Stigma impedes the social integration of persons recovering from psychiatric disability, especially those with criminal histories. Little is known about factors that lessen this stigma. Four hundred and four adults listened to one of four vignettes describing a 25-year-old male with schizophrenia and responded to a standard set of items measuring social distance. The individual who was gainfully employed (vs. unemployed), or who had a prior misdemeanor (vs. felony) criminal offense, elicited significantly less stigma. Employment may destigmatize a person coping with both psychiatric disability and a criminal record. Mental health services should encourage paid employment and other paths to community integration.

Self-management has been shown to increase perceived control over both illness and nonillness aspects of life among people with chronic conditions but has not received significant research attention among persons with multiple sclerosis (MS). Based on relationships proposed in the illness intrusiveness and disability centrality models, this study explored the relationships between subjective and objective measures of MS impact, self-management, perceived control, and subjective quality of life (SQOL). A sample of 157 adults with MS participated in this research. The results suggest that self-management is strongly associated with perceived control and that both perceived control and self-management mediate the relationship between MS impact and SQOL. The rehabilitation counseling implications of these findings are discussed.

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The current study examines marital satisfaction from the perspective of a well spouse who is responsible for caregiving a spouse with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Forty spouses of individuals with MS completed questionnaires. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine the relationship of love, satisfaction with physical intimacy, communication, and caregiver burden to marital satisfaction. Results indicated that love and communication were significantly positively related to marital satisfaction, and caregiver burden was significantly negatively related to marital satisfaction. Satisfaction with physical intimacy was not significantly related to marital satisfaction with this sample of caregiver spouses. Implications for counselors were discussed.