Every report we find, newest first.

A retrospective mixed methods analysis of maternal psychosocial health during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana: lessons for future public health crises

Observed impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in countries in the global north include increasing rates of maternal anxiety and depression. However, little research has been done in sub-Saharan Africa assessing the impact of the pandemic on maternal psychosocial stress. This study aimed to examine the association between COVID-related stressors and psychosocial health among Ghanaian women who were pregnant during the pandemic. This was a sequential explanatory mixed-methods study. An online survey was administered to conveniently sampled Ghanaian mothers with children 0–15 months old from June 2021 to January 2022. Demographic and health information, health literacy (HL) information measured by the All Aspects of Health Literacy scale (AAHL), and COVID-19 health and well-being were collected. Using the Coronavirus Anxiety Scale (CAS) and the Obsession with Coronavirus Scale (OCS), mothers were asked to recall their levels of anxiety and worry while they were pregnant during the pandemic. Generalized linear models were used to assess the association between COVID-related stressors and maternal CAS and OCS scores. In-depth interviews were conducted to gather information from participants about their experiences of pregnancy and childbirth during the COVID-19 pandemic, and thematic analyses were performed using the social support networks in health framework. A total of 221 mother-child dyads were analyzed. Eleven women participated in the in-depth interviews. We observed a rate of 11% for probable dysfunctional coronavirus-related anxiety and 33% for probable dysfunctional thinking about COVID-19. In adjusted models for baseline characteristics, we observed that higher HL scores corresponded with reduced CAS scores (β=-0.43, 95% CI [-0.80, -0.05] for every point increase in AAHLS scores). For COVID-related health and well-being, loss of jobs and wages predicted higher CAS scores when adjusted for HL as a main covariate (β = 1.30, 95% CI [0.07, 2.53]). Participants who reported exercising during COVID had higher OCS scores compared to those who reported not exercising, when adjusting for HL (β = 1.08, 95% CI [-0.01, 2.16], p = 0.05). Themes emerging were categorized into three domains: COVID-19 Pandemic Impacts, COVID-19 Adaptations, and Social Support Networks. This study assessing the association between COVID-19 pandemic stressors and maternal health and well-being provides valuable insights into the pandemic’s short- and medium-term effects. Given the complexity of the pandemic’s stress response, including potential intersections between psychosocial health, social support, and health literacy, public health policies must incorporate these needs into future pandemic responses. This includes leveraging telehealth and mHealth platforms for maternal mental health screening as well as providing community-based health literacy resources. Further studies examining the longer-term effects of the pandemic are also warranted.

Ruthfirst E. A. Ayande, Gloria Ethel Otoo, Jessica Pearlman et al.

Transforming Child Health and Family Well-being

Challenges to child health that pre-dated COVID-19, such as rising rates of child mental health issues, instability in the early care and education system, and food insecurity, accelerated during the pandemic. The health and well-being of children and families have been uniquely and disproportionately impacted. Children are paying the price as our strained child behavioral health, child welfare, and early care and education systems reach breaking points. The solutions that children and families need to recover stronger will require a whole-child and whole-family approach to health that addresses their physical, behavioral, and social needs. The articles in this edition of the NCMJ describe the scope of the challenges facing children and families in North Carolina and approaches to improving their health and well-being in priority areas including behavioral health, child welfare, early care and education, and nutrition.

Charlene Wong, Kenya McNeal-Trice

Positive Well‐Being

There is almost universal consensus regarding the high importance and desirability of positive well‐being in children. Despite this consensus, the study of children has traditionally focused on their ill‐being (e.g., anxiety, depression, and loneliness) and not on their well‐being (e.g., happiness, life satisfaction, and thriving). This entry reviews measures of the components of children's well‐being using quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods and discusses studies that use these methods to identify the correlates of well‐being in children throughout the world. Children with high positive well‐being tend to have high‐quality social relationships; to display a social, outgoing temperament relatively free of anxiety and shyness; and to report high levels of spirituality. Current research, summarized in this entry, is developing and testing strategies to enhance children's positive well‐being in enduring ways, including strategies that focus on giving and exercises in mindfulness. These strategies need to focus on individual differences and not assume that a single approach will be effective in enhancing the well‐being of all children across all cultures.

Mark D. Holder, Katherine Graydon

The benefits and risks of child-dog attachment and child-dog behaviours for child psychological well-being

Abstract The importance of secure human attachments in childhood for healthy psychological development is well-established, yet the well-being implications of child-dog symbiotic relationships are less understood. Children form strong emotional bonds with their pet dogs that meet the prerequisites for an attachment relationship. These bonds can be mutually reinforcing and beneficial and could indicate positive child well-being. However, not all child-dog relationships are positive and here we explore whether harmful and unsafe interactions are associated with poorer emotional and behavioural functioning. The aim of this study was to examine whether the type of child-dog behaviour (positive or negative) mediates the relationship between child-dog attachment and well-being indicators. Data from caregiver reports (N = 117) and child self-reports (N = 77) were collected through an online survey. The results revealed that positive child-dog interactions significantly mediated the relationship between high attachment scores and better child outcomes (higher scores for well-being, positive outlook, happiness, quality of life, higher social satisfaction, and lower loneliness), whereas the reverse was found for negative child-dog interactions, predicting lower attachment scores and worse child outcomes (negative outlook, increased loneliness and social dissatisfaction, lower quality of life). This study has identified important mechanisms through which pet dogs may pose both benefits and risks to children’s psychological well-being. These findings will aid the development and evaluation of interventions that promote positive and safe child-dog interactions and subsequent child and dog psychological health and welfare.

Roxanne D. Hawkins, Charlotte Robinson, Nicola McGuigan

Violence against Children and Youth in Humanitarian Settings: Findings from a 2024 survey of refugee camps in Ethiopia

While several Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (VACS) have been conducted in development contexts, this survey is only the second-ever VACS carried out exclusively in a humanitarian setting—specifically, within refugee camps in Ethiopia. The first VACS conducted exclusively in a humanitarian context was implemented in refugee settlements in Uganda. Both of these Humanitarian Violence Against Children and Youth Surveys (HVACS) were led by the Baobab Research Programme Consortium. The survey aimed to assess the prevalence, nature, and consequences of physical, emotional, and sexual violence against children and youth in refugee settings. The findings from this survey provide critical insights into the experiences of children and youth in refugee environments, with particular emphasis on violence and its impact on their well-being.

Addressing Online Violence Against Women and Girls in the Commonwealth Africa Region: The Role of Bystanders

This report provides a summary of the phenomenon of online violence against women in various African Commonwealth member countries and describes the legal frameworks and their limitations and the challenges these present. The report also makes suggestions on how to tackle these issues in order to find solutions to the problem of online violence against women and girls.

Commonwealth Secretariat

Laws and protections on ending violence against women and girls in Eastern & Southern Africa

This collection of factsheets and infographics outlines the laws, protections, implementation challenges, legal gaps, and support mechanisms in 10 select countries in Eastern and Southern Africa related to ending violence against women and girls. Focused on Botswana, Djibouti, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Sudan, Somaliland, South Sudan, Uganda, and the publications provide key recommendations to strengthen prevention, accountability, and survivor-centred responses across diverse legal and policy contexts.

TOWARDS A LOCALIZED UNDERSTANDING OF VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN AFRICA

Despite global and African continental efforts to curb violence against children (VAC), it is the fourth leading cause of death for young people aged 15 to 19 in Africa, according to a 2021 UNICEF report. In introducing this special issue on VAC in Africa, I contend that violence prevention and response efforts ought to be situated in local understandings of how violence is inflicted and experienced. Sociocultural and political ideals and values present in Africa nurture an atmosphere in which adults exercise power over children’s lives and can inflict harm upon them if they choose. Age-based power (adultism) facilitates VAC. Therefore, this special issue is underpinned by childism as a framework for challenging adultism in an effort to achieve a contextualized understanding of VAC in Africa, and how best to respond to and ultimately prevent it.

Doris Kakuru

The ongoing challenge of violence against women and children in South Africa. Why are we deeper in crisis?

Gender Based Violence (GBV) has been referred to as the Shadow Pandemic, since it has tripled internationally from the startof the outbreak of COVID-19. The increased rates of reported GBV around the globe have ranged from 30% to 200%. We have seen high numbers of GBV reports in SA as well, with the GBV toll-free emergency hotline reporting 120 000 calls in the first three weeks of lockdown.

Shahana Rasool