Majority World Countries Research Articles

Improving Measurement Efficiency of an Early Education Quality Monitoring Tool for Majority World Countries

ABSTRACT Research Findings: New measures are being developed for quality monitoring of early care and education (ECE) programs in Majority World countries. However, limited psychometric work has identified items most indicative of quality or optimized the content of these tools. Therefore, the goal of this study was to showcase the empirical steps needed to streamline ECE quality monitoring measures and create more efficient, yet psychometrically robust, versions of these tools for Majority World countries. We used data on the Measuring Early Learning Environments (MELE) instrument that was administered to 250 ECE programs in one anonymous sub-Saharan African country. Findings from Item Response Theory techniques pointed to several items that should be retained for shorter versions of the MELE. Together with findings from correlational analyses with teacher/classroom characteristics and child outcomes, these results also showed that shorter versions of the MELE retained similar amounts of information on ECE quality and precision relative to the original instrument. Collectively, these results showed that it is possible to improve a quality monitoring measure’s efficiency by retaining a subset of highly informative items that maintain the original instrument’s psychometric adequacy. Practice or Policy: We recommend researchers and practitioners interested in optimizing similar tools for monitoring in their context to follow these empirical steps.

Best practices for implementing equitable and just large-scale randomized trials in majority world countries.

This article focuses on a widely used method in developmental and education research in majority world countries: large-scale impact evaluations and randomized controlled trials. We build on our experience implementing such programs in majority world countries, primarily in West Africa, and reflect on our experiences to propose a set of best practices in maintaining equity and justice in collaborations between majority and minority world countries. These include prioritizing research-policy-community partnerships, promoting complementary research approaches, considering measurement timescales, and capacity exchange approaches. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Stay safe, stay home? Majority world children, the COVID-19 pandemic, and (everyday) security politics

This article explores children in the majority world’s experiences of the stringent health security practices implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on original empirical research in five majority world countries, it examines children’s own accounts of their experiences of lockdowns and stay-at-home orders. Our analysis of the children’s narratives draws out the spatial, temporal, and affective dimensions of home-making under stay-at-home orders. In turn, we highlight complex and ambivalent connections between the notable and the mundane, between security and the everyday, and between home-making and world-building, and offer conclusions informed by majority world children on the ‘(important) banality of security and security politics’.

Rooted in Family, Exploring the World: The Integrated Identities of Advantaged Guatemalan Adolescents

Adolescents in today’s globalized world construct their identities within complex and intersecting ecologies. In majority world countries, such as Guatemala, adolescents are exposed to external influences through international media, travel, and visitors from other cultures. In this study, 131 middle and high school adolescents (53% girls, Mage = 14.5, range = 11–19) attending a bilingual school in Guatemala completed two quantitative measures (concerning local and remote acculturation and identity domain importance) and two qualitative measures (open-ended responses to the prompt “I am” and an autophotography exercise). The quantitative results showed that cultural affiliation with Guatemala was associated with a collective identity. Qualitative findings provided a deep and complex view of identity in the context of collectivism and global influences. In response to the prompt “I am,” adolescents described themselves as profoundly social, embedded in networks of nuclear and extended family and friends. They reported personal qualities that foster and maintain social bonds, including friendliness, kindness, sincerity, and a sense of humor. Reflexive thematic analysis of the text from the autophotography activity revealed participants’ interdependent self-construals and their developmental model of growth strategies and aspirations. Integration of traditional and global influences was creative and seamless for these adolescents who saw themselves as firmly embedded in family, Guatemala and its culture, while confidently growing and exploring the world. A mixed-methods approach can provide complementary findings that are more meaningful and expansive than either quantitative or qualitative methods alone.

The Relations Between Caregiver Education, Home Stimulation, and Children’s Developmental Outcomes: Research in Majority World Countries

AbstractCaregiver education and home stimulation have shown positive associations with children’s developmental outcomes in early childhood in high-income “Minority World” countries, and these processes also predict children’s long-term health and well-being. However, relatively little is known about these processes in low- and middle-income “Majority World” countries, where an estimated 250 million children under the age of five are at risk of not reaching their developmental potential. This paper attempts to address these gaps in knowledge by exploring the relations between caregiver education, household stimulation, and early childhood development in a sample of infants and toddlers aged birth to three using data on 9,099 caregiver-child dyads from eight under-represented Majority World sites: Brazil, Guatemala, India, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Zambia. It also explored the differences in these developmental processes between children’s sex and geographical regions. Results showed that home stimulation partially mediated the associations between caregiver education and children’s developmental outcomes across eight sites. These developmental processes differed by geographical regions and by children’s sex. In sum, these findings contribute to the field’s understanding of the universality and specificity of child development across settings and child characteristics. They also suggest the importance of supporting caregiver education and home stimulation activities as means of promoting children’s developmental outcomes, as well as the need to promote gender equity in the Majority World to ensure equal access to learning opportunities, especially opportunities in the home.

The developmental pattern of native and non-native speech perception during the 1st year of life in Japanese infants

Language development during the 1st year of life is characterized by perceptual attunement: following language-general perception, a decline in the perception of non-native phonemes and a parallel increase in or maintenance of the perception of native phonemes. While this general pattern is well established, there are still many gaps in the literature. First, most evidence documenting these patterns comes from “Minority world countries” with only a limited number of studies from “Majority world countries”, limiting the range of languages and contrasts assessed. Second, few studies test both the developmental patterns of native and non-native speech perception in the same group of infants, making it hard to draw conclusions on simultaneous decline in non-native and increase in native speech perception. Such limitations are in part due to the effort that goes into testing developing speech sound perception, where usually only discrimination of one contrast per infant can be tested at a time. The present study thus set out to assess the feasibility of assessing a given infant on their discrimination of two speech sound contrasts during the same lab visit. It leveraged the presence of documented patterns of the improvement of native and the decline of non-native phoneme discrimination abilities in Japanese, therefore assessing native and non-native speech perception in Japanese infants from 6 to 12 months of age. Results demonstrated that 76 % of infants contributed discrimination data for both contrasts. We found a decline in non-native speech perception evident in discrimination of the non-native /ɹ/-/l/ consonant contrast at 9–11, but not at 11–13 months of age. Additionally, a parallel increase in native speech perception was demonstrated evident in an absence of native phonemic vowel length discrimination at 6–7 and 9–11 months and a discrimination of this contrast at 11–13 months of age. These results, based on a simultaneous assessment of native and non-native speech perception in Japanese-learning infants, demonstrate the feasibility of assessing the discrimination of two contrasts in one testing session and corroborate theoretical proposals on two hallmarks of perceptual attunement: a decrease in non-native and a facilitation in native speech perception during the first year of life.

Impact production in higher education: shaping future change makers through film education

This article considers impact production (using film and other forms of storytelling as the core of a social change strategy) as an important component of well-rounded film education programmes that seek to shape a new generation of socially and environmentally conscious film-makers. Through desk research, interviews and a survey, we found that opportunities to learn about impact production at higher education institutions are limited and expensive, while open-access resources are numerous, but can be overwhelming for those new to the field. We interview practitioners who specialise in: (1) raising awareness about what impact production entails; (2) practically implementing impact production strategies; and (3) educating film-makers in how to design impact campaigns. We analyse two case studies from Majority World countries to demonstrate strengths and weaknesses of existing impact teaching and training. The data gathered inform a theorisation of how impact production can be incorporated into formal educational practices worldwide. The article conceptualises what ‘impact production film education’ entails in a higher education context. This includes unpacking the interdisciplinary and practice-based nature of impact production. The intention is to shine light on the pedagogical value of impact production for shaping a new generation of film-makers who are technically equipped to tell compelling stories, and intellectually committed to using film as a tool for change.

Stakeholder perspectives following implementation of Vietnam’s first speech-language pathology degrees: recommendations for future curriculum development

Purpose To investigate perspectives of multiple stakeholders involved in development and delivery of Vietnam’s first speech-language pathology degrees and derive recommendations for future degrees in Vietnam and other Majority World countries. Methods An exploratory-descriptive qualitative research design using focus groups and individual semi-structured interviews in the preferred language (English or Vietnamese) was used, with 70 participants from five stakeholder groups: project managers, students, academic educators, placement supervisors and interpreters. Transcriptions were analysed using thematic network analysis. Results Analysis identified five organising themes: (1) People enjoyed working with/learning from others; (2) Benefits from/to stakeholders; (3) The pandemic impacted program delivery and learning; (4) Practical challenges; (5) Preparation with flexibility required for success and sustainability. From the five organising themes, one synthesising global theme was developed, conveying that satisfying international collaborations require preparation, support, high quality interpreting, and management of challenges. Conclusions Recommendations highlight the need for preparation, collaboration, support to manage challenges, flexibility, recognition for placement supervisors and high-quality interpreting. The recommendations are of relevance to other organisations engaged in development of professional degrees in Majority World countries. Future research would benefit from a critical investigation of the diverse perspectives of stakeholders involved in the development and implementation of international curricula.

Community youth mental health awareness in Pakistan through the train-the-trainer model: Qualitative study of stakeholder perspectives

BackgroundYouth in low-resource settings such as Pakistan have high levels of unmet mental health needs. Mental health stigma and sparse resources are key barriers to accessing help. AimTo capture end-users’ and trainers’ perspectives of youth mental health awareness in Pakistan informed by the Train-the-Trainer framework. MethodA qualitative research design was adopted, utilizing focus group discussions to hear the voices of those engaged in the study. Following the facilitation of four youth mental health awareness events in disadvantaged communities, five focus groups were conducted with 29 participants, i.e., mothers (n = 7 and n = 3), youth (n = 3 female and n = 7 male), and trainers (n = 9). Data were integrated and analysed through framework thematic analysis, which is a codebook approach to thematic analysis. ResultsThree themes related to perceived individual, community and implementation enablers and challenges. Trainers, mothers and youth reported undergoing parallel processes of personal growth. Communities were viewed as sources of both stigma and solutions, through engagement and addressing contextual issues such as gender. ConclusionParticipants in community youth mental health awareness welcomed the opportunity to acquire and transfer new knowledge, but also identified required supports to engage and actively involve communities in Majority World Countries.

Youth-led co-production of mental health promotion in Pakistan: intergenerational influences.

Youth with mental health needs face barriers in seeking and accessing help, especially in resource-constrained settings in Majority World Countries. Community engagement is thus important for mental health promotion, particularly in addressing stigma. Engagement can be enhanced by involving peer educators and by relating to intergenerational experiences in the sociocultural context of the community. The aim of this study was to explore how intergenerational experiences and perspectives can inform the co-production of youth-led mental health promotion in a Majority World Country, Pakistan. We recruited 11 families (one grandmother, mother and granddaughter in each family) as advisers from two disadvantaged areas of Karachi, and 14 peer educators. Training for peer educators included seminars, experiential activities, three participatory workshops with family advisers and supervision. A sub-sample of family advisers and peer educators attended four focus groups, and peer educators completed reflective diaries following each activity. Data were integrated and subjected to thematic codebook analysis. The three themes related to enabling and hindering factors towards co-production of mental health promotion, incorporation of intergenerational resilience and cascading knowledge to communities. The findings highlighted potential benefits of youth-led mental health promotion that contextualizes intergenerational experiences for those communities. Peer educator roles should be supported by training, and mental health promotion should be integrated within local service systems.

Developing Knowledge of Autism in Majority World Countries: Examples of Bolivia and Paraguay.

Bolivia and Paraguay are Majority World countries, which are defined as areas within which most of the world's population live, natural resources and landmass are located, but are often economically poor. Minority world countries, such as, the United States, have a smaller percentage of the world's population, but often a greater share of the world's wealth. Many Majority World countries, such as Bolivia and Paraguay, have not collected prevalence data on autism and assessments and interventions for persons are quite limited, if they are available at all. Persons with autism in Bolivia and Paraguay are at most underserved and the majority are unserved. This article reviews topological, demographic, and economic/political factors affecting the identification and provisions of services for autistic children and the current health and educational status for autistic persons in Bolivia and Paraguay. Descriptions of the efforts of outside consultants to assist parents and professional within those countries to gain information and develop assessment and intervention programs for autistic children are described. Attention is given to methodologies employed by United States consultants to ensure the implementation of culturally responsive practices. Consultants employed skilled dialogue when interviewing parents and professionals in Bolivia and Paraguay to understand their perspectives so as to guide content of trainings. The PRECEDE-PROCEED framework was employed to develop a culturally-responsive approach to assessment and intervention.

Integrated child mental health care provision in Pakistan: End-user and provider perspectives

PurposeChildren in majority world countries (MWC) have high rates of unmet mental health needs, with limited access to specialist resources. Integration of child mental health in existing psychosocial care can improve provision. Through a Train-the-Trainer (ToT) cascade approach, this study aimed to provide a framework for such integration in resource-constrained communities in Karachi, Pakistan and to establish hindering and enabling factors.Design/methodology/approachEight practitioners attended a child mental health ToT program, including training on a five-domain service transformation framework. Trainers co-designed and implemented interventions that integrated child mental health knowledge and skills on each domain. These were attended by 136 end-users (youth, parents, teachers, managers), of whom a sub-sample of 47 stakeholders, as well as the trainers, attended focus groups on their experiences. Data were analysed through a thematic codebook.FindingsEstablished themes reflected common ingredients across all domains/interventions that were deemed important for child mental health care integration. These included child-centric approaches, positive parenting, community mobilization and systemic changes.Originality/valueIntegrated child mental health care informed by the Train-of-Trainer approach can be a useful model for resource-constrained MWC contexts. Integrated interventions should be co-produced with communities.

Risk factors for mental health and wellness: children’s perspectives from five Majority World Countries

Several risk factors for children’s mental health and wellness have been established. These are compounded by inequalities, especially in Majority World Countries (MWC). As evidence is largely based on adult reports, we aimed to capture children’s experiences of risk across five MWC resource-constrained settings (Brazil, Pakistan, Turkey, Kenya, and South Africa) during the height of COVID-19 pandemic. Participants included 36 children aged 8–10 years and 37 young people aged 14–16 years. We employed a thematic design using a participatory methodological approach in collecting data through diary entries, drawings, posters, focus groups discussions, and child-led interviews with elders. Two researchers integrated and analysed the data set through a thematic codebook framework. Three identified themes related to exacerbation of existing risks, disruption or loss of protective factors, and lack of access to structural supports. Children linked risk factors along their socioecology. The findings have implications in actively involving children as social actors in determining and addressing risk for mental health and wellness through child-centred and multi-sectoral policy and interventions.

“Your Protection is in Your Hands Only”: User Awareness and Adoption of Privacy and Security Practices in Five Majority World Countries

Technology companies frequently develop and launch features to protect privacy, reduce user harm, and increase security. But adoption is inconsistent at best. Businesses might increase awareness through prominent placement on user interfaces or in-product promotions, and drive adoption through changes to default user settings, or by guiding users to tutorials that encourage them to engage with a new feature. These solutions can be effective but fail to capture key factors that inform use and adoption – particularly in the majority world. In this study, we conducted qualitative interviews with 24 participants in five majority world countries across three continents: the Philippines, Brazil, India, Egypt, and Nigeria (N = 120). We assess the awareness and use of privacy and security features related to internet usage generally, and internet-connected mobile devices specifically. Participants often cited worries about being victimized by financial scammers, and highlighted how frequent sharing of devices, a common behavior, resulted in consistent concerns about privacy. We identify barriers and concerns around use and adoption for users in these regions and offer a holistic analytical framework that can be leveraged by actors in the space to better understand user behaviors and attitudes, and design accordingly.

Perspective on clinical high-risk for psychosis in Africa.

Clinical High Risk for Psychosis has evolved in recent years as a conceptual and clinical entity, representing a shift in focus from the syndromal psychosis state to a recognition of the pre-psychotic state as a period of potential preventive intervention. Much existing evidence has been generated from well-resourced countries, with a more limited body of literature available from Africa and other Majority World countries. Against a backdrop of prevailing systemic challenges, it is necessary to appraise the state of knowledge on Clinical High Risk for Psychosis in Africa. In this perspective article, we cover epidemiology, risk factors, predictors of psychosis conversion, as well as an overview of sociocultural factors, notably stigma, and the barriers to mental health services in African settings. We discuss existing and promising assessment approaches and reflect on preventive and early intervention strategies. We conclude with recommendations including the need for more clinical, longitudinal, and collaborative research anchored in an integrative transdisciplinary approach. We highlight the need for more culturally valid assessment tools and strategies to improve access to and utilization of services while also reducing stigma.

Analysis of international competitive situation of key core technology in strategic emerging industries: New generation of information technology industry as an example.

In the context of the current technological revolution and unprecedented major changes, countries are facing the situation of accelerating the development of key core technologies, which is caused by the transformation from the dispute over trade to the dispute over ecology and scientific and technological strength. Competitive situation analysis is an important link of key core technology innovation. The construction of a universal model of international competitive situation analysis of key core technology can provide scientific support for decision makers of science and technology innovation to solve technical difficulties. This study takes the new generation of information technology industry as an example, identifies key core technologies of the industry and evaluates the competitive situation of the major world countries. Studies indicate that in the field of new generation information technology, the US and Japan is in the leading position globally. In addition, China has active innovation activities in all fields, but overall there remains a considerable gap with the world-leading level, and its R&D quality needs to be further improved.

Educational policies in early childhood education programs in Kenya and Nepal: Challenging unjust binary mindset around curricula practices

Educational policies and practices in the current age of heightened globalization are increasingly grounded on unjust binary curriculum approaches that favor educational designs from Minority-World countries at the expense of epistemologies of indigenous people in Majority-World nations that are typically deemed culturally inferior (Gupta, 2015). Essentially, those opposing binaries promote neocolonial and neoliberal ideologies while disregarding lived cultural contexts of people in Majority-World countries (Lee, 2012). To grapple with this conundrum, this ethnographic study examined how educators in Kenya and Nepal (N = 26) contested, constructed, and transformed educational practices in contexts of globalization, neocolonialism, and neoliberalism. Qualitative data from four schools in Kathmandu, Nepal (16 participants) and two schools in Kenya (10 participants) revealed that educators struggled with issues of intellectual imperialism. Therefore, they strived to deconstruct the existing unjust binary curricula policies by embracing pluralist educational discourses essential to sustaining indigenous languages and dialects. In doing so, those educators focused on advancing local cultural values, rights, and ideologies without antagonizing influential stakeholders from Minority-World nations.

Ethical and methodological reflections on research exploring refugee family reunification in Brazil

Ethical discussions have become key to Refugee Studies. However, most of this literature focuses on research with refugees in developed countries or refugee camps in the Majority World countries. Recommendations and experiences of researchers in the Global North do not completely grasp the challenges and opportunities for researchers from the Majority World conducting research with refugees in the Majority World. This paper discusses my experience of “doing-no-harm” research with 20 refugees in the city of São Paulo, Brazil in 2018. These interviews allowed me to understand the lived experience of refugees applying for family reunification in a first asylum country in Latin America. They also demanded new ethical and methodological decisions and dialogues. My reflection contributes to this literature on ethics and refugee studies and “ethics in practice” by bringing new ethical and methodological reflections considering trust-building, sampling, reflexivity, amplifying refugees’ voices and confidentiality from a South-South perspective.

Speaking of Africa: Sociology and the Study of Media in Majority World countries

ABSTRACT Much has been written about the coverage of the global south by journalism fields in the global north. Contemporary research has taken a step further by examining how non-Western journalism fields construct their own images. While these approaches are critical, a holistic framework that explores the realities of journalism fields in Majority World Countries remains inadequate. We illustrate the benefits of employing sociology of knowledge, field, and postcolonial theories to understand how journalists in the global south perceive newsroom roles, select news sources, and frame news content. Utilizing these three theoretical frameworks challenges the established Western norms branded as “global” and articulates sedimented knowledge by organizations working to construct knowledge of events. The proposed approach grapples with colonization by understanding the realities in which postcolonial journalism fields operate.

Exploring the leisure time physical activity (LTPA) experiences of women with a physical disability in India

ABSTRACT Empirical evidence has shown that leisure time physical activity (LTPA) has numerous benefits for women with a disability. However, little information is available on the nature of LTPA experiences within a majority world context. This study explored the LTPA experiences of women with a physical disability in India. Five women with a physical disability were interviewed in-person through go-along interviews. Photos and field notes were taken throughout the research process, including at the site of LTPA. A thematic narrative analysis was used to interpret the women’s experiences via three narratives. The multifaceted explorer focussed on LTPA as a means to a diverse life – enhancing health, friendships, and happiness. Spreading my wings storied LTPA as a transformative agent that enabled opportunities and promoted personal growth. Better me for a better you told the story of breaking boundaries and emerging as forerunners through LTPA. All three narratives showed how LTPA enabled and fostered empowerment, social support, and a sense of belonging. These insights highlight the need for more LTPA opportunities and targeted interventions for women with a disability in India and other majority world countries.