Community Volunteers Research Articles

Student-led Exercise Testing And Prescription Has Benefits For Both Students And Their Community Volunteers

Student-led Exercise Testing And Prescription Has Benefits For Both Students And Their Community Volunteers

Repositioning Earthquake Risk Reduction: Implications to Global Risk Landscape

Concepts and approaches of earthquake risk reduction have evolved over time. The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 has paved the pathway of this long journey. 1995 the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake has taught the importance of self help and mutual help in terms of community participation, volunteer activities, and role of civil society. In the first international decade of disaster risk reduction, two landmark earthquake risk reduction projects, namely risk assessment tools for diagnosis of urban areas against seismic disaster (RADIUS) and global earthquake safety initiative (GESI) have made significant impacts to scenraio-based risk assessment, and raising awareness of local governments mainly in developing countries to undertake decisive actions. The Kutch Earthquake of 2001 of India has prompted the need of owner driven reconstruction (ODR), which is considered inclusive as well as sustainable in long run. While the pre-disaster preventive measures for earthquake risks are challenging, the new complex global risk landscape poses additional challenges which need to be addressed to reposition earthquake risk reduction. It is argued that addressing systemic risks, active involvement of private sectors, role of new and emerging technologies, understanding priorities of new generation, and role of new entrepreneurship (in the form of Science-preneurship) are some of the future pathways to address the complexity of earthquake risk reduction.

Emergency Volunteer Participation in the Evolutionary Game of Public Security Governance under Community Incentives

The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic has brought profound changes to all aspects of our society and also reflects the importance of community emergency volunteers actively participating in epidemic prevention and control in the face of unexpected public security events. As a bridge between the implementation of government policies and the masses of the community, community emergency volunteers have the characteristics of high efficiency and low cost, which has a great impact on the advancement of modern social governance. In order to motivate volunteers, the community will introduce incentive mechanisms. How does the evolutionary process of a dynamic game between volunteer engagement and community motivation change? How should communities maximize the service investment of volunteers in the game process? However, the current research rarely focuses on the role of community volunteers in the modernization of Community Governance. In order to clarify this game process, this article constructs a public safety governance incentive game model consisting of communities and emergency volunteers. Based on evolutionary game theory, we obtain the evolutionary stable equilibrium point by solving the replicator dynamic equations of all parties in the dynamic system under different constraints. Finally, some numerical examples were provided to simulate the selection of agents. The research results show that the degree of community public security risk, the degree of active involvement of volunteers, the degree of inactive involvement of volunteers, and the level of community incentives have an important impact on the enthusiasm of volunteer community service investment decision-making behavior. In addition, the choice of community incentive-volunteer service investment strategy is a dynamic process, which can converge to the ideal state under certain conditions after continuous adjustment and optimization. In addition, this study puts forward suggestions and measures conducive to the game between both sides, which can provide valuable guidance for the practice of community public security governance and the improvement of government efficiency in China.

Types, reporting and acceptability of community-based interventions for stillbirth prevention in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): a systematic review

Community-based interventions are increasingly being implemented in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for stillbirth prevention, but the nature of these interventions, their reporting and acceptability are poorly assessed. In addition to understanding their effectiveness, complete reporting of the methods, results and intervention acceptability is essential as it could potentially reduce research waste from replication of inadequately implemented and unacceptable interventions. We conducted a systematic review to investigate these aspects of community-based interventions for preventing stillbirths in SSA. In this systematic review, eight databases (MEDLINE(OvidSP), Embase (OvidSP), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Global Health, Science Citation Index and Social Science Citation index (Web of Science Core Collection), CINAHL (EBSCOhost) and Global Index Medicus) and four grey literature sources were searched from January 1, 2000 to July 7, 2023 for relevant quantitative and qualitative studies from SSA (PROSPERO-CRD42021296623). Following deduplication, abstract screening and full-text review, studies were included if the interventions were community-based with or without a health facility component. The main outcomes were types of community-based interventions, completeness of intervention reporting using the TIDier (Template for Intervention Description and replication) checklist, and themes related to intervention acceptability identified using a theoretical framework. Study quality was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias and National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's tools. Thirty-nine reports from thirty-four studies conducted in 18 SSA countries were eligible for inclusion. Four types of interventions were identified: nutritional, infection prevention, access to skilled childbirth attendants and health knowledge/behaviour of women. These interventions were implemented using nine strategies: mHealth (defined as the use of mobile and wireless technologies to support the achievement of health objectives), women's groups, community midwifery, home visits, mass media sensitisation, traditional birth attendant and community volunteer training, community mobilisation and transport vouchers. The completeness of reporting using the TIDier checklist varied across studies with a very low proportion of the included studies reporting the intervention intensity, dosing, tailoring and modification. The quality of the included studies were graded as poor (n=6), fair (n=14) and good (n=18). Though interventions were acceptable, only 4 (out of 7) studies explored women's perceptions, mostly focusing on perceived intervention effects and how they felt, omitting key constructs like ethicality, opportunity cost and burden of participation. Different community-based interventions have been tried and evaluated for stillbirth prevention in SSA. The reproducibility and implementation scale-up of these interventions may be limited by incomplete intervention descriptions in the published literature. To strengthen impact, it is crucial to holistically explore the acceptability of these interventions among women and their families. Clarendon/Balliol/NDPH DPhil scholarship for UGA. MN is funded by a Medical Research Council Transition Support Award (MR/W029294/1).

社会工作介入社区治理的实践路径研究: 以昭通市易地扶迁安置区M社区为例

Taking M community in the relocation and resettlement area of Zhaotong City as the object of investigation, consulting the relevant literature of social work intervention in community governance, conducting in-depth interviews with community residents and community workers, and analyzing and exploring the practical path of social work intervention in community governance in the relocation and resettlement area of Zhaotong City. The practice path mainly starts from the “five associations” of communities, social workers, community volunteers, community organizations and social charity resources. With social workers and communities as the center, and the improvement of community service ability as the entry point and main goal, improve the governance level of M community from five aspects: strengthen the social work talent team; Improve the governance ability of community cadres; Encourage community residents to participate in community affairs; Cultivate community social organizations; Enrich community public welfare and charitable resources.

Associations of objectively measured physical activity, sedentary time and cardiorespiratory fitness with adipose tissue insulin resistance and ectopic fat.

Inadequate movement, excess adiposity, and insulin resistance augment cardiometabolic risk. This study examined the associations of objectively measured moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA), sedentary time and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), with adipose tissue insulin resistance and ectopic fat. Data were combined from two previous experimental studies with community volunteers (n = 141, male = 60%, median (interquartile range) age = 37 (19) years, body mass index (BMI) = 26.1 (6.3) kg·m-2). Adipose tissue insulin resistance was assessed using the adipose tissue insulin resistance index (Adipo-IR); whilst magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to measure liver, visceral (VAT) and subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue (ScAT). Sedentary time and MVPA were measured via an ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometer. Generalized linear models examined the association of CRF, MVPA, and sedentary time with Adipo-IR and fat depots. Interaction terms explored the moderating influence of age, sex, BMI and CRF. After controlling for BMI and cardiometabolic variables, sedentary time was positively associated with Adipo-IR (β = 0.68 AU [95%CI = 0.27 to 1.10], P < 0.001). The association between sedentary time and Adipo-IR was moderated by age, CRF and BMI; such that it was stronger in individuals who were older, had lower CRF and had a higher BMI. Sedentary time was also positively associated with VAT (β = 0.05 L [95%CI = 0.01 to 0.08], P = 0.005) with the relationship being stronger in females than males. CRF was inversely associated with VAT (β = -0.02 L [95%CI = -0.04 to -0.01], P = 0.003) and ScAT (β = -0.10 L [95%CI = -0.13 to -0.06], P < 0.001); with sex and BMI moderating the strength of associations with VAT and ScAT, respectively. Sedentary time is positively associated with adipose tissue insulin resistance which regulates lipogenesis and lipolysis. CRF is independently related to central fat storage which is a key risk factor for cardiometabolic disease.

“Now I get what’s important” - Shifting philosophies of hospice society staff and trained volunteers involved in peer-facilitated Advance Care Planning workshops for the public

ObjectiveCommunity-led approaches can increase public engagement in Advance Care Planning (ACP). Better understanding of the experiences and perspectives of community staff and volunteers who host and facilitate community-led, peer-facilitated ACP workshops is valuable when considering the spread of these approaches. MethodsContent analysis of qualitative data from community-based hospice societies delivering ACP workshops to the public in British Columbia: one-on-one interviews with 5 organizational representatives and focus groups with 13 peer facilitators. ResultsThree main categories emerged: 1) ACP is about ‘Living well’; 2) Transitioning focus from legal forms to conversations; 3) Benefits to all involved. ConclusionsCommunity staff and volunteers acknowledge the role they could play in promoting ACP in their communities. They recognize the benefits to the facilitators and public participants from following a community-led approach that emphasizes the importance of ACP conversations over the completion of relevant legal forms. Additional potential benefits of this approach, as reported by the organizational representatives, are increased volunteer engagement, more community partnerships, and an enhanced organizational profile. Practice implicationsThis community-led model can be a meaningful and approachable way to engage the public in ACP. Hospice societies are well positioned in the community to incorporate ACP workshops into their programming.

The Volunteer State: Latinx youth and the making of membership in Nashville, Tennessee.

Volunteering has long held a vaunted position in the United States, which has only increased in the wake of welfare reform and the retraction of the state from the provision of public goods. This article explores how immigrant-origin Latinx youth in Nashville, Tennessee, who are active community volunteers linked volunteering to moral personhood and their claims to national membership. This linkage is based on an internalized deficit perception of the Latinx immigrant person as an immoral national interloper and a stigmatization and racialization of economic need. However, youth also engaged in a reframing of the meanings of membership and volunteering rooted in their relational commitments to each other and their undocumented peers' blocked paths to citizenship. These socially reproductive and more transformative understandings of volunteering, and their links to self-as-citizen, reveal the contingent value of civic engagement for immigrant-origin Latinx youth. It also reveals their central roles in defining the parameters of membership in an era of increased nativist racism and decreased state social service provision in the United States.

Hearing intervention versus health education control to reduce cognitive decline in older adults with hearing loss in the USA (ACHIEVE): a multicentre, randomised controlled trial

Hearing loss is associated with increased cognitive decline and incident dementia in older adults. We aimed to investigate whether a hearing intervention could reduce cognitive decline in cognitively healthy older adults with hearing loss. The ACHIEVE study is a multicentre, parallel-group, unmasked, randomised controlled trial of adults aged 70-84 years with untreated hearing loss and without substantial cognitive impairment that took place at four community study sites across the USA. Participants were recruited from two study populations at each site: (1) older adults participating in a long-standing observational study of cardiovascular health (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities [ARIC] study), and (2) healthy de novo community volunteers. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1) to a hearing intervention (audiological counselling and provision of hearing aids) or a control intervention of health education (individual sessions with a health educator covering topics on chronic disease prevention) and followed up every 6 months. The primary endpoint was 3-year change in a global cognition standardised factor score from a comprehensive neurocognitive battery. Analysis was by intention to treat. This trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03243422. From Nov 9, 2017, to Oct 25, 2019, we screened 3004 participants for eligibility and randomly assigned 977 (32·5%; 238 [24%] from ARIC and 739 [76%] de novo). We randomly assigned 490 (50%) to the hearing intervention and 487 (50%) to the health education control. The cohort had a mean age of 76·8 years (SD 4·0), 523 (54%) were female, 454 (46%) were male, and most were White (n=858 [88%]). Participants from ARIC were older, had more risk factors for cognitive decline, and had lower baseline cognitive scores than those in the de novo cohort. In the primary analysis combining the ARIC and de novo cohorts, 3-year cognitive change (in SD units) was not significantly different between the hearing intervention and health education control groups (-0·200 [95% CI -0·256 to -0·144] in the hearing intervention group and -0·202 [-0·258 to -0·145] in the control group; difference 0·002 [-0·077 to 0·081]; p=0·96). However, a prespecified sensitivity analysis showed a significant difference in the effect of the hearing intervention on 3-year cognitive change between the ARIC and de novo cohorts (pinteraction=0·010). Other prespecified sensitivity analyses that varied analytical parameters used in the total cohort did not change the observed results. No significant adverse events attributed to the study were reported with either the hearing intervention or health education control. The hearing intervention did not reduce 3-year cognitive decline in the primary analysis of the total cohort. However, a prespecified sensitivity analysis showed that the effect differed between the two study populations that comprised the cohort. These findings suggest that a hearing intervention might reduce cognitive change over 3 years in populations of older adults at increased risk for cognitive decline but not in populations at decreased risk for cognitive decline. US National Institutes of Health.

The compassionate journey: An exploratory and controlled study assessing self‐compassion‐focussed mindfulness in a nonclinical sample

AbstractThe purpose of the current study was to test a self‐compassion‐focussed mindfulness (SCFM) intervention for increasing self‐compassion and decreasing depressive symptoms, as well as to test the effect of initial self‐compassion as a possible moderator. Community volunteers participated in an SCFM group or in a control group and self‐reported at three points in time: at baseline (study, n = 73; control, n = 80), at the end of the 5‐week five‐session intervention (study, n = 57; control, n = 61) and at follow‐up 5 weeks later (study, n = 47; control, n = 50). The SCFM was a Hebrew adaptation based on a mindful self‐compassion programme, which is available online. The SCFM was held in person, in small groups (N &lt; 20) over a 2‐month period. A four‐way interaction was found to be significant [F(2, 186) = 3.70, p = 0.027, η2p = 0.038]. Post hoc tests showed that those who were initially low on self‐compassion and participated in the SCFM experienced relief in their depressive symptoms and that their level of self‐compassion was increased. This implies that self‐compassion is a moderating trait, with the benefit of relieving suffering. By increasing the levels of self‐compassion in individuals, it is possible to improve their psychological health.

Assessing Sources of Stress on the Mental Health of Volunteers

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a notable increase in the number of people engaging in volunteer work in society. Volunteering allows individuals to offer support and contribute to society amid the pandemic. Understanding the impact of volunteering on mental health and well-being is of utmost importance. Hence, this research paper aims to examine how perceived stressors affect the mental well-being of PPV volunteers. An online survey was distributed to PPV volunteers in Selangor, focusing on their experiences of stress, mental health, and symptoms of well-being during the initial months of volunteering in response to COVID-19. Both descriptive statistics and multiple regression analyses were carried out. The study involved 226 volunteers, with 58% being female and 42% male. Nearly half of the participants were 35 to 44 years (46.5%), and 65% came from non-academic backgrounds. Additionally, 60.6% were part-time non-clinical volunteers who completed the survey questionnaire. The regression analysis results reveal that workload, environment, and interactions with vaccine recipients significantly predict psychological distress, physical discomfort, and mental stress among volunteers during the ongoing pandemic. On the other hand, knowledge and skills are only significantly influenced by physical discomfort. These findings will aid policymakers and all stakeholders in implementing necessary measures to prevent mental health issues during future pandemics, guiding potential volunteering efforts in emergencies, and enhancing community volunteer programs.

Reinventing selves and connections through community volunteering: how care leavers and their supporters create a space for agency and self-work

Young people leaving out-of-home care experience higher levels of emotional, social, educational and vocational disadvantage when compared with peers from stable home-care environments. Care leavers’ educational trajectories may be interrupted, their development of self-identity during transition through adolescence disturbed, and their social and emotional development disrupted due to their diminished accumulation of social and cultural capital. This article presents a re-analysis of the qualitative data derived from a mixed-method study of the experience of young care leavers engaged with a community-based volunteering project in the United Kingdom. We describe how young care leavers developed self-efficacy through volunteering and show how care leavers create a space for agency and self-work, negotiate and cultivate identities independent from statutory supports, and situate themselves within wider relational and social contexts. Implications for future research, policy and practice with younger people leaving statutory care are explored.

Experiences and Perspectives of Student Nurses Toward Volunteerism during Health Emergencies: A Systematic Review

Abstract The paper discusses how volunteerism, especially among nursing students, helps solve health crises. The study emphasizes community preparedness and volunteers’ unique role in supporting healthcare professionals during crises. Volunteers seek out opportunities to help, unlike emergency responders. Nursing students, a major employment source, are shown to be capable of first aid and emotional support. The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the unprecedented need for volunteers. Research shows that nursing students worldwide are willing to help in health emergencies. Professional ethics, humanity, and learning motivate. Self-care issues, system support issues, and psychological impacts are obstacles. The study uses a mixed-methods technique and the PRISMA framework to examine nursing students’ health crisis volunteering experiences, goals, and perceptions. The data show volunteer nursing students’ pleasures and problems. Although volunteering is rewarding, worries about self-care, family well-being, and psychological effects arise. Emotional stress, burnout, compassion fatigue, anxiety, sleep difficulties, guilt, and a lack of support affect nursing students’ mental health. Witnessing and experiencing health emergencies can cause emotional stress, highlighting the need for personalized solutions. The report recommends cash incentives, extensive training, and explicit protocols to increase student volunteering. Nursing students can safely volunteer in high-stress situations by recognizing and addressing the mental health risks and providing support and tools. The article recommends a holistic approach to volunteerism that recognizes its benefits and promotes the mental health and well-being of motivated nursing students. Nursing students helping in health emergencies need sufficient training, psychological support, and self-care to protect their mental health, according to the study. Providing support, shifting schedules, and understanding the emotional toll of employment are vital. Nursing schools should include emergency response training to prepare students for pandemic leadership.

Training and Deployment of Pastors’ Wives as Peer Counselors for a Church-based Support Service to Improve Exclusive Breastfeeding Practice in Nigeria: A Descriptive Review of Feasibility and Effectiveness

Inadequate support services for common breastfeeding problems are major reasons why many nursing mothers quit exclusive breastfeeding practice in Nigeria. The recent exodus of doctors and other health-care workers has made the situation worse. Community-based interventions are urgently needed to avoid a relapse of the marginal increase of the exclusive breastfeeding rate in the country. Therefore, this study reviewed the feasibility and effectiveness of training and deploying pastors’ wives as breastfeeding peer counselors along with leaders of women’s Bible study classes as co-counselors in a church-based support service to boost exclusive breastfeeding practice in the country. Searches were conducted using appropriate keywords in journals and databases such as Google Scholar, Christian Journal of Global Health, and PubMed. Relevant papers were selected and read thoroughly. Ideas, phrases, and clauses that answered the research questions were synthesized into themes. Previous partnerships with the church to provide support for specific health problems such as HIV/AIDS had been fruitful. The adoption of the Community Infant and Young Child Feeding Counseling Package in small priority areas by the government and its development partners yielded positive results. However, partnerships are necessary to make the service available nationwide. The use of existing opportunities such as the network of pastors’ will be an economical and rational form of the volunteer community mobilizers. Community-based breastfeeding peer counseling has effectively increased the initiation and duration of exclusive breastfeeding and provided an opportunity to address other problems related to breastfeeding. However, the allocation of matching grants to local government areas will be necessary to increase nutrition interventions and to motivate peer counselors.

Peran Sosial Perguruan Tinggi Islam dalam Program Campus Social Responsibility

CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) has long been known in the industrial world in the form of social activities as a form of responsibility for the utilization and management of natural resources by state-owned enterprises. In its development, CSR has also become one of the marketing communication strategies by various industries and non-governmental institutions. Besides providing benefits in social contributions, CSR also has a major impact in expanding and strengthening corporate branding. With a strong and broad branding, the public's positive perception of the company can increase. With this spirit, the campus as an educational institution that cannot be separated from its social role can actually carry out the CSR function. This Campus Social Responsibility idea can be actualized into six forms of CSR as formulated by Philip Kotler and Nancy Lee, namely: (1) Cause Promotions, (2) Cause Related Marketing, (3) Corporate Social Marketing, (4) Corporate Philanthropy, (5 ) Community Volunteering, and (6) Social Responsibility Business Practices. By implementing CSR, it is hoped that the branding as an independent and moderate campus can be realized automatically.

The Role of Public Universities in Youth Civic Engagement and Social Responsibility: A Study of Social Sciences Faculty, University of Peshawar, Pakistan

The present study aims to explore the role of public sector universities in the social responsibilities and civic engagement of youth in the faculty of social sciences, University of Peshawar, Pakistan. Using a quantitative survey involving systematic sampling methods, the study interviewed 180 social sciences at KP public universities. For the collection of data from the respondents, a self-administered questionnaire was used. The findings indicated that most of the participants of the study had never participated in any volunteer community service, or even signed up for a social issue. In the view of the participants, the role of you in society should be to advocate for positive change and peace. Participants advocated for peace and interfaith education, fostering linkages and capacity-building opportunities with the business and development sectors, as well as folklore, music and theatre at the country's public universities. The study recommendation includes; stimulating social responsibility and the opportunities for civic engagement for students at the country's public universities so that youth may involve effectively to the benefit of the wider community.

Social networks, empowerment, and wellbeing among Syrian refugee and Jordanian women: Implications for development and social inclusion

In response to large-scale refugee crises, frameworks for development assistance have promoted women’s empowerment, wellbeing, and social inclusion. A productive research agenda lies in analyzing social networks: it is unknown how women structure their social ties within refugee and host communities, and whether social networks matter for their sense of empowerment and wellbeing. In 2022, we surveyed Syrian refugee (n = 106) and Jordanian (n = 109) women from poor households across five neighborhoods in Amman. We implemented a standard network survey instrument (PERSNET) to assess network structure and composition. We tested associations with six measures (PE, MRS, MTL, Cantril, PWB, MSPSS) of psychological empowerment and wellbeing. We then conducted participatory network mapping (Net-Map) to assess local meanings of empowerment and visually map the pathways between social actors, community-based work, and psychological outcomes. Survey data show that networks were highly homogeneous, smaller for Syrians than Jordanians (p = 0.0001), and smaller for women in very poor households (p < 0.0001). As network size increased, so did levels of psychological empowerment (p = 0.02), motivation to lead (p = 0.007) and perceived social support (p = 0.001). Notably, as networks became increasingly kin-based, empowerment levels decreased (p = 0.003). Networks were more diverse for community volunteers, who named fewer female, married, and kin-based peers (p ≤ 0.05), and reported higher levels of resourcefulness (p = 0.01) and psychological wellbeing (p = 0.002). Qualitative data show that women, who described empowerment as “ability” and “proof of existence,” drew upon volunteering work to diversify their networks outside the home. Such evidence matters for development initiatives that build programs for women to work, learn, and socially interact. We conclude that expanding opportunities for volunteer work is one way of diversifying social networks and empowering urban poor women. Our research helps better understand how women can be supported to diversify their social ties, take community leadership roles, and respond to social change.

Network analysis of frontal lobe alpha asymmetry confirms the neurophysiological basis of four subtypes of depressive behavior.

Although depression is widespread carries a major disease burden, current treatments remain non-universally effective, arguably due to the heterogeneity of depression, and leading to the consideration of depressive "subtypes" or "depressive behavior subtypes." One such model of depressive behavior (DB) subtypes was investigated for its associations with frontal lobe asymmetry (FLA), using a different data analytic procedure than in previous research in this field. 100 community volunteers (54 males, 46 females) aged between 18 yr. and 75 years (M = 32.53 yr., SD = 14.13 yr) completed the Zung Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) and underwent 15 min of eyes closed EEG resting data collection across 10 frontal lobe sites. DB subtypes were defined on the basis of previous research using the SDS, and alpha-wave (8-13 Hz) data produced an index of FLA. Data were examined via network analysis. Several network analyses were conducted, producing two models of the association between DB subtypes and FLA, confirming unique neurophysiological profiles for each of the four DB subtypes. As well as providing a firm basis for using these DB subtypes in clinical settings, these findings provide a reasonable explanation for the inconsistency in previous FLA-depression research.

Too healthy for their own good: orthorexia nervosa and compulsive exercise in the community

BackgroundThe similarities and differences between orthorexia nervosa symptoms (ONs) and the symptoms and correlates of eating disorders listed in the DSM-5 need to be elucidated. ONs were examined in a volunteer community sample in conjunction with compulsive exercise, disordered eating, as well as emotional and behavioral correlates of eating disorders.MethodsParticipants were 561 adult volunteers (93 men, 17.09%) aged 19–72 (M = 32.7 ± 11), recruited via social media networks. Participants self-reported on the following measures online: Düsseldorf Orthorexia Scale, Compulsive Exercise Test, Retrospective Child Feeding Questionnaire, Experiences in Close Relationships, Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale, Toronto Alexithymia Scale, and Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire 13. Data were downloaded and analyzed in SPSS26 and Amos26.ResultsA theoretical model of the connections between the study variables was tested via SEM and confirmed. The profiles of participants with high, average and low levels of ONs were compared. Participants with the highest levels also scored highest for compulsive exercise, insecure attachment, alexithymia, emotion regulation difficulties, weight and shape concerns, body dissatisfaction, restriction, bingeing, purging and parental feeding practices of concern about child’s weight and restricting and monitoring the child’s intake of calorie-rich foods.DiscussionHigh levels of ONs are related to disordered eating attitudes and behaviors, as well as to emotional and behavioral correlates of eating disorders. It is unclear to what extent these ONs are distinguishable from symptoms of other eating disorders listed in the DSM-5. Longitudinal studies may help to elucidate distinct trajectories and risk factors for ON.Level of evidence: Level III, case–control analytic study.

Practical contribution of women development army on growth monitoring and promotion service at Dembya and Gondar Zuria districts, Central Gondar Zone, North West Ethiopia: a community based mixed study

BackgroundThe United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-2 aims to eliminate child hunger or end all forms of child malnutrition by 2030. To achieve this goal the cost-effective method is the implementation of growth monitoring and promotion service with the contribution of Women Development Army (WDA) as community volunteers. However, According to the data, the program’s implementation varies throughout the country and lack of evidence on the practical contribution of the WDA to enhancing child nutritional care outcomes. Therefore this study aimed to determine practical contribution of WDA and associated factors on growth monitoring and promotion service in two rural districts of central Gondar zone, Northwest Ethiopia.MethodsA community based mixed study was conducted from March 6 to April 7, 2022 among 615 Women Development Army. Multistage sampling technique was used to select study participants. A structured questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data and in-depth interview were used to generate qualitative information. Qualitative data were coded and grouped and discussed using identified themes. Binary logistic regression was fitted, odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was estimated to identify factors of practical contribution of WDA and qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis.ResultsIn this study practical contribution of WDA on growth monitoring was 31.4% (95% CI: 28.0-35.3%). Having GMP training (AOR = 4.2, 95%CI: 1.63, 10.58), regular community conversation (AOR = 6.0, 95%CI: 3.12, 11.54), good knowledge about GMP (AOR = 2.1, 95%CI: 1.17, 3.83) and not having regular schedule of GMP service in the area (AOR = 0.04, 95%CI: 0.02, 0.09), were statistically significantly associated with practical contribution of growth monitoring. During in-depth interview, lack of training, low motivation or commitment among WDA and low communication between WDA and health extension workers were mentioned among the problems faced during growth monitoring service.ConclusionIn this study, practical contribution of growth monitoring among WDA was low. GMP training regular community conversation, knowledge about GMP and regular schedule of GMP service in the local area were significantly associated for practical contribution of growth monitoring service. Lack of training, low motivation or commitment among WDA and low communication between WDA and health extension workers were reasons for did not contribute effectively for GMP service. Therefore, giving training for WDA and improving community conversation at kebeles level are important to improve GM service. .