scholarly journals Assessing Climate Change Vulnerabilities of Ontario's Rural Populations

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Fatih Sekercioglu ◽  
Daniel I Pirrie ◽  
Yan Zheng ◽  
Aimen Azfar
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Rural Populations ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Rural Residents ◽  
Southern Ontario ◽  
Middlesex County

Climate change causes considerable challenges for both urban and rural communities. Our study aimed at enhancing the understanding of climate change effects on rural populations. The study was promoted in Middlesex County library locations and on Middlesex County’s social media accounts; all residents of Middlesex County were eligible to participate. Through this method of convenience sampling, we successfully recruited 40 rural residents and conducted five focus group sessions. The study was conducted in Middlesex County, in southern Ontario, Canada, which provided a good representation of southern Ontario's rural communities. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data collected in focus group discussions. Focus group discussions yielded four main themes and provided valuable insights on several climate change-related topics. The four identified themes are: frequent extreme weather events, access to food and safe drinking water, protection from vector-borne diseases, and living in a rural community. Our results indicate key parameters to address the climate change issues for rural residents and lead to a series of recommendations to revamp climate change policy at local, provincial, and federal levels. Study Participants commented on the need for adaptation skills concerning the physical and mental health aspects of increased indoor activity (avoiding natural spaces/pollution). This could also be an indicator/opportunity for future health programming and funding to support new realities. Future research is needed to develop effective local solutions with collaboration among government, business sectors, and rural residents.

scholarly journals ‘People have started to deliver in the facility these days’: a qualitative exploration of factors affecting facility delivery in Ethiopia

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. e025516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zelee Hill ◽  
Yared Amare ◽  
Pauline Scheelbeek ◽  
Joanna Schellenberg
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Facility Delivery ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Positive Experiences ◽  
Qualitative Exploration ◽  
Push And Pull

ObjectivesTo understand the recent rise in facility deliveries in Ethiopia.DesignA qualitative study.SettingFour rural communities in two regions of Ethiopia.Participants12 narrative, 12 in-depth interviews and four focus group discussions with recently delivered women; and four focus group discussions with each of grandmothers, fathers and community health workers.ResultsWe found that several interwoven factors led to the increase in facility deliveries, and that respondents reported that the importance of these factors varied over time. The initial catalysts were a saturation of messages around facility delivery, improved accessibility of facilities, the prohibition of traditional birth attendants, and elders having less influence on deciding the place of delivery. Once women started to deliver in facilities, the drivers of the behaviour changed as women had positive experiences. As more women began delivering in facilities, families shared positive experiences of the facilities, leading to others deciding to deliver in a facility.ConclusionOur findings highlight the need to employ strategies that act at multiple levels, and that both push and pull families to health facilities.

scholarly journals The impact of climate change on food and human security in Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelechi Johnmary Ani ◽  
Vincent Okwudiba Anyika ◽  
Emmanuel Mutambara
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Human Security ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
The South ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The North

Purpose The purpose of this study is to unravel the changing nature of climate change impact on the food and human security sector of the Nigerian State. Design/methodology/approach This study is an in-depth case study that involves the use of both quantitative and qualitative data. Statistical data on climate variability in Nigeria obtained from reliable databases were use in the making of analysis. Also, data derived from semi-structure interviews and special reports from International Non-governmental organizations on the subject matter were also used in the study. The findings of the study were based on an in-depth analysis of both primary and secondary sources of data. The secondary data were derived from existing published academic works. The primary data was developed using qualitative data that were collected from January to November, 2018 to 2019 in the different regions of Nigeria. For the South East, primary data was collected from Abakaliki, Ebonyi State. In the South-South, primary data was collected from Asaba, Delta State. In the South West, primary data was collected from Barutin, Kwara State. In the North East, primary data was collected from Maiduguri, while in North West, data was collected from Gusau, Zamfara State. In the North Central, data was collected from Markurdi, Benue State. During the data collection, 48 semi-structured Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) were carried out in the six selected research areas that represented their geo-political zones. Six Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were carried out, one for each of these six selected cities. Each of the Focus Group Discussions comprised between five and seven respondents. The idea of KIIs and FGDs is to allow the respondents to freely express their ideas comprehensively. Again, in other to get varied forms of responses, the respondents are mainly farmers however, a number of NGOs, civil servants, fertilizer sellers, government officials, transporters and aged men and women/retirees. It should be noted that the respondents cut across male and female gender of all ages and ethnic configuration. The respondents were also randomly selected through social networking. To avoid having people of similar The KIIs were three academics; two community leaders; two small scale fish farmers; rice, cassava, fish, livestock and crop farmers. All KIIs ad TIs were transcribed and analysed using thematic content analysis. Findings The findings revealed that climate change has negatively affected food security in Nigeria. it has also led to continuous armed confrontations over natural resources thereby undermining human security in the country. Originality/value This study is 100% original and can be assessed through turn it in evaluation.

Female and child ‘husbands’: Rituals as HIV escape routes

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 291-305
Author(s):  
Godfrey Museka
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Intervention Strategies ◽  
Hiv And Aids ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
African People ◽  
Key Informant

Discourses on the struggle against HIV and AIDS tend to portray African traditional religio-cultural rituals as ‘harmful’ and African people as passive and clueless victims. By focusing on middle-aged widows, this study explores the utilisation of traditional rituals as HIV and AIDS escape routes in outlying areas such as the rural Manyika-Gandanzara area. Informed by the phenomenological approach, the study seeks to answer questions: Are African rural communities passive beneficiaries of the top-down HIV and AIDS intervention strategies? What localised responses have the communities developed in order to ‘escape’ from HIV? Data used to answer these questions were inductively gathered through key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and observations in the Manyika-Gandanzara community. The findings of the study suggest that instead of relying solely on official government and donor-funded HIV and AIDS interventions, the Manyika-Gandanzara community has renegotiated sex-oriented widow inheritance rituals into asexual female-to-female and mother–son symbolic unions in its attempt to escape the disease.

scholarly journals Perception, trends and impacts of climate change in Kailali District, Far West Nepal

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 62-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lal Bahadur Thapa ◽  
Himanchal Thapa ◽  
Bimala Gharti Magar
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
People’S Perception ◽  
People’S Perceptions ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Correction: On 31/12/2015 the author's name Binala Gharti Magar was changed to Bimala Gharti MagarPerception and place-based studies give useful information on climate change in context of Nepal due to having its wide geographical, climatic, biological and cultural diversity. A household survey and focus group discussions were carried out in this study to document local people’s perceptions on climate change in Kailali district of Nepal. Most of respondents in the study area have perceived that temperature and fog are increased; and rainfall and hail are decreased with severe fluctuation. Trend of temperature supports local people’s perception. People have noticed impacts of these changes in vegetation, plant phenology and agriculture. Fundamentally, they have observed that certain plant species are decreasing, increasing and showing changes in flowering and fruiting time. This information could have significance for future research to identify climate change sensitive or indicator plants.International Journal of Environment Vol.4(4) 2015: 62-76

scholarly journals Applying Analytic Hierarchy Process to Adaptation to Saltwater Intrusion in Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2311
Author(s):  
Thi Dieu Linh Nguyen ◽  
Brent Bleys
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Analytical Hierarchy Process ◽  
Saltwater Intrusion ◽  
Coastal Region ◽  
Pairwise Comparison ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Hierarchy Process ◽  
Adaptation Options

Given the multidimensional nature of climate change issues, decision-making in climate change adaptation is a complex process, and suitable decision support methods are needed. The aim of this paper was to rank saltwater intrusion adaptation options for farmers in two provinces in the central coastal region of Vietnam using the analytical hierarchy process method. Data for the analysis were obtained through a literature review, field observations, and face-to-face interviews and focus group discussions with key informants. We combined two ways of weighting to arrive at final scores for each of the identified adaptation options: prioritizing criteria and subcriteria by pairwise comparison and rating the different alternatives with respect to the lowest level subcriteria. In doing so, we also investigated differences in the priority sets and final rankings of the analytical hierarchy process applications in both provinces. In our study, we worked with group consensus scores on both the criteria weights and the ratings for the different adaptation options for each of the criteria. Our results revealed that “sustainability and equity” was the most important criteria, while coherence ranked lowest. The final ranking of adaptation options differed between both provinces due to differences in the geographical and socioeconomic characteristics of the study areas. The consistency ratios for all pairwise matrices were less than 0.1, indicating that judgments from the focus group discussions with respect to the different criteria were highly consistent. A sensitivity analysis of our results confirmed the robustness of the rankings in our research.

scholarly journals Barriers to utilize nutrition interventions among lactating women in rural communities of Tigray, northern Ethiopia: An exploratory study

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0250696
Author(s):  
Selemawit Asfaw Beyene ◽  
Lemlem Weldegerima ◽  
Freweini Gebrearegay Tela ◽  
Omer Seid ◽  
Amal Tucker Brown ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Nutrient Intake ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Northern Ethiopia ◽  
Nutrition Interventions ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Lactating Women ◽  
Lactating Mothers

Background While lactation is a physiological process requiring high energy demand to fulfill the nutrient requirements of the mother and the breastfeeding child, many factors affecting maternal nutrient intake can lead to nutritional deficits. Previous studies in Ethiopia have reported the prevalence of maternal and child undernutrition and related complications. However, qualitative studies exploring potential barriers to utilizing available nutrition interventions are limited. This study, therefore, sought to qualitatively explore barriers hindering the uptake of nutrition services among lactating mothers from rural communities in Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Methods We conducted 6 in-depth interviews, 70 key informant interviews, and 13 focus group discussions among purposively selected community groups, experts, and lactating mothers between November- 2017 and January- 2018. Audio records of all interviews and focus group discussions were transcribed verbatim (word-to-word) and translated into English. Then, translated data were analyzed thematically using qualitative data analysis software Atlas ti-version 7.4. Results The participants in this study perceived that lactating mothers in their study area are not properly utilizing available and recommended nutrition interventions, and as a result, their nutrient intake was reported as inadequate. Participants identified inadequate accessibility and availability of foods, feeding practices, cultural and religious influences, focus on agricultural production and productivity, barriers related to health services and poor access to water, sanitation and hygiene as major barriers hindering the uptake of nutrition interventions by lactating women in Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Conclusion The uptake of nutrition intervention services was low among lactating mothers and was hindered by multiple socio-cultural and health service related factors requiring problem-specific interventions at community, health facility, and administrative levels to improve the nutritional status of lactating mothers in the study area.

scholarly journals ART AND DOCUMENTARIES IN CLIMATE COMMUNICATION

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liselotte Roosen ◽  
Christian Klockner
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Perceived Effectiveness ◽  
Cognitive Level ◽  
Art Exhibition ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
The Subject

The purpose of this study was to explore which principles or characteristics of visual forms of climate communication have the potential to increase their perceived effectiveness in terms of triggering climate concern and engagement. This article details the results of a case study based on an art exhibition and a shortened documentary with the topic earth/soil. Two focus group discussions were conducted in Brighton (UK) with a total of 20 participants who had seen both the documentary and the artwork. The transcripts of these focus groups were thematically analyzed to establish categories, themes, and subthemes from the data. Results show that art as well as documentaries have the potential to be an effective medium to convey climate change to audiences. Art may speak to the audience on a different (i.e. emotional rather than cognitive) level than documentaries, and therefore could be a helpful way to introduce the subject to an audience that may not yet be overly familiar with climate change. To further encourage behavior change, a solution should be presented that is novel, relatively easy to implement and impactful.

Dari Idealisme ke Pragmatisme: Pergeseran Paradigma dalam Pengembangan Hukum Ekonomi Syariah di Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-210
Author(s):  
Addiarrahman Addiarrahman ◽  
Illy Yanti
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Business World ◽  
Key Informants ◽  
The Public ◽  
Financial Products ◽  
Legal Consideration ◽  
Economic Law ◽  
Islamic Economic

This study seeks to understand the pragmatism of the development of sharia economic law, and its implications for Islamic financial products in Indonesia. The data comes from the results of interviews and focus group discussions with key informants from academics, practitioners, authorities, and the public. This research finds that pragmatism in the development of Islamic economic law is an approach that still dominates the DSN-MUI fatwas. The pragmatism style used is complex-eclectic pragmatism which is represented through makhārij al-fiqhiyyah, which is to choose a mild opinion by sticking to the strongest method or also called "taysīr al-manhajī". The use of this method is intended to ensure that the fatwa is truly able to answer the needs of the business world, as well as being in line with sharia principles. DSN-MUI also does not use maslahah as a legal consideration in a free or liberal way. Rather, it returns maslahah in consideration of the method, so that it is permissible to use the bay’ al-'inān contract only in a forced state (ḍarurah).

scholarly journals “Stages of change, smoking behavior and acceptability of a textmessaging intervention for tobacco cessation among cigarette, dokha and shishasmokers: A qualitative research study.”

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. e029144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusra Elhidaia Elobaid ◽  
Andrea Leinberger Jabari ◽  
Aisha Al Hamiz ◽  
Abdul Rizzak Al Kaddour ◽  
Sherif Bakir ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Smoking Cessation ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Text Messaging ◽  
Tobacco Cessation ◽  
Text Messages ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Group Discussions

ObjectivesTo explore: (A) the underlying motivators and barriers to smoking cessation among young Arabic speaking smokers and (B) to examine the suitability and preferences for tobacco cessation interventions (specifically text messages) and study the possibility of enrollment methods for a randomised controlled study using text messages as an intervention for tobacco cessation.DesignQualitative research using focus group discussions and content analysis.Setting(s)Two universities, one of them is the first and foremost comprehensive national university in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The third setting is the largest hospital in the UAE and the flagship institution for the public health system in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.ParticipantsSix focus group discussions with a total of 57 participants. Forty-seven men and 10 women. Fifty-three of them were current smokers.ResultsThe analysis of six focus groups was carried out. Main themes arose from the data included: preferences for tobacco cessation interventions and acceptability and feasibility of text messaging as tobacco cessation intervention. Different motives and barriers for quitting smoking including shisha and dokha were explored.ConclusionInterventions using text messaging for smoking cessation have not been used in the Middle East and they could potentially be effective; however, tailoring and closely examining the content and acceptability of text messages to be used is important before the conduction of trials involving their use. Social media is perceived to be more effective and influential, with a higher level of penetration into communities of young smokers.

scholarly journals Perspectives of future pharmacists on the potential for development and implementation of pharmacist prescribing in Qatar

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-123
Author(s):  
Mohammad Issam Diab ◽  
Angham Ibrahim ◽  
Oraib Abdallah ◽  
Alla El-Awaisi ◽  
Monica Zolezzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Treatment Options ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Focus Group Discussions ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Pharmacist Prescribing ◽  
Barriers To Implementation ◽  
Special Training Program

AbstractBackground Pharmacists in many developed countries have been granted prescribing authorities under what is known as “non-medical prescribing” or “pharmacist prescribing”. However, such prescribing privileges are not available in many developing countries. Objective The objective of this study was to determine the perspectives of future pharmacists (recent pharmacy graduates and pharmacy students) on pharmacist prescribing and its potential implementation in Qatar. Methods A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was used: (1) a cross-sectional survey using a pre-tested questionnaire and; (2) focus group discussions to allow for an in-depth understanding of the issue, with a focus on pharmacists prescribing competencies as well as barriers for its implementation. Main outcome measures Future pharmacists’ perspectives and attitudes towards pharmacist prescribing in Qatar. Results The majority of the respondents (94.4%) indicated awareness of the prescribing competency related to selecting treatment options. Furthermore, the majority (92.4%) believed that pharmacists should undergo prescribing training and accreditation before been legally allowed to prescribe, a point that was reiterated in the focus group discussions. Participants generally expressed support for collaborative and supplementary prescribing models when developing prescribing frameworks for Qatar. Four categories emerged under the theme barriers to implementation of pharmacist prescribing: lack of prescribing competency, pharmacist mindset, lack of accessibility to patient records and counseling rooms, and diversity of education and training background. Conclusion The majority of recent pharmacy graduates and students were in favor of pharmacist prescribing been implemented in Qatar. However, a special training program was deemed necessary to qualify pharmacists to prescribe safely and effectively.

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