Non-literate Populations Research Articles

Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, awareness creation and risk communication of Covid-19 pandemic amongst non-literate population in South-West Nigeria: Lessons for future health campaign.

Risk communication of Covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria appeared to be urban-centered with the dominant use of social media, print communication and other controlled media. In such times of public health emergencies, non-literate population could be vulnerable as a result of their limited understanding of the nature of such health risk. Therefore, the study seeks to investigate the extent to which Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) communicated the risk of Covid-19 disease to non-literate population in its public health campaign during the pandemic in South-West Nigeria. The study adopts risk communication theory which advances the approach communication should take during public health emergencies. Using descriptive cross-sectional mixed methods research design, a sample of 420 respondents were purposively selected from 6 towns in the rural areas of Lagos, Oyo and Osun states to examine the level of awareness on Covid-19 pandemic among non-literates. In addition, NCDC risk communication on Covid-19 for non-literate population were analyzed from 3 Jingles in Yoruba language as well as 9 flyers designed for Covid-19 disease from NCDC websites. Results showed that NCDC awareness creation on Covid-19 disease for non-literates in Southwest achieved significant success as a result of the medium used in creating awareness. Specifically, radio was highly rated among majority of the respondents (60.4%) followed by health workers (19.8%) as channels that created understandable message on Covid-19 safety protocols. Further findings on Jingles content revealed that all Covid-19 safety protocols were communicated in Yoruba language for Southwest populace. However, NCDC fall short in communicating Covid-19 risk effectively for non-literates in Southwest as jingles only buttressed the Covid-19 safety protocols and symptoms as well as the need to comply, without educating the masses on the dreadful nature of the disease and its dynamics. Though flyers designed by the NCDC communicated risk to an extent, nevertheless, graphics and symbols on Covid-19 disease were complimented by words in English language only, which could be difficult for non-literates to decipher. Based on the findings, the study recommends that public health agencies need to educate non-literate population about the nature of a disease more than creating awareness about the outbreak of a disease, and such education should be strategic, context-specific, and evidence-based.

Coarticulation varies by consonant identity in adult and child speech

Consonant-vowel coarticulation varies by manner of articulation: speakers coarticulate less between segments in V[stop] sequences than V[glide]. There are different approaches to modelling consonant identity effects upon coarticulation (Iskarous et al., 2013). However, these effects have not been studied in non-literate populations—young children or non-literate adults. This is relevant since literacy heightens phoneme awareness, affecting coarticulation. 40 South Bolivian Quechua speakers who were not literate in the language, 30 children (aged 5–10) and 10 adults, completed a picture-prompted word elicitation task. Coarticulation was measured between [a] and the consonants /p, t, k, kh, qh, ch, s, m, w/ in VC and CV syllables. Because the child speech apparatus poses problems for typical spectral analysis, we quantify coarticulation as the Euclidean distance between Mel frequency cepstral coefficient vectors averaged over adjacent phones (Gerosa et al., 2006). Mixed effects models predicting the Euclidean distance between adjacent phones show that all age groups are sensitive to changes in consonant manner. Adults and children restrained coarticulation more between sequences containing obstruents than glides or liquids. These results suggest that literacy and heightened phoneme awareness are not required for consonant identity to affect coarticulation.Consonant-vowel coarticulation varies by manner of articulation: speakers coarticulate less between segments in V[stop] sequences than V[glide]. There are different approaches to modelling consonant identity effects upon coarticulation (Iskarous et al., 2013). However, these effects have not been studied in non-literate populations—young children or non-literate adults. This is relevant since literacy heightens phoneme awareness, affecting coarticulation. 40 South Bolivian Quechua speakers who were not literate in the language, 30 children (aged 5–10) and 10 adults, completed a picture-prompted word elicitation task. Coarticulation was measured between [a] and the consonants /p, t, k, kh, qh, ch, s, m, w/ in VC and CV syllables. Because the child speech apparatus poses problems for typical spectral analysis, we quantify coarticulation as the Euclidean distance between Mel frequency cepstral coefficient vectors averaged over adjacent phones (Gerosa et al., 2006). Mixed effects models predicting the Euclide...

Color-encoding visualizations as a tool to assist a nonliterate population in completing health survey responses

ABSTRACTVisual representations of data have increasingly included color-encodings to help engage participants in health research. However, there is limited information on the way in which participants interpret color or on the influence of embedded cultural interpretations of color on survey responses. This study examines the interpretation of color-encodings used to indicate survey response options and their impact on participants’ responses. Using a descriptive, cross-sectional design, interviews were conducted with 30 older Hmong adults from one Midwestern city in the United States. A survey data collection method was developed using: (a) an Audio-Computer-Assisted Self-Interviewing tool with (b) text-based and color-encoded response options and (c) assistance from a familiar helper. We analyzed the responses using directed content analysis. Findings reveal that some colors (red, black, and white) have strong cultural connotations; such colors were strongly correlated with specific emotions, while others (green, blue, purple, and pink) had no cultural meaning. Early in the survey, some older Hmong were distracted by response options indicated in red and black, influencing their response choices. However, with repeated instructions from the helpers, all participants overcame the color-related distractions and completed the survey. The findings highlight the importance of using colors cautiously and purposively in visualization development.

Fighting adult illiteracy with the help of the environmental print material.

Adult illiteracy is a major problem worldwide especially in developing countries. Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs working in this context are not very effective due to lack of motivation for the people who are not literate. The reason is inadequate learning content and content delivery methods. This situation calls for developing novel learning content and a learner-directed content delivery approach. This paper presents an exploratory study investigating the use of the Environmental Print Material (EPM) as learning content for the non-literate population of Pakistan. The EPM content is presented to the adult non-literate population in two ethnographic studies. The most frequently recognized content is selected and utilized as learning content in a Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) application. An empirical study is conducted upon two groups with 107 participants to compare the EPM-based learning content with Traditional Learning Content (TLC). As many as 54 participants participated in the experimental group (presented with EPM-based learning content), whereas 53 participants took part in the control group (presented with TLC content). The results reveal that the experimental group performed significantly better compared to the control group in recognition, pronunciation, and recall of the presented content. The meta-analysis of the results shows a large effect size of (1.05) with confidence interval in the range (0.798–1.315). The results claim that the EPM has potential to be considered as learning content in the ABE programs.

Height, education and nutritional inequality in Extremadura since the mid-nineteenth century

it is intended to know the historical evolution of adult height in Extremadura and deepen, from it, in the footprint of nutritional inequality, especially that linked to education. the military documentation conserved in 32 municipalities of Extremadura for the population born between 1857 and 1957 (recruited between 1878 and 1978) is used and, with it, an annual series of statures is elaborated that, besides being standardized and disaggregated according to the level of literacy, is subjected to two dispersion tests: coefficient of variation and Gini coefficient. a sustained growth of the net nutritional state, interrupted only by the agrarian crises of the last decades of the XIX century and by the inflation unleashed as a result of the First World War, is observed; the difficulty of perceiving the incidence of the Civil War and the post-war period without taking into account the gains in nutrition achieved subsequently is noted; it is also noted the inability of statistical dispersion to capture the true face of nutritional inequality, which is, however, remarked through the gap that is detected between the literate and non-literate population. the expansion of adult height in Extremadura is interpreted as a test of the economic and social modernization of the region, especially of the culmination of the nutritional transition, at the same time as the suitability of literacy is verified to know not only the dynamics of educational inequality, but also the evolution and the degree of intensification of nutritional inequality.

A revista illustrada educando para a República

Este artigo tem como principal objetivo identificar as possibilidades educacionais contidas em materiais da imprensa nos primeiros anos da República do Brasil, a partir da ascensão do Partido Conservador, com o fim do Império e do regime escravagista em nosso país. A nossa análise parte da hipótese de que a Revista Illustrada, enquanto veículo midiático colaborou na maneira de historiar os fatos à população não letrada, na criação de uma espécie de método de transmitir os acontecimentos com um novo olhar, a partir da mudança dos hábitos e dos referenciais de higiene corporal, de boa educação e de civilidade.

Technological Knowledge among Non-Literate Ethiopian Adults in Israel

Ethiopian Jewish immigrants in Israel are one of the most ancient communities in the world, one that has been detached from the known Jewish world for about 2,500 years. Throughout this very long period of isolation, the Ethiopian Jewish community maintained Jewish tradition and dreamed over the centuries to unite with the rest of the Jewish world and immigrate to the Jewish state—Israel. But this transition occurred within a short time from an agrarian society in Ethiopia (traditional culture) with an oral culture to a knowledge society in Israel (modern culture) with a written culture. Most studies that examine cultural transition focus on anthropological, sociological, and cultural aspects; but there are nearly no studies that examine the technological knowledge of non-literate populations. The purpose of this study is to examine and characterize technological knowledge among this population—the case of Ethiopian non-literate immigrants in Israel. The study involved in-depth interviews to examine technological knowledge through using technological appliances in their everyday life, assembly of two simple technological systems, and a home technology profile compared to the general population in Israel. Participants included 50 non-literate Ethiopian immigrants between the ages of 40–60. The results of our study are surprising in that we have shown that non-literate immigrants adapt to a technology-rich environment at an average degree with respect to the general population in Israel. Also, comparing technological knowledge between traditional and modern cultures shows participants’ wide range of knowledge without ability to read and write. Illiteracy does not preclude the development of knowledge in general, technological knowledge particularly, and does not prevent non-literate populations from acquiring knowledge in a new environment.

A quick, gradient Bilingual Dominance Scale*

The lack of consistency in how bilingual language dominance is assessed currently impedes cross-experiment comparisons (Grosjean, 1998). We present a paper-and-pencil dominance scale that can be used to quantify the language dominancy of bilingual participants. The scale targets three main criteria important in gauging dominance (Grosjean, 1998; Flege, Mackay & Piske, 2002): percent of language use for both languages, age of acquisition and age of comfort for both languages, and restructuring of language fluency due to changes in linguistic environments. Reaction times from a Spanish/English lexical translation task and filler rates and elongation rates from a Spanish/English sentence translation task support the validity of the scale. The scale can be adapted for nonliterate populations by asking questions verbally and recording responses.

Challenges and Strategies of Health Education for Non-Literate Populations

Challenges and Strategies of Health Education for Non-Literate Populations

A Comparative Investigation of the Semantic Structure of Language

The results of a semantic analysis of 20 languages established quantitative parameters intended to describe the semantic structure of language in general. Representative languages were drawn from nine different language families, both literate and nonliterate populations, ancient civilizations and contemporary nations and ethnic groups. Random samples of 100 word and phrase units were drawn from bilingual dictionaries. Each word was classified into one of 34 semantic categories. A reference guide to categories with codes and definitions and examples of coded words with the classification logic displayed are provided. Some major results are: (a) Words referring to activities of all sorts occur with the highest frequency in vocabularies (44%), mostly human activities (39%, 34% physical, 5% mental). (b) Various sorts of people (9%) and nature agents (7%) are involved in these activities. (c) The products of human activities (22%) are about equally divided between nonmaterial mental products and man-made material things.

‘This is actually a good interpretation of modern civilisation’: popular theatre and the social imaginary in Ghana, 1946–66

AbstractWest African popular theatre has been the subject of a growing body of scholarship. Yet what has not yet been adquately accounted for in this literature is historical change, both within particular theatre traditions and in their relation to society at large. This article begins to address the gap by focusing on the Ghanaian concert party in the volatile years from the end of World War II through the early years of independence. During this period the Ghanaian concert party underwent profound transformations in form, content, and its modes of production and consumption. Through their geographic mobility and widespread popularity, concert parties participated first-hand in the transformation of public consciousness. Just as the popular press played a central role in the formation of European nationalism, so popular travelling theatre performed a pivotal role among a largely non-literate population during Ghana's transition from colonialism to modern nation state. This article interprets the generic conventions through which the concert party convened and constituted its new public. By deploying an eclectic range of formal techniques to dramatise everyday realities, concert parties became a primary integrative mechanism through which audiences negotiated a tumultuous historical epoch.

Communicating coverage data with non-literate communities: beans, sticks or pie charts?

A study was undertaken by staff of a health project in Malawi to identify the optimum strategy for reporting information to beneficiary communities regarding project coverage and effectiveness. 3 candidate methods for presentation of coverage data to this nonliterate or semiliterate population were selected based on preliminary qualitative research: 1) a 2-color rotating pie chart; 2) a set of sticks cut in varying lengths relative to a full length (100%) standard stick; and 3) measures of beans with 10 measures representing a full (100%) measure of beans. Data were presented to 60 individual participants using 2 examples for each of the 3 methods. Questions requiring interpretation of the data were then asked of each of the 60 individual participants using 2 examples for each of the 3 methods. Questions requiring interpretation of the data were then asked of each of 60 participants and responses recorded as correct or incorrect. All 3 methods were more than 80% effective in communicating concepts of proportion as measured by the percentage of correct responses. The pie chart method appeared least effective and the beans method most effective in presentation of the information. The effectiveness of the beans method was significantly greater than that of the pie chart method (p = 0.02). This study provides information which may be of use to program managers in selecting strategies for communication of health service data to the communities in which they work. It also demonstrates a simple methodology for identifying and assessing the relative effectiveness of presentation methods. (authors)

George McBean

A study currently underway in Nepal aims to discover how quickly standards of visual literacy can be improved by teaching several key clues to picture interpretation. Among non-literate populations, this could help to bring improvement to the effectiveness of extension workers in health, and many other areas. It is noted that research in the visual literacy field has given clear indications of the type of illustration most likely to be understood by people with limited exposure to printed materials. Such research has led to emphasis on a particular style of simplistic illustration typical of health and other development programmes in many third world countries. However, it is hypothesized that increased exposure to illustrated materials affects response. Making illustrations merely ‘understandable’ may not then be sufficient to challenge entrenched behaviour patterns which require more creative and imaginative interpretations.

Accurate Perception of Colored Illustration

While there have been many studies of the comprehension of different styles of black and white visual stimuli by nonliterate populations, little has been done with colored illustrations. Since the latter are becoming more accessible worldwide, it was found necessary to determine what types would be easiest for children from these groups to perceive. Paintings and photographs of familiar subjects, taken from readily available textbooks, were shown to 71 6-year-olds from six Mexican-Indian groups to determine their overall rate of comprehension (80%) and the effect of the medium on perception. There were no significant differences in comprehension between media (photographs and paintings), but there were between the sexes and between two of the ethnic groups.

A short screening battery of tests to detect organic brain dysfunction.

Constructed a short screening device to measure organic brain dysfunction, suitable for literate and non-literate populations. A battery that consisted of 8 tests and 22 scoring variables was administered to 65 brain-damaged Ss and 65 normal Ss. The two groups were matched on a person-to-person basis with respect to age, sex and years of schooling. Stepwise multiple regression technique was used to develop a procedure for discriminating organics from normals. At a selected cut-off point the battery could discriminate between organics and normals with only 6% misclassification of normals and 16% misclassification of organics. The classificatory system was validated further against a fresh sample of 33 Ss. The battery proved to have satisfactory discriminatory capacity.

Estimating the Ages of Children in Nonliterate Populations

Due to problems in determining the specific ages of children in societies where age records are inaccurate or nonexistent, an alternative age estimation technique is described. This technique involves observation of the exact stage of tooth eruption at each position in the mouth, making possible simultaneous utilization of a wide variety of known dental landmarks in making age judgments. The method, in a pilot study, produced a correlation of .92 between estimated and actual ages within a sample of 131 children in Ghana. This correlation exceeds those found using other age estimation procedures.

A computer assisted method for age-determination in non-literate populations

Estimation of ages of individuals in censuses and genealogies is a serious problem for ethnographers working in populations without written birth records or systematic calendrical knowledge. The method of estimating ages, used by most anthropologists in such circumstances, has a high risk of inaccuracy. First, most of us have difficulty with estimation by this method in our own culture. Even though we know what middle-aged, or sixtyish people are supposed to look like, we are frequently surprised by substantial overor underestimation of ages when more accurate information becomes available to us. Secondly, our cultural age-stereotypes are not likely to help much in their application to members of another population. Few of us have any idea what sixtyish Melanesians are supposed to look like, so we are prone to apply the criteria supplied by our own cultures, however faulty they may be. Third, many environmental, economic and nutritional fac tors may affect the physical appearance of aging in immeasurable ways. One of us (Nelson) discovered, while recording census and genea logical data among the Kaimbi-speaking people of the New Guinea Highlands, that by use of the eyeball method he was rather consistently overestimating the ages of women and underestimating the ages of men. Most of the error was probably due to differential physical deterioration between males and females in the New Guinea Highlands. Because of heavy garden labor, poor nutrition, and protein loss through menstru ation, pregnancy and lactation, females ' age physically more rapidly than males. The discovery of this error led to a correction in the eyeball technique, though perhaps not a very systematic one. The error was discovered through comparisons of estimated ages with informants' statements regarding birth order of siblings and peership. The population in question is not age-graded, nor are there either male or female puberty rites, but each individual knows or can find out who his peers are and whether he is older or younger than another individual.

4. Africa

Psychiatric Disorder among the Yoruba by A. LEIGHTON and his associates demon strates that Western epidemiological techniques for the study of psychiatric disorder are adaptable to a non-literate African population. According to this pilot study, the prevalence and pattern of disorder among the Yoruba are not very different from those of a previously studied rural Nova Scotia popula tion. (This book will be reviewed from the anthropological viewpoint in the next issue of Transcultural Psychiatric Research.) In one of the few psychoanalytic studies dealing with an African group, Die Weissen Denken Zuviel, PARIN and his coworkers describe the application of a modified psychoanalytic technique to the Dogon of West Africa. The personality structure of the Dogon differs from that of Western people in several respects, e.g. in the type of ego-defense mechanism favored, in the predominance of identificatory relationships, and in the heightened importance of human relationships in general. JAKOVLJEVIG describes the type of psychiatric disorders he observed during his two and a half years as government psychiatrist in African Guinea. The general picture of mental health needs and services in Liberia, West Africa, is presented by HERTZ. He points out that an increasingly less tolerant attitude towards psychosis on the part of the Liberian family may necessitate increased psychiatric facilities in the future. PAYET and his group point out that gastro duodenal ulcers are not uncommon in African negroes. They conclude from their studies that similar psychological factors operate in the production of ulcers in Africa and Europe.