Young Single Widow, Dynamics of In-Laws Interference and Coping Mechanisms: Simplicity-Parsimony Approach

Surviving after the Death of a Spouse: A Phenomenological Study of Young and Low-Income Mothers in Turkey

The aim of this study is to examine psychosocial adjustment of low-income mothers who lost their spouses at a young age. The study was conducted using a qualitative research method with a phenomenological approach. The data was collected through focus group interviews. Thirteen women between the ages of 26 and 43 participated in the study. In this study, manifest content analysis was carried out with an inductive perspective. In this scope, five interrelated themes emerged as loss, initial reactions, difficulties, coping ways, and change. For the participants, the death of their spouse was perceived as the loss of a loved one, the loss of their children's father, a loss of security, and the loss of an abusive spouse. The initial reactions that emerged as a result were shock, helplessness, anxiety, and ambivalence. Participants faced social pressure, exclusion, parenting an orphaned child, insufficient basic life skills, and economic difficulties after their spouses' deaths. In order to cope with these difficulties, they sought social support, applied for social assistance funds, focused on their motherhood roles, used religious coping mechanisms, and set boundaries. It was determined that participants learned new skills, gained self-confidence, and developed helping behaviors toward others during the post-loss change process. Findings revealed that participants are unable to access adequate social, economic, and psychological resources in society. This circumstance caused them to withdraw from their social environment and reevaluate their existential goals. The new identity created by these women could be interpreted as a challenge to the culture that marginalizes them.

The economic circumstances of widows in Vietnam

Information on the living conditions of widows in Vietnam is limited. Prior studies of gender gaps have identified widows as vulnerable to the risks of poverty. However, widows are only included as a sub-group in broader studies of women's well-being. Large gaps remain in the knowledge based on the factors affecting both widows' susceptibility to poverty and the conditions or circumstances that might minimize these risks. This paper attempts to help redress these knowledge gaps by contributing an analysis of data from the 2018 Vietnam Household Living Standard Surveys. The paper compares the likelihood of poverty for widowed and other households using probit regression. It also assesses whether widows who head up their households face different risks of poverty from those who live in other households. Finally, the paper examines the effects on the risk of poverty of a range of social, demographic and locational characteristics of widow households in Vietnam. Our results indicate that widowed households have experienced a higher probability of falling into poverty. Moreover, widow-headed households have faced more vulnerability to fresh water and housing, especially among widowed households. Policy implications have emerged based on the findings of this paper.

To Save a Girl-Child, You Must Train a Boy-Child: A Note on Situational Irony

Despite numerous initiatives and resources to save and protect the health and sexual rights of girls and women, the persistently high rate of unwanted pregnancy, abortion, and sexual violence in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has remain a topical public health challenge. This study hypothesised that the continuous conspicuous omission of boys/men in the interventions to combat this menace could be a long-life impediment to the realisation of sustainable health for girls and women in the region. The study adopted a systematic review of extant population-based published studies from Scopus, Google Scholars, PubMed, EMBASE, and AJOL. Literature coverage included the post-United Nations' coordinated International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Cairo, 1994, which marked the beginning of a massive campaign for women/girls sexual rights. The obtained qualitative data were appraised and synthesised towards spurring policy recommendations for gender balanced initiatives on the sexual and reproductive health rights in SSA. The study highlighted that unwanted pregnancy occurs only when a boy/man has unprotected sex with a girl/woman without considering her choice or rights. It is considered ironic that the dominant factors are boys and men but many enlightenment initiatives/campaigns are concentrated on girls and women. The study developed a schematic save-a-girl-child framework that illustrated the possible dividends inherent in the training of a boy-child to achieve a safer world for the girls/women. It recommends increase in the exposure of boys and men to sexual education and counselling, which can motivate them to be supporters of family planning, supporters of only wanted pregnancy, wanted fatherhood, marital fidelity, intimate partners' harmonious living rather than violence, and wife or partner empowerment.