A woman walks into an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. A man cashes his disability check. Do you look at them with judgment, with sympathy, or with something in between? How you answer may depend on your perspective toward social welfare.
A look of judgment represents the stigma attached to many social services. Some recipients are more stigmatized than others—for instance, a senior receiving retirement benefits may not be perceived with contempt in the same way that a homeless person at a soup kitchen might be.
For this Discussion, you investigate what stigmatization entails and how you might address it with a certain population.
Define stigmatization as it relates to receiving social services.
Identify and describe a population that may feel stigmatized in accepting a social service.
Describe a strategy to use with a client to address stigmatization.
