Low-income Urban Families Research Articles

Diet quality and associations with motivation and ability to consume a healthy diet among adolescents from urban low-income households in Bangladesh

In low- and middle-income countries, particularly in urban areas, adolescent diets consist mainly of energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods, putting them at risk of malnutrition and non-communicable diseases (NCD). In Bangladesh, little is known about the diet quality of adolescents, their food choices and the drivers of such choices. This study assessed motivations and ability to consume a healthy diet among adolescent girls and boys from low-income urban families and how these drivers were associated with dietary diversity and diet quality. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 299 adolescents (15–19 years) from low-income households in Dhaka city during September–October 2020. The Diet Quality Questionnaire was used to collect non-quantitative food intake in the previous day or night to calculate diet quality indicators of food group diversity score, % of adolescents achieving minimum dietary diversity, NCD-Protect and NCD-Risk and the Global Dietary Recommendations score. Motivation was measured by 11 food choice motives. Ability was measured by belief in own ability to engage in healthy eating behaviors (self-efficacy). Adolescent diets showed a mean food group diversity of 4.9 out of 10, with 60% of adolescents achieving minimum dietary diversity, but lacked health-promoting foods (average of 2.7 out of 9 food groups) yet included few foods to avoid and limit (1.6 out of 9). Adolescents valued food choice motive ‘safety' the most, followed by ‘health', ‘taste', ‘price', ‘convenience' and ‘local or seasonal'. A higher motivation to consume ‘local or seasonal' and a lower motivation driven by ‘price', and a higher perceived self-efficacy were associated with better diet quality. Future interventions should address self-efficacy, concerns about food price and increase local and seasonal foods availability in the urban poor food environment of Dhaka to improve overall diet quality.

Exploration of Positive Deviance in Prevention of Underweight in the Under-Five: A Qualitative Study on Low-Income Urban Families

Children under the age of five (the under-five) from low-income families are more vulnerable to experience underweight. This nutritional vulnerability is evident in the preliminary study, where 35.1% of the under-five experience underweight, and 28.48% are low-income families. This study aimed to explore Positive Deviance (PD) behaviors in preventing underweight among the under-five. The study applied a qualitative approach with a case study design. Data collection took place in July-August 2022, focusing on low-income families in the Gunung Brintik area. Data were collected through two focus group discussions, seven in-depth interviews, and five key informant interviews. Coding, subtheme, and theme development were facilitated using the ATLAS.ti trial package. Triangulation of the study results yielded four major themes influencing the prevention of underweight in the under-five: interventions by health workers and cadres, community awareness and concern, family support, and maternal nutrition literacy. The identified PD behaviors practiced by the community in the study location have been shown to contribute to the prevention of underweight in the under-five. Strengthening these identified PD behaviors and their implementation in other areas is essential to support efforts to combat underweight in the under-five.

Addressing unproductive credit consumption and beneficiary malpractices in social welfare programs for slum-dwellers: A study from India

This study examines the credit consumption pattern of slum-dweller households under different social welfare schemes and its impact on credit escalation and cross-financing. Using a multistage sampling approach, data were collected from 585 respondents in Punjab's most congested cities with municipal corporations. Exploratory factor analysis was applied to reduce dimensions, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to test validity and reliability. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test hypotheses. The findings reveal that unproductive loan consumption by low-income families through social welfare programs is associated with beneficiary malpractices. The assessment models developed in this study can assist the Indian government and policymakers in improving the execution and implementation of social welfare programs aimed at poverty reduction and policy formulation. This study contributes to efforts towards financial inclusion and addresses a critical topic in the context of the current governmental attention on urban low-income families. It fills a research gap on the impact of unproductive credit usage patterns on beneficiary malpractices and provides insights into the role of social welfare schemes' norms in credit consumption patterns among low-income households in urban slums. The findings have implications for policy development, program implementation, and poverty reduction strategies, highlighting the need for effective monitoring and regulation of credit utilization in social welfare programs for vulnerable populations.

Educational Experiences of Slum and Migrant Children in Government Schools of Kathmandu Valley

Access to quality education remains a significant challenge for children living in slums and those migrating from Nepal’s interior regions. This study comprehensively examines the complex educational, social, and economic obstacles faced by students attending government/public schools in slum areas and children from low-income urban families. Employing a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, including structured interviews and questionnaires, data were collected from 50 students responding to 21 thoughtfully prepared questions. Additionally, nine students were interviewed in-depth to further explore socio-economic and educational challenges. The findings reveal critical issues; notably, 42.1% of children cited a lack of management and discipline within public schools hindering their pursuit of quality education, with financial constraints affecting 44.7% of the student population. Encouragingly, 77.6% of students reported no instances of discrimination within their school environment. The surveyed respondents encompassed an age group spanning from 13 to 18 years. This research underscores the urgency of addressing educational disparities to ensure a brighter future for marginalized youth in Nepal.

Happy Family, Healthy Kids: A Healthy Eating and Stress Management Program in Low-Income Parent-Preschooler Dyads.

Substantial effort has been invested to combat childhood obesity, but overall effects are disappointing, especially in low-income racial minority children. One possible reason is a lack of focus on the important stress-eating connection. Stress can negatively influence eating behaviors, leading to an increased appetite for high-fat and energy-dense foods. This study aimed to evaluate the preliminary effects of a healthy eating and stress management program targeting multiple theoretical variables on improving eating behavior (dyads' fruit/vegetable intake, emotional eating), food insecurity, anthropometric characteristics (dyads' body mass index, % body fat), cardiovascular health (dyads' blood pressure), and mental well-being (parental stress). A one-group, quasi-experimental pilot study was conducted among 107 low-income parent-preschooler dyads. The 14-week program included a parent component, a parent-preschooler learning component, and a day care-based preschooler component. The program had positive effects on improving dyads' fruit/vegetable intake, food insecurity, body mass index, and blood pressure and parents' nutrition knowledge, self-efficacy, support, food resource management behavior, problem-focused coping, and home eating environment. The overall satisfaction rate was 95.2%, and 88.1% stated that the program assisted their families with having a healthy lifestyle. Results support the preliminary effects of the program on improving health outcomes in rural and urban low-income families. Although warranting further investigation with a more rigorous randomized controlled trial, the healthy eating and stress management program provides a potential solution to the current coexistence of an obesity epidemic and mental health crisis.

Research on the Deconstruction of Distress Dimensions and the Construction of Relief Strategies for Urban Poverty in China

Since Chinas reform and growth, the continuous development of the social economy and the constant improvement of peoples living standards have been the mainstream of societys development. However, with the foundation and improvement of Chinas market economy and the ongoing promotion of Chinas urbanization process, the number of impoverished people among urban residents is increasing, and the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. This paper uses Literature research, data collection and analysis, and MPI to explore the dimensional deconstruction of urban poverty and find that the existence and widening of the income gap is the main cause of structural poverty in the country. Also, the employment dimension has the greatest impact on multidimensional urban poverty. The employment dimension has the greatest impact, followed by the education dimension. These problems can be solved by strengthening income adjustment measures to narrow the income gap, ensuring labor force employment, and improving the social security system. The paper can better help solve the problem of urban poverty and reduce the number of urban low-income families.

Calcium and Vitamin D Supplementation to Improve Linear Growth in Children

In India, the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency as assessed by vitamin D levels below 20 ng/ml is high across the country, in all socio-economic, age and sex groups. Studies from India have documented that prevalence of vitamin D deficiency is high in breast-fed infants. Stunting in young children continues to be a major public health problem in India. It is possible that in addition to low birth weight and chronic energy deficiency, vitamin D deficiency may contribute to the high stunting rates in breast-fed Indian children. If this were so, vitamin D supplementation may reduce the magnitude of linear growth retardation in the first two years of life. A community-based randomised, double-blind supervised daily supplementation of 250 mg of calcium and 250 IU of Vitamin D (Group A) or placebo (Group B) to breast-fed infants from the first month up to 23 months of age was undertaken to assess the impact, if any, of vitamin D supplementation on linear growth in children and height attained at 23 months. At enrolment, there were no significant differences in weight, length and BMI between infants belonging to Group A or Group B. There were no significant differences in infant and young child feeding practices, morbidity due to infection, or linear growth and height attained at 23 months between Group A and Group B. These data suggest that daily supplementation of calcium and vitamin D between 0-23 months did not have any significant impact on linear growth of children from urban low middle income families.

Pola konsumsi makanan keluarga miskin perkotaan dalam pusaran kapitalisme nutrisi

Low-income families' understanding of nutrition is still irrational because they still use myths about consumption that cause malnutrition in their children. It is exacerbated by the influence of advertising so that the behavior of family consumption patterns is systematically constructed. The research explores the transformation of consumer behavior that causes malnutrition and the role of nutrition capitalism in meeting nutritional needs. A qualitative study design using a critical paradigm was conducted in Makassar City in 2021. Research informants are urban low-income families. Data were collected using interviews and Focus Group Discussions and analyzed qualitatively. The result is that malnutrition in low-income families is caused by people's knowledge and tastes constructed by industrial power and leads people to consume industrial food. The transformation of consumption behavior of low-income families is caused by the operation of nutritional capitalism, which is present in various forms such as industrial processed food advertisements and franchise outlets. In conclusion, the consumption behavior of the poor is constructed by food and beverage capitalism. In addition, the advertising factor has an impact on nutritional capitalism.

The mediating role of housing insecurity in the relationship between neighborhood social cohesion and child maltreatment among low-income urban families

BackgroundChild abuse has deleterious impacts for children across their lifespan. Understanding the pathways in which child abuse occurs is critical for targeting prevention efforts. The trust and bonds between neighbors may play a preventive role against child abuse, with parents receiving support from those who are geographically close. Such relationships may guard against housing insecurity, which is related to child abuse. ObjectiveThe current study examines the relationships between social cohesion, housing insecurity, and child abuse. Participants and settingThe study relies on data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a longitudinal birth cohort study of 4898 families from 20 large urban cities. The study focuses on data from waves 3, 4, 5 when focal children were ages 3, 5, and 9 years. MethodsStructural equation modeling is used to test the mediational relationship between neighborhood social cohesion at age 3, housing insecurity at age 5, and physical and psychological child abuse at age 9. ResultsThe study found that social cohesion is related to lower levels of physical and psychological abuse, and these pathways are partially mediated through housing insecurity. ConclusionsThe findings underscore the important role of neighborhoods in child maltreatment prevention.

Weather and Household Predictors of Childhood Obesity Treatment Attendance in Low-Income Urban Families.

Weather and Household Predictors of Childhood Obesity Treatment Attendance in Low-Income Urban Families.

Continuity and change in neighborhood disadvantage and adolescent depression and anxiety.

We used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study which includes a sample of adolescents of age 15at the most recent wave (between 2014 and 2017) from mainly low-income urban families in the United States, to examine the association between neighborhood poverty entries and exits and adolescent depression and anxiety. In addition, we examined whether these associations differed by gender. Adolescents who consistently lived in disadvantaged neighborhoods had the highest level of depression and anxiety. Those who entered poor neighborhoods were more depressed than those who never lived in poor neighborhoods. Those who exited poor neighborhoods showed no significant difference in depression and anxiety compared to those never lived in poor neighborhoods. Furthermore, these associations applied to adolescent girls only and were not statistically significant for boys. The results suggest that neighborhood poverty has cumulative negative impacts on adolescent mental health and disproportionally affects adolescent girls. Reducing neighborhood poverty would substantially improve the health of adolescents, especially girls, which would reduce health disparities.

Nutritional Status of Parents and their Pre-School Children

During 1970s poverty and household food inadequacy led to high under-nutrition rates in all age groups. Over years there has been an improvement in per capita income and household food security. In the last two decades there has been a steady decline in under-nutrition and increase in over-nutrition in adults, but child under-nutrition rates continue to be high. The present study was taken up in urban low income families, to assess the differences in the nutritional status of pre-school children and their parents. Height and weight measurements were taken in 3727 mother infant pairs; in 637 families father’s anthropometric parameters were available. Stunting, underweight and wasting rates in children were highest when the mothers were under-nourished (BMI <18.5) and least when the mother was over-nourished (BMI ?25). A similar but less distinct trend was observed in relation to nutritional status of the fathers and pre-school children. Even when the mother or father was under-nourished less than one fifth of the pre-school children were wasted and over 80% were normally nourished. Stunting rates were over 40% if the mother or father was in the lowest height tertile. However even when the father and mother were in the highest tertile for height, about one fourth of the children were stunted. These data suggest that maternal and paternal under-nutrition and low height are associated with higher child under-nutrition and stunting respectively. However, even when the mother or father was short or under-nourished, majority of the children were normal in height and normally nourished. In view of the intra-family differences in nutritional status, it is essential to undertake assessment of nutritional status of each member of the family and provide appropriate nutritional advice and intervention.

Administering the Inclusiveness of Neglected Low-Income Urban Families to Access Healthcare Services: A Qualitative Inquiry

Purpose: This study aims to know the implementation of good performance of local governance in improving the quality of health administration, especially the future of neglected children who live in urban areas to access the health facilities provided by the Government. Method: This study uses a kind of naturalistic qualitative research aimed at obtaining an overview of the phenomenon that occurred in the neglected children in Mataram. Data collection is conducted through a depth interview of the key informant who has the relevance of knowledge that is relevant to the problem of neglected children. Result: The results of this study showed that the problem of neglected children is a real phenomenon in the city of Mataram. The issues faced by local governments regarding the difficulty of local governments to overcome health problems for neglected children. So that whenever child neglect has a severe health problem, they should have to ask compassion for other people to help. Conclusion: The issue of neglected children is a real phenomenon that generally occurs in urban areas, and neglected problems occur influenced by the poverty factor. The implementation of local government functions has not been running correctly. The social development planning of local government is not functioning optimally due to the lack of clarity regarding health policy for neglected children who have social problems in the urban area.

FREEMIUM MULTI-SIDED PLATFORM BUSINESS MODEL: MOSQUE KITCHEN AS A SOURCE OF FREE FOOD, EMPLOYMENT AND EMPOWERMENT OF B40S FOOD-PRENEURS

COVID-19 crisis has pushed more low-income or poor B40 urban Malaysian families into poverty, based on the“Families on The Edge” UNICEF report dated October 2020. The poverty rate of these B40 urban families in 2020 is higher than 2019, with 50% of the families living in absolute poverty. 70% of these households had affected their ability to meet their basic living expenses. 37% said that they are struggling to purchase enough food for their families, while 35% are unable to pay their bills on time. This paper adapted the Design Thinking (DT) methodology. DT includes conducting literature review, benchmarking, and interviews to understand and define the key B40s problems; ideation of possible solution options, validation of solution options by various customer segments; and to suggest a conceptual freemium multi-sided platform business model as a possible solution. An initial business model using Business Model Canvas (BMC) framework was formulated; tested and validated by various customer segments. Hence, the main contribution of this paper is to offer a validated conceptual business model in transforming current mosque kitchen (or mKitchen) as a potential in (a) providing job employment while reskilling, empowering, and nurturing the B40s as food entrepreneurs, (b) providing free food for the needy B40s communityby the B40s food-preneurs, and (c) generating income for the masjid via rental of kitchen facilities. This is to turn the B40 community from Zakat receivers to Zakat contributors. The conceptual mKitchen freemium multi-sided platform business model with platform network effects can be customised for implementation by mosques and community centres.

Food Security and Dietary Intake in Pregnant Women from Urban Low Income Group

In the 1970s poverty leading to low dietary intake prior to and during pregnancy was the major factor responsible for maternal under-nutrition and low birth weight. Over the last four decades there has been reduction in poverty and household food insecurity; concurrently there has been a steep decline in physical activity and some decline in energy intake. As a result of all these changes currently both under-nutrition and over-nutrition are major public health problems in women. A study was undertaken to assess food security status of the family and dietary intake of pregnant women from urban low income families using 24 hour dietary recall. Dietary intakes of pregnant women were compared with intakes of Non-Pregnant Non-Lactating women (NPNL) from the same family. Dietary intakes of both NPNL and pregnant women were compared with Estimated Average Requirement (EAR). Computation of energy intake/CU/day from the diet survey showed that these families were food secure. Both in NPNL and in pregnant women, intakes of cereal and roots and tubers were adequate; pulse, leafy vegetables and other vegetables and milk consumption was below EAR; fat consumption was above EAR. Mean energy intake was higher than EAR in NPNL women. There was a small increase in energy intake during pregnancy and intakes met EAR in pregnant women. Dietary intake of iron was below EAR in pregnant women. In urban sedentary women from food secure families, a small but sustained higher than EAR energy intake over years appears to contribute to progressive increase in over-nutrition with increasing age.

Urban income segregation and homicides: An analysis using Brazilian cities selected by the Salurbal project.

This paper investigates the associations of income segregation with homicide mortality across 152 cities in Brazil. Despite GDP increases, an important proportion of the Brazilian population experiences poverty and extreme poverty. Segregation refers to the way that different groups are located in space based on their socioeconomic status, with groups defined based on education, unemployment, race, age, or income levels. As a measure of segregation, the dissimilarity index showed that overall, it would be necessary to relocate 29.7% of urban low-income families to make the spatial distribution of income homogeneous. For the ten most segregated cities, relocation of more than 37% of families would be necessary. Using negative binomial models, we found a positive association between segregation and homicides for Brazilian cities: one standard deviation higher segregation index was associated with a 50% higher homicide rate when we analyze all the socioeconomic context. Income segregation is potentially an important determinant of homicides, and should be considered in setting public policies.

The Urban Youth Trauma Center: A Trauma-Informed Continuum for Addressing Community Violence Among Youth.

Contemporary community violence has escalated into a national public health crisis with urban youth, particularly ethnic minorities, suffering disproportionate negative impacts. The Urban Youth Trauma Center (UYTC) promotes a trauma-informed continuum of prevention-to-intervention services that combines community-based and clinic-based manualized protocols designed to reduce and prevent community violence for youth and families. Based on a socio-ecological model, UYTC has the main goals of addressing community violence and related traumatic stress as well as co-occurring conditions of substance abuse and disruptive behavior problems in urban youth by: (1) raising public awareness; (2) disseminating specialized trauma-informed training; and (3) mobilizing service system coalitions. UYTC employs this evidence-based yet flexible structure for disseminating, implementing, and evaluating trauma-informed training as a means of contributing to the reduction and prevention of community violence for low-income urban minority youth and families who bear the biggest burden of this current crisis.

Growth Monitoring in Under-Three Children Using the Mother Child Protection Card

Right from its inception, ICDS programme envisaged monthly weighing and monitoring of growth in under-three children for early detection of under-nutrition. Currently accurate portable digital balances are available in anganwadi and Mother Child Production Card (MCPC) with child growth charts has been provided to children. A community based mixed longitudinal study was taken up in under-three children from urban low middle income families to assess feasibility and impact of growth monitoring and appropriate nutrition education using MCPC. Monthly weighing of children and plotting the weight-for-age in the MCPC was carried out by the research staff. A total of 5708 children were enrolled and followed up over 32879 visits between 2015 and 2019. Plotting the weight-for-age of the child in growth chart enabled identification of underweight children at the time of the visit so that appropriate nutrition and health education and care can be provided. Monthly weighing and plotting weight-for-age in growth chart enabled identification of small children growing along their own trajectory and prevented them from being mislabelled as under-nourished. Children showing deterioration in Weight for age Z score (WAZ) as compared to earlier visit(s) were readily identified and given needed advice. Personalised nutrition and health education provided at each visit taking into account current nutritional status, morbidity and Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices (IYCF) helped in preventing rise in underweight rates in the first 18 months and brought about some improvement in nutritional status of moderate and severely underweight children. It is feasible to operationalize growth monitoring as envisaged in Poshan Abhiyaan and accelerate the pace of reduction in under-nutrition in under three children.

An intervention study in urban low-income families: promoting family functioning to children

ABSTRACT This study examines the impact of the Family Education Guidance (FEG) programme, which was designed to improve family functioning in urban low-income families in China.120 families were chosen at random for a one-year intervention, and another 120 families served as the control group. After the intervention, the results demonstrated that the family functioning by parents and children were significantly improved in the experimental group. This illustrated that the FEG programme is effective in improving family functioning in low-income families and could be used to train social workers and improve the situation of low-income families in the future.

Parental Attitudes and Beliefs Surrounding Play Among Predominantly Low-income Urban Families: A Qualitative Study.

Parents' perceived benefits and barriers to participation in cognitively stimulating activities may help explain why income-related discrepancies in early and frequent participation in such activities exist. We sought to develop an improved understanding of attitudes and beliefs surrounding play among families who live in predominantly low-income urban communities. Using qualitative methods, focus groups were conducted with parents of children 2 weeks to 24 months of age who attended a primary care clinic serving predominantly low-income urban communities. Discussions were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Thirty-five parents participated in 6 focus groups. Participants were 61% female and 94% nonwhite; 71% had children who received public health insurance. Analyses revealed 7 major themes that mapped onto the Health Belief Model's core domains of perceived need, barriers, and cues to action: (1) play as important for developing parent-child relationships, (2) toy- and media-focused play as important for developmental and educational benefit, (3) lack of time due to household and work demands, (4) lack of knowledge regarding the importance of play, (5) media-related barriers, (6) need for reminders, and (7) need for ideas for play. Caregivers of young children describe many important benefits of play, yet they have misconceptions regarding use of toys and media in promoting development as well as notable barriers to participating in play, which may be opportunities for intervention. Public health programs may be more effectively implemented if they consider these attitudes to develop new or refine existing strategies for promoting parent-child learning activities.