, our findings have implications for public policy, community research, and action to create just and equitable conditions for displaced people in receiving countries.

Discursive construction of social representations expressed by seekers of psychosocial healthcare services in Brazil

BACKGROUND

The current paper discusses the results of a study realized with 66 seekers of 12 psychosocial healthcare services (CAPS) in Brazil, by investigating their social representations.

AIMS

Throughout a quali-quantitative approach, unstructured interviews have been conducted and focused on two themes: one related to mental suffering and another to the CAPS itself.

METHOD

The data were processed adopting the Iramuteq software for text-mining-analysis.

RESULTS

Out of the findings emerged four lexical classes due to the discursive representation of: (1) CAPS (39.7%); (2) social life (29.7%); (3) family (13.6%) and (4) medication and care (17%), where the utterance NÃO (NO) occupies a central position. Accordingly, the NO is associated with 'not there' and 'not here', contrasting the care provided outside the CAPS, represented as inhumane or inadequate, to that provided inside the CAPS, linked to feelings of 'not being discriminated, mistreated and unrecognized'. The underlying social representations expressed in the interviews show an opposition between what was experienced outside and what was experienced inside the CAPS.

CONCLUSION

The care received in CAPS units is the expression of a new psychosocial paradigm in a process of implementation, focused on participation and interdisciplinarity, as opposed to the biomedical paradigm focused on the disease.

The effects of psychopathology and shame on social representations of health and lifestyle behaviours via free association: a graph analysis approach

BACKGROUND

There is a knowledge gap in whether psychopathology aspects can shape and mark the social representations about health and lifestyle. In this work, we investigated the association of psychopathology and shame with the centrality of the words describing eight common social representations of health and lifestyle.

METHODS

A convenience sample of 288 adults participated with an average age of 44.7, and 62.6% were women. The participants were asked to express three consecutive words associated with eight different health and lifestyle experiences by utilizing the free association method. The participants also were completed the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R), the Experiences of Shame Scale (ESS), and the Other as Shamer Scale (OAS). Canonical correlation analysis was applied to investigate the relationship between the set of the eight-word centralities and the psycho-demographic variables consisting of the subject's age and gender, the SCL 90 subscales, the OAS, and the ESS. Based on these findings, a structural equation explorative model was formed to test the unidimensionality of the five centralities construct.

RESULTS

Τhe psychological characteristics of interpersonal sensitivity, depression, external shame, and hostility were found to affect the word selection process on the social representations concerning nightlife, health, diet, lifestyle, and alcohol consumption. Participants with increased levels of depression tend to choose more centrally positioned words when the stimulus word was diet and more decentralized responses when the stimulus word was health. At the same time, higher external shame corresponded to more decentralized words for the categories of health and lifestyle.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results indicate that there is a potential interaction between the psychological state and how a social representation of health and lifestyle is constructed through selected words. Graph theory emerged as an additional tool to use to study these relations.

[Social representations of cardiovascular disease in the Tanvè Health Study (TAHES) cohort in Benin]

OBJECTIVE

To describe the social representations associated with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in the village of Tanvè in Benin.

METHODS

Focus groups discussions and semi-structured interviews were conducted among participants of Tanvè Health Study (TAHES) cohort. Audio recordings were made during the interviews, as well as some note-taking. Data were organized by themes and analyzed to identify key representations that underlie attitudes and health care practices.

RESULTS

A total of 19 subjects (including 11 women) participated in 2 focus groups and 17 (including 5 women) in individual interviews. Etymologies of CVD's names evoke either clinical signs (example: ''tesisi glô mɛ'' [can't stand up]), guessed etiology (example: ''kuvitɔ zɔn'' [ghosts' disease]) or a local adaptation of a biomedical name (example: ''a'tension'' [from hypertension]), to cite the example of stroke. According to beliefs about etiology, diseases were classed as ''simple'' or "organic" diseases ("azɔn yaya") and ''supernatural'' or ''induced'' diseases linked to "azé" [immaterial witchcraft] or "bô" [material bewitchment]. Chronic or recurrent diseases usually end up in the ''supranatural'' category and induce the consultation of "bokɔnɔ᷉" (diviner) or other religious for diagnosis. Health care seeking refer to modern medicine, "amanɔn" (leaf-based care), "bokɔnɔ᷉" or traditional religious (various rites) and Christians (prayers).

CONCLUSION

Social representations of CVD in this community are based on ancestral beliefs, but are also influenced by modern knowledge. Taking them into account could improve quality of health to fulfill communities' care needs.

Frames and counter-frames giving meaning to palliative care and euthanasia in the Netherlands

Background

Based on the case of palliative care and euthanasia in the Netherlands, this paper presents an analysis of frames and counter-frames used in the ongoing public debate about these two intertwined topics. Each (counter)frame presents a cultural theme that can act as a prism to give meaning to palliative care and/or euthanasia. Each frame comprehends a different problem definition, consequences and policy options. Typical word choices and metaphors are identified that can evoke these frames and the underlying reasoning. The frames do not belong to a specific stakeholder but a pattern can be seen in their use that is related to interests and ideology.

Methods

An inductive framing analysis was conducted of 2,700 text fragments taken from various Dutch newspapers, websites of stakeholders and policy documents in the period 2016–2018. After an extensive process of thematic coding, axial coding, selective coding and peer review seven frames and seven counter-frames about palliative care and euthanasia were constructed. Fifteen experts in the field of palliative and/or end-of-life care commented on the overview during a member check.

Results

Two frames about palliative care were constructed: the Fear of death frame, which stresses the hopeless ‘terminality’ of palliative care and the Heavy burden frame, in which palliative care is too big a responsibility for the relatives of the patient. In addition, two counter-frames were constructed: palliative care as a contributor to Quality of life and Completion. With regard to euthanasia, five frames were identified that lead to a problematising definition: Thou shalt not kill, Slippery slope, Lack of willpower, I am not God, and Medical progress. Five counter-frames offer a non-problematising definition of euthanasia in the debate: Mercy, Prevention, Triumph of reason, Absolute autonomy, and Economic utility thinking.

Conclusions

The debate in the Netherlands on euthanasia and palliative care is characterized by a plurality of angles that goes beyond the bipolar distinction between the pros and cons of euthanasia and palliative care. Only with an overview of all potential frames in mind can an audience truly make informed decisions. The frame matrix is not only useful for policy makers to know all perspectives when joining public debate, but also to health care workers to get into meaningful conversations with their patients and families.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12904-021-00772-9.

Sociocultural impacts of COVID-19: A social representations perspective

While COVID-19's public health and economic impacts are evident, its sociocultural impacts are often overlooked. This study takes the case of the Italian destination of Pisa during the early stages of the pandemic - when most infection cases were assumed to be imported from China - and investigates Social Representations of Chinese tourists from an Italian host perspective. Through fifteen interviews with local suppliers, two co-existing Social Representations are identified and expressed through Italian literary metaphors: "the Hen with Golden Eggs" and "the Anointer". This research shows that, while the dominant hegemonic representation is rooted in rationality, the emerging polemic representation is anchored in pre-Enlightenment sociocultural fears. Finally, the uncertain future of post-COVID19 tourism considering potential stereotypes, xenophobia and racism is discussed.

Cross-cultural representations of gastronomy among consumers in two Latin American countries

Gastronomy is one of the cultural emblems of each region and represents the way each society feeds. The aim of this article was to understand the cross-cultural representations of the concept of gastronomy among consumers in Argentina (ARG) and Mexico (MEX). A survey in which 479 consumers of both countries were recruited (ARG = 249, MEX = 230), who had to complete a word association task, was designed. Words were grouped into categories and the differences in the frequency of mention were analyzed with the Chi Square test. Furthermore, results were analyzed to identify the central core and the peripheral areas of the social representations. Cognitive Salience Index (CSI) was calculated to determine the most important representations. The representations of the gastronomy concept in both countries indicate a strong link to culture, food, pleasure by eating and sensory characteristics of foods and dishes. However, the field of representation, the hierarchy of representations and the cognitive and attitudinal importance were different among Mexican and Argentine consumers, which suggests that gastronomy promotion campaigns for both countries should be oriented according to consumers' perceptions.

How French adolescents use images to represent HPV vaccination (during school-based workshops) adolescents and HPV vaccination

OBJECTIVE

In this study we investigated adolescent students' (13-15 years old) social representations of the vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) by analysing their iconographic productions of the vaccination.

DESIGN

A qualitative study with workshops was set up in three volunteer schools. Student groups created a total of 27 posters about the vaccination.

RESULTS

Two types of messages emerged: the first presented vaccination as a means of preventing cancer, while the second presented it as a means of promoting sexual health.

CONCLUSION

The choice between using one message type or the other seemed to stem from the fact that students appropriated the subject of the workshops differently.

Rethinking the meaning of "landscape shocks" in energy transitions: German social representations of the Fukushima nuclear accident

Sociotechnical sustainability transitions are understood to involve changes in cultural meaning, alongside a wide variety of other changes. One of the most popular conceptual models of such change, the multi-level perspective, exogenously locates slow-changing cultural factors in the 'sociotechnical landscape', viewing this landscape as periodically subject to 'shocks' that may support the break-through of niche innovations. Here we emphasise that shock to a sociotechnical system has social psychological dimensions, including meaning-related correlates. Accordingly, we apply social representations theory, as a theory of meaning, to provide a social psychological account of energy landscape shock and associated policy change. For illustration we take newspaper representations of the 2011 German social and policy response to the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan. The study illustrates the inter-related role of affect, identity and symbolic meaning-making in the public response to a sociotechnical landscape shock.

Two Sides of the Same Coin or Two Different Currencies? Representations of Happiness and Unhappiness among Finnish Women

This paper presents results from a study exploring representations of “happiness” and “unhappiness.” Word associations with these concepts were produced by 16–18 and 29–34-year-old women from Finland, the country that the United Nation’s World Happiness Report has ranked the “happiest” in the world. Correspondence Analysis (CA) and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis show that participants in both age groups share three clusters of words associated with “happiness”: Tangible happiness, Affective happiness and Serene happiness. We noted more differences in the associations with “unhappiness,” for which the two groups share only two clusters: Loss and Everyday problems. A distinct third cluster, Affective unhappiness, emerged for the younger women, whereas older women’s associations are further differentiated into a more complex structure, including two more clusters: Dejection and Apprehension. Additionally, CA shows that in both age groups, self-reported happiness levels do not discriminate which words are associated with happiness and unhappiness. Finally, qualitative content analysis of a questionnaire item investigating how to reach complete happiness suggested that there are three recurring answer types: happiness can be improved through external changes, internal changes, or not at all because complete/permanent happiness does not exist. The study provides a methodological design which, unlike most happiness studies, allows participants the freedom to bring up the meaning of happiness and unhappiness. Thus, the study constitutes a contribution to a more nuanced understanding of happiness.

Temporal and cross-national comparisons of young Africans' HIV-related narratives from five countries, 1997-2014

Little is known about how young Africans have made sense of the dramatic ways in which the HIV epidemic has evolved, and how that sense-making varies across countries with different epidemiological and sociocultural profiles. Symbolic representations of HIV and people living with HIV influence prevention, stigma, treatment-seeking, and illness experience. We compared social representations of HIV among young people from Senegal, Burkina Faso, Nigeria (South-East), Kenya, and Swaziland between 1997 and 2014. From a pool of 32,759 HIV-themed creative narratives contributed by 10-24 year-olds to scriptwriting competitions at eight time points (1997, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2013, and 2014), we randomly sampled 1937 narratives, stratified by author's sex, age, and rural/urban residence. We quantified components of each narrative and calculated descriptive statistics and adjusted odds ratios, controlling for year, country, and author demographics. From 2005 onwards, representations of death, treatment access, and hopefulness improved significantly. Representations of death reached their lowest point in 2013, while biomedical treatment and hope peaked in 2011 and 2008, respectively, then declined. Narratives increasingly focused on female protagonists. Nigerian texts had significantly higher odds of death and blame, and lower odds of hope. A focus on life post-infection and representations of support for characters living with HIV increased with country HIV prevalence. Narratives by older authors were less blaming and more hopeful, supportive, and prevention-focused. While aggregate social representations in the narratives from 2005 to 2008-11 reflect increased optimism fostered by access to antiretroviral therapy (ART), positive developments are not sustained at this level. Stigmatizing representations persist, particularly in Nigeria. The hope-promoting and stigma-reducing influence of the advent of ART access may have partially run its course by 2011/2013. However, significant temporal and cross-national differences point to opportunities to reframe HIV in more constructive ways and contribute to improved education, communication, and stigma-reduction efforts.

Climate change communication by the local digital press in northeastern Argentina: An ethical analysis

News articles about Climate Change (CC) represent the level of knowledge of the phenomenon by journalists and the public, as well as the value assigned to problems of ethical and transgenerational nature in a given society. Digital articles related to CC released by media from northeast Argentina were reviewed to study how the local digital press addresses the CC in this region as well as the social representation of the news. An analysis of the content of news articles released in the period January 2016-March 2018 was carried out to identify components that explain their social representation. This study shows that local digital media publish articles about regionally important topics. However, news about CC appear mainly when hydroclimatic events occur. Many of the digital media that release CC information are connected to important social sectors in the region, such as agriculture and economics. A difference between national and local media is that the first ones focus on international events while the latter show the regional reality. Our results also show that no exchange or reciprocity mechanism exists among CC stakeholders, such as journalists, academics and decision-makers. Consequently, building new ways to communicate CC remains a challenge. The media together with scientists, and policy-makers, have a fundamental role in showing the ethical value and importance of caring for Nature and our environment, so to leave the best possible world for future generations.

Aging-simulation experience: impact on health professionals' social representations

BACKGROUND

Health professionals working with older persons are not sufficiently aware of the sensory and functional difficulties experienced by older patients. Innovative educational activities, such as the aging-simulation experience, can facilitate this awareness. This study describes the effects of an aging-simulation experience on health professionals' representations towards age-related limitations.

METHODS

306 health professionals, enrolled in university training in geriatrics/gerontology in the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 academic years, experienced an aging-simulation session wearing a special suit according to a predefined scenario. Before and after the aging-simulation experience, participants completed free association tests, with the inductive words vision, hearing, movement, fine dexterity and balance. Semantic categories were created from participants' free evocations using a correspondence table manually produced in Excel 2013 for Windows (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington). Moreover, participants' opinions on difficulties experienced by older people in relation to age-related limitations were studied using Likert scale questions.

RESULTS

In total, 3060 free evocations were collected, and ten semantic categories were created. These categories were composed of participants' geriatric knowledge, about age-related limitations, and participants' feelings, about the experience of these limitations. These two aspects were impacted by the aging-simulation experience. Moreover, changes observed resulted in a better consideration of difficulties associated with age-related limitations.

CONCLUSIONS

The aging-simulation experience is an effective educational tool to raise awareness among health professionals of age-related difficulties. This sensory activity allows health professionals to put themselves in the shoes of older patients and to feel age-related difficulties.

Press Ideology as an Epistemological Connector between Framing Theory and Social Representations Theory: An Analysis of Violence and Drug Trafficking in the Mexican Press

The present paper explores the advantages of using framing theory, social representations theory and differences in ideology to analyze polarized issues in the press. Framing uncovers the structure/format of news articles and social representations explores their meanings. These two theoretical positions are connected through the concept of ideology - a set of beliefs that shape position taking regarding social issues. Using this integrated framework, we will analyze the highly polarized topic of violence and drug trafficking in two ideologically different newspapers in Sinaloa, Mexico - Noroeste (journalistic ideology) and El Debate (elite ideology) (total N = 547 articles). This will be accomplished using three steps - a descriptive analysis, application of the framing scale and submitting the articles to ALCESTE software. The results show differences in framing and social representations of violence and drug trafficking according to ideology. Each newspaper presented different news frames (journalistic - attribution of responsibility and conflict frames; elite - human-interest and morality frames). However, at the level of representations (content) there were ideological differences in the representation of violence but not of drug trafficking, suggesting a common element in these representations, beyond ideological differences. These findings contribute to (1) the clarification of the concept used and (2) towards an analytical framework of press analysis - analyzing format and content and considering differences in press ideology.

Exploring the link between stigma and social representations among people with and without schizophrenia in the French context

We explored the representations that individuals associate with schizophrenia in the French context, as well as the relationships between their own representations and the representations they attribute to other French people. Data were collected from individuals in the general population (N = 98) and those with schizophrenia (N = 59). Using a verbal association technique, participants produced words spontaneously based on the inductor word "schizophrenia". The instruction invited them to respond on their own behalf, but also "as the French would in general". Prototypical and similarity analyses were carried out. Results indicated that the representations of participants from the general population were associated with a vocabulary relative to schizophrenia as an illness and with stigmatizing stereotypes, such as madness, dangerousness and split personality when they expressed themselves on their own behalf, as well as psychopathy and confinement when they imagined how French people express themselves regarding schizophrenia. Participants with schizophrenia who had a clear view of the general population's stereotypes mostly referred to negative experiences and emotions such as loneliness, suffering and fear. These findings underline the value of considering the representations associated with schizophrenia in designing awareness campaigns, but also in clinical care for people with schizophrenia.

in France

Choices have to be made to manage invasive species because eradication often is not possible. Both ecological and social factors have to be considered to improve the efficiency of management plans. We conducted a social study on Fallopia spp., a major invasive plant taxon in Europe, including (1) a survey on the perception of a landscape containing Fallopia spp. using a photoquestionnaire and (2) an analysis of the social representations of Fallopia spp. of managers and users in one highly invaded area and one less invaded area. The respondents to the photoquestionnaire survey appreciated the esthetics of the landscapes less when tall Fallopia spp. were present. Few people were able to identify and name the plant, and this knowledge negatively affected the appreciation of the photos containing Fallopia spp. The central core of the social representation of Fallopia spp. was composed of the invasive status of the plant, its density, and its ecological impacts. The peripheral elements of the representation depended on the people surveyed. The users highlighted the natural aspect whereas the managers identified the need for control. In the invaded area, the managers qualified the species as "unmanageable," whereas the species was qualified as "foreign" in the less invaded area. Those results provide insights that have to be included when objectives of management plans of these species are selected.

Attitudes toward evaluation: An exploratory study of students' and stakeholders' social representations

Positive attitudes toward evaluation among stakeholders are an important precondition for successful evaluation processes. However, empirical studies focusing on stakeholders' attitudes toward evaluation are scarce. The present paper explores the approach of assessing social representations as indicators of people's attitudes toward evaluation. In an exploratory study, two groups were surveyed: University students (n = 60) with rather theoretical knowledge of evaluation and stakeholders (n = 61) who had shortly before taken part in participatory evaluation studies. Both groups were asked to name their free associations with the term "evaluation", which were subsequently analyzed lexicographically. The results indicate different social representations of evaluation in the two groups. The student group primarily saw evaluation as an "appraisal", whereas the stakeholders emphasized the "improvement" resulting from evaluation. Implications for further evaluation research and practice are discussed.

Young Africans' social representations of rape in their HIV-related creative narratives, 2005-2014: Rape myths and alternative narratives

Sexual violence is both a major human rights issue and an important driver of HIV infection in sub-Saharan Africa. While quantitative indicators of sexual violence have evolved to facilitate cross-national comparison and country-level decision making, qualitative findings typically remain constrained to single sites and populations. We analyzed social representations of sexual violence, specifically rape, in a sample of 1446 narratives about HIV written by young Africans between 2005 and 2014. The narratives were written at 5 discrete time points (2005, 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2014) by equal numbers of males and females aged 10-24 in urban and rural areas of Swaziland, Kenya, South-East Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Senegal. We combined three analytical approaches: descriptive statistics of quantifiable characteristics of the narratives, thematic data analysis, and a narrative-based approach. Violent rapes by strangers occur in all country samples, but in Nigerian narratives the 'immoral' behavior of female characters facilitates these attacks. Swazi narratives, in contrast, often depict familial rapes that include disclosure and service seeking as key components of the rape scenario. The social representations found in the narrative data reflect rape myths, which, at the socio-cultural level, serve to trivialize sexual violence by minimizing or justifying aggression, thus shifting blame to victims and absolving perpetrators of blame. Additionally, these social representations conflict with self-report data from Violence Against Children surveys conducted in Swaziland (2007), Kenya (2010) and Nigeria (2014) in that they depict perpetrators primarily as strangers or family members as opposed to romantic partners; however, social representations and self-report concur regarding barriers to disclosure and service seeking for victims. The Swazi narratives offer potential models for the framing of sexual violence in ways that promote disclosure and support for survivors and counteract harmful rape myths.

Talking about sunbed tanning: Social representations and identity-work

RATIONALE

Despite the publicised health risks associated with its usage, sunbed tanning remains popular in many Western countries. Previous research indicates that knowledge of the harmful effects does not necessarily lead to a reduction in sunbed use.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to develop a more extensive social psychological understanding of sunbed use, in the United Kingdom, by exploring the social representations of sunbed tanning held by both those who use and who have never used sunbeds.

METHOD

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 sunbed users and 10 who had never used a sunbed.

RESULTS

A thematic analysis identified two dimensions in the social representations of both the users and non-users; these were concerned with a) health and b) beauty. However, whereas non-users emphasised the health risks, users downplayed and minimised them, instead emphasising the health benefits. Similarly, whereas non-users emphasised the negative aspects of excessive concern with beauty, sunbed users challenged and distanced themselves from this negativity. Sunbed users were engaged in a form of identity-work to protect themselves from the wider negativity and disapproval of which they were aware.

CONCLUSION

Theoretically, social representations theory has provided a unique lens through which to explore this topic, highlighting the importance of taking into consideration the wider environment in which sunbed use takes place. Preliminary practical suggestions include that health workers should consider identity-work when designing interventions aimed at reducing sunbed use. Findings also suggest that, rather than continuing to educate sunbed users about the risks, campaigns and interventions should challenge the commonly drawn upon arguments about the health benefits. These benefits emerged as a particularly powerful discursive tool for the sunbed users in helping to justify their behaviour, but also to counteract negative stereotypes and assumptions they knew others held of them.

The Sociocultural Determination of Planned Behaviour

Goochani, Ghanian, Baradaran & Azadi's (2017) study provides support for an extension of the theory of planned behaviour through inclusion of the variables of Trust and Perceived Benefits in the determination of attitudes. Considering the fact that the only other direct effect observed in this study is exercised by Subjective Norms, we argue that this new model provides support for the sociocultural determination of attitudes and, by extension, planned behaviour. We argue that understanding behavioural intentions for cultivating Bt rice requires an understanding of the social representations concerning this technology and its regulation in Iran. We further argue that due concern is required regarding the evolution of these representations over time. We conclude by proposing different avenues for future research.

Media representations of early human development: protecting, feeding and loving the developing brain

The public profile of neurodevelopmental research has expanded in recent years. This paper applies social representations theory to explore how early brain development was represented in the UK print media in the first decade of the 21st century. A thematic analysis was performed on 505 newspaper articles published between 2000 and 2010 that discussed early brain development. Media coverage centred around concern with 'protecting' the prenatal brain (identifying threats to foetal neurodevelopment), 'feeding' the infant brain (indicating the patterns of nutrition that enhance brain development) and 'loving' the young child's brain (elucidating the developmental significance of emotionally nurturing family environments). The media focused almost exclusively on the role of parental action in promoting optimal neurodevelopment, rarely acknowledging wider structural, cultural or political means of supporting child development. The significance of parental care was intensified by deterministic interpretations of critical periods, which implied that inappropriate parental input would produce profound and enduring neurobiological impairments. Neurodevelopmental research was also used to promulgate normative judgements concerning the acceptability of certain gender roles and family contexts. The paper argues that media representations of neurodevelopment stress parental responsibility for shaping a child's future while relegating the contributions of genetic or wider societal factors, and examines the consequences of these representations for society and family life.

Socio-Cultural Perceptions and Representations of Dementia in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo: The EDAC Survey

Background

Dementia will concern more and more people in the developing countries, but the perception people have of dementia in these areas has not yet been studied.

Method

During a general population survey (EDAC) carried out in Brazzaville (Republic of Congo), 27 elderly persons suspected of having dementia and 31 of their relatives, 90 cognitively impaired elderly persons and 92 of their relatives, as well as 33 hospital workers were interviewed according to the Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue.

Results

Item prominence ratings indicate that the attention was mainly on the emotional and socio-economic consequences (scores >1.0 out of 5 points). Ageing and mental stress are the main perceived causes. Hospital workers are more aware of public stigma.

Conclusion

The socio-cultural components of the dementia phenomenon have to be taken into account to enforce public health and social measures.