Role of Accompaniment on the Reduction of Stigmatization and the Renewal of Dignity in Women ...

367 Pages·2017·3.81 MB·English

by  Jennifer Cha

JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH
2016-2017

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JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

ACKNOWLEGMENTS

First, many thanks to the College of Arts & Letters, which has provided
generous support to the production of this Journal. We are proud to represent
the College and to showcase exemplary research drawing from more than sixty
academic majors and minors in the College of Arts and Letters. Special thanks
to Brenda Teshka for her steadfast encouragement and assistance throughout
the year.

We take this opportunity to express immense gratitude and pride for our
board of dedicated Editors. They have devoted respect and care to each of the
papers we have considered throughout the semester, and we can only say that
it has been an honor and a pleasure to oversee the Journal with them this year.

Lastly, it is the Journal’s readership that makes this publication possible. Thank
you!

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JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

NOTE FROM THE EDITORS

This past year has been one of remarkable sociopolitical change and upheaval.
As TV news and Facebook posts generally reflect gut reactions to events as
they happen, academia continues to offer vibrant and thoughtful critiques on
how these events shape and contribute to an existing body of work on how we
understand the world.

Notre Dame’s undergraduate scholars have responded to today’s challenges
with academic rigor and zeal, and we are proud to showcase more of their
work than ever before in the history of the Journal. This year’s publication
includes a total of eleven pieces–four in print, and seven online, spanning a
wide array of research areas, from immigration policy to World War II
literature, and education policy to neuroscience. We have made an effort to
publish pieces that represent the full range of disciplines within the College of
Arts and Letters, and the vetting process for such a diverse array of papers has
required both discipline and open-minded criticism from our Editorial Board.

We hope you enjoy.

Jenn Cha and Brendan Coyne
Editors-in-Chief

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JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

EDITORIAL BOARD 2016-2017

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

Jenn Cha ‘17 American Studies, English, Africana Studies (minor)

Brendan Coyne ‘17 Classics

EDITORIAL BOARD

Promise Choice ‘18 Africana Studies, Management Consulting

Madeline Del Medico ‘19 English, Business Economics (minor)

Claire Doyle ‘19 English; Science, Technology, and Values (minor);
Education, Schooling and Society (minor)

Alexandra Fedynsky ‘17 Anthropology, French, Spanish

Pete Freeman ‘18 Sociology, Gender Studies, International Peace Studies

Grace Garvey ‘19 Anthropology, Hesburgh Program in Public Service
(minor), Peace Studies (minor)

Juliana Mestre ‘18 Program of Liberal Studies, Theology (minor)

Julia Oksasoglu ‘17 Applied and Computation Mathematics and Statistics,
Poverty Studies (minor)

Daniel Rashid ‘19 Program of Liberal Studies, Applied and Computation
Mathematics and Statistics

Sana Sherali ‘19 Economics, Political Science

Tianyi Tan ‘18 History, Political Science

Abigail Whalen ‘19 Philosophy; Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
(minor); Middle Eastern Studies (minor)

James Zwierzynski ‘19 Neuroscience and Behavior, Gender Studies

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JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

TABLE OF CONTENTS
SARAH FRACCI
Role of Accompaniment on the Reduction of Stigmatization and the Renewal
of Dignity in Women Battling Breast Cancer in Uganda
7

EMILY MIGLIORE
La Unión Hace La Fuerza:
What Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Leaves Out and the Role of
Communities in Addressing the Needs of DACA Recipients
57

MARISSA BOWMAN
Sex Differences Moderate the Effect of REM Sleep
on Emotional Memory Consolidation
115

MARIA DO
Laughing in the Face of Death: Coping, Critiquing, and Constructing the First
World War through Humor in The Wipers Times
136

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

ALEXANDER ARNOLD
Nietzsche's Aestheticization of Politics: A Study of Napoleon as the Higher
Man
160

MARISSA BOWMAN
Teaching Asylum Seekers to Fish: Fiscal Sustainability in Germany via Job
Training for Asylum Seekers
200

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JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

KATE HARDIMAN
School Choice and Human Dignity: Education Policy Theory and Practice
223

TERESA KENNEDY
How Formal and Informal Social Structures Facilitate Inclusion and
Community Building: A Study of Refugee Resettlement
264

NICHOLAS NISSEN
Agency in Dominican Birth: Can Women in Region III Influence Exposure to
Unnecessary Cesareans?
288

ALEXANDRA RICE
'It Wouldn't Be the First Time': Womanism & African-American Women's
Activism
310

VICTORIA SLUKA
Intellectual Property Law & Traditional Craft Technology: A Case Study
365;
full text in Online Edition part II, appendices in part III

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JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

SARAH FRACCI is a senior graduating with a major in Biological Sciences
and minors in Poverty Studies and International Development Studies. Sarah
has strong interests in cancer biology research, as she is a member of the
Zhang laboratory at the Harper Cancer Research Institute of Notre Dame, and
also poverty and social policy research. As a Biological Sciences Honors
student, Sarah pursued a thesis study on the tumor-microenvironment of
breast cancer tumors. Moving beyond the lab, Sarah pursued her dual interests
in biological and social aspects of health, specifically breast cancer, through a
collaborative research investigation with the Uganda Cancer Institute. Upon
graduation, Sarah plans to continue her work on breast cancer research for a
year before pursuing medical school. Sarah expresses her extreme gratitude
and appreciation for her research collaborators and mentors including: Dr.
Siyuan Zhang, Sara Sievers, Father Robert Dowd, Ilaria Schnyder, Dr. Noleb
Mugisha and Nanfuka Immaculate.
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Role of Accompaniment on the Reduction of
Stigmatization and the Renewal of Dignity in Women
Battling Breast Cancer in Uganda

SARAH FRACCI

Abstract
The incidence of breast cancer in Uganda has more than quadrupled from
1961 to 2015 (Ainebyoona, 2015), yet stigmatization remains a significant
barrier to tackling the disease. In this work, I seek to determine how certain
interpersonal relationships can decrease stigmatization and enhance previously
lost dignity within the lives of breast cancer patients. Based on interviews
conducted with breast cancer patients and survivors between July and
September, 2016 in Kampala, Uganda, I have found that certain characteristics
of relationships with family members, friends, and other acquaintances often
determine whether or not a woman will seek breast cancer screening and/or
commit to a full regimen of treatment. The findings presented in this research
article will aid Uganda Cancer Institute administration on the development of
programs that encourage healthy relationships between breast cancer patients
and caretakers.

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Role of Accompaniment on the Reduction of Stigmatization
and the Renewal of Dignity in Women Battling Breast Cancer in Uganda

Introduction

When a Ugandan woman who survived breast cancer was asked about
her initial reactions when she received her diagnosis, she responded by saying,
“The thought I got, I thought of death. I will leave the children and now that
these children are young, what am I going to do for them? Nothing else but to
die only.” This woman’s initial response to her diagnosis illuminates an
experience of fear that is all too common for many Ugandan women who have
been diagnosed with breast cancer. Women experience a strong sense of fear
due to a lack of education and awareness of the disease in Uganda. Another
survivor explained how she perceives cancer by saying, “Me I think about
cancer, I define it as a disease that is confusing, not easily understood because
everyone gets it in her own way. I take this cancer to be the worst of all
diseases.” The lack of proper knowledge on the disease has lead to a strong
stigmatization of the disease in Uganda.
However, there is a reason for hope for the women who battle breast
cancer in Uganda. The survivors who reflect on how their perceptions of the
disease have changed throughout its various stages provide a sense of hope to
those who may fear it. Although the number of breast cancer survivors is
currently low in Uganda compared to more developed nations such as the
United States, women like the previous resopondent provide hope where there
is often none, knowledge that previously failed to exist and compassion when
it is needed most. Although the stories and outcomes told by breast cancer
patients and survivors in Uganda often vary, there is often one common
recurring theme; the care, both physical and mental, that a woman receives
through various relationships while battling breast cancer in Uganda can
significantly impact her physically and mentally overcoming this disease.
Unlike the survivors described above who were able to seek out cancer
screening and care in order to overcome the disease, many women in Uganda
and in other developing nations fail to reach these potentially life-saving
interventions. Low and middle income nations are home to a disproportionate
number of cancer-related deaths; approximately 70% of all cancer-related
deaths occur in low and middle income nations (WHO Cancer Fact Sheet,
2017). As the world’s most common cancer in women, breast cancer takes a
particularly harsh toll of approximately 1.6 million new cases a year and
450,000 deaths a year (WHO, 2016). These rates are on the rise in the
developing world; it is estimated that there will be a 26% increase in incidence
and mortality by 2020 (Tfayli et al, 2010). In Uganda, there has been an
increase in the risk of developing breast cancer (Wabinga, 2013). A majority of
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