scholarly journals Measuring Governance: Developing a Novel Metric for Assessing the Translation of Policies into Action in Nepal

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Namirembe ◽  
Robin Shrestha ◽  
Robert Houser ◽  
Shibani Ghosh ◽  
Kedar Baral ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Goodness Of Fit ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
National Level ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Fit Indices ◽  
Ecological Zones ◽  
Governance Indicator ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Validity Tests ◽  
Policy And Science

Abstract Background The Nutrition Governance Indicator (NGI) defines a first standardized approach to quantifying the ‘quality of governance’ in relation to national plans of action to accelerate improvements in nutrition. It was created in response to growing demand for evidence-based measures that reveal opportunities and challenges as nutrition-related policies on paper are translated into outcomes on the ground. Past efforts to measure ‘governance’, most notably the WHO’s Nutrition Governance Indicator and Hunger and Nutrition Commitment Index (HANCI) lack granularity below the national level, and failure to capture pinch points relating to necessary cross-sectoral actions. The NGI addresses these caveats. This paper introduces the approach that underpins the NGI, discusses its methodology and demonstrates its application in the context of Nepal. Methods The NGI was developed using principal components analysis techniques. The resulting score was standardized to a more intuitive scale ranging from 0 to 100, and categorized into quintiles. Cronbach’s alpha was used to test for reliability in addition to testing for goodness of fit using confirmatory factor analysis methods. The data used to derive the index were obtained from 520 participants in the Policy and Science for Health, Agriculture and Nutrition (PoSHAN) study, a prospective and nationally representative longitudinal survey conducted across 21 districts and three agro-ecological zones of Nepal. Results The NGI passed validity tests with the exception of two fit indices. Two of the six domains passed the reliability test (Understanding nutrition and Collaboration), the Financial resources domain marginally passed at 0.70 criteria of Nunally, while the remaining domains need re-assessment to improve their reliability. The Nepal Health sector showed the most improvement in mean NGI score over a two-year period followed by the Agricultural sector. About half of all health sector representatives were more likely to have a high score compared to other sectors (OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.36 – 0.74). Conclusion Using two panels of data collected in Nepal, this paper has shown that policy-to-action translation can be quantified and applied to sub-national institutions. These findings underscore the practical utility of the index and its importance to the nutrition policy realm.

scholarly journals Psychometric Comparison of the Persian Salzburg Emotional Eating Scale and Emotional Eater Questionnaire Among Iranian Adults

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sahar Ghafouri ◽  
Abbas Abdollahi ◽  
Maryam Hagi ◽  
Ali Ganbari ◽  
Aleiia J.N. Asmundson
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Confirmatory Factor Analysis ◽  
Psychometric Properties ◽  
Emotional Eating ◽  
Goodness Of Fit ◽  
Fit Indices ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Average Variance ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
Validity Tests

Abstract Background: The Salzburg Emotional Eating Scale (SEES) and the Emotional Eater Questionnaire (EEQ) are self-reported measures developed to evaluate emotional eating in adults in Western countries. To date, the psychometric properties of the SEES and the EEQ have not been studied among Iranian adults. The aim of the current study is to translate the SEES and the EEQ from English to Persian and examine the psychometric properties of the SEES and EEQ.Method: The sample of this study comprised of 489 Iranian adults who completed the SEES and the EEQ questionnaires online. Results: Findings of face, content, and construct validity tests confirmed that the SEES and the EEQ had acceptable validity and appropriate reliability. The results from confirmatory factor analysis showed acceptable goodness-of-fit indices for two measures. Conclusion: Results of Average Variance Extracted, Construct Reliability, and goodness-of-fit indices showed that the SEES was better for evaluating emotional eating among Iranian adults than the EEQ.

scholarly journals Measuring Governance: Developing a Novel Metric for Assessing Whether Policy Environments are Conducive for the Development and Implementation of Nutrition Interventions in Nepal

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Namirembe ◽  
Robin Shrestha ◽  
Patrick Webb ◽  
Robert Houser ◽  
Dale Davis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Level ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Leadership Capacity ◽  
World Health ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Or Education ◽  
Policy Environments ◽  
Nutrition Policies ◽  
Nationally Representative

Background: The Nutrition Governance Index (NGI) defines a first standardized approach to quantifying the ‘quality of governance’ in relation to national plans of action to accelerate improvements in nutrition. It was created in response to growing demand for evidence-based measures that reveal opportunities and challenges as nutrition-related policies on paper are translated into outcomes on the ground. Numerous past efforts to measure ‘governance,’ most notably World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) NGI and the separate Hunger and Nutrition Commitment Index (HANCI), both of which lack granularity below the national level and each of which fails to capture pinch points related to necessary cross-sectoral actions. This paper addresses such caveats by introducing an innovative metric to assess self-reported practices of, and perceptions held by, administration officials tasked with implementing government policy at the sub-national level. The paper discusses the development of this metric, its methodology, and explores its application in the context of Nepal. Methods: Conducted as part of a nationally representative longitudinal survey across 21 of Nepal’s 75 districts, the substudy on which this paper is based used data from 520 government and non-government officials at different geographic and administrative tiers of authority. Using robust statistical techniques, structured questionnaire data were condensed into a score using a scale from 0 to 100. Results: Six domains were identified through the analysis: Understanding Nutrition and related responsibilities; Collaboration; Financial Resources; Nutrition Leadership, Capacity, and Support. About half of all health sector representatives achieved a high score (>3 on 5-point scale) compared to representatives in other sectors of government activity (such as agriculture or education) (χ2=12.99, P<.003). The health sector also showed the most improvement in mean NGI score over a two-year follow-up period. Conclusion: This paper shows that self-reported perceptions and behaviors of those responsible for policy implementation can be usefully quantified. The NGI can be used to assess countries’ readiness for the application of nutrition policies.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Long and Short Forms of the Worry Domains Questionnaire

2009 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 239-243
Author(s):  
Roberto Nuevo ◽  
Andrés Losada ◽  
María Márquez-González ◽  
Cecilia Peñacoba
Keyword(s):  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Confirmatory Factor Analysis ◽  
Factor Structure ◽  
Goodness Of Fit ◽  
Factorial Validity ◽  
Fit Indices ◽  
Short Forms ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Positive Correlations ◽  
Future Work

The Worry Domains Questionnaire was proposed as a measure of both pathological and nonpathological worry, and assesses the frequency of worrying about five different domains: relationships, lack of confidence, aimless future, work, and financial. The present study analyzed the factor structure of the long and short forms of the WDQ (WDQ and WDQ-SF, respectively) through confirmatory factor analysis in a sample of 262 students (M age = 21.8; SD = 2.6; 86.3% females). While the goodness-of-fit indices did not provide support for the WDQ, good fit indices were found for the WDQ-SF. Furthermore, no source of misspecification was identified, thus, supporting the factorial validity of the WDQ-SF scale. Significant positive correlations between the WDQ-SF and its subscales with worry (PSWQ), anxiety (STAI-T), and depression (BDI) were found. The internal consistency was good for the total scale and for the subscales. This work provides support for the use of the WDQ-SF, and potential uses for research and clinical purposes are discussed.

Psychometric Assessment of the Persian Translated Version of the Romantic Perfectionism Scale Among Couples

2021 ◽  
pp. 003329412110360
Author(s):  
Abbas Abdollahi ◽  
Kelly A. Allen
Keyword(s):  
Content Validity ◽  
Goodness Of Fit ◽  
Factor Loading ◽  
Face Validity ◽  
Fit Indices ◽  
Depression Anxiety Stress Scale ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Married Men ◽  
Iranian Version ◽  
Acceptable Internal Consistency

Romantic perfectionismi can be disruptive to relationships, yet no validated measure for assessing romantic perfectionism in Iranian couples has been developed. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to translate and validate the Romantic Perfectionism Scale (RPS) among Iranian couples. Participants in the study were 200 married men and 320 married women from Tehran, Iran, who completed the translated RPS, the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised, and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 online. Item impact scores were used to calculate face validity. Impact score values for all items were greater than 1.5, signaling appropriate face validity.. The Content Validity Index (CVI) and the Content Validity Ratio (CVR) were used to measure content validity. Values of the CVI were above the cut-off score of 0.7, implying satisfactory content validity of the items. The CVR values were greater than the Lawshe table (0.78) cut-off score, demonstrating that all items were essential. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) using AMOS software was used to evaluate the construct validity. The results of the goodness of fit indices confirmed the RPS with two subscales (i.e., self-oriented romantic perfectionism and other-oriented romantic perfectionism) as per the original scale. All items remained in the scale as all factor loading values were greater than 0.45. The findings showed that the two subscales, and the scale as a whole, had acceptable internal consistency, as the construct reliability values for self-oriented romantic perfectionism (0.81), other-oriented romantic perfectionism (0.72), and the whole scale (0.74) were greater than 0.7. The results support the psychometric properties of the Iranian version of the RPS, which could be used by future researchers and clinicians to assess romantic perfectionism in Iranian couples.

Impact of Health and Agriculture Financing on Economic Growth in Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (18) ◽  
pp. 37-58
Author(s):  
Rasaki Olufemi KAREEM ◽  
◽  
Olawale LATEEF ◽  
Muideen Adejare ISIAKA ◽  
Kamilu RAHEEM ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Causal Relationship ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Time Series Data ◽  
Capital Expenditure ◽  
Government Expenditure ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Series Data ◽  
The Impact

The study focused on the impact of health and agriculture financing on economic growth in Nigeria from 1981 to 2019. The study utilized the time series data which was extracted from Central Bank of Nigeria annual statistical bulletin. Unit Root test was performed with the use of Augmented Dickey-Fuller test in order to ascertain the stationarity of all the variables and they were all found to be stationary at order 1 in the two specified models (composite and disaggregated). Error Correction Model (ECM) was used to analyze the data in order to determine the speed of adjustment from the short run to the long run equilibrium state. Casualty test was used to confirm causal relationship among the variables of interests. The study revealed that Federal Government expenditure in Health sector has a significant effect on economic growth in Nigeria. Federal Government expenditure in Agricultural sector equally had a positive effect on economic growth but surprisingly not significant. Considering the disaggregated form, Federal Government capital expenditure in both Health and Agricultural sectors have positive and statistically significant effect on economic growth while Federal Government recurrent expenditure on health has a positive and statistically insignificant effect in economic. It was also revealed that there is causal relationship among the variables. Based on the findings, the study concluded that Federal Government Expenditure in Health Sectors and Agriculture Sectors have effect on economic growth in Nigeria.

Child Marriage and Intimate Partner Violence: An Examination of Individual, Community, and National Factors

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052110426
Author(s):  
Brittany E. Hayes ◽  
Michelle E. Protas
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
National Level ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Early Marriage ◽  
Child Marriage ◽  
Demographic And Health Surveys ◽  
Age At Marriage ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Nationally Representative

Despite being a human rights violation, child marriage still takes place across the globe. Prior scholarship has shown early marriage to be associated with an increased risk of intimate partner violence (IPV). Drawing on data from the nationally representative Demographic and Health Surveys—conducted in developing and transitional nations where rates of child marriage tend to be higher—the current study provides a cross-national examination of individual-, community-, and national-level predictors of child marriage and their association with physical and emotional IPV. The sample of ever married women includes 281,674 respondents across 46 developing and transitional nations. Findings reveal the prevalence of child marriage was largely consistent with worldwide estimates. Over half of the sample (59.97%) were over the age of 18 when they married and about 1 in 10 women were married at age 14 or younger. A later age at marriage, measured continuously, was associated with lower odds of physical and emotional IPV. When considering the 18 and over cutoff traditionally used to operationalize child marriage, the odds of physical and emotional IPV were lower for women who married over the age of 18 than women who were 14 and younger when they married. However, there was a confounding effect when considering age at marriage as 18 and over when community-level predictors were not included in the model estimating physical abuse. This underscores the need to consider the nested nature of respondents’ experiences. Further, national legislation that protects against child marriage was not associated with risk of physical or emotional IPV. However, population size increased the odds of physical IPV and lowered the odds of emotional IPV. Such findings can be interpreted in light of opportunity theory and provide direction for prevention and intervention programming.

Development of a Uniquely South African Leadership Questionnaire

2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hermann H. Spangenberg ◽  
Callie C. Theron
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Goodness Of Fit ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Charismatic Leadership ◽  
Fit Indices ◽  
Confirmatory Factor Analyses ◽  
Leadership Model ◽  
Emerging Leadership ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Unit Performance

This paper describes the development of a leadership questionnaire the aim of which is to assess the behaviours required to lead change and transformation, while at the same time managing organisational unit performance effectively. A Delphi technique was used to facilitate the identification and testing of emerging leadership dimensions and items, starting with a three-stage model of charismatic leadership, The resultant leadership model comprises four stages, measured as 21 dimensions. The research questionnaire consists of 235 items. The questionnaire was field tested by means of 360° assessment conducted amongst 189 unit managers from a diverse group of organisations. Seven hundred and fifty completed questionnaires were obtained. Unrestricted principal component analyses were performed on each of the sub-scales (dimensions) to examine the unidimensionality assumption. This procedure resulted in the formation of three additional sub-scales. Item analyses on each of the sub-scales produced highly satisfactory Cronbach Alpha values. Further confirmatory factor analyses using LISREL were conducted on each of the 24 sub-scales. A series of goodness-of-fit indices generally showed satisfactory results. Overall, results indicate that a 96-item questionnaire format consisting of 24 dimensions with four items each (selected on the basis of factor loadings) could be used with confidence. Recommendations are made for further research.

Infrastructure Provisioning and Health Service Utilization in Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amm Quamruzzaman
Keyword(s):  
Health Service ◽  
Service Utilization ◽  
Health Service Utilization ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
National Level ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Local Health ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Different Levels

Although the positive developmental effects of infrastructure provisioning are well documented, research on the potential role of governance in the improvement of infrastructure performance and individual-level service utilization is lacking. I explore the effect of infrastructure provisioning on individual-level health service utilization, paying close attention to whether governance at different levels shapes people's access to health care. The different geographical levels of infrastructure provisioning, governance, and health service utilization require a multilevel analysis, which I perform using Afrobarometer Round 5 survey data on 34 African countries in a three-stage mixed-effects modeling. Results show that the presence of health infrastructure is crucial for enhancing people's health service utilization. However, people encounter certain problems when receiving services at their local health clinics or hospitals, and these problems are directly linked with governance in the health sector as well as overall governance at the country level. Improvements in people's health service utilization therefore require both better infrastructure provisioning and better governance at different levels, as the former does not guarantee the latter. Development scholars need to widen their focus beyond national-level governance and help policy makers identify at which level state interventions are most needed for removing barriers to development.

scholarly journals Geographic Inequalities in Accessing Improved Water and Sanitation Facilities in Nepal

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 1269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Wang ◽  
Jing Pan ◽  
Sanni Yaya ◽  
Ram Bilash Yadav ◽  
Dechao Yao
Keyword(s):  
National Level ◽  
Water Sources ◽  
Wash Water ◽  
World Health ◽  
Demographic And Health Surveys ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Water And Sanitation ◽  
Ecological Zones ◽  
Quality Of Water ◽  
Health Organization

In this study, we aimed to assess the geographic inequalities in access to improved water and sanitation facilities among Nepalese households. We conducted this study based on cross-sectional data obtained from Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys. The quality of water sources and sanitation were defined by World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. The geographic categories used in the analyses included developmental region, ecological zone, and urbanicity. Percentages of households having access to improved toilet (5.6% in 1996 vs. 40.5% in 2016) and water (19.3% in 1996 vs. 27% in 2016) facilities has been increasing steadily since 1996 with a great proportion of the households still lacking access to these services. The number of households sharing the same toilet and traveling time to reach water sources have also decreased at the same time. Households in Far Western and Mountains had the lowest odds of having access to improved toilet and water facilities. Noticeable progress has been achieved in improving WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) coverage at national level, however, it is uneven across developmental and ecological zones. Households in the Far Western and Mountain regions appeared to be the most geographically disadvantaged in terms of having access to improved water and sanitation facilities.

scholarly journals The Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics-6 items (SAVE-6): A new instrument for assessing anxiety response to viral epidemics in the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seockhoon Chung ◽  
Myung Hee Ahn ◽  
Sangha Lee ◽  
Solbi Kang ◽  
Sooyeon Suh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
General Population ◽  
Goodness Of Fit ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Fit Indices ◽  
Depression And Anxiety ◽  
Mild Degree ◽  
New Instrument ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Good Internal Consistency ◽  
Anxiety Response

During the COVID-19 pandemic, people have reported experiencing anxiety in response to the viral epidemic. This study aimed to explore the validity and usefulness of the Stress and Anxiety to the Viral Epidemic-6 items (SAVE-6) scale for measuring the anxiety response to the viral epidemic of the general population. A total of 1,009 respondents participated in an online survey, and 501 (49.7%) participants were rated as having at least a mild degree of anxiety response to the viral epidemic (SAVE-6 score ≥ 15), whereas 90 (8.9%) and 91 (9.0%) were rated as having depression and anxiety, respectively. The SAVE-6 scales showed good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = .82). Confirmatory factor analysis supported a one-factor structure for the measure. Goodness-of-fit indices (χ2/df ratio = 19.1, CFI = .92; TLI = .86; SRMR = 0.05; RMSEA = .13) were adequate. The SAVE-6 was found to be a reliable, valid, and useful brief measure that can be applied to the general population. The SAVE-6 may be useful for easily assessing the anxiety symptoms during the pandemic in the general population.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document