Authors:Rachel C. Voss, Jill E. Cairns, Michael Olsen, Francisca Ndinda Muteti, George Magambo Kanyenji, Esnath Hamadziripi, Dickson Ligeyo, Kingstone Mashingaidze, Sarah Collinson, Susan Wanderi, Vincent Woyengo Abstract: The integration of gender concerns in crop breeding programs aims to improve the suitability and appeal of new varieties to both women and men, in response to concerns about unequal adoption of improved seed. However, few conventional breeding programs have sought to center social inclusion concerns. This community case study documents efforts to integrate gender into the maize-focused Seed Production Technology for Africa (SPTA) project using innovation history analysis drawing on project documents and the authors’ experiences. These efforts included deliberate exploration of potential gendered impacts of project technologies and innovations in the project’s approach to variety evaluation, culminating in the use of decentralized on-farm trials using the tricot approach. Through this case study, we illustrate the power of active and respectful collaborations between breeders and social scientists, spurred by donor mandates to address gender and social inclusion. Gender integration in this case was further facilitated by open-minded project leaders and allocation of funding for gender research. SPTA proved to be fertile ground for experimentation and interdisciplinary collaboration around gender and maize breeding, and has provided proof of concept for larger breeding projects seeking to integrate gender considerations. PubDate: 2023-09-19T00:00:00Z
Authors:Lene Kjelkenes Bjørnson, Mette Sagbakken Abstract: ObjectiveGender dysphoria is frequently accompanied by physical dissatisfaction and body image issues. The primary objective of this study is to explore subjective experiences and perceptions among those who has undergone gender reassignment surgery, as well as their retrospective path to that decision.MethodSixteen qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 9 participants. The participants were accepted for gender affirming surgery and interviewed before and after surgery.ResultsCultural norms, and values in relation to time and context were highlighted as significant in reference to the opportunity one had to display a gender identity that corresponded to prevailing expectations. Participants gradually began to recognize their differences and divergence from others in social interactions and experiencing “wrong” bodily changes during puberty created even greater discrepancy. Several impression control measures, such as avoiding certain situations and using concealing techniques, were employed to prevent what was described as both felt and enacted stigma. The significance of having genital organs that accurately reflect one's gender identity was emphasized to prevent emotional distress and dysphoria caused by this discrepancy.ConclusionSocio-cultural expectations, combined with enacted stigma, seem to cause, or re-enforce self-stigma as people internalize these attitudes and suffer from physical and mental consequences as a result. Thus, societal, and cultural trends seem to have a strong influence and feed the idea of being born in the wrong body. However, even though several participants underwent socially inspired alterations, they all experienced dysphoria in the extent that they continued to see reassignment surgery as a solution. PubDate: 2023-09-14T00:00:00Z
Authors:Francesco Mazzeo Rinaldi, Liliana Leone Abstract: Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) schemes have been adopted mostly in low-income countries as a tool to break the vicious cycle of poverty transmission. Although their use is controversial, behavioral conditionalities have also been widely used in welfare-to-work strategies, minimum income scheme, and labor market “activation” policies in OECD countries. The paper presents the results of a Realist Review to synthesize the evidence of CCTs related to work conditionality, delivered in OECD countries. The evaluation literature of 23 selected CCT programs was analyzed by reconstructing Context-Mechanism-Outcome configurations. The main findings show that CCTs can be an effective counterbalance to work disincentives introduced by welfare measures. The unintended negative impacts, the role of sanctioning, and the causal pathways that may affect the most disadvantaged people and their children are discussed. PubDate: 2023-09-14T00:00:00Z
Authors:Janaína Calu Costa, Ghada E. Saad, Franciele Hellwig, Maria Fatima S. Maia, Aluísio J. D. Barros Abstract: BackgroundQuantifying women's empowerment has become the focus of attention of many international organizations and scholars. We aimed to describe quantitative indicators of women's empowerment that are based on individual-level data.MethodsIn this scoping review, we searched PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Science Direct, Google, and Google Scholar for publications describing the operationalization of measures of women's empowerment.ResultsWe identified 36 studies published since 2004, half of them since 2019, and most from low- and middle-income countries. Twelve studies were based on data from the Demographic and Health Surveys and used 56 different variables from the questionnaires (ranging from one to 25 per study) to measure the overall empowerment of women 15–49 years. One study focused on rural women, two included married and unmarried women, and one analyzed the couple's responses. Factor analysis and principal component analysis were the most common approaches used. Among the 24 studies based on other surveys, ten analyzed overall empowerment, while the others addressed sexual and reproductive health (4 studies), agriculture (3) and livestock (1), water and sanitation (2), nutrition (2), agency (1), and psychological empowerment (1). These measures were mainly based on data from single countries and factor analysis was the most frequently analytical method used. We observed a diversity of indicator definitions and domains and a lack of consensus in terms of what the proposed indicators measure.ConclusionThe proposed women's empowerment indicators represent an advance in the field of gender and development monitoring. However, the empowerment definitions used vary widely in concept and in the domains/dimensions considered, which, in turn influence or are influenced by the adopted methodologies. It remains a challenge to find a balance between the need for a measure suitable for comparisons across populations and over time and the incorporation of country-specific elements. PubDate: 2023-09-14T00:00:00Z
Authors:Walaa Ammar-Shehada, Khaled Abusaman, Piet Bracke Abstract: BackgroundBreast cancer (BC) is a traumatic illness. BC is the leading female cancer in Palestine. Complex socio-political dynamics impact patients’ lives, resulting in an increasing need for social support to develop resilience after illness.MethodsData was collected through a cross-sectional survey targeting women living in the Gaza Strip who had been diagnosed with BC. The survey was self-administered and distributed to 350 women between 1 March and 30 May 2021. Descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression analysis (SPSS, version 28.0) were used to explore perceived support, post-illness social and marital changes and the association between these changes and socio-demographic, illness-related and support-related variables.FindingsAbout four-fifth of the women with BC felt supported after illness, either fully or partially, mainly by family members, non-governmental organisations, spouses, and peers. Nevertheless, nearly half of the women perceived negative social changes after illness, and about 40% of married or formerly married women perceived negative changes in their marital life. Survivors’ lived experiences varied by age, marital status, motherhood, prescribed treatment (specifically mastectomy), and the absence of informal support in social life and lack of partner support amongst married or formerly married women.ConclusionThis study shows how BC undermines the social status of women and further exacerbates existing social vulnerabilities. Nevertheless, it is possible to manage and potentially overturn this circumstance by enveloping patients with social support. Guiding partners, families, and friends on providing emotional and instrumental support will help survivors to cope better during recovery. PubDate: 2023-09-07T00:00:00Z
Authors:Ilkka A. T. Arminen, Anna S. M. Heino Abstract: The article employs ethnomethodological conversation analysis (CA) and experimental video analysis to scrutinize the gaze behavior of urban passersby. We operationalize Goffman's concept of civil inattention to make it an empirical research object with defined boundaries. Video analysis enabled measurement of gaze lengths to establish measures for “normal” gazes within civil inattention and to account for their breaches. We also studied the dependence of gazing behavior on the recipient's social appearance by comparing the unmarked condition, the experimenter wearing casual, indistinctive clothes, to marked conditions, the experimenter wearing either a distinct sunhat or an abaya and niqab. The breaches of civil inattention toward marked gaze recipients were 10-fold compared to unmarked recipients. Furthermore, the analysis points out the commonality of hitherto unknown micro gazes and multiple gazes. Together the findings suggest the existence of subconscious monitoring beneath the public social order, which pre-structures interaction order, and indicates that stigmatization is a source for relational segregation. PubDate: 2023-09-05T00:00:00Z
Authors:Keith Guzik Abstract: The penetration of digital technologies in government has been met with both optimism and caution. This study seeks to contribute to this field by examining how digital government evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using media reports on Russia's government services portal (Gosuslugi), it finds that authorities made the portal a centerpiece of their pandemic response by enhancing its communicative, transactional, and participatory functions. These efforts aimed to not only house public health services on Gosuslugi, but to channel financial, commercial, and communication services through it, expanding Russia's digital corporatist state. While pandemic governance infused Gosuslugi with the qualities of a surveillant assemblage, it also made the portal into a space for novel forms of civic participation. Gosuslugi's evolution in this direction was limited, however, by security concerns as well as apprehension about digital participation. These findings highlight the importance of attending to political and cultural contexts in understanding digital government. In Russia, ruling elites' unwillingness to hold competitive elections and the public's lack of confidence in the political system limit the potential of digital government, regardless of its potential to manage crises. PubDate: 2023-08-31T00:00:00Z
Authors:Héloïse Pillayre, Sylvain Besle Abstract: This article aims to understand why medical actors recently published lists of rare and very rare cancers. It studies four lists of rare and very rare cancers based on interviews with the main actors on these lists and an analysis of medical articles in which these lists were published. It argues that these lists constitute boundary objects whose aim is to deal with the organizational challenges raised by precision medicine, which imply increasing the coordination work between various types of actors. Our work therefore allows a better understanding of the functioning of the recursive standardization process of a boundary object and, by analyzing how the category of rarity is built at the intersection of both professional and nosographic principles, shows the intertwining of the biomedical, organizational, and political aspects on which rests the practice of contemporary precision medicine. PubDate: 2023-08-30T00:00:00Z
Authors:Jennifer Ma Abstract: Migration has been identified as a priority area for policy responses by both the federal and provincial/territorial governments yet, much of our knowledge about migration is not premised on addressing current xenophobic and racist narratives about migrants. The purpose of this research is an interrogation of Canada's colonialism, imperialism, and racialization, which produce specific oppressive policies and practices that have impacted my family. This research is premised on the understanding that in the space between what is known about migration in Canada and what is not, a great deal of narrative and interpretive work is done that makes assumptions about migrants, specifically forcibly displaced people from the Global South. Through a critical autoethnography focused on my lived experiences as a descendant of forcibly displaced Chinese-Vietnamese people living in a settler colonial nation state, this study critiques to what extent these assumptions are founded, and to what extent they represent a socio-political climate in which migration is set out as particular problems requiring a legal and policing solution. In particular, my analysis centers anti-colonialism and anti-racism, shifting to resistance to systemic violence and liberation, while considering the discursive and on-the-ground effects of racist, colonial, and imperial policies and practice. Set against the backdrop of the rise of white nationalism, xenophobia, and racism across all levels of government and academia, and the general public, the results of this study produce a counter-narrative focused on the intersection of forced displacement and race in a settler colonial context, which is both timely and urgent. PubDate: 2023-08-29T00:00:00Z
Authors:Giovanna Palermo Abstract: The article presents a socio-legal analysis of the Legislative Decree (Lgs.D.) of 10 October 2022, n.150, implementing the law of 27 September 2021, n.134 (so-called “Cartabia reform”), which provides for the introduction in Italy of a comprehensive framework regulation of restorative justice. The central theme of this paper is precisely the conflict connected to a crime, the offender-victim relationship and restorative justice in the light of the aforementioned decree. As Luhmann observes, the omnipresence of conflicts in society is self-evident. Even the crime produces a conflict or, at times, is the extreme expression of a pre-existing and sometimes latent conflict. The problem that arises is, therefore, that of the control and management of conflicts. These are usually managed by the law, but, given its limitations, it is increasingly necessary to encourage the use of restorative justice programs. On an interpersonal level, conflict triggers a negative mechanism of hostility and disavowal of the other, which either wraps itself in an explosive vortex, or deviates, becoming the pretext for abandoning the only form of communication that conflict makes possible, as Luhmann observes, the one based on “no”. The Italian regulatory intervention certainly appears relevant, albeit with some critical issues, and to be kept under observation for future application developments. PubDate: 2023-08-28T00:00:00Z
Authors:Anke Zeißig Abstract: Bored children begin to draw, do crafts, to fidget - or they do something bad. Others fall silent, withdraw, or become lethargic. Research on school-related boredom has focused primarily on the negative consequences of boredom, such as decreased cognitive performance, motivation or attentativeness, or disruptiveness. These negative aspects of boredom can be contrasted by the notion that boredom can promote creative performance. This paper reflects on boredom's creative and suppressive consequences as an interplay of personality traits and behavioral possibilities in school situations, on the one hand, and as an interplay of situational experiences with constituent developmental processes on the other. It is proposed that boredom is a gauge of the learner's resonance with school content, learning and/or developmental relationships. Boredom indicates a psychological need and its desideratum. Thus, both creative and suppressive potentials are inherent in boredom. PubDate: 2023-08-24T00:00:00Z
Authors:Oscar A. Martínez-Martínez, Araceli Ramírez-López, Eduardo Gamaliel Hernández Martínez, René Mac Kinney Romero Abstract: This paper responds to two questions—What dimensions and indicators are relevant to the construction of social wellbeing' How are the levels of wellbeing distributed in the municipalities of Mexico City' To answer these questions, we use data from the Wellbeing Survey (N = 2,871) that is representative of Mexico City and its municipalities. We employed two methods, DM-R distances, and Mamdani's Fuzzy Inference Method. The results show that all the proposed dimensions and indicators contributed to the building of multidimensional social wellbeing; in the case of some indicators (social security, built environment, and public insecurity) they contributed less. This suggests government interventions should be designed in order to improve the gaps in those areas. The evidence also indicates that community wellbeing is a relevant dimension when measuring social wellbeing in large cities, in addition to identifying areas of intervention for the development of more efficient and inclusive public policies. PubDate: 2023-08-24T00:00:00Z
Authors:John-Paul Byrne, Jennifer Creese, Robert McMurray, Richard W. Costello, Anne Matthews, Niamh Humphries Abstract: IntroductionGlobally, an epidemic of psychological distress, burnout, and workforce attrition signify an acute deterioration in hospital doctors' relationship with their work—intensified by COVID-19. This deterioration is more complicated than individual responses to workplace stress, as it is heavily regulated by social, professional, and organizational structures. Moving past burnout as a discrete “outcome,” we draw on theories of emotion management and alienation to analyze the strategies through which hospital doctors continue to provide care in the face of resource-constraints and psychological strain.MethodsWe used Mobile Instant Messaging Ethnography (MIME), a novel form of remote ethnography comprising a long-term exchange of digital messages to elicit “live” reflections on work-life experiences and feelings.ResultsThe results delineate two primary emotion-management strategies—acquiescence and depersonalization—used by the hospital doctors to suppress negative feelings and emotions (e.g., anger, frustration, and guilt) stemming from the disconnect between professional norms of expertise and self-sacrifice, and organizational realities of impotence and self-preservation.DiscussionIllustrating the continued relevant of alienation, extending its application to doctors who disconnect to survive, we show how the socio-cultural ideals of the medical profession (expertise and self-sacrifice) are experienced through the emotion-management and self-estrangement of hospital doctors. Practically, the deterioration of hospital doctors' relationship with work is a threat to health systems and organizations. The paper highlights the importance of understanding the social structures and disconnects that shape this deteriorating relationship and the broad futility of self-care interventions embedded in work contexts of unrealized professional ideals, organizational resource deficits and unhappy doctors, patients, and families. PubDate: 2023-08-24T00:00:00Z
Authors:Nadia Crescenzo Abstract: The aim of the paper is to analyze how the qualitative method represents a tool capable of analyzing the youth experience in the digital context. The contribution takes as a starting point the results of a didactic exercise experimented in the course of “Sociology of youth cultures” by the students of the University of Salerno in which the qualitative method of netnography was applied to study some youth practices online. During the work carried out, the qualitative method represented a way to study the universe of young people, entering the “new digital habitats,” where young people create and reproduce relationships, identities and spaces for socializing. The results showed, first of all, how the method of netnography made it possible to analyze the contours and transformations of youth practices in digital spaces, and secondly it allowed to arouse “reflexivity” in young people, it allowed to activate a process in which young people have looked at themselves “in the mirror,” entering the folds of the virtual worlds of youth and are amazed at the way in which they represent themselves, becoming observers and observers of that same reality. The qualitative approach has therefore allowed the students to grasp the youth practices in which they are immersed in their daily life from another point of view and have had the opportunity to analyze them from the inside and develop a high degree of reflexivity that it helped to reach a different awareness of being young today and of being able to read the cultural dynamics of youth with a critical eye. PubDate: 2023-08-24T00:00:00Z
Authors:Ning Guo, Olav Muurlink, Shane Doyle Abstract: Interpreters occupy a complex position in police interviews involving domestic violence cases—neutral but necessary parties to traumatic content. The following systematic review explores the relatively sparse scholarly literature on interpreters' psychological responses to being a party to domestic violence interviews in a policing context. This article aims to explore themes of relevant studies targeting interpreters' mental health in such cases, with nine articles emerging from a comprehensive search of eight databases supplemented with a Google Scholar search. Various themes involving interpreters emerged from the ensuing analysis, including intrinsic difficulties, misguided expectations, role requirements, psychological impacts, posttraumatic growth, coping strategies, and recommendations for future research and practice, with findings holding implications for interpreting in other traumatic domains. PubDate: 2023-08-17T00:00:00Z
Authors:Natália Fernandes, Teresa Sarmento, Marlene Barra, Daniela Silva, Fernanda Martins, Joana R. Casanova Abstract: This article presents an action-research project from the EU-funded SMOOTH project, which focuses on the potential of Educational Commons to address educational inequalities. The project adopts an emergent paradigm that views spaces for collaboration, content co-creation, socialization, governance, and play as catalysts for reversing inequalities. The action-research, conducted in a disadvantaged non-formal education setting in northern Portugal, involved children aged 8–10 years old. Over a span of 10 months, the innovative action-research program aimed to achieve several objectives: (1) reversing inequalities faced by vulnerable social groups, (2) strengthening inter-cultural and inter-generational dialogue and social integration, (3) developing essential social and personal skills, and (4) creating smooth spaces of democratic citizenship based on equality, collaboration, sharing, and caring. By understanding the tensions and conflicts that emerge in children's everyday situations, the project sought to build and foster community through embracing differences. This article analyzes the characteristics, behaviors, challenges, and strengths observed during the 30 sessions. The results provide insights into the dimensions of Children as commoners, in terms of sharing and care, cooperation and collective creativity and active citizenship. This research contributes to the exploration of Educational Commons as a means to promote equity and transform educational contexts. PubDate: 2023-08-15T00:00:00Z
Authors:Ashwin Tripathi, Tannistha Samanta Abstract: ObjectivesTo investigate the role of leisure (as social engagement) in moderating the association between subjective wellbeing and depressive symptoms among older Indians.MethodsThe sample included data from 39,538 older adults (aged 55–80) from the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI, Wave-1), 2017–2018. Individual level questionnaire was used to examine the relationship among social engagement, subjective wellbeing, and depressive symptoms. Moderating effects of leisure activities were estimated through interaction analysis and linear multivariable modeling.ResultsLow participation in social engagement activities (or leisure) was associated with greater likelihood of depressive symptoms. Leisure activities positively and significantly moderated the subjective wellbeing among older adults with depressive symptoms. Results suggest a significant wealth gradient where affluent older Indians having a clear advantage in heightened levels of social engagement and subsequently lower likelihood of depressive symptoms. Additionally, being in an urban area, co-residence in a “joint” household and belonging to the dominant social groups in terms of caste and religious categories are associated with gains in wellbeing.DiscussionThe direct and indirect effects of social engagement suggest that depressive symptoms can be mitigated while enhancing overall wellbeing of older adults. This holds promise for social policy in redirecting efforts to develop age-friendly initiatives and social infrastructure that enhance the link between engagement and wellbeing. PubDate: 2023-08-15T00:00:00Z
Authors:Beatriz Miranda-Galarza, Benjamín Mayer-Foulkes Abstract: Confinement, imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico, confronted most people with experiences of boredom. For people living with disability, however, the experience of boredom is not alien. Unfortunately, boredom and disability are topics frequently shrouded in taboo, constraining informative reflection and discussion. This perspective article briefly reflects on encounters and disagreements about these two categories in the lives of people with disabilities during the COVID-19 confinement in Mexico. The objective is to explore relevant elements for reflection and extend an invitation for critical and in-depth research on the matter. PubDate: 2023-08-10T00:00:00Z
Authors:Vered Ne'eman-Haviv, Yoel Shafran Abstract: ObjectiveIntimate partner violence (IPV) has many consequences for the physical and mental health of the victims. One strategy for coping with IPV is to turn to formal and informal sources for help. The purpose of the present study was to examine the differences in help seeking tendency in cases of IPV between Jewish and Arab women in Israel and the connection to their mental health.MethodWe administered a structured quantitative questionnaire to a sample of 357 Jewish (44.8%) and 439 Arab (55.2%) women.ResultsThe findings indicate that Jewish women tend to seek help more often than do Arab women, and that there are differences in the targets they approach. Jewish women turn more frequently to unofficial sources, such as friends, relatives, and associations, whereas Arab women approach more often official sources such as social workers and clergy.ConclusionsWe propose an explanation for the differences based on socio-cultural factors. This study illustrates that it is necessary to act with cultural sensitivity and adapt the help options offered to the culture to which the women belong. This adjustment may encourage more women to apply for support to escape the world of violence. PubDate: 2023-08-09T00:00:00Z
Authors:Bewunetu Zewude, Getahun Siraw, Kibur Engdawork, Getnet Tadele Abstract: BackgroundStreet children are the most neglected segments of the society with limited access to healthcare services. The vulnerability of street children to various health risks has been found by previous studies but little is known about their perceived susceptibility, preventive behavior and illness responses. Hence, the purpose of this study was to identify the health seeking behavior of street children in Addis Ababa. The study focuses on perceived susceptibility to various health risks, sources of health risks, and behaviors pertaining to responding to perceived risks and experienced health problems among the most marginalized groups in Addis Ababa.MethodsUsing a mixed research approach, quantitative and qualitative data were collected through survey and interview methods from selected street children. SPSS and NVivo software were used to analyze the quantitative and qualitative data, respectively.ResultsWhereas the street children perceive to be susceptible for ill-health risks related with their living situations, responding to the perceived susceptibility mainly by maintaining personal hygiene and undertaking physical exercises have been identified. The study also revealed that street children were found to be vulnerable for the situations affecting their health and wellbeing mainly due to self-reported engagements in risky behaviors such as smoking cigarette (67.3%), sniffing glue or benzene (68.2%), sharing of personal materials having the potential of transmitting diseases from one person to another (25.5%), and unprotected sexual activities (14.1%). Experiences of visiting healthcare facilities in response to illness symptoms have also constituted an aspect of the health seeking behavior of the street children.ConclusionAwareness of the presence of health risks and perceived susceptibility to the risks promoted both preventive behavior and positive compliance in relation to illness response among children of the street in Addis Ababa. PubDate: 2023-08-07T00:00:00Z
Open Access journal
