Youth Access Research Articles

A cross-country qualitative study on contraceptive method mix: contraceptive decisionmaking among youth

BackgroundYouth ages 15 to 24, who comprise a large portion of sub-Saharan Africa, face a higher burden of unmet contraceptive need than adults. Despite increased international and national commitments to improving young people’s access to contraception, significant barriers impede their access to a full range of methods. To further explore these barriers among youth in Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda, we conducted a qualitative study to capture the challenges that affect contraceptive method decisionmaking and complicate youth access to the full method mix.MethodsTo understand factors that impact young people’s contraceptive decisionmaking process across all three countries, we conducted a total of 35 focus group discussions with 171 youth ages 15 to 24 and 130 in-depth interviews with key stakeholders working in youth family planning. Questionnaires aligned with the High Impact Practices in Family Planning’s elements of adolescent-friendly contraceptive services. Data were coded with MAXQDA and analyzed using a framework for contraceptive decisionmaking to identify relevant patterns and themes.ResultsIn all three countries, youth reported that condoms are the most commonly sought contraceptive method because they are easiest to access and because youth have limited knowledge of other methods. Youth from diverse settings shared uncertainty and concern about the safety and side effects of many methods other than condoms, complicating their ability to take full advantage of other available methods. While most youth in Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda reported at least moderate confidence in obtaining the information needed to help choose a method, and only a few youth reported that they are completely unable to access contraceptives, other barriers still present a major deterrent for youth, including cost, inconvenient facility hours and long wait times, and stigma from family, community members, and providers.ConclusionsYoung people’s ability to fully exercise their method choice remains limited despite availability of services, leading them to take the path of least resistance. Program implementers and policymakers should consider the diverse and often interconnected barriers that youth face in attempting to enjoy the benefits of a full spectrum of contraceptive methods and design multi-level interventions to mitigate such barriers.

Adopting Meritocracy among the Youth for International Development in Developing Countries

The aim of this research was to highlight how meritocracy can be adopted to tap youth as a resource for development in Developing countries. This meritocratic perspective is based on the premise that one's talents are primarily derived from their inherent qualities (e.g., personality and general intelligence). As a result, a meritocratic environment is described as one that recognizes an individual's abilities and provides them with the environment and, opportunities they need to excel in their endeavors. This qualitative analysis is an integrative literature review based on the desk study of secondary data. The findings show that meritocracy is achieved through, talent-based careers, educational opportunities tailored to natural aptitude, and achievement as the foundation for social reward system in the society. The practice of meritocracy may be harnessed to build up an effective work culture and promote economic growth with social development. Nevertheless, what we can conclude from this study is that non-meritocratic culture currently practiced in Developing countries, especially neopatrimonialism, is considered to play an important role in hindering youth access to opportunities. Therefore, meritocracy is a strategy that policy makers should consider adopting if they want to succeed at jumpstarting economic development based on a capitalist market model.

Are land-poor youth accessing rented land? Evidence from northern Ethiopia

Continued population growth in densely populated parts of Sub-Saharan Africa makes it harder for youth to choose agriculture as main source of income. We investigate whether near landless youth can access rented land as a source of income. We used data collected in 2016 (from 1138 youths in 119 youth business groups) and 2019 (from 2427 youths in 246 business groups), in five districts of Tigray region of Ethiopia. We find that 42% of the youth had access to rented land in 2016 and 47% in 2019. The average area rented land was 0.66 ha in 2016 and 0.74 ha in 2019. Access to rented land, though constrained, accounted close to 70% in 2016 and 61% in 2019 of the average operated land by youth group members. Male youth who own oxen and ploughs are much more likely to rent land whereas female youth group members appeared generally disadvantaged in their access to rented land and other complementary sources of income. Sharecropping dominated as the main from of land rental contract covering 94% of the contracts in 2016 and 90% of the contracts in 2019. Utilizing a trust game to elicit trust and trustworthiness of the youth, we found a positive association between trustworthiness and particularly accessing land from non-relatives. The prohibition of land sales limits the potential of the “agricultural ladder” to facilitate youth climbing out of poverty through purchase of land. Overall, the land rental market has become more important for land access of land-poor youth and is likely to grow in importance to facilitate rural transformation and diversification of rural livelihoods as land scarcity grows and market access improves. Thus, it appears that the land rental market has helped many of these very land-poor youth to establish sustainable land-based livelihoods. While the land rental market does not function perfectly, we recommend not to intervene to change the fundamental characteristics or to impose area restrictions in the market as has been attempted recently in Ethiopia. Such restrictions can easily cause more harm than good.

Determinants of youth participation in agricultural training programs: the case of Fadama program in Nigeria

ABSTRACT This paper investigated the determinant of youth participation in agricultural training programs using the case of Fadama program. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select a total of 977 respondents comprising of 455 participants and 522 non-participants. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study showed that high asset index reduces youths’ likelihood of participation. Also, participation in the program was negatively but significantly influenced by gender and household size but positively by age, years of education, perception of agribusiness, agribusiness ownership and youth’s intentions to start farming. The result of the descriptive showed that majority of the respondents (56%) indicated lack of access to finance as their major barrier to participating in agribusiness and in agribusiness training. Other barriers include lack of mentorship and information. The study therefore recommends the need for strategies to facilitate youth access to credit, mentorship and timely information.

Who Purchases Tobacco Online? Findings from Waves 1 and 4 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study.

We examined the prevalence of and factors associated with usually purchasing tobacco online. We analyzed Waves 1 (2013-14) and 4 (2016-17) of the US Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health adult (18+) and youth (12-17) studies: 15,450 adults and 495 youth in 2013-14 and 15,037 adults and 465 youth in 2016-17. Z-tests compared the prevalence of usually purchasing tobacco online between waves and weighted multivariable regressions identified associations between purchasing online and sociodemographics. The prevalence of usually purchasing tobacco online increased from 2.5% to 3.3% among adults (p < .05) and from 2.5% to 4.4% among youth (p < .05), generalizing to a US population of 2,000,000 adults and 35,000 youth. E-cigarettes and cigars and e-cigarettes and waterpipe tobacco were the most common products among adults and youth, respectively. Men, adults with greater education, adults with higher income, and non-Hispanic black youth had greater odds of purchasing tobacco online (p < .05). Usually purchasing tobacco online remains low, although ever purchasing was not assessed. Efforts should be made to expand Internet tobacco purchasing surveillance and extend and enforce restrictions broadly across tobacco products to reduce youth access.

Addressing Legislation That Restricts Access to Care for Transgender Youth.

* Abbreviations: GAC — : gender-affirmative medical care GnRHa — : gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogue TGD — : transgender and gender-diverse Transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) youth experience barriers to accessing health care and are at risk for poorer overall health compared with cisgender peers. In the last year, dozens of US legislative bills have been proposed to restrict the rights of TGD youth.1 A subset of these bills aims to restrict access to essential treatment of youth diagnosed with gender dysphoria, even when they meet rigorous criteria, as determined by a multidisciplinary evaluation (Table 1).1,2 Other proposed legislation would criminalize clinicians who provide gender-affirmative medical care (GAC) for TGD adolescents, with one bill currently under consideration in Oklahoma classifying providing GAC as a felony punishable by 3 years to life in prison.1 Clinicians and parents fear that legislation eliminating access to GAC will lead to worsening mental health and increased suicidality for their TGD children.3 View this table: TABLE 1 Bills Proposed During the 2021 US State Legislative Session to Date Despite these objections, in December 2020, the Bell versus Tavistock ruling in the United Kingdom mandated … Address correspondence to Jessica Kremen, MD, Division of Endocrinology, Boston Children’s Hospital, 300 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115. E-mail: jessica.kremen{at}childrens.harvard.edu

THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION IN KENYA

Kenya has ratified most international treaties that protect the right to education, which form part of the country’s laws. The Constitution of Kenya, in Article 53 (1) (b) state that every child has a right to free and compulsory basic education and Article 55 (a) the State shall take measures, including affirmative action programmes, to ensure that the youth access relevant education and training. Minorities and marginalized groups under Article 56 (b) have a right to be provided with special opportunities in the field of education. To give effect to the Constitution, the Basic Education Act (No 14 of 2013) has been passed into law to regulate the provision of basic education and adult basic education in the country. The Children’s Act also acknowledges and protects every child’s right to education. Other education laws guarantee the implementation of the right to education. In addition, Kenya adopted various general and specific policies on education. The most recent are the second Medium Plan Term of Vision 2030 (2013) and the Policy Framework for Education and Training (2012).

Development of a Brief Group CBT Intervention to Reduce COVID-19 Related Distress Among School-Age Youth

School-aged youth have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The effects of the pandemic will likely have long-standing effects on the well-being of youth, and access to mental health care is even more critical during this time. For the past 5 years, TRAILS (Transforming Research into Action to Improve the Lives of Students) has been working throughout the state to increase utilization of evidence-based mental health practices among K-12 school mental health professionals (SMHPs). By leveraging SMHPs who are widely accessible to students, TRAILS seeks to improve youth access to effective mental health care and reduce current mental health inequities. In March 2020, TRAILS responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by developing a group manual designed to be delivered virtually by SMHPs to help students develop effective coping skills to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. TRAILS focuses on promoting use of CBT and mindfulness, as these skills are ideally suited for school-based delivery, and thus the new manual, Coping with COVID-19 (CC-19), was grounded in these modalities. This article will describe the design, development, and deployment of the CC-19 program to address the mental health needs of students in the context of the pandemic. Early acceptability and penetration data will also be discussed.

The Energy to Smoke: Examining the Longitudinal Association between Beverage Consumption and Smoking and Vaping Behaviours among Youth in the COMPASS Study.

This study examined the longitudinal association between changes in sugar-sweetened and/or caffeinated beverage consumption and smoking/vaping behaviour among Canadian adolescents. Using longitudinal data from the COMPASS study (2015/16 to 2017/18), four models were developed to investigate whether beverage consumption explained variability in smoking and vaping behaviour in adolescence: (1) smoking initiation, (2) vaping initiation, (3) current smoking status, and (4) current vaping status. Models were adjusted for demographic factors. Multinomial logit models were used for model 1, 2, and 3. A binary logistic regression model was used for model 4. An association between change in frequency of beverage consumption and smoking/vaping behaviour was identified in all models. A one-day increase in beverage consumption was associated with smoking initiation (OR = 1.38, 95% CI: 1.25, 1.51), vaping initiation (OR = 1.23, 95% CI: 1.14, 1.32), identifying as a current smoker (OR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.35), and currently vaping (OR = 1.08, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.11). Change in high-energy drink consumption was the best predictor of smoking behaviours and vaping initiation but not current vaping status. Given the health consequences of smoking and vaping and their association with high-energy drink and coffee consumption, policy initiatives to prevent smoking/vaping initiation, and to limit youth access to these beverages, warrant consideration.

DINAMIKA KREDIT PROGRAM DAN PERSPEKTIF SKEMA BARU KREDIT USAHA RAKYAT UNTUK PEMBIAYAAN PERTANIAN 2020-2024

&lt;p&gt;One of the Government's efforts to achieve food security is through increasing People’s Business Credit (KUR) fund. KUR disbursement, so far, is relatively low and it is necessary to implement the new scheme perspective on KUR. This paper presents the new scheme perspective on KUR to improve its disbursement as well as agricultural production. The basis for the new scheme perspective is derived from Agricultural Financing Program review, KUR implementation, driving factors and the benefits. Agricultural Financing Program before and during KUR era shows that the success of KUR disbursement is affected by socialization and human resources capacity. This finding is supported by the review that KUR disbursement success is determined by human’s character. Existing KUR scheme gets better and successful in increasing the farmers’ income. On the other hand, some unsuccessful results ok KUR is due to moral hazard. The new scheme of KUR should focus on effective and efficient socialization of this program credit to all stakeholders. For example, socialization is implemented using social media which is easily understood and accessed. Utilizing applications of cellular phone is also very useful to improve the program knowledge and to deal with moral hazard. Additionally, it is necessary to include ecological aspect as well as youth and women access in the scheme.&lt;/p&gt;

Perceived Access to Handguns Among Colorado High School Students.

Access to firearms among youth can increase the risk of suicide or other injury. In this study, we sought to estimate the population prevalence of adolescent perception of firearm access by demographic, geographic, and other individual health characteristics. The 2019 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey was an anonymous survey administered to a representative sample of high school students in Colorado. The survey was used to assess health behaviors and risk and protective factors. Analysis was conducted with weights to the state population of public high school students. In total, 46 537 high school students responded (71% student response rate; 83% school response rate). One in 5 students said it was "sort of easy" (11.1%) or "very easy" (8.8%) to access a handgun, with higher prevalence among male and older-aged youth and differences in racial and/or ethnicity groups. There were geographic differences such that students in schools in more rural areas were more likely to report perceived easy access. Students who had felt sad or hopeless, attempted suicide, or been in a fight were more likely to say they had access to a handgun. A relatively high proportion of youth have easy access to a firearm, with differences across age, sex, race and/or ethnicity, and geography. This highlights the need for efforts to address ways to reduce firearm access for youth, including secure storage at home, for the prevention of youth firearm suicide and other firearm injuries.

Understanding science career aspirations: Factors predicting future science task value

AbstractThis study examined factors that have been shown to predict middle school students' (grades 6–8) task values (utility value related to engaging with science in the future). Using structural equation modeling students' (N = 1015) responses to a career aspiration survey were analyzed to determine relationships among the factors. The model of best fit showed that factors related to science capital (Exposure to STEM Practitioners, STEM Experiences, and Tool Access) are key in shaping both students' Science Achievement Value and their Perceptions of Family Task Achievement Value. Further, both Science Achievement Value and Perceptions of Family Science Achievement Value have a direct positive effect on youth Future Science Task Value. These findings document important ways in which youth access and exposure to science experiences, tools, and to scientists lay the groundwork for science motivation and ultimately to valuing future science tasks.

Hidup dalam Transit: Representasi Diri Digital Pengungsi Muda Oromo di Instagram terhadap Rekonstruksi “Refugeeness” dalam Interaksi antara Pengungsi dan Audiens

The representation of refugees and asylum seekers should not be bounded to media&rsquo;s depiction of it . This paper focuses on refugees&rsquo; self-representation on Instagram, one of the most used social media platforms in the world, which cannot be understood separately from their daily life as refugees. Drawing from the observation of young Oromo refugees, I find that Instagram&mdash;and other social media&mdash; are used as a form of online participation to fill their days in transit. Other than offering the Oromo youths access to entertainment and new insights, Instagram also provides a space in which they can build and maintain relations hip and it allows them to talk about and for themselves with photos, videos, and captions. They do this by celebrating their mundane moments as well as accessing and expressing happiness through the platform . Their posts also a ffect the audience or other users who know them as refugees and have online and offline interaction with them . They evoke a peculiar reconstruction of refugeeness . T his paper offers a view of refugeeness as something constantly reconstructed and a thorough as well as contextual understanding of the lives of refugees, especially urban refugees who live in a transit country .

Improving Access and Mental Health For Youth Using Smart Technologies

AbstractThe overall objective of this research is to evaluate the use of a mobile health smartphone application (app) to improve the mental health of youth between the ages of 14 and 25 years, with symptoms of anxiety and/or depression. This project includes 122 youth who are accessing outpatient mental health services at one of three hospitals and two community agencies. The youth and care providers are using the Smart technology to enhance care. The technology uses mobile questionnaires (QnairesTM) to help promote self‐assessment and track changes to support the plan of care. The youth were provided a smartphone and talk/text/data plan, if needed. The majority of participants identified themselves as Caucasian (73.5%). Expectedly, the demographics revealed that Anxiety Disorders and Mood Disorders were highly prevalent within the sample (73.6% and 66.9% respectively). Findings from the qualitative summary established that both staff and youth found having a smartphone and data plan beneficial. Demographic variables such as age, sex, mental health and physical health did not predict which youth were more likely to use the application.

Adoption rationales and effects of off-grid renewable energy access for African youth: A case study from Tanzania

Inclusive energy access remains elusive globally. Centrally planned energy infrastructures tend to neglect marginalised and disparate populations while upfront costs make it rare for lower-income actors to adopt off-grid renewable energy. This article identifies one emerging response by low-income actors to secure access to through solar photovoltaic energy and an innovative micro-finance enterprise. The AMP framework (awareness, motivation and pathways) is used to explore how and why Tanzanian youths are adopting solar photovoltaic energy and with what effects. Qualitative interviews and field observations indicate awareness and motivational factors of technology, cost, warranty and service influence initial adoption decisions. Nodes of off-grid renewable energy associate with co-benefits of poverty reduction, low-carbon energy access and diversification away from livelihoods that are highly vulnerable to climate change. Framed as a ‘pathway’, the innovative financing mechanism in this case presents an inclusive model of energy access. These findings extend the AMP framework to include consideration of obstacles within the notion of pathways. The case highlights a potential model for energy access and emerging nodes of decentralised and distributed energy modalities, that are potentially more climate resilient, as low-income actors seek to secure access.

Rubbing elbows with them: Building capacity in STEM through science and engineering fairs

AbstractUsing social cultural career theory (SCCT) linked with tenets of equity, we examined the role of participation in science and engineering fairs (SEFs) on youth's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational and career choices. We analyzed data for evidence of the SCCT constructs of self‐efficacy, interest, and learning experiences using constructs of Native American (NA), culturally responsive, and rural equitable pedagogies. Qualitative data included semi‐structured interviews, focus groups, practice presentations of SEF prtojects, classroom observations, and mentoring students. Quantitative data consisted of two surveys: STEM Semantics Survey and the Motivation Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. Qualitative results reveal how the teacher built self‐efficacy using equitable pedagogy by putting the students in control of their projects, created a network of experts in various science disciplines, developed a culture of mentorship that promoted belonging, and removed barriers for student participation by blending academics with culture for NA and rural mixed socioeconomic status students. She evoked asset‐based pedagogies that inspired students to further their education and go into STEM fields. Quantitative findings reveal former student's orientation to participation in science fair activities related to their high interests, perceptions of a challenge, curiosity, and emerging mastery, where students demonstrated high dispositions in science and engineering and self‐identified as STEM people. Implications include the use of SCCT, linked with equitable pedagogies to understand interest in STEM fields, mentoring, tapping into the expertise of local professionals to support development of projects, and navigating cultural barriers to provide access for underrepresented youth.

AFFIRM Online: Utilising an Affirmative Cognitive-Behavioural Digital Intervention to Improve Mental Health, Access, and Engagement among LGBTQA+ Youth and Young Adults.

Digital mental health interventions may enable access to care for LGBTQA+ youth and young adults that face significant threats to their wellbeing. This study describes the preliminary efficacy of AFFIRM Online, an eight-session manualised affirmative cognitive behavioural group intervention delivered synchronously. Participants (Mage = 21.17; SD = 4.52) had a range of sexual (e.g., queer, lesbian, pansexual) and gender (e.g., non-binary, transgender, cisgender woman) identities. Compared to a waitlist control (n = 50), AFFIRM Online participants (n = 46) experienced significantly reduced depression (b = −5.30, p = 0.005, d = 0.60) and improved appraisal of stress as a challenge (b = 0.51, p = 0.005, d = 0.60) and having the resources to meet those challenges (b = 0.27, p = 0.059, d = 0.39) as well active coping (b = 0.36, p = 0.012, d = 0.54), emotional support (b = 0.38, p = 0.017, d = 0.51), instrumental support (b = 0.58, p < 0.001, d = 0.77), positive framing (b = 0.34, p = 0.046, d = 0.42), and planning (b = 0.41, p = 0.024, d = 0.49). Participants reported high acceptability. This study highlights the potential of digital interventions to impact LGBTQA+ youth mental health and explores the feasibility of digital mental health to support access and engagement of youth with a range of identities and needs (e.g., pandemic, lack of transportation, rural locations). Findings have implications for the design and delivery of digital interventions for marginalised youth and young adults.

The rejection of cannabis legalization in New Zealand: issues with the Cannabis Legalization and Control Bill or wider concerns?

The rejection of cannabis legalization in New Zealand: issues with the Cannabis Legalization and Control Bill or wider concerns?

Protocol for a hybrid type 2 cluster randomized trial of trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy and a pragmatic individual-level implementation strategy

BackgroundMore than two-thirds of youth experience trauma during childhood, and up to 1 in 5 of these youth develops posttraumatic stress symptoms that significantly impair their functioning. Although trauma-focused cognitive behavior therapy (TF-CBT) has a strong evidence base, it is rarely adopted, delivered with adequate fidelity, or evaluated in the most common setting where youth access mental health services—schools. Given that individual behavior change is ultimately required for successful implementation, even when organizational factors are firmly in place, focusing on individual-level processes represents a potentially parsimonious approach. Beliefs and Attitudes for Successful Implementation in Schools (BASIS) is a pragmatic, motivationally focused multifaceted strategy that augments training and consultation and is designed to target precise mechanisms of behavior change to produce enhanced implementation and youth clinical outcomes. This study protocol describes a hybrid type 2 effectiveness-implementation trial designed to concurrently evaluate the main effects, mediators, and moderators of both the BASIS implementation strategy on implementation outcomes and TF-CBT on youth mental health outcomes.MethodsUsing a cluster randomized controlled design, this trial will assign school-based mental health (SMH) clinicians and schools to one of three study arms: (a) enhanced treatment-as-usual (TAU), (b) attention control plus TF-CBT, or (c) BASIS+TF-CBT. With a proposed sample of 120 SMH clinicians who will each recruit 4–6 youth with a history of trauma (480 children), this project will gather data across 12 different time points to address two project aims. Aim 1 will evaluate, relative to an enhanced TAU condition, the effects of TF-CBT on identified mechanisms of change, youth mental health outcomes, and intervention costs and cost-effectiveness. Aim 2 will compare the effects of BASIS against an attention control plus TF-CBT condition on theoretical mechanisms of clinician behavior change and implementation outcomes, as well as examine costs and cost-effectiveness.DiscussionThis study will generate critical knowledge about the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of BASIS—a pragmatic, theory-driven, and generalizable implementation strategy designed to enhance motivation—to increase the yield of evidence-based practice training and consultation, as well as the effectiveness of TF-CBT in a novel service setting.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov registration number NCT04451161. Registered on June 30, 2020.

Distractions and Defractions: Using Parental Rights to Fight Against the Educational Rights of Transgender, Nonbinary, and Gender Diverse Students

In recent years, conservative advocates have obscured their transphobia by framing their concerns as religiously-based parental rights claims. They have advocated for limitations on youth rights to gender identity self-determination. This article examines policy debates over transgender-inclusive practices in schools, including conservative demands for parental notification and limitations on healthcare access for transgender youth. I suggest that schools ought to be more concerned with children’s or students’ rights to help enable diverse students to flourish and become who they are in supportive schools. This shift would move schools away from the distractions of conservative parental rights claims and re-focus them instead on the needs of students.