Oscar Labra

By Oscar Labra and Daniel Thomas

The article presents an analysis of the stigmatization of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV/AIDS) within health‐care contexts. An overview of the short history of HIV/AIDS and of relevant literature reveals the extent and persistence of the stigmatization of PLHIV/AIDS through a variety of practices and attitudes among health personnel; various public policies have, however, produced a number of measures aimed at alleviating the stigma. The article proposes elements of analysis through which to examine stigma as it is present within the implementation of HIV/AIDS care: knowledge about nature and forms of stigmatization and consequences of practices on health services for PLHIV/AIDS.

Part of the book: HIV/AIDS

By Oscar Labra, Robin Wright, Danielle Maltais, Gilles Tremblay, Ray Bustinza and Gabriel Gingras-Lacroix

The article focuses on the long-term health of a rural male population exposed to a major earthquake event in Chile, in 2010. The results show that a majority of the male study participants considered that their physical and mental health had deteriorated over a 7-year span following the earthquake and that these impacts were strongest in men aged 65 years or more. In considering potential lessons for intervention, the results must be interpreted within the context of the construction of male identities in a rural community, informed by generally conservative values and binary male-female gender roles. The article concludes that health and social services workers and administrators providing interventions to male populations following earthquake must work to reduce the gap between the service offer and men’s real needs, which are frequently insufficiently understood and inadequately coded.

Part of the book: Earthquakes

By Oscar Labra, Carol Castro, Robin Wright and Isis Chamblas

The article aims to provide a step-by-step description of how thematic analysis was applied in a study examining why men choose to undertake social work as an area of study. Participants in the study came from the University of Concepción in Chile and the University of Quebec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue in Canada. The six phases of the thematic analysis are described in detail to provide students and novice social work researchers with a guide to this method of analysis. Thematic analysis offers a flexible, yet rigorous approach to subjective experience that is highly applicable to research in social work as a means of promoting social justice and combating inequalities.

Part of the book: Global Social Work