Global Social Welfare最新文献

Cultural, social, and legal factors all have an impact on the delicate and complex issue of school girls’ sexual consent in Kenya. This study investigated the community and environmental factors related to sexual violence against school-aged girls and consent in Kitui South Sub-county, Kenya. Twenty-five in-depth interviews were conducted with key Kitui Sub-County stakeholders. Individuals between the ages of 18 and 65 from the police, health, education, community, religious leaders, and criminal justice sectors were eligible to participate. The data were analyzed using conventional content analysis. Responses from stakeholders revealed diverse interpretations of consent based on the physical development of girls during puberty and other subjective variables. Being girls of the land, legal versus cultural understanding and girls being responsible for men’s desires were the three major themes associated with this finding. These findings highlight significant obstacles in applying and ensuring perpetrator accountability through the existing legal system and policy frameworks that clearly define consent to protect girls.

In African countries like Tanzania, mobile financial services (MFS) is one of the empowerment strategies to enhance economic well-being through the provision of necessary tools and resources to enhance entrepreneurship and business development. However, existing studies have paid less attention to MFS agents’ welfare impact, mostly on youth in this sector. Using a survey of 310 youths from four selected Local Government Authorities in Tanzania, this study explores the factors that drive the decision of youths to participate in livelihood-based activities such as MFS and the effect of their participation on their welfare. The findings from the propensity score matching (PSM) modeling technique revealed that socio-economic-based factors (education, marital status, and experience) and institutional-based factors (business ownership status, deployment of risk management initiatives, and perception regarding the cost of running a business) influence youth participation in MFS-based activities and the magnitude of impact in their welfare. The study’s results highlight the influence of both socio-economic and institutional variables on the participation of youths in MFS-based activities. The findings suggest that it would be necessary to promote development programs that are geared towards enhancing the capacities of youth with regard to MFS businesses to enhance their welfare. These include business-related training, awareness, and provision of financial resources via enhancing access to training on savings and credit.

Adolescent girls and young women are at a higher risk for HIV infection stemming from barriers to accessing comprehensive sexual health education, unequal cultural, social, and economic statuses, limited access to education and health care services, and gender-based violence. This makes adolescent girls susceptible to high-risk sexual behaviors. This study examines the protective role of family, social support factors and gender norms against sexual risk-taking behaviors among secondary school adolescent girls in Uganda. Baseline data from the National Institute of Mental Health-funded Suubi4Her study were analyzed. A total of 1260 girls aged 14-17 years and enrolled in the first or second year of secondary school were recruited across 47 secondary schools. Hierarchical linear regression models were conducted to determine the role of family, social support factors and gender norms on sexual risk-taking behaviors. Results indicate that traditional gender norms, family care and relationships, and social support were all associated with lower levels of sexual risk-taking intentions-a proxy for engaging in sexual risk behaviors. Findings point to the need to develop family level support interventions to equip adolescent girls with adequate sexual health-related knowledge and skills to facilitate safer sexual practices and reduce high-risk sexual-taking behaviors, as they develop and transition into young adulthood.

Communities play an important role in ensuring the well-being of children since child maltreatment often occurs at the micro level of society. Hence, there are several interventions organised using community child-protection models. However, there is a dearth of information on how leaders in the communities respond to child maltreatment. This paper, therefore, explored the narratives of social workers on the type of community leaders and how they respond to child maltreatment. This is to provide empirical evidence for community programme design and engagement for child protection practitioners to ensure the best outcomes for children. The study presents narratives from in-depth interviews with 15 social workers in the Ashanti region of Ghana on how community leaders respond to child maltreatment. The findings indicate that different types of community leaders are involved in ensuring punitive actions are taken against perpetrators but the actions are focused on internal resolutions and victim compensation rather than legal redress. These have implications for social workers, as families who value monetary redress are less likely to inform the state of any child maltreatment. Therefore, social workers have to intensify community engagement and education by highlighting the consequences of less punitive actions against perpetrators of child maltreatment. It is also recommended that children must be empowered to disclose child maltreatment concerns regardless of their relationship with the perpetrator.

Abstract

Quality of life (QOL) is a crucial indicator of health or morbidity status among the ageing population as well as humans. The ageing population is significantly vulnerable to different types of morbidity. The present study focuses on determining the Quality of Life among the ageing population and its influences on different types of morbidity in Koch Bihar district, India. The study is based on a primary household survey. A total of 510 households are surveyed for this study. The WHOQOL-BREF scale was used, and analysis was done using STATA software. Four binary logistic models are used to identify the impact of QOL on morbidities among the ageing population. The mean QOL score was maximum in the environmental health domain (53.3 ± 14.78), followed by psychological health (48.8 ± 13.78), and lowest in the social relationships domain (48.82 ± 13.78). Better physical health domain score was found among the young-old ageing population. Psychological health was better among Hindus and persons from nuclear families, whereas the male, urban ageing population had a better environmental domain. Psychological domain score was significantly better among the urban female Old-old ageing population, who are from the OBC caste and Hindu religion. Morbidity is classified into three categories, i.e., communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and disability. NCDs have a high prevalence rate among the ageing population. The present study revealed that Quality of Life (QOL) significantly influences morbidity among the ageing population.

The study aims at Ghana’s efforts to address inequalities and achieve SDG 10.2 by 2023. It explores Sustainable Development Goal 10.2 on social inequality using Ghana’s Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP). Many low/middle-income countries have focused on poverty and made efforts to eradicate/reduce poverty, but little progress in reducing the inequality gap. Many poor/needy persons/vulnerable persons are excluded from having access to assets across different dimensions and as such realising this goal by 2030 seems almost impossible. Through a qualitative research design, the article used primary and secondary data. The findings revealed the vulnerable in society like the aged, persons living with disabilities, women, and children suffer greater disparity in terms of opportunities like basic services, education, and health. Again, it highlighted Ghana’s effort to reduce inequalities by empowering the underprivileged across social and economic lines to access the necessities of life through various social intervention programmes. Findings revealed these programmes require the coordinated effort of the government and other establishments to implement them within the Ghanaian context. LEAP was identified as a commendable intervention programme that selects vulnerable individuals to reduce the inequality gap. The study recommends that the government make provisions for other funds to cover large-scale the underprivileged in need.

Intimate partner violence is defined as the intentional use of physical force or power against a woman in a relationship that leads to hurt, psychological harm, or death. The present study aims to identify the mediation role of a partner’s depression, alcohol consumption, and household food insecurity on women’s experience to intimate partner violence (IPV) physically. To fulfill the study objective, a community (Scheduled Caste and Scheduled tribe)-based cross-sectional survey was (n = 560) conducted in rural counterparts of Dakshin Dinajpur district, West Bengal, India. The result revealed that a household’s food insecurity and partner’s depression are not directly associated with women’s experience of intimate partner violence physically while the partner’s alcohol consumption behavior directly and significantly (standardized β: 0.31; 95% CI: 0.24–0.35; P < 0.001) associated with women’s experience to intimate partner violence physically. Moreover, household food insecurity (standardized β: 0.05; P < 0.001), poverty (standardized β: 0.05; P < 0.001), and partner’s depression (standardized β: 0.06; P < 0.001) are indirectly (mediated by partner’s alcohol consumption behavior) and significantly associated with women’s experience to IPV physically. Besides that household poverty, food insecurity and the partner’s depression had a direct implication on the partner’s alcohol consumption behavior. In short, alcohol consumption acts as a trigger for intimate partner violence. Rural parts of Dakshin Dinajpur district require a public awareness campaign to combat domestic violence, which should be spearheaded by state governments and civic societies. The increasing precariousness of domestic violence must be made known to the public and passersby. In addition to all this, the government must pay attention to how the people of rural areas can be improved economically.

This paper investigates the role of institutional quality in the relationship between mobile money and financial inclusion in Ghana from 2014 to 2021. It uses annual data from the World Development Indicators database on a bundle of four financial inclusion variables (ATMs per 100,000 adults; the number of bank branches per 100,000 adults; deposit accounts with commercial banks per 1,000 adults ; and account ownership at a financial institution or with a mobile money service provider), six institutional quality indicators (i.e., rule of law, governance effectiveness, control of corruption, voice and accountability, regulatory quality, and political stability), and total volume of mobile money transactions in a year. The baseline regression was employed. The empirical results reveal that institutional quality and mobile money have a direct positive and significant effect on financial inclusion. Also, institutional quality plays a positive and significant moderating role in the relationship between mobile money and financial inclusion. Furthermore, mobile phone subscription, financial development, inflation, and GDPGR influence financial inclusion.

Abstract

A study conducts a review of risk and protective factors for well-being and barriers to help-seeking among Arab-speaking MENA immigrants and refugees (IRs) in North America. Guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s Scoping Studies Methodological Framework, we use the Population, Concept, and Context (PCC) framework recommended by Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) for scoping reviews to establish eligibility criteria selecting for original peer-reviewed articles published in English between 1999 and 2022. The search utilizes five databases: PubMed, CINAHL Plus, PsycINFO, Academic Search Complete, and Family Studies Abstracts. A total of 47 sources were selected based on the study criteria. Common themes are extracted which generate the identification of key risk and protective factors for well-being and barriers to help-seeking among the target population. The risk factors identified are acculturative stress, prevalence and impact of domestic violence, migration trauma, and intergenerational conflict. Protective factors identified are social support, ethnic and religious identity, and supportive parental and school experiences. Barriers to help-seeking include sociocultural, organizational, legal, and economic factors. Implications for future research and practice with Arab-speaking MENA IRs in North America are discussed.