Increasing dark green leafy, yellow/orange, cruciferous vegetables, tomatoes, and physical activity in a low-income population: an evaluation of a critical thinking approach

Until 1990s microfinance was mainly seen as an impact – driven development programme based on the support of government and private donors. However, the failure of many subsidy dependent development institutions advocated for microfinance institutions to be self-sufficient and sustainable. This prompted MFIs to be commercially oriented and profit motivated. Also, with the growing proliferation of new providers of microcredit and influx of commercial investment in the sector, there is an increasing intensity of competition in the sector. Increased competition coupled with commercialisation helped in integrating the low-income population into a more formal financial system. But critics view that, this process has led the MFIs to search for better off clientele, thereby in many cases, departing from their social mission. Increasing competition followed by saturation in the sector has led to the mission drift of MFIs and has become a major cause of concern globally. However, some view this process to be a “win-win’ scenario whereby there exists scope for widening outreach and attaining sustainability. The present paper is devoted to examine the process of commercialisation and gauge the potential impact of competition and commercialisation of microfinance institutions on MFI performance from a theoretical standpoint.

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Promoting Small Business Support of Youth Physical Activity in Low-income, Minority Neighborhoods

Case Medical Research ◽

10.31525/ct1-nct03936582 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Small Business ◽

Low Income ◽

Business Support ◽

Youth Physical Activity

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Park Rx and Physical Activity Among Low-income Children

Case Medical Research ◽

10.31525/ct1-nct04114734 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Low Income ◽

Low Income Children

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Representativeness of the Low-Income Population in the Health and Retirement Study with Supplementary Analyses for 1991 and 1997

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.2595123 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Erik Meijer ◽

Lynn A. Karoly

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Health And Retirement Study ◽

Low Income Population ◽

Retirement Study

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OP0007-PARE CAMPAIGN TO PROMOTE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY & EXERCISE TO RMD PATIENTS THROUGH EDUCATION AND PRACTICE

Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases ◽

10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-eular.1715 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 79 (Suppl 1) ◽

pp. 5.1-6

Author(s):

A. Iacovou

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Low Income ◽

Life Style ◽

National Health System ◽

List Type ◽

Exercise Rehabilitation ◽

Eular Recommendations ◽

National Strategic Plan ◽

Sport Events ◽

Further Development

Background:Eular give’ s a lot of attention to outline the need of a change in RMD patients life style that is very well outlined into the 2018 Eular recommendations for Physical Activity (PA).Objectives:Driven by those recommendations that says that “PA should be an integral part of standard care throughout the course of disease”, CypLAR decided to create a campaign to promote PA through educating RMD patients on the PA benefits, make them to change their life style and enroll them to PA programs. More over we want to inform Rheumatologist and HPR’s on that effort and enroll them to that campaign.The CypLAR’ s goal through that campaign is to manage and enroll as much as possible patients to PA Programs for a continual period of about 10 months.Methods:To achieve all the above we decided to move to the following steps:Offer PA Programs organized by CypLAR or HPR associatesIncrease awareness regarding the benefits of the PA (Land based & Aquatic) programs to Rheumatologists, HPR’s and RMD patientsIntegrate PA into National Health System and proceduresOffer incentivesResults:We managed to increase the PA programs that we used to offer from 1 to 3 in every major cities with also some more opportunities ahead. That also increases the number of participants attracting around 100 participants instead of 20 that we uses to before.Towards awareness, we presented Exercise rehabilitation in conferences around Europe (Agora 2017,2018,2019, Eular 2018, Cyprus – Crete Conference 2017, 2019, Enfa 2019, Pain Conference, Athens 2019) and also published related articles on CypLAR’s magazine that is published twice a year that is distributed to more than 5000 members.We managed to include the Aquatic Exercise Rehabilitation to the new National Strategic plan for Rheumatic Diseases.As incentives, we created a fund that is addressed to partially support low income patients. Furthermore we acquire special discount membership fees to our members on PA programs that are offered by associates.We organize our own sport related fund events and also participate in others sport funding events. Especially the Charity Swimming Event “Swim for my fellow” which is co-organized by the Iacovou Swimming Centre and Cyplar for the last 5 years is also under the Limassol Municipality Annual Sport Events called “Lemesia” which this year will have an International promotion due Limassol’s Award as the “European City of Sports” for 2020.We are in the process and in contact with big companies in order to become our campaign SponsorsWe attracted a fund of €2000 from Cyprus Sport Organization that offered a partial financial support to 30 patients for their participation in PA programs for 3 months.Conclusion:We all believe that the success on that campaign is based on Education (articles, presentations), the available options (programs/positions to participate) and Incentives (financial) that all of them needs further development.Disclosure of Interests:None declared

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A positive deviance-based qualitative study of stress, coping, and feeding practices among low-income, Hispanic mothers whose children do versus do not meet guidelines for fruit and vegetable intake

Health Education Research ◽

10.1093/her/cyaa037 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 35 (6) ◽

pp. 584-604

Author(s):

Eleanor Shonkoff ◽

Sara C Folta ◽

Theodore Fitopoulos ◽

Cynthia N Ramirez ◽

Ricky Bluthenthal ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Qualitative Study ◽

Low Income ◽

Comparison Group ◽

Vegetable Intake ◽

Feeding Practices ◽

The United States ◽

Positive Deviance ◽

Healthy Weight ◽

Hispanic Mothers

Abstract Less than 1% of children in the United States concurrently meet guidelines for fruit/vegetable intake, physical activity, screen time, and sugar-sweetened beverages. Prior evidence suggests that parents of this 1% potentially cope with stress differently. This qualitative study used a positive deviance-based approach to locate mothers whose children avoided negative feeding outcomes despite being ‘high-risk’ for obesity. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in Spanish for two groups: low-income, Hispanic mothers whose children were normal weight and met recommendations for fruits/vegetables and physical activity (n = 5); and a comparison group whose children had obesity and did not meet guidelines (n = 8). Topics included weight-related parenting practices, attitudes toward health, and stress management. Interviews were transcribed, translated, and coded using NVivo for theoretically driven thematic analysis. Results suggested that mothers viewed stress differently. Mothers of healthy weight children believed stress could be prevented, such as by paying children more attention or directing one’s attention away from stressors; comparison group mothers tended to report stress about managing their child’s eating and about financial worries. Future research is needed to understand the underlying sources of these differences (e.g. personality traits, coping practices) and test whether stress prevention interventions can promote healthy parental feeding practices.

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Feelings of safety during daytime walking: associations with mental health, physical activity and cardiometabolic health in high vacancy, low-income neighborhoods in Detroit, Michigan

International Journal of Health Geographics ◽

10.1186/s12942-021-00271-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Amber L. Pearson ◽

Kimberly A. Clevenger ◽

Teresa H. Horton ◽

Joseph C. Gardiner ◽

Ventra Asana ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Physical Activity ◽

Low Income ◽

Spatial Data ◽

Vigorous Physical Activity ◽

Future Research ◽

Cardiometabolic Health ◽

Multilevel Regression ◽

Critical Pathway ◽

Perceived Safety

Abstract Introduction Individuals living in low-income neighborhoods have disproportionately high rates of obesity, Type-2 diabetes, and cardiometabolic conditions. Perceived safety in one’s neighborhood may influence stress and physical activity, with cascading effects on cardiometabolic health. Methods In this study, we examined relationships among feelings of safety while walking during the day and mental health [perceived stress (PSS), depression score], moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (PA), Body Mass Index (BMI), and hemoglobin A1C (A1C) in low-income, high-vacancy neighborhoods in Detroit, Michigan. We recruited 69 adults who wore accelerometers for one week and completed a survey on demographics, mental health, and neighborhood perceptions. Anthropometrics were collected and A1C was measured using A1CNow test strips. We compiled spatial data on vacant buildings and lots across the city. We fitted conventional and multilevel regression models to predict each outcome, using perceived safety during daytime walking as the independent variable of interest and individual or both individual and neighborhood-level covariates (e.g., number of vacant lots). Last, we examined trends in neighborhood features according to perceived safety. Results In this predominantly African American sample (91%), 47% felt unsafe during daytime walking. Feelings of perceived safety significantly predicted PSS (β = − 2.34, p = 0.017), depression scores (β = − 4.22, p = 0.006), and BMI (β = − 2.87, p = 0.01), after full adjustment. For PA, we detected a significant association for sex only. For A1C we detected significant associations with blighted lots near the home. Those feeling unsafe lived in neighborhoods with higher park area and number of blighted lots. Conclusion Future research is needed to assess a critical pathway through which neighborhood features, including vacant or poor-quality green spaces, may affect obesity—via stress reduction and concomitant effects on cardiometabolic health.

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