Scientific information literacy, attitude and persuasiveness in decision making among Nigerian university students

Acceptance and and use of scientific findings have been reported to face challenges that are attributable to inadequacies of science and/or society’s inadequate scientific literacy and attitude. In view of the dearth of studies on these issues in Nigeria, this study explored the levels and variations in the scientific literacy, attitude to science, and persuasiveness of scientific compared to cultural knowledge in some personal decision making contexts of postgraduate students in a Nigerian university. The study collected data through a designed and validated questionnaire administered on 315 postgraduate students in the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Findings among others are that attitude to science was very highly positive, religious information had slightly stronger persuasiveness in decision making for the students than scientific information, and much more than cultural information. Knowledge of scientific methodology, and critical thinking behavior have positive influence on students’ persuasiveness of science while cultural belief has negative predictive influence on their persuasiveness of science. The study concludes, amongst others, that students’ attitude to science and their persuasiveness of science can be influenced by their levels of knowledge of science methodology and cultural belief, though in an opposing manner. This implies that publics’ understandanding of the persuasiveness of science could be improved by variations in their levels of knowledge of science methodology and cultural belief, amongst other variables. The study therefore, recommends that scientists should begin to communicate science methods to the public through public-friendly and informal means while also subjecting some of the cultural beliefs to scientific tests and communicating their outcomes to the public.

Evaluation of the Impact of Educational Status and Cultural Beliefs on the Health Seeking Behavior of Women with Obstetric Fistula in South-South and South Eastern Nigeria

Background: Obstetric fistula is a serious health problem affecting women in low and middle-income countries. It continues to exist in Nigeria because the health care system has failed to provide quality, accessible and affordable maternal health care including family planning, skilled care at birth, basic and comprehensive emergency obstetric care and inadequate access to treatment of obstetric fistula cases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of educational status and cultural beliefs on the health seeking behavior of women with obstetric fistula in South-South and South Eastern Nigeria. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Non-probability sampling involving purposive and simple random sampling technique was adopted in the selection of one hundred and fifty (150) post-operative patients. The data was analyzed using thematic analysis frequency tables and percentage distribution. Results: The findings were that educational status and cultural belief exert significant influence on the health seeking behavior of women with obstetric fistula. Conclusion: The study indicated that obstetric fistula is a major reproductive health challenge affecting women of childbearing age in Nigeria. Based on the findings of the study, educational status and cultural belief of women with obstetric fistula are the major serious challenges to health seeking behaviour of the women with Vesico-vaginal fistula (VVF). It was therefore recommended that more awareness on obstetric fistula should be created using strategies such as sex education programmed in secondary schools and churches so as to educate them on issues concerning obstetric fistula as well as health talk on VVF for youths.

Preserve and Promote the Values Cultural Belief of the Khmer People in An Giang Province, Vietnam

Cultural belief is a unique feature that has an important value in the spiritual life of the Khmer people in An Giang province. It is a bold combination of indigenous and religious colors, most of the Khmer in An Giang believe in Buddhism, taking it as one of their ways of life, as solid spiritual support to adjust behavior, and handling interpersonal, interpersonal, and social relationships. Cultural beliefs have created for the Khmer in An Giang to have a rich, unique spiritual life, bringing their own identity, contributing to diversity in the culture of the country. The article aims to highlight the manifestations of cultural belief and point out the values of cultural belief in the spiritual life of Khmer people in An Giang province, offering some solutions to contribute to preserving, preserving the cultural belief of the Khmer people. Thereby, to preserve and promote cultural beliefs in the spiritual life of the Khmer people in An Giang province in the trend of international integration.

Socio-cultural determinants of female students’ participation in school sports in Kogi State, Nigeria

The decline in female participation in school sports is undesirable because of the fact that it is considered to be for boys only. It is in light of this, the study was carried out to examine socio-cultural determinants of female students’ participation in school sports in Kogi State, Nigeria. The population was 3,290 female students while 310 respondents were sampled for this study. Three hypotheses were postulated and tested using inferential statistics of Chi-square to analyze the data. Questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. The findings show that gender, cultural and religious belief served as a significant determinant of female participation in sports. Based on the finding, it was concluded that both male and female students should be encouraged to develop right attitude towards sports participation in schools so as to enhance gender equality in sports. There is need to sensitize the general public through various agents of socialization on how to change the negative cultural belief of people towards female participation in sports.

African Cultural Belief of Women Involvement in Housing Development and Ownership

The study examined a review of literature on African cultural belief on housing development and ownership by women, barrier and ways for management. Studies on gender and housing have focused on roles of women in housing development and involvement in decision making. The paper observed that in development of housing, women face challenges as cultural factors affect involvement in housing developments processes. Also, socio-cultural and traditional practices, norms and beliefs inhibit women’s engagement in housing developments processes. The study recommends government policies should be enacted to encourage female participants in housing development processes and patience is needed to achieve the desired goals in order to make urban housing development acceptable for both men and women.

Mind and Heart As Partners

A common cultural belief in technologically advanced societies is that emotion and reason are opposites, with reason superior to emotion. This belief is not supported by recent results in neuroscience and experimental psychology which show instead that emotion and cognition are strongly interconnected and depend on each other). Moreover, the belief is also harmful to society because it contributes indirectly to racism, sexism, homophobia, and the appeal of demagogues. Scientific understanding can help to heal the cultural split between emotion and reason in the service of building a partnership society.

The Law and an Ancestral Request For Exhumation

Exhumation is the removal of the remains of a dead body from its initial resting place – in other words, when a corpse is removed from a coffin, either to be re-buried at another place, or to dispose of the remains in a different manner as in cremation. A corpse could be the remains of a deceased person or a stillborn child or a fetus. An exhumation may also be undertaken to ascertain the cause of death or to ascertain the identity of the deceased. A court or the immediate family of the deceased may request an exhumation for any of the mentioned reasons. If the family is asked by the ancestors to exhume a grave, certain legal questions may come to the fore. It is the purpose of this note to discuss the legal requirements for exhumations and briefly to address the traditional African cultural belief in which ancestors play a part in life on earth. It is not a complete analysis or an opinion on African culture or beliefs. Ancestral beliefs simply form the background to the real legal questions surrounding exhumations in South Africa.

Transforming Community: Women’s Rape Narratives and Gower’s Confessio Amantis

Despite its reputation as socially and politically conservative, John Gower’s fourteenth-century Confessio Amantis highlights sexual violence against women as a central cultural injustice and presents women’s rape narratives as a potentially powerful force for social and political change. This essay focuses on three of Gower’s tales in which women tell their own rape narratives with dramatic and lasting consequences: Mundus and Paulina, Tarquin and Lucrece, and Tereus and Philomena. In all three instances, these women’s narratives of suffering are socially transformative precisely because they threaten the masculine chivalric ideal. For Gower, rape is a direct result of the cultural belief that aristocratic men can and should force the less powerful to submit to their desires for total political and sexual control. Far from trivializing rape or fetishizing women’s suffering, Gower repeatedly argues that rapes are violent acts against entire communities and that women’s rape narratives have the potential to transform and reform those very communities.

Dhwaj sacred grove: A unique example of cultural beliefs and traditional conservation

Sacred groves are well-protected areas managed by strong spiritual beliefs by the local communities and often represent the relict climax vegetation the region. The present study was conducted in Dhwaj sacred grove from the Central region of Indian Himalayas, releasing its role in biodiversity conservation through traditional and cultural belief systems. Total 81 species belonging to 67 genera and 50 families of plants were identified; in which 40 species were flowering plants, 23 species were lichens, 7 species bryophytes, 12 species were pteridophytes and only one species was gymnosperm. Rhododendron arboreum and Quercus leuchotricophora is the most dominant tree species in the grove showing highest IVI values. Ethnobotanically, 40 species belonging to 38 genera and 27 families are used by the local communities for the treatment of various ailments. But, due to high anthropogenic pressure, this grove facing several threat of degradation, hence special attention is needed towards its conservation and motivation to promote our traditional knowledge.