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Char land is well-known as a hard-to-reach community in Bangladesh where the basic health services are very pitiable. Drawing an example from two char land communities in Bangladesh, this study explored the status of the public health services and service gaps. The study collected data from 222 respondents (heads of the households) and used a quantitative research approach where a face-to-face structured interview schedule was employed for data collection. Results showed that the char land family members were suffering different types of diseases, but they did not have adequate scientific treatment facilities; manpower and institutional facilities for health services were lacking against needs; and the quality of health services was awfully poor. All of the respondents mentioned a high service gap between demand and supply on health tests, specialized services and emergency services. Findings would be important guidelines for policy makers, development practitioners, health providers, and health workers.

This study aimed to evaluate the academic performance and social surroundings of teenage smokers in Bengkulu City, Indonesia, utilizing a mixed research methodology that incorporated both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative data was obtained via structured interviews with 130 teenage smokers, while the qualitative data was obtained through in-depth interviews, observation, and documentation. The findings revealed that 51 out of 130 participants achieved a “top 10” rank in their academic performance, and 48 claimed to have achieved a “top 3 rank”. Moreover, 65% of participants reported that their family environment was supportive of their academic achievement, and there was a significant association between family environment and academic performance (OR = 10.795; p < 0.05). Additionally, 55% of participants reported that their peer environment was supportive of their academic achievement, and there was a significant association between peer environment and academic performance (OR = 10.706; p = 0.030). Furthermore, 58% of participants reported that the community environment supported their academic achievement, but there was no significant relationship between the community environment and academic performance (OR = 6.787; p = 0.148). Finally, 59% of participants reported that the work environment supported their academic achievement, but there was no significant relationship between workplace environment and academic performance (OR = 7.598; p = 0.107). The study recommends that parents and schools should focus on improving their children's academic performance, particularly in the context of peer relationships.

Taking unjust and unlawful benefits of children’s labour for someone’s gain or gratification can be termed as economic exploitations in child labour. The study aimed to explore the prevalence of economic exploitations and their determinants among child labourers (CLs). Lalbagh, Hazaribagh, and Kamrangirchar sub-districts of Dhaka district were rationally chosen as the areas of the study. The study adopted a mixed-method design, where a proportional probability sampling was used. A list of 1753 CLs comprising 543, 587 and 626 from the selected study areas was prepared through a short enumeration survey and 324 CLs were interviewed systematically from the list to collect quantitative data using a face-to-face structured interview schedule. The study also collected qualitative data through 15 in-depth case interviews (five from each sub-district). Multivariate logistic regression was employed to determine the associated factors with the economic exploitations. Thematic analysis was followed, and then a concurrent technique was employed for data analysis. Results showed that 97% of the CLs were economically exploited. The multivariate logistic regression analysis identified that the socio-economic and occupational factors were significantly associated with these economic exploitations in different variables used in the study. On the other hand, the qualitative findings showed that the CLs were physically and verbally abused, engaged long working hours with less than minimum wage, involved in various hazardous jobs while hardly received treatment costs due to occupational injury. Finding would be an important guideline for the governmental and non-governmental organizations, policymakers, human rights workers and development practitioners in the related field.

This paper is based on the first author’s PhD research data collection experiences conducted with his country people who work and live as migrant workers in the production sector in Malaysia. The data collection process is a crucial component in doctoral studies as there is a need to ensure that the data collected is representative, reliable and unbiased. The main objective of this PhD data collection was to understand the economic and social well-being of the migrant workers in the light of the economic and social well-being approaches. In exploring those issues, there were many challenges that the first author faced during data collection (between October 2016 and April 2017). This paper divulges these practical experiences and limitations of this data collection. The notable challenges and limitations were difficult to identify study locations and undocumented migrant workers, time constraint, the difficulty of sampling from a large number of the estimated population, matter of confidentiality and rapport building, lack of cooperation, high field cost, the possibility of false data, language barrier and scared of harassment and personal protection. In addition, the paper discusses the strategies undertaken for better capture of the economic and social well-being. The experiences learnt from this data collection process can be a valuable guideline for the researchers who intend to do further research in a similar context.

Suicide among adolescent has emerged as a major public health issue in many low and middle-income (LAMI) countries. Suicidal behavior including ideation and attempt are the most important predictors of completed suicide and offer critical points for intervention. This article reviews recent population and national data based studies of adolescent suicide and suicide attempters for analyzing risk factors for adolescent suicide and suicidal behavior. According to WHO estimates, 800,000 suicide deaths occurred worldwide in 2016 and it is the third leading cause of death for 15-19 year olds. The suicide rate in Bangladesh was 5.9 per 100,000 population in 2016 (4.7 for males and 7.0 for females). Approximately, 90 percent of suicide cases meet criteria for a psychiatric disorder, particularly major depression, substance abuse and prior suicide attempts are strongly related to adolescent suicides. The relationship between psychiatric disorders and adolescent suicide is now well established. Factors related to family adversity, social alienation and precipitating problems also contribute to the risk of suicide. The main target of effective prevention of adolescent suicides is to reduce suicide risk factors. Recognition and effective management and control of psychiatric disorders, e.g. depression, are essential in preventing adolescent suicides. Research on the treatment of diagnosed depressive disorders and of those with suicidal behavior is reviewed.

In the context of commonly limited research on the subject, this study intended to (i) identify the types, magnitude and impacts of disasters in the char land communities in Bangladesh, and (ii) unfolded their water, sanitation and hygiene practices. A quantitative research approach was employed for this study, where a survey method was used. Data were collected through a face-to-face structured interview from 392 household heads in 32 char lands from three north-west districts in Bangladesh. The results claimed that the char people were faced all common disasters that damaged their properties and increased low livelihoods and health problems. Though the households used safe water in all purposes, they had to depend on government, community or sharing water. They had to go a far way to collect water and that was a matter of the women security. The sanitation and hygiene facilities were found very poor in the char areas. The findings would be a useful guideline to the policymakers, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, health workers and development practitioners.

The article discusses material deprivation experienced by poor children in Malaysia. The data from a survey of 360 poor Malaysian children, age 9 to 17 years old. The study measured the material deprivation index based on the socially perceived necessities methodology. The findings implied that poor children in Malaysia experienced only a small degree of material deprivation. The results of this study provide valuable inputs for the government of Malaysia to improve its social services for children, which in the long run could help to enhance the children’s well-being.

In the context of generally limited research on the subject, this study aims to (i) unravel the nature, forms, and manifestations of socioeconomic and psychological vulnerabilities of the river erosion–affected coastal communities in Bangladesh and (ii) suggest a number of alternative livelihood options in order to reduce the vulnerabilities. It draws on a mixed-method approach. The fieldwork was conducted in three unions representing three upazilas (sub-districts) of the Bhola District. Quantitative data were collected using a structured interview schedule from 371 household heads, while the qualitative data were generated through in-depth case interviews, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. The results show that the river erosion wreaked havoc on the communities’ physical resources and increased their psychosocial vulnerabilities such as forced displacement, social insecurity, food insecurity, breakdown of socio-cultural bondage and networks, and decreased social esteem. The lack of livelihood options coupled with poor and fragile household conditions contribute to the reduced ability of the communities to cope with the post-disaster problems. The low level of participation of the river erosion–affected people in disaster construction, planning, and programs results in a weakened state of community resilience which further increases vulnerability in the future. Based on the overall observations of the study, a number of community-led alternative livelihood options are then suggested including adoption of innovative production and processing measures, formation of self-help groups, entrepreneurship development, priority basis livelihood options based on local context, and use of indigenous knowledge and skills-based coping strategies. The findings may provide useful lessons and ameliorative clues to the policy makers, and (disaster and development) practitioners.

The main objective of this paper was to examine the effects of smartphone addiction on bonding social capital among the university students in Bangladesh, for which measurement of smartphone addiction has been a correlated precondition of the study. In this connection, the main argument of this paper is that the accessibility of online-based smartphone apps alarmingly increases the compulsive use of smartphone mainly among the youth community in Bangladesh. The study employed a social survey method where data were collected through a face-to-face interview with a structured questionnaire. The study used a stratified random sampling with a sample size of 384 in the public and private university students in Bangladesh. Results show that 28 percent of the university students are addicted to the smartphone which has greater impacts on their primordial social relation as well as bonding social capital. The statistical findings also reveal that smartphone addiction weakens attachment to their family, close friends, and relatives despite having more communicational and interactional benefits from them. Specifically, the addictive use of smartphone reduces emotional sharing, interior intimacy, and responsibility toward the nearest one, but these adverse effects are highly predicted by the adaptive dysfunctions as social symptoms and by the psychological state of feeling panic and anxious without a smartphone. The study findings would be the important guideline for the policymakers, education and development practitioners, community development and youth welfare workers, social scientists, and human rights workers.

This commentary looks at the social stigma as a barrier to Covid-19 responses to community well-being in Bangladesh. The Covid-19 in Bangladesh particular the way the people respond this has many dimensions to view from sociological perspective. The main objective of this commentary is to analysis how this response is related to social stigma. Gathering information from the recent literature, results showed that there are number of causes around such stigma that include misinformation, feeling of insecurity, fear of responsibility, administrative malfunction, and lack of trust on treatment. These causes of stigma have number of forms such as humor-prone stigma, residential stigma, organizational stigma, community-stigma, and apathetical stigma. Results also show that there are many effects of stigma such as health-risks, harassment, discrimination, life-insecurity, psychological disorder, loss of social capital and emotional capital, shattering family bond and social solidarity that work as barrier to community well-being. This commentary recommends to overcome the barriers through strengthening and decentralization of the COVID-19 medical facilities including testing, tracing, formal quarantining, and special treatment for coronavirus in coronavirus hospitals by allocating a large figure of the state budget and also by taking initiatives of public-private partnership for health management.

We explore the COVID-19 pandemic in the way South Asian poor local communities experience health and income hazards and whether they prioritize their lives or put their lives on the line to earn a ...

This paper looks at the dynamism of culture, poverty and development between two countries: India and Bangladesh. There is evidence that poverty is related with culture and this synergy is related with development and vice-versa. This evidence is much more unified within these two countries. A Qualitative Interpretative Meta-Synthesis (QIMS) was conducted to analyze the current literature on the dynamism of culture, poverty and development. Results showed that culture, poverty and development are interning each other, and this interning is a factual in India and Bangladesh. The paper clearly shows that due to the cultural backwardness in India and Bangladesh, many people could not come out from the poverty line. As a result, the achievement of the development indicators in both countries is still slow. This paper argues that culture in all its multiple forms is essential to address the poverty as well as development. The findings of the paper would be important guideline to the development practitioners, NGO workers and development policy makers.

The article derives data from a qualitative study conducted to address the essential skills competency in teaching among social work educators in Malaysian public universities. The study conducted in-depth case interviews with selected lecturers who teach social work education in public universities in Malaysia. The results showed that social work educators believe in communication skills, cognitive skills, analytical skills, hands-on practice and continuous training for quality social work education; nevertheless, they do not all possess such skills efficiently as per skills competency standards in Malaysia. The findings would be important guidelines for social work educators and policy makers in Malaysia.

Gender issues can create major barriers to healthcare utilization for older women with multimorbidity, especially in developing countries like Bangladesh. Elderly rural women in Bangladesh, are the poorest of the poor, and the women with multimorbidity live in a regulated family atmosphere. This study explored the relationship dimensions of older women with multimorbidity in homecare and their utilization of health services. To gain a deeper understanding of these complex issues, a qualitative case study was conducted. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 11 health staff and 22 older women with multimorbidity, living in three residential communities of the Sylhet District, Bangladesh. Our analysis used critical thematic discourse, a technique developed from Axel Honneth's recognition-and-misrecognition theory. Seven relationship dimensions have been identified, and grouped under three major themes: intimate affairs [marital marginalization and parent-children-in law dynamics]; alienation in community relationships [patriarchal sibling relationships, neighborhood challenges, and gender inequality in interactions]; and legal disconnections [ignorance of rights and missed communication]. Our findings revealed a lack of understanding of the women's multimorbid care needs and patriarchal marginalization in family. This lack of understanding together with poor peer-supports in healthcare is perpetuated by misrecognition of needs from service providers, resulting in a lack of quality and poor utilization of homecare and health services. Understanding the high needs of multimorbidity and complexities of older women's relationships can assist in policy decisions. This study deepens our understanding of the ways gender inequality intersects with cultural devaluation to reduce the well-being of older women in developing countries.

The main aim of this study is to report the prevalence of Diarrhoea, Acute Respiratory Symptoms (ARS), and malnutrition in Bangladeshi among the low-income urban households’ under-five children; and explore the health and nutritional services use and determine service gaps. The study used a quantitative research approach where a social survey was employed to collect data from 378 household heads (non-slum 228 and slum 152) through a structured interview method in Zone 5 (Kashimpur and Konabari) of the Gazipur City Corporation, Bangladesh. Results show that the overall prevalence of Diarrhoea and ARS was 13% and 50%, respectively. About 65% of diarrhoea-affected children did not intake Oral Rehydration Saline and continue food, and only 4% of mothers sought treatment from health facility for their ARS-affected children. Malnourishment was prevalent in different age groups: 0–6 months [Kashimpur: 75%; Konabari: 77%]; 0–23 months [Kashimpur: 58%; Konabari: 67%]; 6–23 months [Kashimpur: 70%; Konabari: 72%]. All Wards had a minimum of one health centre and staff number ranged from 1 to 15, but 86% of newborns had no health and nutrition check-ups. The study concludes by discussing challenges and proposing recommendations for targeted health literacy campaign and preventive care interventions.