Goal Of Inclusion Research Articles

Time–space control: explaining subnational variation in Thailand’s guestwork regimes

Abstract How do states control labor migration? Furthering global trends, nation states increasingly seek to include foreigners in labor markets while excluding them from settling. Yet, dominant theories maintain a limited conception of migration control as primarily immigrant restriction, especially in the global North. Thailand offers a paradigmatic case for understanding labor migration control and the dual goal of inclusion–exclusion it entails. While migrants generally face rigid limits on their immigration status, the Thai state shows internal variation in how it manages their inclusion as workers: in some places, authorities more strictly regulate time limits of documents, while in others, they focus on control of boundaries around migrant spatial access. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork in two sites, this article examines this regulatory variation to inform a more general understanding of guestwork control in global context. Comparing two subnational regimes, I show that the state must respond to multiple forces from above and below when controlling labor migration, requiring subnational regulatory differences, and fostering contrasting means of labor reproduction. Findings suggest that differential subnational incorporation into regional and global economies can shape differences in the time–space control of migrant workers and the conditions of noncitizenship that come with it.

Improving inclusive school food practices with parent voices

ABSTRACT In Canadian schools, food and drink offerings have yet to be explicitly incorporated in most inclusive food policies and practices. With the growing number of vegetarian and vegan (veg*n) families and literature documenting their marginalisation, this study sought to explore parents’ experiences within Ontario schools for their children who eat plant-based diets, yet also unearthed how limited choices negatively affected the good health and well-being of lactose and gluten intolerant students, as well as other dietary needs. Taking a narrative inquiry-inspired approach, interviews were conducted with 11 parents. In most schools, veg*n options were not available, and as a result, students felt socially excluded and, at times, were physically left out, which adversely affected their well-being and interrupted their learning. Most parents also felt unsupported when advocating for their children. All parents recommended partnerships for the goals of inclusion and quality education, by forming inclusive school food policies, teaching about a range of diet diversity, including why people adopt these, such as for health, animal welfare, sustainability, religion, culture, and more. By informing school food policies with parent voices, students can benefit from reduced inequalities and good health and well-being. Doing so would foster peace, justice and strong institutions.

The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative-4 (ADNI-4) Engagement Core: A culturally informed, community-engaged research (CI-CER) model to advance brain health equity.

The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative-4 (ADNI-4) Engagement Core was launched to advance Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD-related dementia (ADRD) health equity research in underrepresented populations (URPs). We describe our evidence-based, scalable culturally informed, community-engaged research (CI-CER) model and demonstrate its preliminary success in increasing URP enrollment. URPs include ethnoculturally minoritized, lower education (≤ 12 years), and rural populations. The CI-CER model includes: (1) culturally informed methodology (e.g., less restrictive inclusion/exclusion criteria, sociocultural measures, financial compensation, results disclosure, Spanish Language Capacity Workgroup) and (2) inclusive engagement methods (e.g., the Engagement Core team; Hub Sites; Community-Science Partnership Board). As of April 2024, 60% of ADNI-4 new in-clinic enrollees were from ethnoculturally or educationally URPs. This exceeds ADNI-4's≥50% URP representation goal for new enrollees but may not represent final enrollment. Findings show a CI-CER model increases URP enrollment in AD/ADRD clinical research and has important implications for clinical trials to advance health equity. The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative-4 (ADNI-4) uses a culturally informed, community-engaged research (CI-CER) approach. The CI-CER approach is scalable and sustainable for broad, multisite implementation. ADNI-4 is currently exceeding its inclusion goals for underrepresented populations.

Seed Grant Programs to Promote Community Transformation in Higher Education Institutions

Used in higher education for many decades, seed grants are now beginning to be applied as a strategy to advance diversity, equity and inclusion goals, including rebuilding community post-pandemic. There is little research on the effectiveness of seed grants for such communal goals. This work is innovative in two key ways. First, these seed grants focus on promoting a strong sense of community at the institution rather than promoting individual investigators and research projects. Second, engaging students and staff as principal investigators (PIs) disrupts power structures in the academy. We present a systematic analysis of seed grant project reports (n = 45) and survey data (n = 56) from two seed grant programs implemented at the same institution. A diverse set of projects was proposed and funded. Projects had a positive impact on awardees and their departments and colleges. Seed grant program activities were successful at building community among awardees and recognizing individual efforts. Most noteworthy are the career development opportunities for graduate students, postdocs and staff, which are afforded by changes to PI eligibility. We conclude that seed grant programs have the potential for organizational learning and change around community building in higher education.

Theoretical Underpinnings Of Gender, Finance And Development: A Critical Review

Economies around the world have recorded tremendous advancement in their journey towards access to finance dimension of financial inclusion over these years. But women who constitute around fifty percent of the world population still lag much behind their counterparts in achieving the higher goals of financial inclusion particularly the usage of financial products and services. A persistent gender gap of 6% is visible while analyzing the Global Financial Inclusion Database (Global Findex,2021) data. The gender gap in financial access and usage aggravates economic inequity and underlines women's economic subservience. For instance, lack of accessibility to property and assets constraints women’s ability to pledge collateral such as land or livestock to obtain credit from formal financial institutions. The participation of women in the economic activities is far below their potential due to many socio-economic and cultural barriers. A deep-rooted historical reading of the gender dynamics evolved in the development discourse is vital for the policy makers to frame strategies to address such issues. The study investigates the interrelated roles of gender, finance, and development from a theoretical standpoint. A comprehensive review regarding the paradigm shifts happened in the domain of gender and development comprising of WID approach, WAD approach and GAD approach is also presented.

Fintech And Financial Inclusion: Case Studies From The United States

Throughout several decades, the top name among companies that have accepted online payment transactions is a multinational financial technology company PayPal, situated in the United States that was founded in 1998. Internet payments gained traction and expanded globally over time. This research examines how financial technology, or FinTech, is changing financial accessibility in the US. It also analyzes how these advancements, together with innovations in blockchain and cryptocurrency technology have changed the way that financial services are accessed through case studies of well-known websites like PayPal, Venmo, and Robinhood. These technological advancements have promoted financial transaction transparency, democratized investing opportunities, and expedited payment systems. Furthermore, the research emphasizes how Splitwise and similar platforms facilitate shared spending management, which in turn encourages economic inclusion and gives people more ability to engage in the financial ecosystem. The paper offers insights into how FinTech is changing the financial services industry, improving accessibility and supporting larger financial inclusion goals in the US by examining some case studies.

Ableism and the discourse of risk and safety in patient-facing work-integrated learning.

In many countries, such as Canada, the USA, England, and Australia, to graduate from a regulated profession such as nursing, students must complete a set of work-integrated learning (WIL) hours and demonstrate their ability to safely perform physical skills and apply knowledge in relation to professional standards. For a disabled nursing student (DNS) undergoing training in higher education institutions (HEI), securing proper accommodations to participate effectively in WIL experiences has been difficult due to concerns related to risks to self and patient safety. This study used critical discourse analysis to investigate the framing of risk and safety in association with providing DNS with accommodation in WIL. Our data were collected from an intensive codesign (group-based discussion) session with participants (n = 16), including clinicians and DNS, from four institutions (two WIL-sites and two HEI organizations). Using an iterative thematic approach based on Foucauldian framework, our analysis revealed three ways in which health professionals discursively framed risk and safety: (a) beliefs that a lack of disclosure by disabled students decreases patient safety and indicates poor self-reflection, (b) concerns that accommodating students poses a risk to institutions offering WIL experiences and to the relationships between HEI and institutions offering WIL-sites, and (c) a framing which challenges the dominant discourse by thinking about safety and risk more expansively. Our findings suggest the first two of these framings are ableist and function to enact barriers to access for DNSs in WIL, whereas the third framing serves the goal of inclusion. Recommendations to address the current ableist discourse within the Canadian nursing context are provided, which may also be applicable across other regulated health professions.

Assessing Evidence-Based Disability Inclusion Policy and Practices to Promote Employment of People With Disabilities in the Workplace: Scale Development and Validation

There is a strong commitment in the United States and the European Union to better support people with disabilities in the competitive labor market, where disability inclusion is widely viewed as a social imperative and underscored in policies, such as the European Union’s Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy 2020–2030, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. However, there is a lack of readily available strategies and tools for rehabilitation counselors to collaborate effectively with businesses and organizations in assessing their progress toward these inclusion goals. To address this need, the Disability Inclusion Profiler (DIP23) was developed to assess disability inclusion policies and practices. This study aimed to examine the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the DIP23 in a sample of 466 human resources managers. Exploratory factor analysis indicated a two-factor measurement structure: (1) Executive Level and (2) Middle Management and Staff Level Disability Inclusion Policies. Both factors demonstrated strong internal consistency and correlated with employment rates of people with disabilities. The DIP23 is a psychometrically sound measure for rehabilitation counselors to help organizations assess their disability-inclusive climate and identify areas of strengths and areas needing improvement to increase disability representation in the workplace.

The Impact of Financial Inclusion as a tool for Inclusive Development

The pursuit of financial inclusion in India has a long and storied history. Financial inclusiondescribes the policy of providing low-income people with easy and affordable access to credit and otherfinancial services. The goal of Financial Inclusion is to promote economic growth by making it such thatpeople from all socioeconomic backgrounds have equal access to, use of, and profit from the formalfinancial system. The promotion of economic parity has recently emerged as one of the most pressingissues facing modern society. In India, the concept of financial inclusion presents a challenge since thegreat majority of the population is still denied access to inclusive economic growth. Credit access isincreasingly seen as a tool for economic growth. Consider the effects of financial inclusion on inclusivedevelopment in this paper.

EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FINANCIAL LITERACY AND SUCCESSFUL LOAN REPAYMENT UNDER THE MUDRA YOJANA SCHEME IN INDIA

Financial literacy enhances the ability of the borrower to manage their finances such as budgeting and monitoring cash flow, thus leading to successful repayment of debts. This research employs a detailed review of secondary data, which includes qualitative insights. By focussing articles, reports, journals and websites, the study aims at providing insights on Mudra scheme and the role financial literacy in successful loan repayment and the importance of financial literacy to address the challenges faced by borrowers under the Mudra Yojana Scheme. Research reveal that higher financial literacy leads to better finance management, which leads to informed decisions and adherence to repayment schedules. Financial literacy enables individuals to mitigate financial challenges, make informed decisions, financial management, which in turn leads to timely loan repayments. It also highlights the importance of enhancing financial education through training programs conducted by policy makers, as it contributes to the strategic decision making and business growth. Thus contributing to the broader goals of financial inclusion and economic development. KEY WORDS: Sishu, Kishore, Tharun and Financial literacy.

Harnessing RegTech for Financial Inclusion: Enhancing Compliance and Security in the Modern Financial Landscape

Purpose: The integration of Regulatory Technology (RegTech) into the financial inclusion landscape addresses the complex compliance and security challenges faced by financial institutions in an increasingly ambiguous technological environment. Methodology: The study is conducted through a comprehensive analysis of current patterns, advantages, and disadvantages, supported by real-world case studies, Findings: This study reveals how RegTech, powered by machine learning, artificial intelligence, and blockchain, significantly enhances compliance efficiency, reduces operational costs, and safeguards sensitive financial data. Additionally, a strategic framework for implementing RegTech solutions is presented, offering practical recommendations to ensure compliance while fostering a secure and inclusive financial environment. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The findings contribute new insights into RegTech's role in advancing financial inclusion, provide guidance for financial institutions on effective adoption strategies, and inform policy by emphasizing the need for regulatory support to fully leverage RegTech for broader financial inclusion goals.

Utilizing mentorship education to promote a culturally responsive research training environment in the biomedical sciences.

There is an urgent and compelling need for systemic change to achieve diversity and inclusion goals in the biomedical sciences. Because faculty hold great influence in shaping research training environments, faculty development is a key aspect in building institutional capacity to create climates in which persons excluded because of their ethnicity or race (PEERs) can succeed. We present a mixed methods case study of one institution's efforts to improve mentorship of PEER doctoral students through mentorship education workshops for faculty. These workshops were one strategy among others intended to improve graduate trainees' experiences, and positively affect institutional climate with respect to racial and ethnic diversity. Surveys of 108 faculty mentors revealed that about 80% overall agreed or strongly agreed with the value of culturally responsive mentoring behaviors but about 63% overall agreed or strongly agreed that they were confident in their ability to enact those behaviors. Through a series of three focus groups, PEER doctoral students reported that they noticed mentors' efforts to address cultural diversity matters and identified some guidance for how to approach such topics. We discuss future directions and implications for using mentorship education to activate systemic change toward inclusive research training environments and promoting the value of mentorship within institutions.

Inclusion Goals: What Sex Education for LGBTQIA+ Adolescents?

According to the World Health Organization and the World Association for Sexual Health (WAS) Declaration of Sexual Rights, sex education aims to provide children and adolescents with comprehensive knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values, promoting equality and nondiscrimination while upholding freedom of thought and expression. However, current school curricula often focus on dichotomous sexual identity and hetero-cis-normative prevention strategies, neglecting the needs of gender minority (GM) and sexual minority (SM) youths. In family settings, discussions typically revolve around sexual risk reduction and basic contraception, omitting relational aspects and components of sexual identity such as orientations and gender expressions. This discrepancy highlights a gap between the official goals of sex education and its practical implementation, reflecting a cultural deficit in familial sex education. This study reviews the scientific literature on sexual health promotion interventions from 2015 to 2024 to identify inclusive approaches that enhance the participation of all youths, not just hetero-cis-normative individuals. The hypothesis is that most interventions primarily serve heterosexual and cisgender youths, indicating a need for more inclusive strategies to achieve better sexual health and educational outcomes. The study also suggests expanding curricula to align with recognized guidelines and the diverse needs of youth.

Promoting the cultivation and sustainability of mentoring ecosystems: results from a multi-institutional study

ABSTRACT Although mentoring interventions have helped to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals within STEM fields, even the most efficacious programs can be undermined without intentional cultivation of the broader mentoring ecosystem. This study examines participants from eight campus teams that engaged in a multi-session process of learning about a STEM-mentoring ecosystem (STEM-ME) framework, learning particular terminology, including ‘champions’ and ‘stewards’ within the system (i.e. who is advocating for and resourcing mentoring, respectively), and tools to inventory, map and analyze their mentoring ecosystem. Qualitative research, guided by interpretive phenomenological analysis, focused on (a) completed inventory tools, (b) visual mapping exercises, and (c) field notes from meeting sessions. The results indicate that the STEM-ME framework and new terminology facilitated important insights into possible synergies within the system. The opportunity to visualize an institutional ecosystem for concentrations of and gaps in activity helped to identify potential vulnerabilities and places to invest.

Unequal City and Inequitable Choice: The Neoliberal State’s Development of School Choice and Marketization in the Publicly Funded Catholic School Board in Toronto, Canada

ABSTRACT This study examines the extent to which school choice in the Toronto Catholic District School Board impacts equity and segregation. This examination is important because full public funding for the Board should adhere to the goals of public education, namely, equity and inclusion of all students. A critical policy geography perspective is applied to illuminate the dynamics of school choice as a neoliberal reform in the context of a global city where residential polarization and occupational bifurcation along racialized social class lines have intensified. Guided by critical space analysis, this research uses student enrollment data (Grades 9–12), Canadian Census data, school website information, and secondary literature. The findings suggest that school choice increases spatial inequity by giving those who are already socially and racially advantaged easier access to prestigious academic programs of choice. School segregation according to students’ economic backgrounds thereby increases. This study calls for implementing sociospatially conscious education policies that can undo rather than reinforce global city inequality.

In Cahoots with Neo-Indigenism

Academia’s support for neo-indigenes is a significant component of their professional success. I describe how this support operates, drawing a model of cahooting from Edward Dolnick’s analysis of art forgery in The Forger’s Spell. Cahooting reflects the importance of social relationships to the construction of perceived truth and virtue. It corrupts academia at multiple levels through these relationships, undermining the pursuit of truth and goals of equity and inclusion.

Symposium 1: Analyzing Special Needs Support through Networks and Learning Analytics in Primary Education

In this short paper, analytical issues of networked learning are related to special needs support and learning analytics research in primary education. Very brief suggestions for these analytical issues are discussed for the networked learning research field to continue to expand upon. In part, the discussion is intended to form the underpinnings of a work-in-progress research project with cross-disciplinary networked connections across multiple universities. Currently, teachers are faced with an expansion of their professional role that may be too economically demanding, which may result in consequences that is not beneficial for children with special needs. Researchers that aim to study inclusive education face the challenge to represent findings in a way that does not increase workload for teachers in primary education. Any failings in this regard may strengthen the intertwining of educational results and economical interest, which to a large extent could be considered as opposed to networked learning theory, dualistically separated from pedagogical concerns. The inclusive goal of addressing diversity for children with special needs may be promoted by providing an educational setting with networked connections that enhances variation to modes of behavior, by addressing specific and contextual strengths and challenges of students appropriately. With learning analytics, specific and contextual strengths and challenges of students might be easier to highlight with new database schemas, algorithms, and user interfaces to represent networked data. Radical behaviorist methodology may further emphasize specific contextual findings from primary education through strictly defined events of behavior, which may be of interest to the networked learning research community to further expand upon. Thus, this paper proposes suggestions for networked learning research of primary education, with approaches commonly implemented in special education, such as radical behaviorist methodology. The suggestions are based on networked consequences from three social dimensions: political, economic, and technology-developmental. 1 The political dimension is discussed through the notion of inclusive education for children with special needs and its current state, 2 the economic dimension is discussed through the 21st century role expansion of teachers, 3 the technology-developmental dimension is discussed through learning analytic research and its connection to bodily and biological associations. This dimension is especially noteworthy, as learning analytics is currently underutilized in primary education research as opposed to common higher education research.

Bird names as critical communication infrastructure in the contexts of history, language, and culture

Standardized taxonomies and lists of birds were created to improve communication. They are linguistic infrastructure―biodiversity indices and dictionaries―that have been painstakingly built and maintained and that have enhanced regional and global participation in the study and enjoyment of birds. Inclusion of people has been a core objective in creating and maintaining these standardized lists, and dissatisfaction and desires to overwrite objectionable names have been associated with them for nearly two centuries. Suggestions that bird names should be changed are continuous. Today, these suggestions include the view that some bird names must be changed to make them more accurate, inoffensive, and culturally appropriate to further increase diversity and inclusion among ornithologists and bird watchers. The latter, meritorious goal has been largely successful thus far despite many ongoing objections. Historic examples indicate that large-scale name changes, however, are not needed to accomplish major societal goals of inclusion. Some barriers to inclusion likely remain, and some changes are likely needed for English names. Often overlooked or underappreciated in name change discussions are that: 1) standardized names lists have had numerically staggering success in fostering inclusion of diverse participants globally; 2) stability is vital in such systems, and destabilization has exclusionary effects; 3) dissatisfaction with such lists and the names they include has been ongoing since these naming systems began; 4) important flexibilities exist in conjunction with these communication systems that enhance local and regional communication (e.g., alternative names in English and other languages); and 5) cultural values, important as they are, are neither universally shared nor constant, and thus risk bringing divisiveness and instability when used as a central reason for change. Consideration of standardized lists of bird names as communication systems in the fuller context of history, language, and culture will improve our management of these systems and their continued utility in fostering inclusion. With standardized, stable naming systems acting as a skeleton, proactively building outwards, both within and among languages and cultures, offers a positive and productive way to increase inclusion and to improve cultural and biodiversity conservation.

Assessing disparities through missing race and ethnicity data: results from a juvenile arthritis registry.

Ensuring high-quality race and ethnicity data within the electronic health record (EHR) and across linked systems, such as patient registries, is necessary to achieving the goal of inclusion of racial and ethnic minorities in scientific research and detecting disparities associated with race and ethnicity. The project goal was to improve race and ethnicity data completion within the Pediatric Rheumatology Care Outcomes Improvement Network and assess impact of improved data completion on conclusions drawn from the registry. This is a mixed-methods quality improvement study that consisted of five parts, as follows: (1) Identifying baseline missing race and ethnicity data, (2) Surveying current collection and entry, (3) Completing data through audit and feedback cycles, (4) Assessing the impact on outcome measures, and (5) Conducting participant interviews and thematic analysis. Across six participating centers, 29% of the patients were missing data on race and 31% were missing data on ethnicity. Of patients missing data, most patients were missing both race and ethnicity. Rates of missingness varied by data entry method (electronic vs. manual). Recovered data had a higher percentage of patients with Other race or Hispanic/Latino ethnicity compared with patients with non-missing race and ethnicity data at baseline. Black patients had a significantly higher odds ratio of having a clinical juvenile arthritis disease activity score (cJADAS10) of ≥5 at first follow-up compared with White patients. There was no significant change in odds ratio of cJADAS10 ≥5 for race and ethnicity after data completion. Patients missing race and ethnicity were more likely to be missing cJADAS values, which may affect the ability to detect changes in odds ratio of cJADAS ≥5 after completion. About one-third of the patients in a pediatric rheumatology registry were missing race and ethnicity data. After three audit and feedback cycles, centers decreased missing data by 94%, primarily via data recovery from the EHR. In this sample, completion of missing data did not change the findings related to differential outcomes by race. Recovered data were not uniformly distributed compared with those with non-missing race and ethnicity data at baseline, suggesting that differences in outcomes after completing race and ethnicity data may be seen with larger sample sizes.

Analyzing Determinants of Loan Repayment Performance at Grameen Koota: A Comprehensive Study in Bangalore District

Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are pivotal in promoting financial inclusion by providing financial services to underbanked populations. This study investigates the key determinants influencing loan repayment performance at Grameen Koota, a leading MFI in the Bangalore district. Employing a comprehensive mixed-method approach, the research integrates quantitative analysis of loan repayment data from 50 borrowers with qualitative interviews involving 20 borrowers and five loan officers. The findings indicate that borrower income stability, financial literacy, loan size, and loan duration significantly affect repayment performance. Specifically, higher income stability and greater financial literacy correlate with better repayment rates, while smaller loan sizes and shorter loan durations enhance repayment performance. Qualitative insights emphasize the importance of solid borrower relationships with loan officers and community support systems in addressing repayment challenges. These relationships and support mechanisms are crucial for timely and successful loan repayment. This paper contributes valuable insights into the microfinance sector within the urban Bangalore context, adding to the limited research on repayment determinants in MFIs operating in urban Indian settings. The study suggests that implementing financial literacy programs, offering manageable loan sizes, and fostering robust borrower support systems can significantly improve loan repayment rates. The research highlights the need for MFIs to focus on borrower education and community engagement to enhance financial inclusion and sustainability. This comprehensive analysis of loan repayment performance at Grameen Koota offers practical recommendations for MFIs to improve their operational strategies and better serve their clients, ultimately contributing to the broader goal of financial inclusion and economic development.