Daily Hardships Research Articles

The cumulative impact of trauma, chronic illness, and COVID-19 stress on mental health in a case-control study of adults with psychotic disorders in Ethiopia

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted the economic, psychological, and social well-being of people in Ethiopia. Pandemic-related fears can exacerbate anxiety and depression symptoms among those with pre-existing physical and mental health conditions as well as those with prior exposure to traumatic events. MethodsWe used data from the Ethiopia NeuroGAP-Psychosis study (898 cases and 941 controls with and without a diagnosis of psychosis respectively, 66% male, mean age = 37 years). Data was collected between November 2021 and June 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic from four hospitals in Ethiopia (three in Addis Ababa and one in Jimma city). Structural equation modeling analysis was conducted to examine the associations between trauma exposure, physical health conditions (like arthristis, neurological disorders, diabetes), COVID-19 stress, and psychological distress (depression and anxiety symptoms). We assessed direct and indirect effects for mediation, and conducted multigroup analysis to examine moderation by case control status. ResultsWe found evidence that the impact of greater trauma exposure and physical health conditions on higher psychological distress was mediated through higher COVID-19 stress. Sociodemographic characteristics (older age and being maried) were associated with higher psychological distress, with these associations mediated through greater trauma, physical health conditions, and COVID-19 stress. Case-control status also moderated the associations between these variables, with the mediation effects being stronger in cases and weaker in controls. Further, cases reported greater trauma and psychological distress, while controls reported more physical health conditions and COVID-19 stress. ImplicationsOur findings uniquely assess the interaction of health and emergency related factors in understudied settings like Ethiopia. They underscore the importance of including daily hardships and environmental stressors, along with prior trauma exposure, as risk factors for the assessment of mental health symptoms. This study has key implications for mental health screening and intervention research in response to complex emergency contexts like Ethiopia with a history of armed conflict in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings can aid the development of targeted services that address the mental health of at-risk groups with pre-existing mental and physical health conditions.

Building resilience beyond the COVID-19 pandemic: can it work through creative play with digital puzzles?

The COVID-19 pandemic worldwide has had significant repercussions for early childhood education. In this article, we begin by discussing the impact of a world health pandemic on education and the challenges of conducting a literature review following the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we examine the challenges of conducting a literature review on building resilience in young children in the digital era. The four sections categorize the resilience literature into the following themes: (1) defining resilience in young children, (2) powerful play for resilience in young children beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, (3) creative play building resilience in young children, and (4) digital puzzles for resilience: the case of early childhood classrooms in Indonesia. Each of the four themes is presented with a narrative whose content is current, followed by a literary consensus. The article ends with changes to build resilience in young children using creative play through digital puzzles. Digital puzzles as media for creative play support young children in developing skills that will make them happier and more resilient in overcoming daily hardships. Young children can become individuals who successfully face daily hardships creatively to reconstruct themselves after experiencing bad conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I do not want to stop teaching”: The impact of conflict and displacement on teachers in southern Mosul

AbstractThis article explores the emotional and physical conditions experienced by Iraqi teachers after the fighting and displacement began in 2014 (IOM, 2018) in southern Mosul. It contributes to reducing the paucity of research on teacher well-being in conflict-affected contexts, showing that education can have a healing role for teachers, as well as for students. Teaching helps them to be resilient, to re-establish relationships, and to focus once again on their knowledge and skills. The paper draws on findings from hybrid research involving 35 teachers in 10 different primary and secondary schools in Ninewa governorate. The research explores their needs and challenges from multiple perspectives. While confronted with daily hardships and challenges, teachers do not want to abdicate their role as educators. Teaching helps them to have a sense of purpose. Their strong sense of vocation and motivation to continue teaching under such challenging circumstances add to the debate on teacher well-being and resilience.

The impact of trauma and daily hardships on the mental health of unaccompanied refugee minors detained in Libya.

The high trauma load and prevalence of mental distress in unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs) who resettle in Western (European) countries is well documented. However, the lack of studies investigating the potentially most vulnerable population, URMs who are currently on the move in transit countries such as Libya, is alarming. To document the mental health of URMs detained in Libya and the possible associations with trauma, flight and daily hardships. In total n = 99 (94.9% male; n = 93) URMs participated in this cross-sectional study conducted in four detention centres near the Libyan capital Tripoli. Data were collected via standardised questionnaires in an interview format and analysed using structured equation modelling. Participants reported high rates of trauma, especially within Libya itself. Reports of daily hardships in detention ranged between 40 and 95% for basic needs and between 27 and 80% for social needs. Higher social needs were associated with increased anxiety symptoms (β = 0.59; P = 0.028) and increased pre-migration (β = 0.10; P = 0.061) and peri-migration trauma (β = 0.16; P = 0.017) with symptoms of depression. Similarly, higher levels of pre-migration trauma were associated with higher post-traumatic stress disorder levels (β = 0.17; P = 0.010). The rates of daily hardships and traumatic events are higher compared with those recorded for URMs living in asylum centres in Europe. The emotional, social and cognitive development of detained URMs is severely threatened in both the short and long term. This paper outlines some of the most detrimental effects of migration policies on URMs transiting through Libya.

Defining population socio-economic characteristics, hazard knowledge and risk perception: The adaptive capacity to persistent volcanic threats from Semeru, Indonesia

The densely populated and persistently active volcano of Semeru in East Java, Indonesia, hosts communities able to adjust to, compensate for, and tolerate continuous exposure to persistent volcanic threats. The goal of this research is to understand how, so that the knowledge can contribute to preparedness and support emergency management. We use surveys at the village scale and statistical analyses to explore the socioeconomic characteristics of communities. We aimed to appraise how dense, rural/urban populations around a continuously active volcano can compensate for daily hardships and limited access to resources, which prevent post-eruption recovery. We found that sustainable, rural livelihood providing food and small-income jobs, diversified resources from ecological belts, new alternatives and temporary work migrations all compensate, while recurrent experiences on hazardous events may harness social adaptive capacity. What renders the majority of villagers around Semeru resilient to chronic threats lies in solidarity networks, cultural beliefs, trust in early warning and access to vital resources in case of crisis. Conservative, top-down risk management policies in Indonesia combined with obstacles that limit the adaptive capacity of communities results in disaster preparedness prior to large eruptions being too slow, with the subsequent management likely to be inefficient. The conservative risk management policy likely suffices during periods of mild activity, but it may lead to future disasters in case of large eruptions or destructive lahars. The case study of population adaptive capacity thus provides a frame of reference for other disaster-prone countries.

Navigating a double burden – Floods and social vulnerability in local communities in rural Mozambique

This article explores how rural communities in the lower Limpopo River basin in Mozambique are vulnerable to floods and discerns the extent to which vulnerability changes across the disaster cycle. Focusing on social vulnerability, it analyzes what forms of capital the local communities hold to respond to and cope with disastrous flood events. Drawing on interviews and field studies, our analysis empirically illustrates the daily hardships that many rural poor in Mozambique endure and how, according to their own lived experiences, it makes it difficult to take an active part in disaster risk reduction (DRR). We show that flood-affected communities, to a large extent, are trapped in a vicious circle in which the vulnerabilities differ between the disaster stages but simultaneously seem reinforcing. Recurrent flood seasons and a lack of resources repeatedly deprive the three studied communities of their assets and livelihoods and lock them into an endemic poverty circle. However, we show that local risk committees have emerged as sources of social capital in flood-prone rural areas in Mozambique, and we highlight the critical role of social capital. While the DRR research field continues to grow, it is imperative to expand the empirical focus to regions that have not yet received the same attention as the United States and Western Europe have. Our case study contributes to the endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of the preconditions for flood vulnerability and DRR in sub-Saharan Africa, which is home to more than half of the world’s poor.

The push toward institutional control: Structural violence and youth in Hawaiʻi

AbstractConcerns surrounding juvenile delinquency point to neoliberal notions of youth responsibilization with no regard to the violence of structural oppressions and daily hardships, in which deviance could be a form of response. This article discusses the influence of and response to structural violence and oppression that resulted in daily hardships for youth, and for some youth, deviant behaviors that pushed them toward the criminal justice system. Drawing on in‐depth interviews with 64 participants and 532 pieces of youth writings in Hawaiʻi, this study examines how experiences with structural violence and oppression pushed youth in Hawaiʻi toward institutional control. Findings indicate the role racialized and gendered structures developed through colonialism had in the lives of youth in Hawaiʻi and their difficult experiences with family instability and patriarchal control that result in youth engaging in deviant coping mechanisms. Youth exhibited resilience in the face of hardship and methods of control that speak to the lack of choices youth have in places with histories of colonialism.

KETAGIHAN CANDU DI TANAH MELAYU SEHINGGA TAHUN 1957

The introductionsof opiums since early 18th century by the Chinese imigrants was the beginning of the drug abusement problems in Malaya. The local populations believed that the opium smokings activities was are liable stress relievers in encountering their daily hardships rountine activities. The self dependencies on opiums was the contibuted factors of epidemics towards the drug addictions among the local populations. Furthermore the illegal smuggling and distribution of opiums activities in Malaya was organized and carry outby the local drug trafficking organizations. Hence,this research was conducted to identify the opium addictions and dependencies among the Malaya societies until 1957. This research was based on qualitative studies by referring on two main resources which the primary resources based on the field studies and interview with related respondents. Meanwhile the secondary resources was gathered from the majorreference materials such as books, article journals, academic thesis and government official documetsretreived from the public archives. The research findings show that opium addiction problems on the local communities in Malaya that lead towards the banned of opium usage by the British throughoutthe implementation of Dangerous Drug Ordinance 1952 respectively.

Intergenerational impacts of trauma and hardship through parenting.

Millions of people worldwide experience severe trauma in their lifetime. Trauma has immediate and long-term effects on emotional wellbeing. Moreover, the experiences of one generation may influence subsequent generations via social and biological pathways. Poor mental health and emotion dysregulation associated with trauma may affect parenting behaviours, which may have long-lasting effects on children's development. We use longitudinal data from a unique sample of 732 caregivers of children aged 6-36months living in extremely poor rural households in Rwanda to examine associations of caregiver lifetime trauma, recent daily hardships, mental health, and emotion dysregulation with parenting behaviours reflecting parental acceptance and rejection of their offspring. Cumulative trauma exposure (β=.234, p<.001) and recent daily hardships (β=.323, p<.001) are associated with higher levels of internalising symptoms. Trauma (β=.257, p<.001) and daily hardships (β=.323, p < 0.001) are also associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Internalising symptoms predict more rejection (β=.177, p=.001), but show no association with acceptance. Caregiver PTSD symptoms predict more rejection (β=.277, p<.001) and less acceptance (β=-.190, p=.003). Both internalising symptoms (β=.557, p<.001) and PTSD symptoms (β=.606, p<.001) are strongly associated with poor emotion regulation. Indirect effects suggest that caregiver trauma and hardships affect parenting indirectly via elevated caregiver internalising symptoms and PTSD and that some of these effects are accounted for by emotion dysregulation. Caregiver internalising and PTSD symptoms are important mechanisms through which caregiver trauma and hardship affect parenting behaviours. Emotion dysregulation is a shared mechanism linking caregivers' mental health problems with parenting behaviours that reflect acceptance and rejection of the child. Emotion regulation is indicated as a key target for prevention of adverse effects of caregiver trauma on mental health and child wellbeing.

The centrality of resourcefulness in explaining wellbeing among financially challenged single mothers

ABSTRACT The present study presents a multivariable model for explaining the contribution of daily hardships on the one hand, and social and personal resources on the other hand, to explaining wellbeing among financially-challenged single mothers in Israel. The research sample included 203 single mothers whose monthly income is lower than the mean income in Israel. Data were collected by structured questionnaires and analyzed by path analysis. The findings revealed that the single mothers’ resourcefulness was related to wellbeing both directly and indirectly. The higher the resourcefulness of the participants, the higher their social support and the lower their experience of daily hardships, which in turn are related to higher wellbeing. Subjective poverty, rather than the objective economic situation, contributes to explaining their wellbeing.

COVID-19 impact and response by Canadian pain clinics: A national survey of adult pain clinics

ABSTRACT Background: As the result of public health authority responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, pain clinics have had to cease providing in-person appointments to reduce contact between patients and staff. Over the past decade, Canadians living with chronic pain have faced long waiting times for care within multidisciplinary pain clinics. We are concerned that ceasing in-person pain services exacerbates the daily hardships already faced by Canadians living with chronic pain. Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Canadian pain clinics, their responses, and changes to clinic practices that might be maintained when the pandemic is over. Methods: A survey of Canadian adult multidisciplinary pain clinics was conducted to determine impacts on medical and allied health care services and the strategies used to deliver care to patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Responses received from 17 adult pain clinics across Canada showed that adult multidisciplinary pain clinics had to cease or significantly reduce in-person patient contacts during the COVID-19 pandemic and responded by offering telehealth options. Despite their efforts, patients are waiting longer and have lost access to usual care. Increased levels of pain, stress, and medication use, particularly opioids and cannabinoids, were reported. Conclusions: Access to adaptable and innovative technologies, such as telehealth, can assist in the care of the one in five Canadians living with chronic pain during times of crises and must be included as a vital component of a comprehensive Canadian pain strategy.

"Raje pa hočemo nemško umreti, kakor laško ali slovansko trohneti" – mariborski Nemci v letu 1918

Category: 1.01 Original scientific paper Language: Original in Slovene (Abstract in Slovene and English, Summary in English) Key words: Maribor, 1918, Germans, everyday life, public activity Abstract: The article touches on the everyday life and public activity of those residents of Maribor who were referred to by the methodology of the Habsburg Monarchy censuses as Germans. These were not only ethnic Germans by origin, but also Germanified or German speaking townspeople. Also presented are their daily hardships in light of the poor economic situation in the town during the last year of the First World War, their social life, relations with the Slovenian-speaking population in the city, political views on the future of the Monarchy and Maribor, and their reactions to the gradual Slovenian takeover of power in the city.

Bipolar disorder and the role of omega-3 fatty acids in modulation of aggressive behavior among the forensic population

Food is a versatile national, social, and cultural marker. It represents more than just a means of survival (Stajcic, 2013); it is an expression of identity (Jones, 2017). Food has a symbolic power and carries a sense of community, relays customs, habits, and values. According to Godderis (2006), people “do” food. In institutional settings, such as prisons, often stripped of basic human rights and dignity, food can acquire yet another dimensions. It can become a means to pass time, regain normalcy, and cope with daily hardships. Despite its multifaceted importance, there is a paucity of research on prisoners’ diet, with most being done on the US, UK, and Scandinavian prison systems (Smoyer, 2019; Smoyer & Kjaer Minke, 2015).This article drew from academic and non-academic sources (e.g., government reports, newspaper articles, prison blogs) to provide an overview of the Balkan prison systems through the lens of food. It will present weekly menus from three different countries and discuss alternative ways of accessing food in prisons (i.e., through prison commissary, prison farms, and food packages). It will further demonstrate prisoners' use of food to regain autonomy in the context of multiple deprivations. Lastly, this paper will reflect on the role of food, coffee, and cigarettes in prisoners’ socialization, as well as in reiteration of prisoner subculture.

Daily Hardships of Older People Who Continue Living Alone, Requiring Long-term Care, and How They Cope with Their Situation

Daily Hardships of Older People Who Continue Living Alone, Requiring Long-term Care, and How They Cope with Their Situation

Exploring Canzone Napoletana and Southern Italian Migration Through Three Lenses

Rich in history and tradition, canzone Napoletana have been celebrated and venerated around the world. These songs of love, laughter, sorrow, and pain are a genuine and sincere portal into the heart, mind, and soul of millions of Italian immigrants within the Italian diaspora. Henceforth, the purpose of this article is threefold. First, it will address how canzone Napoletana have acutely impacted the Italian diaspora, becoming the metaphorical voice for the majority of Italian immigrants the world over. Second, it will outline how canzone Napoletana have significantly influenced non-Italian perceptions about Italy and Italian culture. Lastly, this article will provide a uniquely Canadian perspective by specifically illustrating the plight of Italian immigrants living in post World War II Toronto and how these immigrants used canzone Napoletana as a coping mechanism for the daily hardships and struggles of immigrant life.

Agency as silence and muted voice: the problem-solving networks of unaccompanied young Somali refugee women in Eastleigh, Nairobi

This article analyses the problem-solving networks of young refugee women from Somalia between the ages of 13 and 19 through the concepts of ‘muted voice’ and ‘silence’. Based on life history interviews and participant observation with young refugee women living in the Eastleigh neighbourhood of Nairobi in 2011 and 2012, it investigates the ways in which young Somali women exercise their individual agency through carefully selected strategies of silence and muted voice as conscious forms of agency. The research finds that they rarely use their voice in naming and speaking out about their daily hardships, meaning they do not practice the obvious forms of agency that ‘voice’ implies. Instead, these young women gained strength and personal power through their network-type relationships with other young refugee women in the form of ‘muted voice’, meaning they exhibited a strategic capacity to determine when to speak and when to remain silent in the face of the daily oppression they experience, usually at the hands of more powerful male actors. In their daily interactions to make life bearable, young Somali refugee women teach us that the concept of agency must be situated in the violent and patriarchal context in which individuals are able to act.

Obeah and Other Powers: The politics of Caribbean religion and healing ed. by Diana Paton, Maarit Forde (review)

Reviewed by: Obeah and Other Powers: The politics of Caribbean religion and healing ed. by Diana Paton, Maarit Forde Juanita De Barros Obeah and Other Powers: The politics of Caribbean religion and healing Edited by Diana Paton and Maarit Forde. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2012. In his chapter concluding Diana Paton’s and Maarit Forde’s important essay collection, Obeah and Other Powers: The politics of Caribbean religion and healing, Stephan Palmié points to the epistemological problems that obeah posed for contemporaries as well as for modern-day scholars. As a late eighteenth-century Barbadian source observed of obeah practitioners, “Of their arts, we know nothing” (316). Palmié argues that historians and ethnographers who aim to study obeah and similar ritual practices must deal with a “truly transcontinental palimpsest of inter-articulated occult modernities” (317). The source material is a “record of negativity,” and the practices and individuals they purport to describe draw from ideas rooted in diverse geographic and temporal locales; the very vocabulary employed is “hopelessly contaminated” (317). The contributors to this excellent collection, many of whom have previously produced significant studies of Caribbean history and society, do not shy away from the challenges described by Palmié. In essays addressing the island and mainland areas of the Caribbean as well as the Caribbean coast of Central America and ranging over several centuries, they explore the varied ways that obeah and other spiritual practices have been represented and used. In the process, they greatly advance our understanding of Caribbean history. The chapters in the collection explore the production and reproduction of these varied spiritual practices and their intersection with diverse “powers,” including those inspiring specialists as well as the political, economic and ideological powers that shaped the context in which they functioned. Some of these “powers” reflect larger world historical forces such as colonialism and slavery whereas others deal with more mundane concerns, including the construction and enforcement of laws governing their practice. But the “power” of Caribbean people themselves are also of interest to the contributors, as Diana Paton and Maarit Forde note in their fine introduction. As practitioners and consumers as well as adversaries of these practices, Caribbean men and women helped shape their representation. Indeed, Paton and Forde see their book as part of scholarly efforts to analyse religions in this part of the world “within historicized understandings of Caribbean societies” and to think about them less in terms of “origins” and more in terms of “issues of power” (11). The language used to represent these spiritual practices travelled widely and was, as John Savage observes in his contribution, highly “malleable.” Savage shows that in early nineteenth-century Martinique, for example, planters used the term obeah or “obi” to refer to the sorcery they blamed for a “wave of intensive poisoning activity” (164). That these French planters chose to employ this word, which is more commonly associated with the English-speaking Caribbean, indicates its utility. In her excellent chapter examining the enforcement of anti-obeah laws in early twentieth-century Jamaica, Diana Paton describes obeah as “a discursive construct.” Colonial elites used it as a “sign of Caribbean people’s position on the margins of ‘civilization’” (190). This was despite the role of non-elite Jamaicans in the enforcement of obeah (prompted by financial and other considerations) and their resulting contribution to “official and elite understandings” of it (173). The essays in this collection emphasize the significance of the mobility of Caribbean people in determining the ways in which obeah and other practices were used. It became a common language that could be used by individuals from various locales and ethnic and linguistic backgrounds in an effort to cope with daily hardships. As Lara Putnam shows in her excellent contribution to this volume, diversity was at the core of obeah which she sees as modern and innovative: “innovations and borrowing were the order of the day” (245). Another of the strengths of this collection is its inclusion of studies that reflect on more recent patterns, especially in the realm of art. Kenneth Bilby, for example, explores representation of obeah in popular music such as reggae and dancehall, and Katherine Smith examines the creation of...

Vulnerable young people and alcohol use: a qualitative exploration

Background: Evidence suggests vulnerable young people are at a greater risk of alcohol engagement and have higher levels of substance misuse. However, research exploring alcohol use within populations of vulnerable young people is limited. Aims: The aim of the study was to explore young people’s attitudes to alcohol, seeking to gain insights into drinking practices within a group of educationally marginalised, and therefore vulnerable young people and their support staff. Methods: The views on alcohol use of 13 young people were explored through focus groups whilst the views of seven support staff were explored using semi-structured interviews. Findings: From an analysis based on grounded theory, a central theme of difficult lives appeared to mediate alcohol use in young people who are educationally marginalised. Young people appeared disengaged from parental/guardian support and placed an importance on social networks in facilitating social and peer support with the aim of gaining protection and a sense of escape. Conclusion: Educationally marginalised young people appear predisposed to an increased risk of engagement with alcohol. In their need for protection and support from daily hardships and isolation, they place greater importance of social membership, which in turn can increase the likelihood of engagement with alcohol.

Resilience through participation and coping-enabling social environments: the case of HIV-affected children in sub-Saharan Africa

Many children and youths living in low-resource and high-HIV-prevalence communities in sub-Saharan Africa are presented with daily hardships that few of us can even imagine. It is therefore no surprise that most research reporting on the experiences of HIV-affected children in resource-poor settings focuses on their poor health and development outcomes, casting them as victims. However, there is a growing trend to draw on more strengths-based conceptualisations in the study and support of HIV-affected children and youths. In this introduction to a special issue of The African Journal of AIDS Research, we cement this trend by providing a theoretical exposition and critique of the ‘coping’ and ‘resilience’ concepts and draw on the 11 empirical studies that make up this special issue to develop a framework that appropriates the concepts for a particular context and area of study: HIV-affected children in sub-Saharan Africa. The articles included here show, albeit in different ways and to different degrees, that the resilience of HIV-affected children in the region is an outcome of their agency and interactions with their social environment. Policy actors and practitioners working to support HIV-affected children in Africa should take heed of the proposed framework and draw on the research presented here to build coping-enabling social environments — presenting children and youths in Africa with greater opportunity to actively deal with hardship and work towards a more promising future.

Psychiatrists Awed by Challenges in Post-Earthquake Haiti

Psychiatrists Awed by Challenges in Post-Earthquake Haiti