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Low‐income, rural families face significant mental health risks. However, the understanding of resources associated with mental health risks is limited. The present study investigated the associations between perceived resources of low‐income, rural mothers, and longitudinal maternal and child outcomes. This study utilized longitudinal data from the Family Life Project (N = 1203), from US rural areas with high poverty rates. Mothers reported their resources at 6‐month postpartum, and their levels of depression, anxiety, and role overload were assessed at 2‐year postpartum. Mothers reported their children's behavioral problems at 3 years old. Using a person‐centered approach, we identified four maternal profiles: lower resources (7.1%); higher intra‐family support (11.1%); higher inter‐family support (20.8%); and higher resources (60.9%). In general, the higher resource profile was associated with lower mental health concerns of mothers and lower levels of behavior problems of children. Mothers in the higher intra‐family support profile had disproportionately higher role overload. Children of mothers in the higher inter‐family support profile showed disproportionately higher behavioral problems. Maternal partner status and education were significant predictors of resource profiles. Findings support the heterogeneity in perceived resources among low‐income, rural families and different risk levels. Identifying these subgroups has significant implications for policy and interventions aimed toward this vulnerable population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Future of Families and Child Wellbeing data (N = 4488, waves collected between 2001 and 2010), the current study examined mothers' and fathers' trajectories of engagement in learning activities (e.g., reading, storytelling, playing with toys) from infancy to age 5, predictors of the trajectories (family poverty, coresidence, child temperament), whether those trajectories predicted children's academic skills (vocabulary knowledge, reading, and math ability) at age 9, and moderators of the trajectories. Mothers' and fathers' learning activities decreased significantly over time as children got older, and rates of decline were greater when families experienced poverty and were nonresident. Children's academic skills were significantly lower when mothers and fathers reported higher rates of decline in learning activities during early childhood; effect sizes were small. Highlights: Examined both mothers' and fathers' learning activity trajectories from infancy to age 5. Found that mothers' and fathers' engagement in learning activities decreased significantly from infancy to age 5. Children's academic skills were significantly lower when mothers and fathers reported higher rates of decline in learning activities during early childhood; effect sizes were small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the widespread adoption and implementation of Education for All (EFA) at the World Education Forum held at Dakar as part of the Millennium Development Goals in 2000, school enrolment at the basic level of education has increased in Sub-Saharan Africa. With the region having the lowest rate of youth enrolled in upper secondary schools in the world, countries are paying considerable attention to upper secondary education, which is argued to be a significant component of human capital formation and for meeting Sustainable Development Goal 4. However, unlike for basic level education, academic research on the factors that determine upper secondary school enrolment in the region is limited. Against this backdrop, the study investigates the effects of cost elimination on upper secondary school enrolment in Sub-Saharan Africa using macro-level panel data analysis of countries from 2003 to 2018. The results show that cost elimination, as a demand-side intervention, has a significant positive effect on upper secondary school enrolment. However, amid a high level of poverty rate, the magnitude of the positive effects of cost elimination tends to reduce. This shows that along with demand-side interventions that reduce direct costs to schooling, policies must focus on reducing the level of poverty for cost elimination to become effective in increasing school enrolment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fifty years after Feagin's pioneering 1972 study, we present a systematic review of the measurement of attributions for poverty and economic inequality. We conducted a search for articles published from 1972 to 2023 in APA PsycArticles, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, APA PsycInfo, PSYNDEX Literature with PSYNDEX Tests, and Google Scholar. We used the following English keywords: "poor", "poverty", "inequality", "attribution", and "attributions" and their equivalents in Spanish. Applying our inclusion and exclusion criteria led to a final sample of 74 articles. We report three main findings. First, the majority of studies classify attributions on the dimensions of individualistic vs. structural. Second, there is a clear tendency to measure attributions for domestic poverty without considering supranational factors or poverty as a global challenge. Third, studies focus almost exclusively on poverty rather than (economic) inequality. We identify potential for future development within the literature, namely, from a domestic to a global perspective, from locus to controllability, and from poverty to inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Preschools may provide opportunities for children to engage in physical activity (PA), to benefit their health, although little is known when concerning low‐income preschoolers. This study aimed (1) to describe time spent in PA among low‐income children during preschool hours and (2) to analyse how many children meet the PA recommendations during preschool hours. Methods: A total of 204 low‐income preschoolers (4.51 ± 0.79 years) from João Pessoa/Brazil provided valid accelerometer (Actigraph, WGT3‐X) data during the preschool period. Children were grouped in quartiles of PA in counts per minute, according to sex and age. The General Linear Model Univariate was used to examine the differences in PA intensities between the quartiles and the time spent in total PA (TPA) and moderate‐to‐vigorous PA (MVPA) by quartiles, according to age. An hour‐by‐hour description of children's PA was presented. Results: TPA during preschool hours ranged from 68.33% to 113.89% of the recommended and from 28.34% to 81.68% of the MVPA recommendations. Among 5‐year‐old children, those in the highest quartile met the PA recommendations. All children were more active outdoors than indoors. For the less actives, preschool time corresponded to 30% of the recommended daily MVPA. Conclusion: The current results reinforce the importance of preschool settings for promoting preschoolers' PA and provide particularly important and useful information for tailoring preschool‐based interventions focused on those who need it most. Strategies to increase children's MVPA should be prioritized during free‐play time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most countries around the world, social workers assist financially vulnerable people, but they often do so with little or no training in finance. This article examines the development and pilot testing of a financial curriculum to be used in social work education and training in Singapore. Feedback from social workers informed development of the curriculum, which is practical and capability-based. The study covers two phases: first curriculum development, then pilot testing. Focus group methods are used to analyse the process and effectiveness of curriculum development and the initial training outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Voices from Practice note delineates institutional and non-institutional enablers of asset accumulation in Zimbabwe. It argues that in promoting asset accumulation and poverty reduction, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) rely on the support of government ministries, partner NGOs, community volunteers, and community leaders. That perspective shifts and moves away from placing NGOs at the center of asset accumulation and poverty reduction efforts in communities. This article concludes that social work practice can be integral in contributing to poverty reduction when there are various stakeholders collaborating to enhance the welfare of communities at risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the place of brickmaking as an activity supported or promoted by parish poor relief. Parochial work schemes were typically founded on agricultural work, textile manufacturing, or unskilled tasks like oakum picking, yet the manual exertion was necessarily required for making bricks prior to mechanization attracted some parishes to experiment with this form of hard and deterrent labour. Brick production did not take place in a vacuum, however, ensuring that the consequences of a parish commissioning or making bricks could be felt across the community which supplied raw materials or services, ensuring that the process was not solely a check on indolent poverty. Close reading of overseers' vouchers, the receipts which sometimes survive attesting to the detail of parish payments, show the significance of brick in parish economies for the paupers, parish officers, parish suppliers, and wider communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to identify the factors that influence the perception of poverty in Bogota and Cundinamarca. For this we used data from the Multipurpose Survey in Colombia (2017) and estimated a binary response model using LASSO (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator). The empirical testing showed that high levels of schooling, sufficient income to cover minimum expenses, receiving rents, being a housewife, belonging to the special health regime or not receiving state aid or remittances, decreased the probability of feeling poor. Meanwhile, people were more likely to consider themselves poor if they presented at least one of the following conditions: they were unemployed, were disabled, belonged to the subsidized regime, had low levels of schooling, received help from another person or some institution, or their minimum expenses were not covered by their income. Therefore, to reduce the perception of poverty, public policies in Colombia should aim to create mechanisms that promote higher education and job stability, instead of increasing subsidies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is supposed that in all armed conflicts until World War II more humans died of infectious diseases than of the actual violence. Especially malaria left a crucial imprint on wars throughout history. The disease aggravates wartime conditions, is thus responsible for significant morbidity and mortality in conflict zones, and is at the same time more commonly found in these areas. Malaria has halted many military campaigns in the past, with prominent examples ranging from antiquity through the medieval period and into the modern era. The parasitosis still continues to play an important role in the outcome of warfare and follow-up events today and is of special public health importance in areas of the Global South, where most of its endemicity and some of the most brutal conflicts of our time are located. Vice versa, wars and ensuing population movements increase malaria transmission and morbidity as well as impede control efforts. Awareness of this and the development of strategies to overcome both malaria and wars will massively improve the well-being of the population affected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has often been suggested that poor Australians were a forgotten cohort during the long period of post‐World War Two prosperity. Yet the peak non‐government welfare body, the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), aimed from its establishment in 1956 to publicise concerns about poverty, and stimulate policy responses to relieve the disadvantage of those living in poverty. Using a range of primary sources including ACOSS annual reports, policy statements, committee meeting minutes and newsletters, this paper examines the key manifestations of ACOSS advocacy for low‐income Australians including research reports, budget submissions and public forums. It is argued that ACOSS gradually shifted from a welfarist approach based on lifting the incomes of specific vulnerable groups in isolation to a social justice approach that linked poverty to wider societal inequities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medicine, as an institution and discipline, has embraced social determinants of health as a key influence on clinical practice and care. Beyond simply acknowledging their importance, most recent versions of the International Classification of Diseases explicitly codify social determinants as a viable diagnostic category. This diagnostic shift is noteworthy in the United States, where 'Z‐codes' were introduced to facilitate the documentation of illiteracy, unemployment, poverty and other social factors impacting health. Z‐codes hold promise in addressing patients' social needs, but there are likely consequences to medicalising social determinants. In turn, this article provides a critical appraisal of Z‐codes, focussing on the role of diagnoses as both constructive and counterproductive sources of legitimacy, knowledge and responsibility in our collective understanding of health. Diagnosis codes for social determinants are powerful bureaucratic tools for framing and responding to psychosocial risks commensurate with biophysiological symptoms; however, they potentially reinforce beliefs about the centrality of individuals for addressing poor health at the population level. I contend that Z‐codes demonstrate the limited capacity of diagnoses to capture the complex individual and social aetiology of health, and that sociology benefits from looking further 'upstream' to identify the structural forces constraining the scope and utility of diagnoses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-COVID-19 era has witnessed intensive engagements on latest datasets on COVID-19 experiences and the need for robust data systems to understand emerging policy pathways. There have also been extensive deliberations on how public organisations can deliver beyond immediate concerns with economic recovery and improved livelihoods. This paper draws insights from the Afrobarometer round 9 dataset on how different African governments' economies have been recovering from COVID-19 and how this has affected citizens' well-being in Kenya. The results show that despite the good recovery progress, the government has yet to stabilise high food prices, inflation, debts, job creation, etc. While national policy priorities may explain how this situation plays out, these challenges remain complex and linked to external factors that African governments may have little control over. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy PointsPregnancy and childhood are periods of heightened economic vulnerability, but current policies for addressing health‐related social needs, including screening and referral programs, may be insufficient because of persistent gaps, incomplete follow‐up, administrative burden, and limited take‐up.To bridge gaps in the social safety net, direct provision of cash transfers to low‐income families experiencing health challenges during pregnancy, infancy, and early childhood could provide families with the flexibility and support to enable caregiving, increase access to health care, and improve health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy PointsPeople with disabilities experience a vicious cycle of poverty, poor health, and marginalization partly because of the inequitable implementation and enforcement of laws, including underenforcement of civil rights and housing laws and overenforcement of punitive nuisance and criminal laws.Inequitable enforcement reflects policy choices that prioritize powerful entities (e.g., landlords, developers) to the detriment of people who experience intersectional structural discrimination based on, for example, race, disability, and income.Equitable enforcement, a process of ensuring compliance with the law while considering and minimizing harms to marginalized people, can promote health and disability justice by increasing access to safe, stable, and accessible housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the biological, socio-economic, and institutional factors shaping the individual risk of death during a major pre-industrial epidemic. We use a micro-demographic database for an Italian city (Carmagnola) during the 1630 plague to explore in detail the survival dynamics of the population admitted to the isolation hospital (lazzaretto). We develop a theoretical model of admissions to the lazzaretto, for better interpretation of the observational data. We explore how age and sex shaped the individual risk of death, and we provide a one-of-a-kind study of the impact of socio-economic status. We report an inversion of the normal mortality gradient by status for those interned at the lazzaretto. The rich enjoyed a greater ability to make decisions about their hospitalization, but this backfired. Instead, the poor sent to the lazzaretto faced a relatively low risk of death because they enjoyed better conditions than they would have experienced outside the hospital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay theorizes a connection between referential instability and British imperial collapse in Elizabeth Bowen's novel The Last September. It argues that the felt experiences of the rapidly shifting historical situation in Ireland must be understood through the novel's linguistic indirection. By tracing the development of "enabling generalizations," it shows how the novel's dialogic language exposes the unstable nature of colonial identification—evidenced in the volatility of setting—while offering a formal strategy for grappling with that very instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lack of research exists concerning the heterogeneity of the occupational injuries of slum dwellers across industries which has a close link with health expenditure and hence livelihood. It necessitates analysing their occupational injuries and associated out-of-pocket health expenditures. Multi-stage random sampling is used to collect the primary data and the logit model is used for data analyses. Permanent non-fatal injuries in the civil-mechanical industries and temporary non-fatal injuries in textile industries are common. The share of health expenditure of the injured workers seeking medical consultations remains 59% of their average monthly income. Average monthly income, parental occupation, types of industry, job security, risk intensity, and salary basis are significant estimates of occupational injuries. The differences in the nature and extent of the occupational injuries of the workers across industries in the light of the socio-demographic and working environment context provide significant insight into the policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating in many countries, increasing household energy poverty. Lockdown measures have brought the EU economies into recession phases and forced people to stay confined to their homes, aggravating these issues. From the second half of 2021, when the worst seemed behind us, a new threat has appeared threatening economic recovery: the inflationary process in energy prices. This paper aims to verify the effects on energy poverty in European countries following the economic crisis generated by COVID-19 and the current inflationary scenario due to the increase in energy commodity prices through dynamic factor models, estimating the time it will take for energy poverty to return to levels before the shocks that occurred over the past two years. The outcomes show that the overall rise in energy prices (in particular gas) that unexpectedly affected European countries modifies the forecast scenarios, delaying, at best, the first improvements, initially expected as early as 2021, until after 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mainstream poverty analysis currently renders certain people and degrees of privation more socially legible than others across high-income countries. This article examines how these hierarchies carry through to and corrupt wider social scientific analysis, inscribing differential value to actors and phenomena in ways that undermine social understanding and explanation. First, conventional approaches to poverty analysis and measurement obscure the de facto prevalence of deep poverty, as well as those most subject to its violence. Second, a growing number of hyper-marginalised groups are missing from population income surveys, undermining the accuracy of (deep) poverty estimates and public understanding of both its determinants and dynamics. Third, the inferential and external validity of income surveys is significantly diminished by problems surrounding data quality and coverage. Attempts to address this have principally focused on improving data quality, but as demonstrated in this article, these strategies exacerbate poor representation of the lowest-income groups in distributional analysis. Much more than merely technical or pragmatic, these are theoretical and normative judgements about who counts in welfare policy and politics. Overall, I demonstrate how current data practices occlude some the most violent forms of denigration and exploitation that structure advanced marginality, particularly the gendered, racialised, bordering and ableist practices underpinning state–citizen dynamics. Focusing principally on the UK context, I argue that the epistemic erasure committed features in and systematises a policy blindness to deep poverty for some of the most marginalised social groups making it harder to evidence its effects and address its causes across high-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction/Purpose: Poverty-reduction efforts that seek to support households with children and enable healthy family functioning are vital to produce positive economic, health, developmental, and upward mobility outcomes. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is an effective poverty-reduction policy for individuals and families. This study investigated the non-nutritional effects that families experience when receiving SNAP benefits. Methods: We conducted a scoping review using the PRISMA Guidelines and strategic search terms across seven databases from 01 January 2008 to 01 February 2023 (n=2456). Data extraction involved two researchers performing title-abstract reviews. Full-text articles were assessed for eligibility (n=103). Forty articles were included for data retrieval. Results: SNAP positively impacts family health across the five categories of the Family Stress Model (Healthcare utilization for children and parents, Familial allocation of resources, Impact on child development and behavior, Mental health, and Abuse or neglect). Discussion/Conclusion: SNAP is a highly effective program with growing evidence that it positively impacts family health and alleviates poverty. Four priority policy actions are discussed to overcome the unintentional barriers for SNAP: distributing benefits more than once a month; increasing SNAP benefits for recipients; softening the abrupt end of benefits when wages increase; and coordinating SNAP eligibility and enrollment with other programs. Significance: What is already known on this subject?: Poverty-reduction efforts that invest in children have especially significant positive benefits by producing positive economic, health, developmental, and upward mobility outcomes. SNAP is among the leading poverty-reducing policies and enrolls the largest number of participants for both nutritional and non-nutritional benefits. What this study adds?: To our knowledge, no study has synthesized the non-nutritional impact of SNAP on family health. We found that SNAP positively impacts family health across five categories of the Family Stress Model (Healthcare utilization for children and parents, Familial allocation of resources, Impact on child development and behavior, Mental health, and Abuse or neglect). Further, we present four policy actions resulting from this scoping review that deserve attention from policymakers, program administrators, and retailer establishments: distribute benefits more than once a month; increase SNAP benefits for recipients; soften the abrupt end of benefits when wages increase; and coordinate SNAP eligibility and enrollment with other programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background To address knowledge gaps, this study examined social determinants, such as education attainment and HIV prevention, among sexually active men (SAM), with a focus on voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC). Methods Two nationally representative surveys, the Eswatini Demographic and Health Survey 2006 and the Eswatini HIV Incidence Measurement Survey 2016, were used to estimate whether or not VMMC at the individual and community levels contributes to HIV disparities to any meaningful extent. Multilevel logistic regression models further explored the educational gradient in HIV infection for 2006–2007 and 2016 with regard to VMMC among SAM, while adjusting for household poverty, sexual practices and individual characteristics. Results Among SAM with tertiary education, HIV prevalence declined from 25.0% in 2006–2007 to 10.5% in 2016. A 51% decrease in HIV prevalence was found to be associated with an increase in VMMC (adjusted odds ratio 0.49; 95% CI 0.40 to 0.60). Compared with SAM with tertiary education, those who had a lower level of education were more likely to have HIV infection and this education gradient effect had become particularly profound in 2016. Conclusions VMMC began to be promoted in 2008 in Eswatini and results suggest its effect, along with the education attainment effect, significantly resulted in a meaningful reduction in HIV prevalence among SAM by 2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although poor health has been reported in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), most studies excluded fathers and focused on mental health. We combined 2016–2019 data from the National Surveys of Children's Health to determine child and parent characteristics that predict poor mental and physical health in fathers (n = 818) and mothers (n = 2111) of children with ASD. For fathers of children with ASD, higher parenting stress was significantly associated with greater odds of poor physical health, whereas racial and ethnic minorities and living at 400% above the federal poverty were significantly associated with lower odds of poor mental health. For mothers of children with ASD, greater child sleep problems were significantly associated with greater odds of poor physical health, and two-parent household living 400% above the poverty line was significantly associated with reported lower odds of poor mental health. Continued efforts to reduce parenting stress and improve child sleep problems, along with expanding existing services and coverages of ASD services, especially for low-income families, may help reduce the burden on these families, preventing adverse future health outcomes in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Falls can have life-altering consequences for older adults, including extended recovery periods and compromised independence. Higher household income may mitigate the risk of falls by providing financial resources for mobility tools, remediation of environmental hazards, and needed supports, or it may buffer the impact of an initial fall on subsequent risk through improved assistance and care. Household income has not had a consistently observed association with falls in older adults; however, a segmented association may exist such that associations are attenuated above a certain income threshold. In this study, we utilized segmented negative binomial regression analysis to examine the association between household income and recurrent falls among 2,302 participants in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) Study recruited between 2003 and 2007. Income-fall association segments separated by changes in slope were considered. Model results indicated a 2-segment association between household income and recurrent falls in the past year. In the range below the breakpoint, household income was negatively associated with the rate of recurrent falls across all age groups examined; in a higher income range (from $20,000–$49,999 to ≥$150,000), the association was attenuated (weaker negative trend) or reversed (positive trend). These findings point to potential benefits of ensuring that incomes for lower-income adults exceed the threshold needed to confer a reduced risk of recurrent falls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Recipe 4 Success preventive intervention targeted multiple factors critical to the health and well‐being of toddlers living in poverty. This randomized controlled trial, which was embedded within Early Head Start home visits for 12 weeks, included 242 racially and ethnically diverse families (51% girls; toddler mean age = 2.58 years; data collected 2016–2019). Compared to parents in usual practice home visits, parents in Recipe 4 Success displayed greater sensitive scaffolding of toddlers' learning and more responsive food parenting practices (Cohen's d =.21–.30). Toddlers in Recipe 4 Success exhibited greater self‐regulation and had healthier eating habits (Cohen's d = |.16–.35|). Results highlight the value of Recipe 4 Success in promoting parent and toddler behavior change that could have life‐long benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study explores the relationship between bullying victimization and suicidal thoughts among African American adolescents in urban neighborhoods. The study, which was guided by the general strain theory, proposed and tested potential pathways that link bullying victimization with suicidal thoughts through the mediators including emotional distress, low future orientation, hopelessness, and drug use. The study sample included 414 African American adolescents who were between ages 12 and 22 years and residing in low-income Chicago's South Side neighborhoods. Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlation, and path analyses were conducted. Bullying victimization was not significantly related to suicidal thoughts, although it was positively associated with emotional distress and drug use. The association between low future orientation and hopelessness was bidirectional. The study findings have implications for practice, which is important as resources to assist adolescents who are affected by violence tend to be limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents' roles in their children's education are significant in terms of outcomes for the child. As research on parental involvement in children's education has often been conducted in high-income countries, there is a deep need for more research on parental involvement in contexts of disadvantage. Set in the context of socioeconomically disadvantaged communities in rural Pakistan, this study sought to explore parents' lived experiences of their involvement in their children's education and gain insight into the barriers they encountered in assisting their children's learning. A qualitative research design was employed. In total, 12 parents (6 mothers and 6 fathers) of school-age children in rural Pakistan were interviewed about their views on involvement with their children's education. Data were analysed thematically, using a narrative inquiry approach. Through in-depth analysis of the data, two distinct narratives of parental involvement were identified: (1) a narrative of hope and trust-building, indicating parents' confidence in state schools and their striving for a better future for their children, and (2) a narrative of dissatisfaction and inequality, reflecting frustration arising from factors including parents' socioeconomic situations, concerns about schools and the influence of local societal norms. It was evident that, despite hardship, the parents wanted their children to be educated and regarded education as a path to improving prospects. The findings broaden understanding of parents' involvement in their children's education within socioeconomically disadvantaged rural communities by revealing and highlighting the diverse, often context-related barriers the parents encountered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on the findings from a small-scale co-produced qualitative study on experiences of distress caused by the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Inspired by the emerging interdisciplinary field of Mad Studies, the study is novel and unique in two ways. First, it prioritises social understanding and interpretation of madness and distress. Second, an emphasis is placed on experiential knowledge. Beyond interviews with 20 people who experienced distress due to political conflict, this included contextualisation of the study in the knowledge generated through survivor research and within the field of Mad Studies. Study findings highlight the social causes and consequences of distress caused by conflict, such as war-related violence, gender-based violence, experiences of poverty and corruption. Participants stressed the importance of safety and support within their own home, mutual and supportive relationships with their families, friends, other people who experienced distress, the broader community and opportunities to do everyday activities they enjoy. In terms of professional support, the findings suggest that poverty alleviation and protection of people's right to self-determination through access to human rights advocacy and representation may be as relevant as non-coercive community-based services. This indicates that support for distress caused by political conflict need not be different from any other support for people who experience distress. Emphasis should be placed on survivor-run initiatives and non-coercive, community-based support which addresses social causes of distress and enables people to exercise self-determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food insecurity (FI), defined as the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, remains a major life concern among many poor subpopulations. Few investigations have been made into the mechanism underlying its impact on adolescent substance use. This study aimed to examine the longitudinal relationship between FI and cigarette and alcohol use among economically disadvantaged adolescents and then explore the role of psychological distress and peer substance use in the aforementioned association. Data of 1,243 adolescents (Mage = 13.3 years; 645 males) were obtained from a nationwide cohort study on Taiwanese adolescents from low-income families. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses based on generalized linear mixed-effects models with binomial distribution found that FI was consistently associated with cigarette smoking (β = 0.458, p < 0.001) but not alcohol drinking (β = 0.142, p = 0.143) when both psychological distress and peer substance use were adjusted. In the moderated mediation analysis based on bootstrap methods, we observed that psychological distress mediated the association between food insecurity and alcohol drinking (β = 0.036, 95% CI = 0.015–0.063) but not cigarette smoking (β = 0.018, 95% CI =−0.001–0.037). Furthermore, the indirect effects varied by peer drinking status (index of moderated mediation = 0.04, 95% CI 0.015–0.072). Clinical and public health attention should be given to evaluating food-insecure adolescents' psychological well-being and peer influence when counseling their substance use issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disruptive events and calamities can have major consequences for households in the predominantly agrarian communities of Eastern Africa. Here, we analyze the impacts of environmental and non-environmental shocks on migration in Tanzania using panel models and longitudinal data from the Tanzania National Panel Survey between 2008 and 2013. Shocks are defined as events that lead to losses in income, assets, or both. We find shocks resulting from changes in environmental conditions to be positively related to migration over time with more recent shocks exerting the strongest impact. According to our estimates, the probability of having a household member absent increases by 0.81% with each additional environmental shock encountered in the past 12 months. Different types of shocks have differential effects on migration with the strongest effects being observed for shocks with an immediate impact on household livelihoods, including through livestock losses and crop damage. Households in the sample are differently affected with rural, agriculturally dependent, and poor households without alternative income sources showing the strongest changes in their migration behavior in response to shocks. Our study adds important insights into the relationship between disruptive events and migration in Eastern Africa considering a broad time window and the compounding influence of different shock types. Our findings have a range of policy implications highlighting the need for a comprehensive perspective on household responses in times of distress that considers the interplay of different shock types as well as the role of context in shaping mobility patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our objectives were to explore the prevalence of food insecurity in primary caregivers of young children in Ireland and to compare two tools for measuring food insecurity during the COVID‐19 crisis. A cross‐sectional online survey was conducted among caregivers of children aged <2 years in Ireland in May/June 2020. Relevant survey questions were closed‐ended using two established tools for measuring food poverty/insecurity; the Irish Food Poverty Indicator and the Food Insecurity Experience Scale, developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate the prevalence of food poverty/insecurity. To explore agreement in the classification of food insecurity by the Food Poverty Indicator and the Food Insecurity Experience Scale, Cohen's κ was used. Analyses are based on 716 participants; most had a 3rd‐level education and were married or in a partnership. Per the food poverty index, Ireland's national measure of food poverty, 3.9% (n = 28) of our sample were experiencing food poverty. This rose to 10.5% (n = 75) experiencing food insecurity when using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale, which also measures worry/anxiety around access to food. There was low agreement between the tools, with 11.3% of the sample classified as food secure by one tool and food insecure by the other. Our current measure of food poverty in Ireland may not be sufficient to describe the food‐access struggles or worry/anxiety about food access, experienced by the population, particularly during an emergency like COVID‐19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we develop a three-period gender-based Overlapping Generations (OLG) model of economic growth for Côte d'Ivoire in which life expectancy is endogenized and the rate of change of the poverty rate is linked to the growth rate of output per capita. We then calibrate the model using the country-specific calibration data to illustrate the role of public policies in the model, and its implications for long-term growth, gender equality, and poverty in Côte d'Ivoire. To this end, we discuss three sets of quantitative experiments: broad-based development policies (increase in education spending and infrastructure investment, and governance reform), gender-based policies (reduction in gender bias in the market place, increase in women's bargaining power, and reduction in family bias against girls' education), and a composite reform program (combination of pro-growth, pro-gender policies). Overall, our findings suggest that Côte d'Ivoire could achieve better growth and poverty outcomes if the country could implement a composite reform program that includes comprehensive development and gender-based policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uganda is home to 1.5 million refugees from DRC, Burundi, South Sudan and other countries. The Uganda political framework is one of the most progressive and inclusive toward refugees. Only a fraction of the refugees is likely to revert to their home countries. The papers collected in this special issue assess Uganda's progressive refugee policy with reference to how it functioned in the era of COVID-19 using a unique panel data collected between 2017 and 2021. The findings of the special issue stress that the support to refugees and hosts is helping to manage daily challenges but not to ultimately get them out of poverty. Further, this support was insufficient to provide a comprehensive response to COVID-19. For the long-term sustainable integration and development, new policy approaches are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses poverty dynamics and checks for the existence of poverty traps among refugee and host communities living close to each other in Uganda. Although some non-linearities emerge in asset dynamics, there is convergence towards one stable equilibrium for the whole sample that suggests the existence of a structural poverty trap. However, households are quite heterogeneous: when analysing refugees and hosts separately, refugees converge to a lower own-group equilibrium than hosts. The household size and education are asset growth enablers for both communities. Noticeably, access to land, past history and social cohesion are also significant correlates of refugees' asset dynamics. From a policy perspective, structural poverty traps are bad news, because standard anti-poverty interventions would not unlock the trap. Our results stress the need of more structural approaches aimed at promoting economic growth in the whole area where refugee and host communities live, targeting both communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the researchers investigated the factors that affect women's breast cancer prevention behaviors. The sample of this cross-sectional and descriptive study consisted of 406 participants aged 20 and older. The study was conducted in February-March 2021 within the administrative borders of a province located in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. The data were collected via an online platform using Personal Information Form and the Scale of Factors Affecting Women's Breast Cancer Prevention Behaviors. The mean Scale of Factors Affecting Women's Breast Cancer Prevention Behaviors score of the participants was moderate as 107.20 ± 17.86. The frequency of breast cancer prevention behaviors was found to be lower in the participants with low literacy, those who were unemployed, those with low income, those living in villages and those who did not perform breast self-examination (p < 0.05). It is recommended to plan educational studies on breast cancer screening behaviors by considering regional differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined relationships between area‐level deprivation, local authorities' social care expenditure and the rates of children entering care proceedings in England using a novel data linkage of de‐identified records provided by the Children and Family Court Advisory Service (Cafcass). Using structural equation modelling, the authors found strong positive relationships between socioeconomic area deprivation and high rates of children undergoing care proceedings in England between 2015 and 2019. Preventative social care expenditure is associated with lower child rates when adjusting for deprivation. Our findings suggest that deprived and underfunded local authorities respond to an increased need by prioritizing care arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the associations of multifaceted material hardship measured cross‐sectionally and longitudinally with children's well‐being in the United States. Results from linear regression and child fixed effects models indicated that more intense material hardship had consistent, detrimental associations with child health status and internalizing and externalizing behaviours. More intense longitudinal patterns of material hardship were consistently associated with behaviours only. These findings examine new, multifaceted measures of material hardship and suggest associations between child well‐being, particularly behaviour challenges, and exposure both to multiple forms of material hardship and to more intense long‐term patterns of hardship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) Child File, the only national dataset cataloging child maltreatment reports. It includes variables representing economic distress frequently used in published research. At the national level, these variables are demonstrably implausible, substantially underestimating economic distress. Method: This paper reviews recent work using these variables, analyzes the NCANDS data directly, demonstrates why the economic variables in NCANDS are unusable at a national level, and provides recommendations for incorporating economic measures using NCANDS. Results: We find 19 articles that have used these variables within the past 10 years. Most states provide implausible estimates. Economic measures can be incorporated into NCANDS data by either subsetting to s states with plausible estimates of these variables in given years, or appending county-level economic Census data. Discussion: Without addressing these variables' issues in plausibility, use of them will yield biased estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Availability of benefits and expanded flexibilities to obtain formula, granted by the US Department of Agriculture shortly after the onset of infant formula shortage in February 2022, could have mitigated adverse experiences related to the shortage in Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) families. To examine association of household WIC participation with formula shortage experiences and coping strategies adopted by families using Household Pulse Survey data. Cross-sectional. The current study utilized Phase 3.7 of the Household Pulse Survey with the following data collection periods: December 9 through 19, 2022, January 4 through 16, 2023, and February 1 through 13, 2023. The primary analytic sample (N = 1,542) consisted of households with income ≤185% of the federal poverty level and children younger than age 18 months. Experiences and coping strategies during the formula shortage. Logistic regression examined associations of WIC participation with odds of being affected by formula shortage and difficulty in obtaining formula during the past week. Among those affected by the shortage, association of WIC participation with odds of utilizing coping strategies was examined. No statistically significant differences were observed in the rates of being affected by formula shortage and having difficulty in obtaining formula during the past week between WIC participants and income-eligible nonparticipants. However, among those affected by the shortage, WIC participation was related to significantly lower odds of using suboptimal practices as a coping strategy (odds ratio 0.38, 95% CI 0.20 to 0.71; P = 0.003). WIC participants also had significantly higher odds of solely changing formula type, brand, or method of receipt (odds ratio 2.63, 95% CI 1.20 to 5.73; P = 0.02). Findings from this study suggest that WIC participants may have utilized more optimal coping strategies during the infant formula shortage compared with income-eligible nonparticipants. Additional research is needed to determine whether or not these findings could be attributed to expanded flexibilities to maximize formula access among WIC participants during the shortage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Research suggests that many educators hold inaccurate or incomplete perceptions of poverty leading to stereotyping of students living in poverty. It is important for future teachers to understand more about the complexities of poverty so they can bridge gaps between misconceptions and understanding for their students, families, and school communities. Purpose: This study examined teacher candidates' preconceived thoughts and changes in perceptions toward poverty based on participation in an experiential learning activity (i.e., a poverty simulation). Methodology/Approach: The participants (n = 94) were in their final term of a 2-year teacher education program in Ontario, Canada. This mixed-method study used a Community Action Poverty Simulation combined with the quantitative presurvey Undergraduate Perception of Poverty Tracking Survey and qualitative postgroup discussions. Findings/Conclusions: Results indicated that the poverty simulation was an effective tool for disrupting poverty perceptions and myths among teacher candidates and provided insight into further areas to increase understanding. Implications: Based on the findings, poverty simulations are a promising experiential learning process for teacher education programs as a cost-effective, consciousness-raising exercise that can prompt deeper levels of learning for teacher candidates and better prepare them to teach students living in poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mindfulness has been shown to increase parental well-being in multi-faceted ways, yet we do not invest in broad applications of mindfulness training for those most in need. The overall aim of this qualitative study is to better understand whether and how mindful self-care instruction helps Black, low-income women assimilate the experience of birth and the transition into motherhood. Conclusions indicate that the mindfulness program impacts these women by helping them feel more connected to themselves, increasing their awareness and practice of self-care, and improving their mental health and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite established links among persistent unemployment, low wages, and children's economic well-being, social scientists have yet to document how variability in work hours is linked to child poverty. Our knowledge of the safety net's heterogeneous responses to work-hour instability is also limited. This is of critical importance for scholars and policymakers. Using nationally representative data collected every 4 months, this paper examines how intra-year work-hour volatility is related to child poverty, measured through both the official poverty measure (OPM) and the supplemental poverty measure (SPM). It further assesses varying degrees of buffering effects of cash, in-kind benefits, and tax transfers on income in the context of work-hour volatility. Results indicate that more than one in four households (26%) facing the greatest volatility lived under the poverty line. Black and Hispanic children, as well as those living with unpartnered single mothers, faced substantially higher variability in household market hours worked. Hispanic children experienced not only greater volatility in their caregivers' work hours but also higher poverty level, even after taking government programs into account. In-kind benefits are more effective in buffering household income declines resulting from unstable work hours, followed by tax transfers and cash benefits. The effectiveness of near-cash benefits is particularly salient among Black children and children of single mothers. These results provide new evidence to inform policy discussions surrounding the best ways to help socioeconomically disadvantaged families to retain benefits and smooth their income in the face of frequent variation in work hours and, thus, earnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This case report from Scotland, UK illustrates how unresolved traumatic experiences across the life course can affect a patient's engagement with palliative care and offers insights into the flexibility and adaptations necessary for taking a trauma informed approach to care for an individual experiencing multiple disadvantage. Trauma informed care is a cornerstone in the pursuit of equitable palliative care, particularly for those facing multiple disadvantage, as it acknowledges the impact of past traumas on current healthcare experiences, and fosters an environment of understanding, acceptance, and tailored support to alleviate suffering in the final stages of life. Case presentation: "M" was a veteran with a history of homelessness, living with end stage anal cancer and symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder, although he never received a formal diagnosis. M exhibited complex behaviours perceived to be related to his history of trauma, including his decision to elope from the hospice, reluctance to accept personal care from nurses, and unpredictability. These behaviours posed a significant challenge to his palliative care team, both in the hospice and at home. An individualised and flexible approach to care delivery was eventually adopted, which included a 'safety-netting' approach and care delivery outside of the hospice. M was ultimately supported to remain at home until a week before he died. Conclusion: M's case underscores the necessity of adopting a trauma informed approach to palliative care, particularly for patients with a history of trauma and multiple disadvantage. The case highlights the importance of understanding and respecting a patient's past traumas, promoting safety and autonomy, and ensuring flexibility in care delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing research has examined the community-level factors associated with sheltered and unsheltered homelessness in the United States, generally finding that housing, labor market, and social safety net factors have significant associations with geographic variation in homelessness. Some definitions of homelessness include doubling up, defined as staying with others because of housing loss or economic hardship. We examine the community correlates of doubled-up homelessness across metropolitan areas using a measure that draws on American Community Survey microdata. We present evidence that area median rent and unemployment are positively associated with rates of doubling up among the population in or near poverty, and that income inequality and unemployment are positively associated with rates of doubling up in the total population. In contrast to recent studies of sheltered and unsheltered homelessness, we find a negative relationship between access to cash public assistance and doubling up rates within both the total population and those who are low income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty and food insecurity are issues of concern for Australians. Urban Angels Community Kitchen (UACK) is a nonprofit program providing free, healthy, homemade meals in regional Queensland, Australia. The volunteer-run program is a charity model service that addresses common barriers to food relief access, such as eligibility testing and complex referral processes. This qualitative research project used a Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) method to conduct a program evaluation of UACK. Program clients (n = 16) participated in in-depth interviews. Inductive thematic analysis established six themes: building connections, emotional and mental health benefits, service satisfaction, impact on clients, limited alternatives for food, and sustainability. Findings support UACK as an innovative model for addressing food insecurity that positively impacts clients’ biopsychosocial wellbeing. Advocating for food security is a crucial issue for social work. Social workers can advance social justice and health equity by increasing understanding of community models that address food insecurity.IMPLICATIONSFood insecurity in Australia is a growing concern that requires a contextual response from programs and services.Community kitchen models provide clients with a range of biopsychosocial benefits.Food insecurity is a social justice issue that needs to be considered by social work professionals.Food insecurity in Australia is a growing concern that requires a contextual response from programs and services.Community kitchen models provide clients with a range of biopsychosocial benefits.Food insecurity is a social justice issue that needs to be considered by social work professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rural‒urban disparity in catastrophic healthcare expenditure (CHE) is a well-documented challenge in low- and middle-income countries, including Bangladesh, limiting financial protection and hindering the achievement of the Universal Health Coverage target of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. However, the factors driving this divide remain poorly understood. Therefore, this study aims to identify the key determinants of the rural‒urban disparity in CHE incidence in Bangladesh and their changes over time. Methods: We used nationally representative data from the latest three rounds of the Bangladesh Household Income and Expenditure Survey (2005, 2010, and 2016). CHE incidence among households seeking healthcare was measured using the normative food, housing, and utilities method. To quantify covariate contributions to the rural‒urban CHE gap, we employed the Oaxaca-Blinder multivariate decomposition approach, adapted by Powers et al. for nonlinear response models. Results: CHE incidence among rural households increased persistently during the study period (2005: 24.85%, 2010: 25.74%, 2016: 27.91%) along with a significant (p-value ≤ 0.01) rural‒urban gap (2005: 9.74%-points, 2010: 13.94%-points, 2016: 12.90%-points). Despite declining over time, substantial proportions of CHE disparities (2005: 87.93%, 2010: 60.44%, 2016: 61.33%) are significantly (p-value ≤ 0.01) attributable to endowment differences between rural and urban households. The leading (three) covariate categories consistently contributing significantly (p-value ≤ 0.01) to the CHE gaps were composition disparities in the lowest consumption quintile (2005: 49.82%, 2010: 36.16%, 2016: 33.61%), highest consumption quintile (2005: 32.35%, 2010: 15.32%, 2016: 18.39%), and exclusive reliance on informal healthcare sources (2005: -36.46%, 2010: -10.17%, 2016: -12.58%). Distinctively, the presence of chronic illnesses in households emerged as a significant factor in 2016 (9.14%, p-value ≤ 0.01), superseding the contributions of composition differences in household heads with no education (4.40%, p-value ≤ 0.01) and secondary or higher education (7.44%, p-value ≤ 0.01), which were the fourth and fifth significant contributors in 2005 and 2010. Conclusions: Rural‒urban differences in household economic status, educational attainment of household heads, and healthcare sources were the key contributors to the rural‒urban CHE disparity between 2005 and 2016 in Bangladesh, with chronic illness emerging as a significant factor in the latest period. Closing the rural‒urban CHE gap necessitates strategies that carefully address rural‒urban variations in the characteristics identified above. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: School bullying is prevalent in children and adolescents. Bullying victims are seen higher risk of negative psychological outcomes. Previously published studies suggested that social indicators may pose significant influence on bullying victimization. However, the association between social poverty and bullying victimization has not been exclusively discussed. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed the association between 6 commonly used social poverty indicators (Poverty Headcount Ratio, PHR; Poverty Gap, PG; Squared Poverty Gap, SPG; monthly household per capita income, PCI; Watts' Poverty Index, WPI; the Gini Index, Gini) and the prevalence of school bullying at country level by using the Global school-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) database. Results: Altogether 16 countries were included into the final analysis, with school bullying victimization prevalence ranged from 12.9 to 47.5%. Bubble plots revealed statistically significant associations between the three indicators measuring absolute poverty level (PHR, PCI, WPI) and bullying victimization. Subsequently performed principal component regression indicated that, for all types of bullying victimization, the increase of absolute poverty level was related to elevated prevalence rates, and the association was particularly strong for verbal bullying victimization. Conclusions: Our study results may suggest that absolute social poverty is an important parameter for constructing and implementing school bullying victimization intervention strategies and measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the underlying causes of aspirations failure among young children of Bangladesh’s tea workers and how this aspirations failure hinders their future career plans and entraps them in poverty. Drawing on Appadurai’s theorisation of the capacity to aspire, Ray’s aspiration window and aspiration gap and Boudreau’s distinction and habitus, we investigated and explained the root causes of aspirations failure of tea workers’ children and its resultant effects on their life. We conducted a qualitative case study of two tea gardens located in greater Sylhet Division in Bangladesh to explore the lived experiences of the research participants employing a triangulation of methods for data collection including in-depth interviews, case studies, and direct observation. The study finds that aspiration failure among tea workers’ children is rooted in the structural constraints and other concomitant factors also created due to these constraints, which forces them into poverty traps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the situation of water scarcity and security in Mexico, with a focus on the drinking water supply issue in rural communities and the challenges posed by assessment methodologies. We conducted a comprehensive literature review to update the available information on the water crisis in Mexico and its impact on rural communities in the country, as well as the methodologies employed to assess water security and the methodological challenges associated with them. Among the most noteworthy findings is the persistent challenge in evaluating water scarcity and its implications for communities, due to the lack of consensus on the most precise methodology. Nevertheless, current methodological approaches suggest the integration of physical models with pertinent social, economic, and political data. The literature broadly agrees on the severity of the water scarcity crisis and the clear link between rural poverty and inadequate access to drinking water. Water scarcity is both a contributing factor to and a consequence of poverty, stemming from a complex interplay of socioeconomic pressures, inadequate institutional responses, and deficient water management. The paper concludes that water scarcity involves intricate interactions among various factors, encompassing physical water scarcity, pollution, and the impacts of climate change on the water cycle, and most critically, the complexities inherent in water management and regulatory frameworks. Therefore, the integration of well‐informed policies, effective management practices, and collaborative efforts is crucial for ensuring a prosperous and sustainable future. Effective water management can effectively mitigate the challenges of water scarcity and alleviate poverty.This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Water, Health, and Sanitation Human Water > Rights to Water Science of Water > Water and Environmental Change [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Tetanus, a life-threatening infection, has become rare in the United States since introduction of tetanus toxoid-containing vaccines (TTCVs), recommended as a childhood series followed by decennial boosters beginning at age 11–12 years; vaccination uptake is high in children but suboptimal in adults. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of sero-immunity to tetanus among persons aged ≥6 years in the United States and to identify factors associated with tetanus sero-immunity. Understanding population protection against tetanus informs current and future vaccine recommendations. Methods Anti-tetanus toxoid antibody concentrations were measured for participants of the 2015–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) aged ≥6 years for whom surplus serum samples were available using a microsphere-based multiplex antibody capture assay. Prevalence of sero-immunity, defined as ≥0.10 IU/mL, was estimated overall and by demographic characteristics. Factors associated with tetanus sero-immunity were examined using multivariable regression. Results Overall, 93.8% of the US population aged ≥6 years had sero-protection against tetanus. Prevalence of sero-immunity was above 90% across racial/ethnic categories, sex, and poverty levels. By age, ≥ 90% had protective sero-immunity through age 69 years, but prevalence of sero-immunity declined thereafter, with 75.8% of those aged ≥80 years having protective sero-immunity. Older age (adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR]: 0.89, 95% confidence interval [CI]:.85–.92) and being born outside the United States (aPR: 0.96, 95% CI:.93–.98) were significantly associated with lower prevalence of sero-immunity. Conclusions The majority of the US population has vaccine-induced sero-immunity to tetanus, demonstrating the success of the vaccination program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]