Postforced eviction communities: The contribution of personal and environmental resources to the sense of belonging to the community

Women escaping domestic violence to achieve safe housing: an integrative review

BACKGROUND

This integrative review summarises original research that explores women's experiences of escaping domestic violence to achieve safe housing.

METHODS

Integrative review. A robust search strategy was conducted using the following databases: Scopus, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL), Cochrane, Medline and PubMed. All articles were assessed for quality using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tools (MMAT) scoring. Whittemore and Knafl's (2005) five stage approach was used to analyse the primary literature related to women's and stakeholders' experiences of escaping domestic violence to achieve safe housing.

RESULTS

A total of 41 articles were retrieved and 12 papers were included in this review (six qualitative, one quantitative and five mixed methods) that fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Four overarching themes were identified: 'Experiences of leaving domestic violence', 'Barriers to achieving safe housing', 'Facilitators to achieving safe housing' and 'The road to recovery'. The 'Experiences of leaving domestic violence' theme included two subthemes: 'the losses' and 'ongoing contact with the perpetrator'. The 'Barriers to achieving safe housing' theme included three subthemes: 'financial insecurity', 'being judged by others for leaving and service availability'. The 'Facilitators to achieving safe housing' theme included two sub-themes: 'support, partnership, and collaboration between women and service providers' and 'feeling respected and heard'. The 'Road to recovery' theme included two sub-themes: 'being a good mother' and 'empowerment after leaving domestic violence'.

CONCLUSIONS

This review has highlighted the need for service and health care providers to work together and collaborate effectively with the woman experiencing and escaping domestic violence, especially in rural and remote areas. This means giving women access to the most suitable educational resources and services that are appropriate for their unique situation. Tailoring support for women is crucial to enable women to achieve safe housing and to be able to live a safe life with their children, away from the perpetrator of the domestic violence.

Improving the sense of city belonging among migrant elderly following family from an elderly service perspective: a cross-sectional study

Background

The migrant elderly following family (MEFF), who migrates to new community to reunite with families, may face challenges of city integration and belonging. This study aims to explore from an elderly service perspective how to improve the sense of city belonging for MEFFs with and without hypertension/diabetes conditions.

Methods

Data were derived from the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey and China National Statistical Yearbooks in 2017. The study included 882 MEFFs with hypertension or diabetes and 1266 MEFFs without hypertension and diabetes. Hierarchical linear modeling was applied to analyze the effects of individual and provincial elderly services on sense of city belonging among the MEFF with and without hypertension/diabetes.

Results

The MEFFs with hypertension or diabetes exhibited a greater sense of city belonging when they were familiar with a wider range of health education topics (γ = 0.05, p = 0.033) and were in those provinces with a greater number of licensed doctors (γ = 0.39, p < 0.001) and hospitals (p = 0.042). For those MEFFs without hypertension or diabetes, social security cards (γ = 0.57, p < 0.001) and awareness of a wider range of health education topics (γ = 0.07, p = 0.018) may help to improve their sense of city belonging.

Conclusion

This study calls for strengthening the accessibility in inclusive elderly services, and minimizing or even eliminating the inequality in elderly services at the individual and provincial levels to increase sense of city belonging among the MEFFs. For the MEFFs with hypertension or diabetes, health managers should focus on improving health information dissemination and increasing the number of doctors per 1000 people as well as and the number of hospitals to enhance the sense of city belonging. Moreover, the government should strengthen social security and health education to facilitate the adaptation and integration of MEFFs without hypertension and diabetes into the host city.

Community Participation and Subjective Well-Being of Older Adults: The Roles of Sense of Community and Neuroticism

Participation in community affairs and activities is beneficial to the mental health of older adults. The current study attempted to confirm the mediating role of sense of community (SoC) between community participation (CP) and subjective well-being (SWB), and the moderating role of neuroticism between CP and SoC. A total of 465 older adults aged ≥65 years from China participated in both two-wave online surveys. The self-developed Community Participation questionnaire, the SoC scale, and the Neuroticism subscale were used to assess CP, SoC, and neuroticism, respectively. The four indicators of SWB were assessed by the Satisfaction with Life Scale, Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule, and the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale. The results revealed that CP was associated with three indicators of SWB including life satisfaction, positive affect, and depressive symptoms, SoC mediated the above associations, and neuroticism negatively moderated the association between CP and SoC, after controlling for age, sex, education, spouse status, monthly income, and physical health. CP enhances older adults’ SWB through increasing their SoC. When compared to those older adults with a higher score of neuroticism, the enhancing effect of CP on SoC is stronger for those with lower scores of neuroticism.

Emerging adulthood among backpackers: The contribution of internal and external factors to sense of community

During emerging adulthood, individuals are primarily concerned with themselves. Community participation, however, may help one to mature, and community belonging is important for well-being. As such, the current study aimed to examine these two components among young-adult Israeli backpackers abroad. We examined the role of personal (mastery, self-esteem, and posttraumatic growth) and environmental (family and friends' support) factors in sense of belonging and community participation. A cross-sectional sample survey was distributed; data were collected from 332 Israeli backpackers abroad. The findings based on t-tests, Pearson correlations, and hierarchical regression analysis showed that mastery was associated with sense of belonging, not with community participation. Self-esteem and posttraumatic growth were positively associated with both dependent variables. Friends' support was also positively associated with both dependent variables; family support was not significantly associated with either. Personal factors had the greatest association with sense of community.

Mastery, Social Support, and Sense of Community as Protective Resources Against Psychological Distress Among Israelis Exposed to Prolonged Rocket Attacks

We investigated the psychological toll of exposure to rocket attacks as experienced by residents of central and southern Israel during the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict. Participants completed an online survey assessing their life-threatening experiences, the availability of psychosocial resources, and symptoms of both PTSD (PCL-5) and nonspecific psychological distress (K6) 2-3 months posttrauma. Guided by the conservation of resources theory, we focused on the distress-protective functions of person- and community-oriented resources: mastery, perceived social support, and sense of community. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that elevated exposure to rocket attacks predicted higher levels of PTSD but not psychological distress. All 13 predictors (i.e., sociodemographic factors, trauma exposure, personal and community resources) and three interactions between rocket attack-related trauma exposure and each of the resources accounted for a significant amount of the variance in PTSD, R² = .251, adjusted R² = .235, and nonspecific psychological distress, R² = .280, adjusted R² = .264. Predictably, higher levels of mastery and perceived social support were associated with lower PCL-5 and K6 scores. Unexpectedly, respondents who reported a higher sense of community exhibited more PTSD symptoms. Supplementary analyses indicated that among individuals with lower levels of mastery, sense of community was related to higher PCL-5 scores. Psychosocial resources are important for coping with community-wide stressors, but their roles are complex. Maintaining a sense of community among individuals who experience shared trauma is undoubtedly critical, yet potential downsides of collective coping among those with lower levels of mastery should be recognized and further investigated.

Forced evictions and their social and health impacts in Southern Somalia: a qualitative study in Mogadishu Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps

BACKGROUND

Forced evictions are common in conflict-affected settings. More than 500 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are evicted daily in Mogadishu. Context specific research is necessary to inform responsive humanitarian interventions and to monitor the effectiveness of these interventions on IDPs health.

OBJECTIVE

This study explored the causes of forced evictions and their health impacts among IDPs in southern Somalia.

METHODS

We used a qualitative approach, conducting 20 semi-structured interviews, six key informant interviews and four focus group discussions. We used maximum variation sampling to include a wide range of participants and used the framework approach and Nvivo software to analyse the data.

RESULTS

In this context, landlords often rented land without proper tenure agreements, resulting in risk of forced evictions. Informal tenure agreements led to fluctuations in rent, and IDPs were evicted because tenancy laws were inadequate and failed to protect IDP rights. IDP settlements often increased the value of land by clearing scrub, and landlords often sought to profit from this by evicting IDPs at short notice if a buyer was found for the land. The effect of eviction on an already marginalised population was wide ranging, increasing their exposure to violence, loss of assets, sexual assault, disruption of livelihoods, loss of social networks and family separation. Evicted IDPs reported health issues such as diarrhoea, malaria, pneumonia, measles and skin infections, as well as stress, anxiety, psychological distress and trauma.

CONCLUSION

Forced evictions remain one of the biggest challenges for IDPs as they exacerbate existing vulnerabilities. Prioritizing implementation of legal protection for IDP tenure rights is necessary to prevent unlawful evictions of IDPs. Humanitarian agencies should aim to respond more effectively to protect evictees and provide support to prevent poor health outcomes. Further quantitative research is needed to further examine the relationship between forced evictions and health outcomes.

Examining associations between university students' mobile social media use, online self-presentation, social support and sense of belonging

Purpose

The primary objectives of the article are to systematically investigate the effects of differentiated functions of WeChat use (social use and recreational use) on university students' online self-presentation, social support and sense of belonging.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected from a web-based survey on a sample of 485 university students in mainland China. Correlation analyses and structural equation modeling (SEM) were implemented to address the corresponding hypotheses.

Findings

The results demonstrate that the social use of WeChat is positively related to online self-presentation, whereas recreational use is unrelated to such behavior. Additionally, the findings verify that online self-presentation is a significant predictor of both social support and sense of belonging. Furthermore, online self-presentation could mediate the influence of social use of WeChat on social support and sense of belonging.

Research limitations/implications

Theoretically, the study represents an initial effort to elucidate the joint impact of differentiated functions of WeChat use and online self-presentation on social support and sense of belonging. Practically, these findings identify the crucial mediation role of online self-presentation in assisting individuals to acquire social support and promote sense of belonging.

Originality/value

Although mobile social media has brought dramatic revolutions in interaction and interpersonal behaviors, the empirically studies regarding the potential influences of its utilization are equivocal. These outcomes may shed meaningful light on the comprehending of unique characteristics of WeChat communication and how it could impact people's psychosocial development in the digital era.