Browsing by Subject "peer support"
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(2023)Previous research has shown that racism and discrimination negatively impact mental health and that students in Finland from immigrant families are more likely to report loneliness, anxiety, lack of close friendship, and poorer school belonging than their native counterparts. Furthermore, international schools, which is the empirical context of this thesis, have been criticized for being highly Western and white, leaving out important topics concerning BIPOC that would be expected to obtain an “international” education. Therefore, there is a need for more research into the lived experiences of racism of YPOC in an international school context and ways to support their wellbeing. To address this need, this thesis aims to investigate in what ways YPOC studying at an international school in the Greater Helsinki area cope with racism and how they find support. I focus on how race, racialisation, and racism affect their lived experiences and their sense of belonging, and how YPOC construct their racial and ethnic identities within white-dominated spaces. I also highlight sources of support for YPOC and how peer support is a means of supporting student wellbeing. The study was conducted using a participatory approach, with data collected through notes taken from a series of peer support group sessions I co-facilitated, as well as interviews. The planning of the research focus and facilitation of peer support group sessions took place in collaboration with a youth mental health association The data was analysed using a reflexive thematic approach to highlight themes in stories shared by the participating youth while acknowledging the value of research subjectivity. YPOC shared experiences of constantly being seen under the white gaze, being made aware of their race and Otherness in everyday life. They shared challenges with defining their identity and finding belonging and community, especially in transnational spaces. Finally, they affirmed peer support as a strategy for coping with the effects of racism, demonstrating the need for safe spaces for YPOC. This research indicates the need for contextualised mental health support for YPOC and action towards deconstructing institutional racism and Eurocentrism in the international school context.
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(2020)This master's thesis concerns the situation of caregivers with a family member diagnosed with one or more mental disorders or illnesses. Research material was gathered for the purpose of the thesis primarily through participant observation and secondarily through loosely structured interviews. The gathering of the research material took place in conjunction with a peer support group meeting for caregivers. The analysis conducted within the thesis is based on the work of the sociologist Lucien Goldmann and that of the scholar of literature Richard Halpern and could be characterized as an inquiry into the presuppositions determining the outlook of caregivers as a group within the wider context of society. In the course of this analysis the work of Michel Foucault is also discussed, with the position argued for in the thesis being partially compatible with his engagement with the subject of madness. The thesis also draws on examples taken from the study of literature and drama to develop its argument. While the thesis is concerned mainly with giving a broad picture of the quandaries faced by caregivers in contemporary society it takes as its point of departure the accounts given by the caregivers themselves, this called for an approach that was capable of teasing out the basic conditions determining or enabling the outlook or worldview of this group. As the thesis is mainly concerned with the more difficult, contradictory and fraught aspects of the situation caregivers find themselves in it was also necessary to perform an in-depth analysis of such concepts as those of tragedy, death and madness in order for me to be able to explore the aforementioned issues. The aim of the thesis is to offer an outline of certain difficulties faced by sociologists interested in the themes of madness, intelligibility, action and meaning. As such it constitutes more of an overview of the challenges faced by anyone interested in the subjects in question, it should not be read as offering any concrete conclusions.
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