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This qualitative inquiry examined the coping mechanisms employed by health system executives in Ghana during the COVID-19 pandemic to enhance resilience and leadership effectiveness. Utilizing in-depth interviews and thematic analysis, this study uncovered a diverse range of coping strategies utilized by both clinical and non-clinical leaders, such as seeking support from family and friends, engaging in physical activity, and using professional counseling. Non-clinical leaders also emphasized time management and spirituality as coping strategies. This study's conceptual framework highlights the interplay between individual and organizational factors, contextual elements, and the pandemic's impact on executives' coping abilities. These practical implications emphasize the need for tailored support systems, addressing health system executives' specific coping needs, and promoting interventions to strengthen resilience during crises. This study provides valuable insights for healthcare leadership and resilience studies and offers evidence-based policies and support mechanisms for health system executives during future healthcare emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous studies have revealed that religious coping strategy is common among athletes due to the stressful experiences before and during competitions as part of the mental preparations they go through, the uncertainty of sporting outcomes, and other organizational issues they encounter. This research assessed the reproducibility of the Brief Religious Coping (RCOPE) instrument in an African setting using athletes' samples from different countries. Particularly, the research sought to assess the (1) factor structure of Brief RCOPE with an African sample, (2) construct validity of the RCOPE measure, and (3) measurement invariance of the RCOPE instrument based on gender and nationality. Methods: The study surveyed a convenient sample of 300 athletes, including 164 male and 136 female athletes, from 3 African countries (Benin, Ghana, and Nigeria) who participated in the 2018 West African University Games. The Brief RCOPE instrument was administered to the athletes for validation purposes before the competition. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted using the ordinal factor analytic approach. Results: This validation study confirmed the two-factor dimension (positive and negative religious coping) of the Brief RCOPE measure. Further, all items for each of the dimensions of the inventory contributed significantly to the measure of the Brief RCOPE domains. The positive and negative religious coping dimensions contributed more than half of the variance of their respective indicators. Measurement invariance across gender and nationality was confirmed. Conclusion: Sufficient evidence was gathered to support the interpretation and use of the Brief RCOPE measure. Coaches and sports psychologists could adopt the Brief RCOPE measure to understand the mental or thought patterns of religious athletes based on existential concerns or stress accrued from impending competitions to inform appropriate religious coping interventions. This notwithstanding, the Minimum Clinical Important Difference (MCID) of the Brief RCOPE should be further investigated to enhance the utility of the instrument for use in intervention-based studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1990s, integrated catchment management (ICM) has been promoted as a holistic and integrated approach to water resources management. However, there is evidence to show that the costs and benefits associated with ICM are often inequitably distributed. This study investigates impacts of the implementation of catchment strategies on four rural communities and the coping mechanisms available to residents to cope with concomitant socioeconomic hardships within the Densu River basin, Ghana. The study relies on data collected through reviewing regulatory and policy documents, interviews, observations, and a household survey of 327 respondents. The results show that the implementation of the catchment strategies has negatively impacted the economies of all communities leading to local resistance. Increasing unemployment, decreasing incomes, and decreasing sales are generating increasing crime rates, out migration, and changing gender roles with additional burden on women. What compounds the problem are that socioeconomic interventions and coping mechanisms have failed to make any significant impact. We argue that for effective ICM, proportional representation of local people on catchment committees should be central in order to incorporate a thorough understanding of the local socioeconomic issues and integrating those issues into the implementation process; otherwise catchment strategies risk disproportionately impacting rural communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several professionals, including teachers, have been engrossed in fear of the worst happening due to COVID-19 and the rapidly evolving nature of the virus affecting the perception of safety in any working environment. This study examined teachers' perception of classroom safety, anxiety, and coping strategies during instructional delivery in senior high schools in Ghana. Adopting the cross-sectional survey design with a quantitative approach, a convenient sample of 174 senior high school teachers in the Cape Coast Metropolis completed a questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, analysis of variance, and multiple linear regression. The findings showed that teachers perceived their classroom environment as unsafe during instructional delivery amidst COVID-19 and reported modest to extreme levels of anxiety. Further, teachers with a high level of COVID-19 anxiety were found to utilize active coping strategies to manage stressful situations. The reported unsafe working environment in schools during pandemic times highlights the critical role of supportive working environments for teachers' mental and psychological wellness. School counseling psychologists, school welfare officers, and school health coordinators should collaborate to implement interventions (e.g., social emotional learning; resilience strategies) that promote the wellbeing of teachers and a safe working environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Studies on informal caregiving for older persons in Ghana have only reported the challenges of the caregivers without providing their coping mechanisms. Considering the myriad of challenges facing informal caregivers in Ghana, we sought to explore the coping mechanisms utilised by informal caregivers in rural and urban settings of Ghana to overcome their caregiving challenges. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 purposively selected caregivers from the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality and Kumasi Metropolis in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. The data were thematically analysed and common themes were reported as findings. Results: Six key coping mechanisms were found; faith in God, support from friends and family, borrowing from friends, acceptance and encouragement, reducing expenditure on other activities, and taking time off. Conclusion: The findings provide key strategies to policy-makers in the health sector to prevent the burnout of informal caregivers. Considerations from the coping mechanisms enumerated in the current study could guide the design and implementation of policies towards improving the informal healthcare sector in Ghana, which is crucial to the realisation of the United Nations' health-related Sustainable Development Goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that flood vulnerability around the Weija Dam, near Accra, the capital of Ghana, can be explained by the city's complex peri-urbanization trajectories. The dam, which was constructed 40 years ago, supplies water to many parts of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area. To offset the impacts of potential dam failure due to seismic activities, as well as accidental and planned water spillages, about 100 m of lands around the dam and 30 m of riparian lands around River Densu were reserved. Despite planning prohibitions, these reservations have largely been encroached by homebuilders and business operators. Analyses of time-series rainfall data and hazard mapping showed that during periods of torrential rainfall, the dam and the river are overwhelmed with storm water hence exposing the Weija Township located downstream to flood hazards. Questionnaire surveys, in-depth interviews with selected homebuilders, and institutional consultations revealed that the spatial and institutional management dynamics, customary land ownership, along with the growing defiance of planning regulations were the key influences of floods in the Weija Township. The affected households have attempted to mitigate the effects of flooding by elevating structures with stones and sandbags, strengthening walls, constructing drains and pumping water out during flooding events, but with little success. However, given the lack of political will to remove the unauthorized structures constructed within the buffers and reservations, the challenge now is to minimize flood vulnerabilities by flood-proofing buildings, improving drains and channelizing portions of the river within the township. These structural measures should be complemented by flood vulnerability maps, early flood warning and evacuation systems, mandatory property insurance policies, and above all, improved institutional coordination and collaboration for flood management. The paper recommends a re-examination of Ghana's urban land use planning and management of water bodies in urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupational stress is an ever increasing public health hazard and an occupational risk factor. There is a growing concern around the world that, people work harder and longer while injury and illness rates associated with occupational stress continue to grow. The study examined levels of stress and coping mechanisms adopted by workers of the Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) at the headquarters in Accra. A sample of 56 out of 59 staff at the PRAAD headquarters in Accra was considered for the study. The standard questionnaire used, was adapted from the works of Barone, Caddy, Katell, Roselione and Hamilton (1988) on stress inventory as well as coping inventory from Folkman and Lazarus (1980). From the study, the older and the young, the married and unmarried and both male and female staff of PRAAD were found to experience almost the same level of stress, but females were better copers of stress than their male counterparts. The study also revealed that the highly educated records staff of PRAAD experienced lower stress levels compared to their counterparts who were not highly educated. Generally, all workers of PRAAD faced some level stress. The study recommended that institutions like PRAAD should endeavour to provide and pursue policies and programmes that eliminate work-induced stress and create conducive environment for employees whilst employees also compliments these by making effort to reduce personal stressors by adopting scientific coping strategies in order to enhance their wellbeing and productivity in the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]