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Sensoy Bahar O, Byansi W, Ibrahim A, Boateng A, Nartey PB, Nabunya P, Kumbelim K, Ssewamala FM, McKay MM. Short-term impact of a combination intervention on family cohesion: Results from a pilot cluster-randomized clinical trial in Northern Ghana. JOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE 2024; 34:957-968. [PMID: 38825788 PMCID: PMC11349473 DOI: 10.1111/jora.12977] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2023] [Accepted: 05/12/2024] [Indexed: 06/04/2024]
Abstract
Child labor remains a concern in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, evidence-based preventive efforts are limited. We analyzed longitudinal data from Ghanaian adolescent girls in a pilot randomized clinical trial testing the preliminary impact of a combination intervention on family cohesion as a protective factor against child labor and school dropout. While there was no statistical difference between the control and intervention groups at 9 months, the results show that family cohesion scores improved significantly from baseline to 9 months for the ANZANSI intervention group. Qualitative results indicated improved family cohesion in the intervention group. Hence, future studies should further examine this promising social work intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ozge Sensoy Bahar
- Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - William Byansi
- Boston College, School of Social Work, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA
| | | | - Alice Boateng
- Department of Social Work, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
| | | | - Proscovia Nabunya
- Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | | | - Fred M Ssewamala
- Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Mary M McKay
- Vice Provost Office, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
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Bahar OS, Byansi W, Nartey PB, Ibrahim A, Boateng A, Kumbelim K, Nabunya P, McKay MM, Ssewamala FM. Self-esteem and self-concept as correlates of life satisfaction and attitudes toward school among Ghanaian girls. JOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE 2024; 34:185-191. [PMID: 38205871 PMCID: PMC11114458 DOI: 10.1111/jora.12910] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2023] [Revised: 12/18/2023] [Accepted: 12/31/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024]
Abstract
During adolescence, youth experience several physical, psychosocial, and cognitive changes. Self-esteem and self-concept are identified as protective factors for adolescents in high-income countries, but studies are limited in sub-Saharan Africa. We examined the associations of self-esteem and self-concept with life satisfaction and attitudes toward school using baseline data from 97 Ghanaian adolescent girls at risk of school dropout. Ordinary Least Squares regression models were fitted to examine the association between self-esteem and self-concept on school attitudes and life satisfaction. Self-esteem was positively associated with life satisfaction. Self-concept was associated with more positive attitudes toward school. Hence, self-esteem and self-concept may be critical protective factors in promoting adolescent girls' life satisfaction and positive attitudes toward school.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ozge Sensoy Bahar
- Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - William Byansi
- Boston College, School of Social Work, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA
| | | | | | - Alice Boateng
- Department of Social Work, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
| | | | - Proscovia Nabunya
- Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Mary M. McKay
- Vice Provost Office, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Fred M. Ssewamala
- Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
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Nartey P, Bahar OS, Nabunya P. A Review of the Cultural Gender Norms Contributing to Gender Inequality in Ghana: An Ecological Systems Perspective. JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S STUDIES 2023; 25:14. [PMID: 38736590 PMCID: PMC11086636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/14/2024]
Abstract
While significant progress has been made in improving the wellbeing of women and girls around the world, a gender gap still exists between men and women which is very evident in Ghana. Gender inequalities continue to persist in Ghana because of cultural gender norms that exalt and favor men and put women in subordinate and subservient roles. These cultural gender norms hinder women's development and widen gender inequality between men and women in different system levels of society. Therefore, there is a need to examine the influence of these cultural gender norms on women's lives using a systems framework to capture a full picture of women's experiences at these systemic levels of society. In this paper, we use Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems multilevel approach to examine the impact of these cultural gender norms on women's lives at the different system levels. We conducted a desk review of studies published in sub-Saharan Africa focused on cultural gender norms and gender inequality. The findings showed that the impact of cultural gender norms on gender inequality at the levels of the four social systems (microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem) are interconnected, creating and widening the inequality gap between men and women. Cultural gender norms influence gender role socialization in the home, which then transmits to the school and religious institutions as the mesosystem. At the school level, cultural gender norms act as a mesosystem manifest through discriminatory classroom practices, gender role assignment of school responsibilities, and gender role representations in textbooks. In Christianity and Islam, cultural gender norms create doctrines that enforce men's domination over women, and, in the workplace, cultural gender norms have gendered labor by defining a man's occupation and limiting women to domestic and low-paying occupations. The mass media is the exosystem that displays images of women to fit cultural gender norms of what is defined as acceptable for women. Finally, the macrosystem is the overall sociocultural norms that have been accepted by society that perpetuate discriminatory practices against women.
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Affiliation(s)
- Portia Nartey
- International Center for Child Health and Development (ICHAD), at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis
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Sensoy Bahar O, Boateng A, Nartey PB, Ibrahim A, Kumbelim K, Nabunya P, Ssewamala FM, McKay MM. " ANZANSI Program Taught Me Many Things in Life": Families' Experiences with a Combination Intervention to Prevent Adolescent Girls' Unaccompanied Migration for Labor. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:13168. [PMID: 36293748 PMCID: PMC9603225 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph192013168] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2022] [Revised: 10/10/2022] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Approximately 160 million children work as child laborers globally, 39% of whom are female. Ghana is one of the countries with the highest rates of child labor. Child labor has serious health, mental health, and educational consequences, and those who migrate independently for child labor are even at higher risk. Yet, evidence-based efforts to prevent unaccompanied child migration are limited. In this study, we examined the acceptability of a family-level intervention, called ANZANSI (resilience in local language) combining two evidence-based interventions, a family economic empowerment intervention and a multiple family group family strengthening intervention, to reduce the risk factors associated with the independent migration of adolescent girls from the Northern region to big cities in Ghana. We conducted semi-structured interviews separately with 20 adolescent girls and their caregivers who participated in ANZANSI. Interviews were conducted in the local language and transcribed and translated verbatim. Informed by the theoretical framework of acceptability, the data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results showed high intervention acceptability among both adolescent girls and their caregivers, including low burden, positive affective attitude, high perceived effectiveness, low opportunity costs, and high self-efficacy. The study findings underline the high need for such interventions in low-resource contexts in Ghana and provide the foundation for testing this intervention in a larger randomized trial.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ozge Sensoy Bahar
- Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, Campus Box 1196, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA; (P.B.N.); (P.N.); (F.M.S.)
| | - Alice Boateng
- Department of Social Work, University of Ghana, Accra P.O. Box LG419, Ghana;
| | - Portia B. Nartey
- Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, Campus Box 1196, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA; (P.B.N.); (P.N.); (F.M.S.)
| | - Abdallah Ibrahim
- School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra P.O. Box LG419, Ghana;
| | | | - Proscovia Nabunya
- Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, Campus Box 1196, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA; (P.B.N.); (P.N.); (F.M.S.)
| | - Fred M. Ssewamala
- Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, Campus Box 1196, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA; (P.B.N.); (P.N.); (F.M.S.)
| | - Mary M. McKay
- Vice Provost Office, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA;
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Childress S, Shrestha N, Anekwe K, Small E, McKay M. Barriers to Help-Seeking for Domestic Violence in Kyrgyzstan: Perspectives of Criminal Justice, Social, Health, and Educational Professionals. GLOBAL SOCIAL WELFARE : RESEARCH, POLICY & PRACTICE 2022; 9:179-192. [PMID: 37293550 PMCID: PMC10249667 DOI: 10.1007/s40609-022-00226-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/24/2022] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Research with survivors of domestic violence (DV) suggests that most do not seek supportive services from formal organizations. The purpose of this study is to understand the structural and legal barriers that prevent survivors of DV from seeking help in Kyrgyzstan from the perspectives of professionals within the areas of law enforcement, judicial system, social, health, and educational sectors working directly with survivors. Methods We conducted 20 semi-structured interviews and 8 focus groups with 83 professionals who are employed as domestic violence or legal advocates, psychologists, healthcare providers, educators, and law enforcement officials who had worked with the survivors of DV in their current positions. We analyzed the data using a multistep strategy derived from grounded theory methods. Results The findings of the study highlighted six structural barriers: (1) financial dependence on the abuser, (2) stigma and shame of seeking help, (3) few crisis centers and rigid acceptance criteria for temporary protection, (4) the normalization and societal acceptance of abuse, (5) a lack of property rights for women, and (6) distrust of formal services. The participants indicated five legal barriers, including the following: (1) insufficient sanctions for abusers, (2) unclear provisions and inadequate enforcement of law, (3) a low likelihood of prosecution, (4) poor procedures, stereotypes of survivors, and revictimization during investigations, and (5) protection for abusers who work in positions of power. Conclusions The structural and legal barriers that survivors face when seeking help are formidable challenges that will require extensive support from professionals working in the fields of criminal justice, social work, and public health. Findings suggest that both short-term and longer-term interventions that require sustainability of prevention efforts are necessary to address barriers to help-seeking identified in the study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saltanat Childress
- Arlington School of Social Work, University of Texas, 211 S. Cooper St., Box 19129, Arlington, TX 76019-0129, USA
| | - Nibedita Shrestha
- Arlington School of Social Work, University of Texas, 211 S. Cooper St., Box 19129, Arlington, TX 76019-0129, USA
| | - Kendall Anekwe
- Arlington School of Social Work, University of Texas, 211 S. Cooper St., Box 19129, Arlington, TX 76019-0129, USA
| | - Eusebius Small
- Arlington School of Social Work, University of Texas, 211 S. Cooper St., Box 19129, Arlington, TX 76019-0129, USA
| | - Mary McKay
- Office of the Provost, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, Campus, Box 1072-0105-02, St. Louis, MO 63130-4899, USA
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