Opportunities For Empowerment Research Articles

Healing invisible wounds and rebuilding livelihoods: Emerging lessons for combining livelihood and psychosocial support in fragile and conflict-affected settings.

Populations living in fragile and conflict-affected settings (FCS) endure serious hardship, often including witnessing or having direct exposure to violence. These experiences adversely affect the mind, body, and spirit, and diminish the capacity of individuals and communities to take full advantage of economic empowerment opportunities. A small but growing number of programs have begun to combine psychosocial support with livelihood support in FCS, with some promising indication that this combination can enhance project outcomes. This paper assesses evidence to generate a 'hypothesis of change' that combining psychosocial with livelihood support can improve development outcomes in FCS. We reviewed evaluations of three categories of programs: (i) those that provide psychosocial support and assess impact on economic empowerment, (ii) those that provide livelihood support and assess impact on psychosocial well-being, and (iii) those that combine both types of support and assess impact on one or both outcomes.

Staff Empowerment Practices and CNA Retention: Findings From a Nationally Representative Nursing Home Culture Change Survey.

This article examines whether staff empowerment practices common to nursing home culture change are associated with certified nursing assistant (CNA) retention. Data from 2,034 nursing home administrators from a 2009/2010 national nursing home survey and ordered logistic regression were used. After adjustment for covariates, a greater staff empowerment practice score was positively associated with greater retention. Compared with the low empowerment category, nursing homes with scores in the medium category had a 44% greater likelihood of having higher CNA retention (odds ratio [OR] = 1.44; 95% confidence interval [CI] = [1.15, 1.81], p = .001) and those with high empowerment scores had a 64% greater likelihood of having higher CNA retention (OR = 1.64; 95% CI = [1.34, 2.00], p < 001). Greater opportunities for CNA empowerment are associated with longer CNA retention. This research suggests that staffing empowerment practices on the whole are worthwhile from the CNA staffing stability perspective.

Um Modelo de Capacitação Rumo à Sustentabilidade: Os guias de Alto Paraíso de Goiás - Chapada dos Veadeiros (GO)

Desde a década de 1990, no município de Alto Paraíso de Goiás (GO) são realizados cursos de formação para guias de caminhadas e para os profissionais do setor turístico e ecoturístico. Endereçados à comunidade como oportunidade de desenvolvimento em sintonia com a vocação naturalística da região, os cursos fornecem ocasiões de crescimento, ferramentas culturais e técnicas para a valorização dos recursos locais e constituem iniciativas exemplares econômica, ambiental e socialmente sustentáveis.

COPE: A Pilot Study With Urban-Dwelling Minority Sixth-Grade Youth to Improve Physical Activity and Mental Health Outcomes.

Approximately one in three preadolescents (34%) is obese/overweight and one in four (25%) experience a mental health issue. Urban youth suffer from higher rates of these problems, and at earlier ages than their peers. This study's purpose was to determine feasibility/acceptability and preliminary effects of the COPE (Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment) Healthy Lifestyles TEEN (Thinking, Emotion, Exercise, and Nutrition) intervention on physical activity (PA) and mental health outcomes of 11- to 13-year-olds. A one group pre- and posttest design was used in a Midwest urban middle school. Preadolescents (n = 31) who received COPE reported significant decreases in anxiety and increases in healthy lifestyle beliefs and PA. Further, preadolescents at baseline with elevated anxiety, depression, suicide risk, and below average self-concept who received COPE reported significant increases in self-concept and decreases in anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation. The COPE program is a promising intervention that can improve physical and mental health outcomes.

Additional Layers of Violence: The Intersections of Gender and Disability in the Violence Experiences of Women With Physical Disabilities in South Africa.

South Africa has unprecedented levels of violence and many South African women are exposed to violence during their lifetime. This article explores how gender and disability intersect in women's experiences of violence during their lifetime. Repeat in-depth qualitative interviews with 30 physically disabled women in Cape Town reveal that women with physical disabilities are exposed to various forms of violence, and shows how their impairments shape their violence experiences. The most common forms of violence women with disabilities experience are psychological violence, financial abuse, neglect, and deprivation, with disability stigma playing a central role and contributing to how women with disabilities are exploited and dehumanized. Constructions of women as asexual shape their sexual relationships and experiences of sexual violence. This article identifies that women with disabilities are more at risk and experience additional layers of violence than women without disabilities. These additional risks and layers of violence need to be recognized and inform interventions to prevent and respond to violence against women with disabilities in the country. Prevention of violence against women with physical disabilities in South Africa needs to address the role of disability stigma that shapes the types of violence they experience, change gender norms, and create accessible and safe environments and economic empowerment opportunities.

Leading Learning: Science Departments and the Chair

In this article, we have considered the role of the chair in leading the learning necessary for a department to become effective in the teaching and learning of science from a reformed perspective. We conceptualize the phrase “leading learning” to mean the chair's constitution of influence, power, and authority to intentionally impact the conceptual, pedagogical, cultural, and political aspects of teachers’ work. The data for this article are based on our ongoing work with one science department, over the past nine years, and have been woven into a longitudinal narrative study of a chair who has led the learning of an effective department since 2000. In considering the data, we can reach two major conclusions. First, for a chair to lead learning is to build a professional commitment to a vision of science education, not a particular program. Second, in leading learning, chairs afford opportunities for teacher empowerment. This affordance, however, is only half the issue. It is commitment to a vision that drives a desire to take advantage of opportunities as they arise. In leading learning that reflects changes in the broader science education community, learning opportunities are opened beyond the department.

'Government Policies Pertaining To Women Awareness, Implications and Suggestions' Women and Education

Education is one of the most important means of empowering women with the knowledge, skills and self-confidence necessary to participate fully in the development process. Women education is an essential need to change their status in the society and also empowerment intellectually. Women education in India has been a most important preoccupation of both administrative and civil society because educated women can play a very important role in the society for socio-economic development, besides political and legal. It is one of best opportunity for women empowerment because it enables them to respond to the challenges, to confront their traditional role and change their life-style.Women’s education is currently at the center of international development discourse. In the discourse on education and development, EDUCATION has tended to mean primary and to an extent, secondary education. The issue of higher education has so far received modest attention. This article examines the global situation of women, higher education and development suggests some possible reasons for the modest academic as well as policy-related debate on the issue; and considers some implications of the situation for analyses of women’s higher education achievements in developing contexts. It is argued that cultural context may play a major role in how women’s higher education is perceived, valued, and employed. Seen from an economic growth-related perspective, investment in women’s higher education may therefore appear less cost-effective than investment in men’s. However, seen from either a rights-based or a human development perspective, which considers women’s education and gender parity to be central indicators of development in themselves, women’s higher education stands out as a highly efficient way of shaping more gender-equitable societies and thus as a major vehicle for general development. My personal beliefs lead me to believe that our government plays four critical roles in ensuring a quality education for all kids in America.Funding education programs, making sure schools are held accountable for providing a quality education, researching best practices in education, setting standards for our students.

Act Expediently, with Autonomy: Vicarious Learning, Empowered Behaviors, and Performance

The purpose of this research is to investigate how organizations can best facilitate an empowered workforce that makes autonomous decisions and acts expediently, which the literature on high performing organizations posits will increase the likelihood of sustained performance and retaining competitive advantages. We introduce a novel mechanism for encouraging such behaviors and pursuant outcomes: vicarious learning from a supervisor who demonstrates autonomy and expediency. We drew experimental data from a sample of participants who underwent a managerial simulation, and used these data to investigate relationships between the vicarious learning of empowered behaviors and individual task performance (n = 100). Results indicate that when supervisors behave with autonomy and expediency this both increases the extent to which individuals behave similarly, and is associated with enhanced individual performance. Further, we find that expedient behavior fully mediates the relationship between empowered supervisor behavior and performance. Findings show that supervisors need not necessarily engage directly in empowering others. Rather, by modeling behaviors, supervisors can craft a context where employees may act with autonomy and efficiency. This provides an opportunity for empowerment that is both actionable and cost-effective. This is the first study to consider empowerment as a managerial phenomenon that can be vicariously learned, integrating theories of social learning and empowerment, and extending existing empowerment constructs (including psychological and structural) to develop an indirect, yet potent means of encouraging empowered behavior.

Twelve-Month Effects of the COPE Healthy Lifestyles TEEN Program on Overweight and Depressive Symptoms in High School Adolescents.

We evaluated the 12-month effects of the COPE (Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment) Healthy Lifestyles TEEN (Thinking, Emotions, Exercise, Nutrition) program versus an attention control program (Healthy Teens) on overweight/obesity and depressive symptoms in high school adolescents. A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted. Participants were 779 culturally diverse adolescents in the US Southwest. COPE is a cognitive-behavioral skills-building intervention with 20 min of physical activity integrated into a health course and taught by teachers once a week for 15 weeks. Outcome measures included body mass index (BMI) and depressive symptoms. COPE teens had a significantly lower BMI at 12 months (F(1,698) = 11.22, p = .001) than Healthy Teens (24.95 versus 25.48). There was a significant decrease in the proportion of overweight and obese COPE teens from baseline to 12 months (χ(2) = 5.40, p = .02) as compared with Healthy Teens. For youth who began the study with extremely elevated depressive symptoms, COPE teens had significantly lower depression at 12 months compared with Healthy Teens (COPE M = 42.39; Healthy Teens M = 57.90); (F(1 ,12) = 5.78, p = .03). COPE can improve long-term physical and mental health outcomes in teens.

Persepsi Waqif dalam Berwakaf Tunai

One of the provision contained in the Act 41 Year 2004 on Waqf is the permissibility of giving waqf in cash. This article describes various perceptions, taking into account of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges of cash waqf. Opportunity factors include the management and empowerment opportunities cash waqf as a form of new investment. The concept of fiqh is flexible and dynamic, therefore the waqf as a great potential to be developed according to the needs of the time. Aside of that is disadvantage factors such as absence of the of Muslim's opinion on the issue.DOI: 10.15408/aiq.v5i1.2558

Investing in nursing and midwifery enterprise: Empowering women and strengthening health systems—A landscaping study of innovations in low- and middle-income countries

Women's empowerment and global health promotion are both central aims in the development agenda, with positive associations and feedback loops between empowerment and health outcomes. To date, most of the work exploring connections between health and empowerment has focused on women as health consumers. This article summarizes a much longer landscape review that examines ways in which various health programs can empower women as providers, specifically nurses and midwives. We conducted a scan of the Center for Health Market Innovations database to identify how innovative health programs can create empowerment opportunities for nurses and midwives. We reviewed 94 programs, exploring nurses' and midwives' roles and inputs that contribute to their empowerment. There were four salient models: provider training, information and communications technologies, cooperatives, and clinical franchises. By documenting these approaches and their hallmarks for empowering female health workers, we hope to stimulate greater uptake of health innovations coupled with gender-empowerment opportunities globally. The full report with expanded methodology and findings is available online.

Self-help groups : A tool of rural women economic upgradation

is now being increasingly realized that instead of targeting the individuals in the process of development, it would be more useful to adopt the approach make available the collective wisdom and combined resources for any task. Though SHGs have gained access to all government officials, they have not become bold enough to speak out as demonstrated at some forums in the country. The present study carried out in Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan state during 2013-2014, revealed that members of the rural women’s SHGs have been benefited in many ways such as exposure to different development programmes of the Government, exposure to the banks as well as transactions, their confidence level has been increased because of their own savings and easy access to loan from SHG. There was a good impact on economic aspects of the members in their financial position, family income and improvement in the employment generation through different income generation activities. Major reasons for group formation by the rural women were to take advantage of group action (85%), followed by improved employment activities (79.17%), meeting for collective decisions (75%), overcoming exploitation of money lenders (75%), internal lending (66.67%), improved social participation (66.67%), saving money regularly (62.50%) and general income (54.17%). The social impacts of SHGs on rural women were exposure to different development departments and participations in meetings, decision making and exposure to banks as well as to transactions. The most influential change was observed in loan borrowing pattern of the SHG members as most of them had developed their own funds, were able to transact with the banks and the borrowing of loans from the money lenders had reduced to considerable extent. The major impacts like improvement in the economic status of the family (80.83%),avoiding exploitation by money lenders (77.33%), easy to get money in emergency situation and facilitates savings (73.33%) have been witnessed for the empowerment of women. The reduced rate of bank interest, simple procedure to be followed for releasing the loan, marketing and transport facilities to be improved, training on skill improvement, increase in the duration of the training, enhanced repayment period were the other suggestions highlighted the strengthening of rural women SHGs in order to provide more opportunity for empowerment of farm women.

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Effects of the COPE Online Cognitive-Behavioral Skill-Building Program on Mental Health Outcomes and Academic Performance in Freshmen College Students: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study.

Despite the increasing prevalence of mental health disorders in university students, few receive needed evidence-based treatment. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility and preliminary effects of a seven-session online cognitive-behavioral skill-building intervention (i.e., COPE, Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment) versus a comparison group on their anxiety, depressive symptoms, and grade performance. A randomized controlled pilot study was conducted from September 2012 to May 2013 with 121 college freshmen enrolled in a required one credit survey course. Although there were no significant differences in anxiety and depressive symptoms between the groups, only COPE students with an elevated level of anxiety at baseline had a significant decline in symptoms. Grade point average was higher in COPE versus comparison students. Evaluations indicated that COPE was a positive experience for students. COPE is a promising brief intervention that can be integrated effectively into a required freshman course.

Legitimising the Laird? Communicative Action and the role of private landowner and community engagement in rural sustainability

Privately-owned estates dominate Scotland's uplands, and their owners' decisions greatly influence rural communities. The research reported here, involving in-depth case studies of six upland, private estates, aimed to investigate the dynamic relationships between landowners and rural communities, considering the influence of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. The research questions were explored through interviews with key actors (in the local community and in estate management) and participant observation. Evaluation of current and potential landowner/estate-community partnership-working illustrates the opportunities for mutual benefits, and the need for greater community empowerment to ensure partnership success. These findings are interpreted from a Habermasian perspective, reiterating the apparently insurmountable challenge of power inequalities in the public sphere. Nonetheless, in order to pursue a democratic discourse, private landowners and ‘estate communities’ are recommended to adopt principles of Communicative Action (where mutual understanding is supported through the creation of an ‘ideal speech situation’), to contribute positively to ‘estate community’ sustainability, and subsequently, to private estate sustainability and public legitimacy. This research is highly policy relevant in Scotland during a period of review of land reform legislation. The conclusions have international significance in terms of understanding power relations in rural contexts and identifying opportunities for community empowerment. Finally, outcomes for the practice of communication in the context of Scottish private estates are considered, as well as wider theoretical applications in the era of ‘post-participation’, not least the importance of maintaining the ‘public sphere’, seeking to reduce inequalities and maximise trust.

Child Marriage Legislation in the Asia-Pacific Region

Child marriage is a human rights violation that robs a girl of her childhood, puts her health, growth, and development at risk, disrupts her education, limits her opportunities for empowerment and ...

Do-it-yourself biology: Action research within the life sciences?

Do-it-yourself biology, or garage biology, is a set of practices through which lay people can practice biotechnology and thus also challenge the exclusive control exercised on biotech R&amp;D by Big Bio. This article describes how garage biologists aim to radically transform biotechnological socio-material products and indicate a way of engaging with science and technology that is praxis oriented and builds on sharing, participation, and creativity. We argue that these do-it-yourself biology practices contain significant epistemological similarities with the well-established tradition of action research and indicate that both practices share the political objective to empower individuals to actively build their own future but that they prioritize different strategies. Action research investigates opportunities for empowerment in typical social domains while do-it-yourself biology focuses on the material dimension of socio-technical realities. By reviewing some do-it-yourself biology practices from the core basic principles of action research, the article aims to develop insight whether and in which forms a connectivity can be realized between these different practices leading to future collective actions among these practices.

Teaching in the ‘edgelands' of the school day: The organisation of Mother Tongue Studies in a highly diverse Swedish primary school

To promote attainment and inclusion, Sweden offers tuition in migrant pupils’ mother tongues as a regular school subject. However, the formulation of learning aims is problematic, and resources allocated to the subject do not correspond to ambitions expressed in steering documents. This case study presents an analysis of the organization of Mother Tongue Studies at a highly diverse urban primary school, based on interviews with teachers and head teachers. The practical organization of Mother Tongue Tuition affects how mother tongue teachers and pupils are perceived, but also potentially provides opportunities for empowerment and educational development. Results indicate that in the investigated case, such opportunities are not exploited, placing mother tongue teachers in a state of continuous structural stress, while limiting the forms their teaching relationships can take. Additionally, scheduling the school subject Mother Tongue Studies at the ‘edgelands' of the school day contributed to further marginalizing languages taught as mother tongue and minimized interaction with class teachers.

Measuring the drivers of gender inequality and their impact on development: the role of discriminatory social institutions

This paper highlights the key role of discriminatory social institutions – formal and informal laws, social norms, and practices – as the underlying drivers of gender inequality. Using the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) from the OECD Development Centre, this paper assesses the cost of gender-based discrimination in social institutions for economic and human development. Quantifying such complex issues is a powerful lever for advocacy, where rights-based arguments have tended to gain less traction. The paper provides evidence that measuring the invisible is feasible and critical to position social norms on the policy radar. It demonstrates that any truly transformative post-2015 development agenda must take into account how such inequalities impact the development pathways of women and girls across their entire life course, limiting their rights and empowerment opportunities.

Effects of the COPE Cognitive Behavioral Skills Building TEEN Program on the Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors and Mental Health of Appalachian Early Adolescents

IntroductionAppalachian adolescents have a high prevalence of obesity and mental health problems that exceed national rates, with the two conditions often co-existing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a 15-session cognitive-behavioral skills building intervention (COPE [Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment] Healthy Lifestyles TEEN [Thinking, Emotions, Exercise, and Nutrition] Program) on healthy lifestyle behaviors, physical health, and mental health of rural early adolescents. MethodsA pre- and posttest pre-experimental design was used with follow-up immediately after the intervention. ResultsResults support improvement in the students' anxiety, depression, disruptive behavior, and self-concept scores after the COPE intervention compared with baseline. Additionally, healthy lifestyle behavior scores improved before the intervention compared with after the intervention. DiscussionCOPE is a promising intervention that improves mental health and healthy lifestyle behaviors and can be integrated routinely into school-based settings.

Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Management of Child Anxiety in a Rural Primary Care Clinic With the Evidence-Based COPE Program

IntroductionAnxiety is the most common mental health disorder in children. Many communities have shortages of mental health providers, and the majority of children with anxiety are not receiving the evidence-based treatment they need. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the feasibility and effects of a brief seven-session cognitive behavioral skills-building intervention, Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment (COPE), which was delivered to anxious children by a pediatric nurse practitioner in a primary care setting. MethodsA pre-experimental, one-group, pretest and post-test design was used. ResultsChildren who participated had a significant decrease in anxiety symptoms (13.88 points, SD = 17.96, 95% confidence interval [CI] = −1.13-28.89), as well as an increase in knowledge of cognitive-behavioral coping skills (M = 11.38, CI = 5.99-8.26, p = .00) and improved functioning (at school and at home). Evaluations by parents and children were positive. DiscussionCOPE is a promising evidence-based intervention for children with anxiety with feasible delivery by pediatric nurse practitioners in primary care.