Mongolian Context Research Articles

Эмпати чадварыг тодорхойлох асуулгын психометрик чанарыг судалсан нь

Empathy is an important skill in social communication, and a high score of empathy is associated with relationships with others, psychological well-being, and high life satisfaction. There is no methodology for studying aspects of empathy that have been translated and validated in the Mongolian context yet. In this study, we evaluate the psychometric properties of the Mongolian version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (M-IRI). The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) was translated into Mongolian following the method committee approach, and an expert panel working in their field assessed its content validity. The final version of the questionnaire was prepared and administered to 381 teenagers in four schools located in the capital of Mongolia. The exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that the four-factor structure 18-item (M-IRI) is better than the original version 28-item. Thus, the 18-item M-IRI questionnaire demonstrates acceptable internal consistency and is a reliable measure for Mongolian adolescents.

Childhood burn injury in the ger districts of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: an analysis of parent narratives

Childhood burns pose a significant public health concern, particularly in low- and middle-income nations, where the burden is pronounced. Mongolia stands out for its elevated rates of burn-related child mortality, especially among 1 to 5-year-olds. Despite this, there is a lack of research on the current status of childhood burns in Ulaanbaatar. This study utilized Cognitive Edge’s Sensemaker® to collect micronarratives from parents in the ger districts of Ulaanbaatar, aiming to understand the present context of childhood burn injuries. Thematic analysis revealed four key themes, including features in home and outdoor environments, lack of safety measures, and limitations in supervision. The findings emphasize the need for a comprehensive approach to burn injury prevention tailored to the Mongolian context. Implementing suitable safety measures in ger districts based on these results could be instrumental. Additionally, extending this approach to other low- and middle-income countries warrants further investigation for effective preventive measures.

"They should ask about our feelings": Mongolian women's experiences of postpartum depression.

Between 16 and 20% of perinatal women in low- and middle-income countries experience depression. Addressing postpartum depression (PPD) requires an appreciation of how it manifests and is understood in different cultural settings. This study explores postpartum Mongolian women's perceptions and experiences of PPD. We conducted interviews with 35 postpartum women who screened positive for possible depression to examine: (1) personal experiences of pregnancy/childbirth; (2) perceived causes and symptoms of PPD; and (3) strategies for help/support for women experiencing PPD. Unless extreme, depression was not viewed as a disease but rather as a natural condition following childbirth. Differences between a biomedical model of PPD and local idioms of distress could explain why awareness about PPD was low. The most reported PPD symptom was emotional volatility expressed as anger and endorsement of fear- or anxiety-related screening questions, suggesting that these might be especially relevant in the Mongolian context. Psychosocial factors, as opposed to biological, were common perceived causes of PPD, especially interpersonal relationship problems, financial strain, and social isolation. Possible barriers to PPD recognition/treatment included lack of awareness about the range of symptoms, reluctance to initiate discussions with providers about mental health, and lack of PPD screening practices by healthcare providers. We conclude that educational campaigns should be implemented in prenatal/postnatal clinics and pediatric settings to help women and families identify PPD symptoms, and possibly destigmatize PPD. Healthcare providers can also help to identify women with PPD through communication with women and families.

Development and validation of a competence model for educational researcher in the Mongolian context

<span lang="EN-US">In the 21st century, competences of educational researchers become increasingly complex and highly significant. Although various discussions and competencies have been for researchers in general, no frameworks have been devised specifically for educational researchers. This study aimed to establish a competence model for educational researcher (CMfER). The dimensions and items were created from a conceptual analysis of the literature, in-depth interviews, and focus interviews. Eight experts in the field of educational research evaluated the content validity. The reliability and validity of the CMfER were examined utilizing a sample of 240 Mongolian educational researchers. The 24-item four factor model was validated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and the results showed adequate model fits. The factor loadings of the model were substantially significant, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was well above the threshold value, suggesting that the items were internally consistent and reliable. Overall, the results shown that the CMfER can be used as a reliable and valid data collection tool in future studies in which educational researchers’ competences are examined.</span>

Intergenerational learning of traditional knowledge through informal education: the Mongolian context

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the research on intergenerational learning of Traditional Knowledge (TK) through informal education. Using qualitative methods, case study was used to explore storytelling by nomadic herders to educate the youth in Mongolian rural areas. This case study consists of 22 interviews with nomad herders, their children, and urban older adults with more education. The first part provides an overview of the TKof pastoralists and the impact of modernisation. The second part addresses the concept of a TK system as informal and nonformal learning within lifelong education , as well as its contextualisation in Mongolia. Thereafter, the research methodology and the study design are outlined, and data presented. The last part identifies the issues of TK transmission within the intergenerational informal learning practice of nomads . The findings suggest that intergenerational informal learning programs are necessary as part of lifelong learning, to promote Traditional nomadic culture and knowledge, and develop incentive policies for participation. The article concludes with recommendations to develop intergenerational informal learning for TK transmission. This study contributes to a richer understanding of lifelong education, particularly the usefulness of older and younger generations transmitting as well as learning nearly forgotten knowledge and values.

Revisiting competences of adult learning facilitators: Perspectives from the Mongolian context

Competent adult learning facilitators play a vital role in improving the quality of adult learning programmes. This article thus explores common and core competences of adult learning facilitators from the perspective of key stakeholders, such as facilitators, adult learners and administrators. By synthesising previous international studies, we developed a survey and collected data in Mongolia ( n = 227). We identified adult learning facilitators’ common and core competences focusing on their teaching role. As found, areas of adult learners’ needs assessment, communication and motivation should be integrated in professional development programmes in order to aim for a better completion rate and higher participation of target audiences in adult learning programmes.

Translation and Validation of the Mongolian Version of the Childbirth Experience Questionnaire.

Women’s experiences of childbirth have a significant impact on mother and child health and well-being as well as quality of care. A valid and reliable tool is needed to assess women's experience. This study aim was to adapt the Childbirth Experience Questionnaire to the Mongolian context and assess its psychometric properties. The study conducted between October and January 2019 at the public maternity hospital in Ulaanbaatar by recruiting a total of 828 low-risk postpartum women. The response rate was 92% (n = 761). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit for the 4-factor model. Reliability was good for the overall instrument (Cronbach's alpha = 0.83) and for individual domains (Cronbach's alphas ranging from 0.45 to 0.80). The overall and domain scores were significantly higher among women who had previous birth experience, who did not receive oxytocin augmentation, and who experienced a shorter labor duration (<12 h).The Mongolian version of the Childbirth Experience Questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool for exploring the childbirth experience. It can be used to promote women-centered, respectful care in maternity hospitals.

Mongolian democracy: key challenges and opportunities in modern environment

In the last three decades, views about democracy in Mongolia have transformed from high expectations and hopes to perceived failure in performances in political and economic terms. A national and international researchers concluded that at the initial stage of democratization, Mongolians were guided by the general concepts and values of democracy such as human rights, liberty, and freedom of association and expression. Later, these values shifted to more in-depth notions that can be summarized as “democracy is a process for ensuring accountability and justice based on the active engagement of citizens”. This article explores the factors that contributed to democratic challenges and bottlenecks drawing on experts’ interviews conducted by the author and a review of various public opinion surveys assessing democratic performance in Mongolia. The article uses methodologies and tools designed by International IDEA and assesses the applicability of different democratic models to the Mongolian context. It argues that the evaluation of democracy in Mongolia should use additional criteria reflecting Mongolian characteristics. It concludes by suggesting that the enhancement of the democratic mechanism of accountability of public institutions is a key opportunity to consolidate democracy. The experts participating in the assessment viewed the frameworks of executive, pluralist and protective democracy are more suitable for democracy development in Mongolia, and communitarian democracy.

The effect of work motivation on employee performance: Empirical evidence from 4-star hotels in Mongolia

This study provided empirical evidence for workforce motivation being viewed as a prime business strategy. The positive effects of work motivation upon performance were indicated by responses gathered from 398 employees working in 4-star hotels in Mongolia. Five work motivators and their influence upon employee performance were examined: financial motivation, external self-concept, enjoyment of work, internal self-concept and goal internalization. Three work motivators were found to effectively improve employee performance. The unique Mongolian context for this study can be added to the extensive body of workplace motivation literature. This study suggests that motivation is a fundamental business strategic priority.

Improved resource governance through transparency: Evidence from Mongolia

Transparency and accountability initiatives have emerged as a potential solution to combat corruption and increase public benefits from the extractive sector in resource-abundant countries. The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is one such initiative, through which 49 resource-rich countries have disclosed a cumulative 282 fiscal years of government revenues amounting to US$1.9 trillion since 2003. This paper explores the potential for promised benefits of increased disclosure to be realized, in the form of improved resource governance. Building on the social accountability literature, a framework is proposed and then applied to the Mongolian context to examine which stages of the framework work well, and which fail to perform. Two types of contracts are analyzed, water usage agreements and community benefit-sharing agreements. Although Mongolia is recognized as a leading performer by international EITI standards, the analysis concludes that the framework’s latter stages from disclosure to improved resource governance are incomplete. The policy implication is that greater attention to mobilization and citizen empowerment is needed to ensure that contract transparency can meaningfully contribute towards improved governance.

Buddhist studies in the west, past and present: Role of the Mongolian Buddhism

In this article, I tried to illustrate a brief history of Buddhist Studies in the Western world and role of Mongolian Buddhism in its history and future prospects. Buddhist Studies is an independent academic discipline that pioneered by outstanding Western scholars and it covers roughly 200 years. In the modern world, Buddhist Studies has formed interdisciplinary academic research, and expands its research area with new requirements of society and newly discovered manuscripts. From the outset of the Buddhist Studies, western scholars involved with Mongolian Buddhism and manuscripts; however, unfortunately Buddhist Studies in the Mongolian context could not develop in parallel with its rapid development. In other words, Mongolian Buddhism comparatively has been slighted in the past history of Buddhist Studies. The researches by domestic scholars have been reviving after 1960. Only foreign scholars do conspicuous researches on the Mongolian Buddhism, but domestic scholars are not active on the academic research due to some reasons. First of all we should define what makes Buddhism “Mongolian”. We should describe identity of the Mongolian Buddhism, and then we able to analyze its past, present and future prospects. I assume the following five tendencies explore researches of the Mongolian Buddhism.Assimilation of Buddhism with Mongolian tradition and customs, syncretism of Buddhism and Mongolian traditional shamanism Distinctive character of Mongolian monasticism, secularity, role of Buddhism in the Mongolian society Study of ethnic Mongolian lamas as influential historical figuresResearch of Mongolian Canons and other sources in Mongolian language, and their translation Study on Tibetan and Mongolian works by Mongolian lamas in comparison with doctrinally affiliated works

Measuring organizational culture: An empirical assessment of the hofstede questionnaire in a Mongolian setting

While it has become common practice to measure organizational culture quantitatively, its applicability is seldom questioned nor investigated. This empirical study shows, how one of the most frequently used questionnaires (Hofstede et al. 1990), can only be partly replicated in a Mongolian setting using a translated version of the Hofstede et al. (1990) questionnaire. Quantitative data was collected and analyzed accordingly, using common statistical procedures, such as factor analysis and Cronbach alpha measures. The sample consists of 1106 Mongolian employees in three service sectors. The service sectors are mobile communications service, banking sector and education sector. This study shows that Hofstede et al.’s (1990) questionnaire can only partly be replicated in a Mongolian setting. Data was only collected and interpreted in a Mongolian context. We propose that future research should focus on matching dimensions approaches to organizational culture with other existing models, e.g. Schein (1985), Hatch &amp; Cunliffe (2006), Dauber et al. (2010).

A Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Mathematics Teachers’ Professional Competences (MTPC) in a Mongolian Context

This study aimed to determine and validate a version of the MTPC with 4 belief, 4 knowledge, 4 practice, and 3 attitude items. The sample size of the study was 218 participants. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze research data. The results of the study revealed that after deleting 3 items of attitude, a 3-factor model was validated and well fit the research data. Therefore, the model best fits the Mongolian context in comparison to other models.

Erotic Capital as Societal Elevator: Pursuing Feminine Attractiveness in the Contemporary Mongolian Global(ising) Economy

Abstract Inspired by Bourdieu’s forms of capital, theorists have utilized the additional category of erotic capital as a descriptor of the increasing importance of physical appearance to economic mobility. Although this phenomenon also exists in Mongolia, the pursuit of corporeal attractiveness only depicts one prevalent erotic field highly conceptually intertwined with values of market and modernity. Additionally, the prevalence of this belief in the emancipatory power of attractiveness also overlaps with indigenous concepts of fortune (hishig) and reputation (nerelkhuu), which most likely facilitated its integration in the Mongolian context. As a result, individuals from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds pursue a standard of beauty associated with the wealthy and successful. In particular, women, who have been particularly hard hit by the vagaries of the current Mongolian economy, have increasingly turned to physical appearance capitalization as a means to safeguard their economic and social standing.

Assessment policies, curricular directives, and teacher agency: quandaries of EFL teachers in Inner Mongolia

In the debate over English language teaching approaches and methods, the influence of examinations on classroom pedagogy and the nature of these examinations are critical considerations for teachers. In the Inner Mongolian context, as for all China, examinations reflect traditional conceptions of teaching and learning, classroom teaching conditions such as class sizes, and the English-as-a-foreign language setting. In this situation, decisions about classroom pedagogy and objectives and whether teaching focuses on test-taking rather than on the learning of language go to the core of teacher agency. In this paper we foreground the struggles and dilemmas experienced by English language teachers in Inner Mongolia in attempts to exercise agency amidst the instructional demands of an exam-oriented community, and a misalignment created by an exam remaining centered on discrete skills rather than students' proficiency in applying ranging uses of the language they are learning. These conditions are now located within New English Syllabus expectations are that teachers will implement their knowledge of educational theories and of current English teaching methodology to create opportunities for more broadly based learning and proficiency.

Can a Sector‐Wide Approach Underpin and Advance Universal Health Coverage?

Fragmented management approach makes the provision of comprehensive health care for achieving universal health coverage very unlikely. This article aims to explore the potential contribution of a systemic approach—the sector‐wide approach (SWAp)—to achieving universal health coverage (UHC), using the Mongolian context as an example. The paper describes UHC and factors that hinder its achievement in developing countries, based on the Mongolian experience. The analysis focuses on the root factors hindering the achievement of UHC and examines how these affect system and local capacity critical for achieving UHC. Two principally different approaches, a sector‐wide (holistic) approach and a standalone project (fragmented) approach are compared in terms of their contribution to the main indicators of achieving UHC. The current stage of the Mongolian health SWAp is identified and early rewards of a SWAp are presented. The paper proposes a SWAp as a potential approach to tackle these root factors to help in achieving UHC, because it is a promising instrument that promotes a systems‐strengthening and capacity‐building approach to enable effective coordination of standalone projects in alignment with the national priorities.

Effects of Traditional Swaddling on Development: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Evidence of the effects of tight, prolonged binding of infants on development is inconclusive and based on small ethnographic studies. The null hypothesis was that Mongolian infants not swaddled or swaddled tightly in a traditional setting (to >7 months of age) do not have significantly different scores for the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Second Edition (BSID-II). In a randomized controlled trial, 1279 healthy newborns in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, were allocated at birth to traditional swaddling or nonswaddling. The families received 7 months of home visits to collect data and monitor compliance. At 11 to 17 months of age, the BSID-II was administered to 1100 children. No significant between-group differences were found in mean scaled mental and psychomotor developmental scores. The unadjusted mean difference between the groups was -0.69 (95% confidence interval [CI]: -2.59 to 1.19) for psychomotor and -0.42 (95% CI: -1.68 to 0.84) for mental scores in favor of the swaddling group. A subgroup analysis of the compliant sample produced similar results. BSID-II-scaled psychomotor and mental scores were 99.98 (95% CI: 99.03-100.92) and 105.52 (95% CI: 104.89-106.14), respectively. Background characteristics were balanced across the groups. In the Mongolian context, prolonged swaddling in the first year of life did not have any significant impact on children's early mental or psychomotor development. Additional studies in other settings need to confirm this finding. The Mongolian infants in this trial had scaled BSID-II mental and psychomotor scores comparable to United States norms.

Gender and Water in Mongolia*

Global institutions, academics, and practitioners have long acknowledged the need to consider gender in creating sustainable water management plans. However, for most countries a dearth of context-specific information on gender and water relations hinders gender-sensitive plan development. Mongolia is particularly poorly represented in the gender and water literature. This article presents fieldwork revealing distinctive gendered practices around water use, decision making, and management including an unusually high degree of men's participation in water collection. This research adds new context-specific data to the understanding of actual gender and water relations and underscores the need for further investigation into the Mongolian context.

Future low fertility prospects in Mongolia? An evaluation of the factors that support having a child

With 2.59 children per woman in 2008, Mongolia appears today as an exception in East Asia where fertility rates are far below the replacement level. Moreover, from its historical nadir of 1.95 children per women in 2005, fertility is on the rise. This paper first presents recent fertility development in Mongolia. Second, based on the experiences of European and East Asian countries, factors contributing to the development of low fertility are discussed in reference to the Mongolian context. Most of these factors are indeed found in Mongolia and could probably contribute to reducing fertility in the future. However, the country also presents cultural-family practices and recently-adopted fertility-family incentives which may support and stabilize fertility rates. These recent fertility-incentives factors and policies adopted by the Government of Mongolia are discussed in the final part from the perspective of equity, efficiency, and efficacy proposed by McDonald (2006b, “An assessment of policies that support having children from the perspectives of equity, efficiency and efficacy”, Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 2006, Special issue on ‘Postponement of childbearing on Europe’, 213–234). The aim is to determine if these measures are efficient to counterbalance and cancel out the depressing fertility effects.

Troubled Perspectives in the New Mongolian Economy

AbstractIn the last fifteen years, Mongolians have experienced rapid socio-economic change, and most people have faced a universe of unsettled socio–economic relations. In this article, the cases of two women, who are exploring the new fields of socio-economic relations, are investigated. The cases are discussed with reference to Viveiros de Castro’s ideas on perspectivism, but rather than comparing a Mongolian cosmology with an Amerindian one, perspectivism is critically engaged with as an ontology of social life in the Maussian tradition against which the ethnographic cases are discussed. It is concluded that whereas perspectivism points to a primordial identification with ‘the other’, the present Mongolian context points to the danger of such coming into being through others as well as to precautions taken to avoid it.