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The burden of malnutrition experienced globally, coupled with the increasing rate of micronutrient deficiencies, compromises the health and well-being of women during their reproductive years. Obesity places young South African women at particular risk during pregnancy, and increases obesity risk for their offspring. To address these risks, the Bukhali trial is being implemented in Soweto, South Africa with 18–28-year-old women, as part of the Healthy Lifestyle Trajectory Initiative. A dietitian is part of the Bukhali intervention team (community health workers) to provide nutritional support for overweight/obese trial participants, making use of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) Nutrition Checklist. This paper reflects on the experiences and lessons learned by the Bukhali dietitian, including the use of the FIGO Nutrition Checklist and Healthy Conversation Skills to facilitate conversations about making healthy dietary behaviour changes. Identified challenges that influence nutrition and behaviour are discussed, including lack of food affordability, cultural and social influences on healthy food choices, unsupportive environments and food insecurity. Strategies to optimise this nutritional support are also mentioned. The Bukhali trial is showing that introducing additional nutrition support by a dietitian for at-risk participants has the potential to encourage young women to prioritise nutrition and health, even in the midst of contextual challenges to both nutrition and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no doubt that lack of a common language is the main obstacle to communication between people from different backgrounds. However, the cultural aspect also plays a very important role, since even two people with a common language may not understand each other in certain situations, that is, when extra-linguistic factors intervene. We hypothesize that religion and religious beliefs and customs are part of one's culture and may also pose communication barriers and lead to misinterpretation by society and more specifically by the public services that receive these people. To confirm our hypothesis, we intend to analyse the case of Germany, a society in which, statistically, Catholics and Muslims make up the two largest demographic groups, in order to find out whether the differences between the followers of these religions could lead to misunderstandings. In conclusion, we recommend intervention by properly trained linguistic-cultural mediators in order to avoid these barriers, and suggest for this purpose the implementation of Service-learning activities at the university level to foster translation and mediation competence among these future professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research over the years has delved into the role of culture in advertising from various perspectives using both cross-country comparisons and within-country investigations. An assessment of recent research offers observations for scholars to consider for future work in this area: continue to expand theories, sample outside of the usual cultures, assess comparability, identify obstacles to publishing, consider changes in data collection and related issues, and connect the dots by providing periodic state-of-the-knowledge reviews and analyses. At the same time, it would be worthwhile for future work to respond to changes in the environment and new communication needs by studying consumer ethnocentrism during a period of heightened trade tensions and a slowdown in globalization, and by looking into philanthropy and corporate social responsibility communication for initiatives to help solve local, regional, and global problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

U.S. suicide rates have risen every year over the past two decades with self-directed firearm use as the method accounting for the highest proportion of deaths. This pattern is particularly pronounced among veterans and members of the U.S. Armed Forces. The numerical burden of firearmrelated suicide accompanied by characteristics of self-directed firearm injury have motivated the development of lethal means safety initiatives focused on firearms. Simultaneously, research has sought to characterize patterns of firearm ownership and use among veterans as well as optimal strategies for clinicians to deliver suicide prevention messages to firearm owners. Increasingly, findings from research have been understood as cultural factors that warrant greater attention to improve the quality of lethal means counseling. Here, we review and interpret selected research on cultural aspects of firearm ownership and suggest that cultural differences between health care practitioners and firearm owners may result in health care practitioners delivering clinical interventions that are broadly divergent from perspectives within the cultural frameworks of firearm owners. We follow by organizing these cultural factors into existing frameworks of cultural competency training as a basis for developing curriculum for health care practitioners to improve clinical care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vital statistics are critical for effective public health and monitoring progress towards child survival. Nigeria has the highest global under-five mortality rate; however, deaths are often under- or misreported. We explored perceptions of child deaths and socio-cultural factors influencing the reporting of child deaths in Jigawa State, Nigeria. We conducted a triangulation mixed-methods study in Kiyawa local government area, Jigawa, including: four focus group discussions (FGDs) with 8–12 women, six key informant interviews (KII) with Imams, and process data from 42 verbal autopsies (VAs) conducted with caregivers of deceased children. Data was collected between November 2019-April 2021. Purposive sampling was used to recruit FDG and KII participants and two-stage systematic and simple random sampling was employed to recruit VA participants. Qualitative data was analysed using content analysis; VA data was described with proportions. Five categories emerged from FGDs: culturally grounded perceptions of child death, etiquette in mourning and offering condolence, formal procedures surrounding child death, the improving relationship between hospital and community, and reporting practices. Women expressed that talking or crying about a death was not culturally accepted, and that prayer is the most acceptable form of coping and offering condolence. Many women expressed that death was God's will. These findings correlated with VAs, in which visible signs of emotional distress were recorded in 31% of the interviews. Three categories emerged from KIIs: religion as part of formal procedures surrounding child death, communities support the bereaved, and multilayered reasons for unreported deaths. Imams serve a key role as community leaders, involved in both the logistical and religious aspects of their community, though they are not involved in mortality reporting. Religion plays a central role in burial practices, community mourning rituals, and expression of grief, but does not extend to reporting of child deaths. Imams could provide an opportunity for improving vital registration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous literature has applied system-focused structures to understand the success of First Nations Peoples' nutrition and exercise group programmes. Existing system-focused measures have included biomedical outcomes, access and service utilization. By broadening the focus of programme success beyond the system, we can evaluate programmes from a First Nations Peoples' lifeworld perspective. Critical hermeneutics and yarning using a lens of Habermas' Theory of Communicative Action to the literature has the potential to transform understandings of "success" in First Nations Peoples' nutrition and exercise group programmes. In this literature interpretation, we explored the critical success factors from a lifeworld perspective, giving scope to go beyond a system perspective to include a cultural, social or personal perspective. Our yarning led us to understand that there is a communicative relationship between explicit system structures and implicit lifeworld concepts that are critical success factors for First Nations nutrition and exercise group programmes. We have developed a set of reflective questions to guide others in considering a lifeworld perspective. Our findings represent a shift away from success measured by the dominant power structure to respect the lifeworld culture, knowledges and values of First Nations Peoples towards shared understanding and mutual decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To examine the process of condom discontinuation among members of the National Youth Service Corps in Nigeria who had been required to take part in a compulsory one year national service right after tertiary graduation. Methods: We used a qualitative research design to achieve this objective. Results: Findings revealed that the motivations for condom discontinuation among our sample include the need to achieve pleasure, the perception of the withdrawal method skill as an alternative to condom use, intimacy and trust among others. Cultural influence such as the promise of marriage and proof of fertility motivated both men and women to discontinue condom use. For many, intermittent condom discontinuation was normal throughout the course of relationships. Also, while verbal communication was more common among males than females, non-verbal communication strategies were employed by more of the females in their condom discontinuation behaviour. Conclusions: Overall, the findings improve our understanding of how condom discontinuation processes occur among young people and concludes that many young people (respondents) are yet to grapple with the potential consequences of unsafe sex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people throughout the world face considerable challenges related to their sexual and reproductive health (SRH). The parent–child relationship is fundamental to shaping children's trajectories through adolescence and suggests considerable potential to improve youth SRH knowledge. Lack of parent–child sexual communication (PCSC) may cause youth to turn instead to questionable information sources, such as peers, the internet and social media. The limited research in this area, and specifically in the Middle East, led us to explore how parents discuss SRH issues with their children and pinpointed the potential role for parents in supporting their children's SRH needs. A qualitative research approach was used, with 20 focus groups stratified by nationality and sex of participants from four major communities in Jordan. Thematic coding and analysis was used. Parents described their willingness to "break the culture of shame." Three primary strategies emerged: (1) the gender match, (2) mothers as a safe space and (3) seeking help from others, which included two sub-themes: incorporating others, and relying on the delivery of SRH information in schools. Strengths and challenges were inherent within each strategy, and discussion topics varied according to the strategy used. Evidence from this study provides an opportunity for future research and programming to improve adolescent health outcomes within conservative milieus to break the intergenerational cycle of shame. Interventions are suggested to target parents' knowledge and self-confidence to help youth achieve their sexual development. Using gender-matched PCSC strategies, school-based platforms and religious institutions are ways to destigmatise such topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Psychological trauma can be viewed as a metaphor which originates from somatic medicine and comes from the Greek word "wound". To gain a better understanding of trauma in a culturally sensitive way, the present project aimed to explore alternative metaphors used to describe extreme aversive or catastrophic events. Methods: This ethnopsychological study was carried out among the Adivasis indigenous people in tribal communities in Pune, India. We performed 28 interviews with lay persons and key informants, focusing on collectively shared metaphors. The data were examined using systematic metaphor analysis. Results: While the most prevalent metaphorical concepts found related to shock and wound, we also identified culture-specific idioms and common themes in the descriptions related to trauma. The most predominant expression, which was used by all of the participants, was "this should not have happened" (asa nahi vhayala pahije hota). These findings indicate that metaphorical concepts reflect implicit worldviews and beliefs in the community under study. Conclusion: The main implication of the results found is to increase awareness of different expressions in clinical settings, pointing to potential approaches to the cultural adaptation of clinical interventions in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'FCSHlee' program proposed by ESPOL Polytechnic University's School of Social and Humanistic Sciences (FCSH, acronym in Spanish), consisted in the implementation of a reading requirement of culturally enriching book by subject. This study shares the experience of an academic literacy initiative in the Ecuadorian university, ESPOL's case. The program aimed to enhance undergraduate students' cultural level as well as oral and written communication skills. We develop a significant sample (N = 387) of the students that were part of the program and collected the data through surveys after its completion. The study describes details of the program, its scope, implementation, statistics, and conditions. Among the careers studied at the FCSH, Economics was the one that had a bigger margin of appreciation towards the program, which is a factor that could indicate that these groups of students possess reading orientation given the analytical characteristics of their study program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Difficulties living in unfamiliar cultures are caused by differences in patterns of thinking, points of view, and physical action styles. Learning to understand these different styles is one solution that may help people to live together with their differences. This paper presents our findings on learners' cultural understanding during interaction based on culturally influenced communication in simulated crowds. Japanese and Thai participants were asked to obtain multiple tickets available at two service counters, A and B, in a shared virtual space, where a service person provided a ticket upon request. Virtual customers moved around in the system to acquire tickets and, if a counter was occupied by a customer, other customers had to wait. Two types of waiting styles (line and group) and two service person fairness levels (fair and unfair) were configured and the reactions of participants evaluated. Furthermore, the counter selection results and selection reasoning results were analysed using the ANOVA process. The results showed that culture influences ideas of waiting differently between Japanese and Thai participants: Japanese participants focused on the benefits of waiting, such as waiting speed, whereas Thai participants focused on the reaction or response of the service person to customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: the decline in South Africa’s HIV infection rates especially among young women is encouraging. However, studies show that the 15-24-year-old cohort remains vulnerable. As they still report early sexual debut, being involved in sexual partnerships with older men as well as having unprotected sex. These risky sexual behaviors may be linked to factors such as the parent-child sexual health communication and the timing of the first talk. The quality of sexual health information received in school may also be important for enhancing healthier sexual behaviors. Aims and Objectives: to investigate the what, when and how sexual health communication occurs in rural South African families and to determine whether such communication patterns have changed over time. We also wanted to get an in-depth understanding of the roles played by culture, sexual health education and peers in the socialization of young women on sexual matters. Methods: a purposive sample of (n = 55) women who were 18-35 years old was selected and interviewed in focus group discussions (FGDs). Results: the FGD findings show that parent-child communication on sexual matters in rural communities is limited to messages that warn against pregnancy. It is also laden with cultural idioms that are not well explained. The school sexual health curriculum also fails to adequately equip adolescents to make informed decisions regarding sexual matters. All this seems to leave room for reception of misguided information from peers. Conclusions: findings highlight a need for designing interventions that can create awareness for parents on the current developmental needs and sexual behavior of adolescents. For adolescents programs would need to focus on providing skills on personal responsibility, and how to change behavior to enhance sexual health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author focuses on views of author Charles K. Wilber on the book "From Pleasure Machines to Moral Communities: An Evolutionary Economics Without Homo Economicus" by the author. He states that though Wilber thinks that genetic factors do not have a role in formation of moral judgments he thinks that both culture and genetic factors play a role in moral judgments. It mentions that culture is important as it explains persistence and dispositions are result of interactions.

Language is at the heart of mental health care. Many high-income countries have sophisticated interpreter services, but in low- and middle-income countries there are not sufficient professional services, let alone interpreter services, and task shifting is used. In this article, we discuss this neglected issue in the context of low- and middle-income countries, where task shifting has been suggested as a solution to the problem of scarce mental health resources. The large diversity of languages in low- and middle-income countries, exacerbated by wide-scale migration, has implications for the scale-up of services. We suggest that it would be useful for those who are working innovatively to develop locally delivered mental health programmes in low- and middle-income countries to explore and report on issues of language and how these have been addressed. We need to know more about local challenges, but also about local solutions which seem to work, and for this we need more information from the field than is currently available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Pharmaceutical communication is an essential component of pharmaceutical health care, optimally ensuring patients understand the proper administration and side effects of their medications. Communication can often be complicated by language and culture, but with pharmaceuticals, misunderstandings can prove particularly harmful. In Nunavut, to ensure the preservation and revitalization of Inuit languages, the Inuit Language Protection Act and Official Languages Act were passed requiring that all public and private sector essential services offer verbal and written communication in Inuit languages (Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun) by 2012. Methods. While the legislation mandates compliance, policy implementation for pharmaceutical services is problematic. Not a single pharmacist in Nunavut is fluent in either of the Inuit languages. Pharmacists have indicated challenges in formally translating written documentation into Inuit languages based on concerns for patient safety. These challenges of negotiating the joint requirements of language legislation and patient safety have resulted in pharmacies using verbal on-site translation as a tenuous solution regardless of its many limitations. Results. The complex issues of pharmaceutical health care and communication among the Inuit of Nunavut are best examined through multimethod research to encompass a wide range of perspectives. This methodology combines the richness of ethnographic data, the targeted depth of interviews with key informants and the breadth of cross-Canada policy and financial analyses. Conclusions. The analysis of this information would provide valuable insights into the current relationships between health care providers, pharmacists and Inuit patients and suggest future directions for policy that will improve the efficacy of pharmaceuticals and health care spending for the Inuit in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalisation raises serious concerns about ecological sustainability and social equality. This article proposes that business historians should write a usable past that is framed by the imperative of addressing these issues. The transport and communication networks that underpin global trade and travel offer an opportunity to narrate such a past. In particular business enterprises have historically helped to shape the ways consumers think about and realise bodily movement. By contributing to a genealogy of these mobility cultures, business historians can help to uncover the mythic traces that continued to shape contemporary public and policy understandings of global mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web sites are a major instrument for companies to transmit information to customers and conduct transactions in business markets. Differences in Web site design and content across companies can be explained by cultural factors (mainly high- or low-context communication, individualism, and power distance), characteristics of a company's home country, and corporate demographics. Based on a review of recent studies, mostly in B2C settings, this paper summarizes what is known about the impact of cultural dimensions on Web site design and content. Content analysis of 600 B2B Web sites in 57 countries confirms the interrelatedness of certain antecedent variables with Web site design and content. Some cultural orientations, especially high-context communication, may be detrimental to the design of Web sites, making them less clear, less attractive, and less interactive. Companies in countries characterized either by high-context communication, collectivism, or high power distance should strive for cultural adaptation of Web sites. Firm size and R&D intensity also have an impact on Web site design and content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining semiotic strategies and audience research, this contribution focuses on Pole chudes (Field of Miracles), the Russian adaptation of the popular television format Wheel of Fortune, to analyse the specific case of subversive glocalisation. A comparison of Pole chudes with other adaptations reveals the tensions characteristic uniquely of post-Soviet space, such as those between the national and the local under the influence of the global, between the centre and the periphery; between commercial/capitalist and traditional/folk practices, and between the collective and the individual. Focus group research shows that Pole chudes splits viewers by class, location and age, with the metropolitan intelligentsia at one end of the spectrum and the narod in the provinces at the other. In addition, it is argued that Pole chudes represents a case of post-Soviet identity construction in which top-to-bottom tendencies, in particular nation building, merge with bottom-to-top ones, such as local and folk practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the utilisation of cultural nostalgia for the past (Soviet and pre-revolutionary) and the concern with Russian cultural values in television advertisements for beer in post-Soviet Russia. In these adverts the effect of the foregrounding of these values is more significant than their effectiveness in selling products. Advertising, as a pervasive element of popular culture, is as contested as any other, such as film or television serials, in terms of refracting cultural discourses. Such adverts are termed 'culturally differentiated' to contrast them to global and glocalised adverts (where a few concessions are made to local cultural factors). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores Russian 'information culture', asking how information is shared and used in Russia. While the focus is on contemporary Russia, changes and continuities since the Soviet period are also discussed. In the Soviet Union, information was considered a privilege rather than a right while secrecy determined the general information climate. In post-Soviet Russia, the right to information is legally guaranteed, censorship is forbidden, and 'state secrets' are limited by law. In practice, however, secrecy and a lack of access to information is a problem much quoted by journalists and citizens alike. This 'information culture' is part of the environment the mass media have to work in, and have to cope with. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are two reasons why personalist economics lies outside the mainstream. Personalist economics (1) rejects the premises of mainstream economics, and (2) takes exception to certain dominant values of today's culture whereas the mainstream is much more at ease with contemporary Western culture. This paper addresses both reasons and is organized accordingly. In it the author argues that the individualism and the autonomous individual of mainstream economics have their roots in the seventeenth-eighteenth century Enlightenment, that is well before the development of electronic means of communication. Personalism and the acting person of personalist economics emerged during the electronic stage of communication and, the author argues, are much better suited to the twenty-first century. The author calls for a reconstruction of economics which would replace the autonomous individual with the acting person. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following major interpretative problem is presented: How do we know, make probable and plausible, or document the meaning of speech acts and the meaning and functions of sequences or systems of sequences of social interaction? Assignment of meaning is here understood as an interpretative process that generates higher level predications. It signifies a movement from a specific level to a more general. This problem is discussed in connection with collection of information. Included is also a discussion about how social processes and cultural conditions affect the production of sociological data, and thus, why conscious and systematical management of these problems is vital for sociological interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addresses the need to deal with the different types of diversity in research laboratories. Impact of cultural differences on communication; Difference between identity and cultural diversity; Role of personality in shaping attitudes and values.

The article focuses on the loss of passion in sexual partners. In many circles, even the most casual of social conversations were laden with AIDS talk. The nature of one's sexual history and respective anti-body status often became the conditions for social and sexual attraction. Sexual partners were scrutinized to determine their relative risk factors before engaging in sexual play. The act of spontaneous seduction was relegated to the back seat, cringing at every curve in the road. Of course, AIDS cannot be totally blamed for the demise of passion in the 1980's. Popular culture mimicked the larger political scene by providing audiences with such sexual thrillers as the film "Fatal Attraction" and the voyeurism of "sex, lies and videotapes." The managing of passion became another pursuit of the 1980's, especially when it came to the object of our sexual desires. Economic, social and professional achievements seemed to displace our emotional and physical needs. In clamoring to get ahead, passion took on a new meaning. Physical and emotional pleasure became just another measure of achievement, a reward for a job well done. In an attempt to control sexual appetites, "safe sex" campaigns were waged with all the virulence of the disease it sought to curb, encouraging a nation to plan for the sexual rendezvous and not be caught with its pants down.