Can microfinance-backed entrepreneurship be a holistic empowerment tool for women? Empirical evidence from Kashmir Valley, India

PurposeThis study investigates the effectiveness of microfinance-backed entrepreneurship as a mechanism for the holistic empowerment of women.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs a mixed-method research-design consisting of quasi-experimental design (quantitative approach) involving women, both entrepreneurs (132) and non-entrepreneurs (238), as well as in-depth semi-structured interviews (qualitative approach).FindingsQuantitative analysis revealed that female entrepreneurs are better off than female non-entrepreneurs in terms of economic, social, political and psychological indicators of empowerment. However, relatively lesser impact was found in terms of political, and to an even smaller extent, social empowerment of women. Analysis of in-depth interviews corroborated these findings confirming that entrepreneurship serves as an effective tool for the holistic empowerment of women. However, non-entrepreneurs also exhibit social empowerment.Research limitations/implicationsGiven the restricted geographical ambit of the study, prudence ought to be exercised in drawing inferences applied to alternate contexts. That the vast majority of questionnaire respondents are illiterate presented a notable impediment in the process of collection of accurate responses.Practical implicationsMicrofinance intervention ought to be specifically directed to cultivating entrepreneurship among women; in particular, to achieve the full benefits of empowerment, women availing microfinance ought to exert full control over their own business ventures.Originality/valueIn analyzing holistic empowerment through microfinance supported businesses set up by women, the study adds to the existing literature on women entrepreneurship and empowerment.

A View of Waste Might Decrease Relaxation: The Effects of Viewing an Open Dump in a Forest Environment on the Psychological Response of Healthy Young Adults

Forest recreation can be successfully used for the psychological relaxation of respondents and can be used as a remedy for common problems with stress. The special form of forest recreation intended for restoration is forest bathing. These activities might be distracted by some factors, such as viewing buildings in the forest or using a computer in nature, which interrupt psychological relaxation. One factor that might interrupt psychological relaxation is the occurrence of an open dump in the forest during an outdoor experience. To test the hypothesis that an open dump might decrease psychological relaxation, a case study was planned that used a randomized, controlled crossover design. For this purpose, two groups of healthy young adults viewed a control forest or a forest with an open dump in reverse order and filled in psychological questionnaires after each stimulus. A pretest was used. Participants wore oblique eye patches to stop their visual stimulation before the experimental stimulation, and the physical environment was monitored. The results were analyzed using the two-way repeated measures ANOVA. The measured negative psychological indicators significantly increased after viewing the forest with waste, and the five indicators of the Profile of Mood States increased: Tension-Anxiety, Depression-Dejection, Anger-Hostility, Fatigue, and Confusion. In addition, the negative aspect of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule increased in comparison to the control and pretest. The measured positive indicators significantly decreased after viewing the forest with waste, the positive aspect of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule decreased, and the Restorative Outcome Scale and Subjective Vitality scores decreased (in comparison to the control and pretest). The occurrence of an open dump in the forest might interrupt a normal restorative experience in the forest by reducing psychological relaxation. Nevertheless, the mechanism of these relevancies is not known, and thus, it will be further investigated. In addition, in a future study, the size of the impact of these open dumps on normal everyday experiences should be investigated. It is proposed that different mechanisms might be responsible for these reactions; however, the aim of this manuscript is to only measure this reaction. The identified psychological reasons for these mechanisms can be assessed in further studies.

REPRODUCTIVE MECHANISMS OF HUMAN CAPITAL IN THE ALTAI TERRITORY

The relevance of the research proposed in the article is determined by the fact that the reproduction of human capital determines the regional specifics of socio-demographic security. The purpose of the proposed article is to analyze the basic mechanism of crisis reproduction of the population of a typical border region of Russia, to identify the problems of institutionalization in the management of the regional security system. The factors and conditions of mutual determination of the processes of fertility and mortality by the social conditions of the population's existence in the regional society are analyzed. The approach of multivariate analysis of the research data is used, taking into account demographic, socio-psychological indicators. The results of an empirical verification of the concept of integrative social vulnerability are presented. Regional trends of a reduced level of population reproduction in the Altai Territory are described. It is concluded that the results of a comprehensive study of the economic, institutional, social, behavioral features of population reproduction allow not only to identify current trends, but also to suggest ways to optimize them.

Psychological indicators of safe social behavior of preschool children in an inclusive educational environment

The purpose of the research presented in the article is to identify and empirically substantiate the psychological indicators of safe social behavior of preschool children in an inclusive educational environment. The relevance of the study is connected with the need to prevent the risks of inclusive education associated with the manifestations of various forms of mental and physical violence against children with developmental disabilities from their peers. Presumably, the safe social behavior of children is determined by the following personal constructs: need-motivational, emotional-volitional, cognitive-cognitive, interpersonal-social ones. To confirm the theoretical model, an empirical study was conducted on the basis of an inclusive preschool educational organization in Shuya (N = 46, from 5 to 7 years old, girls-56%) using a set of psychodiagnostic tools: “Diagnostics of tolerance in preschool children in relation to peers with disabilities” (A. S. Sirotyuk, in the author’s modification); to fix the parameters of anxiety of a preschool child, the projective test of R. Temml, M. Dorka, V. Amen was used; the method of drawing frustration of S. Rosenzweig (modification of T. D. Marcinkovskaya, in the author’s interpretation); “The degree of involvement of older preschoolers in the game interaction with their peers” (S. G. Elizarov, modification of S. S. Zhuravleva); the drawing projective method “I am in kindergarten” (M. Bykova, in the author’s interpretation). It is established that the formation of psychological indicators of safe social behavior of preschool children is mainly at low or medium levels. It is shown that predictors of psychological well-being of preschool children in an inclusive educational environment, which is an integral indicator of safe social behavior, are indicators of social tolerance towards peers with developmental disabilities, empathy, readiness for mutual assistance, non-conflict, low anxiety, and involvement in game interaction. The obtained data should be taken into account when implementing inclusive education programs in preschool organizations.

Research on the Physiological and Psychological Ability Indexes of Coal Tunneling Workers

Studies have shown that accidents caused by human error account for 70-80% of the total number of accidents, and are the primary cause of casualties. In order to reduce the risk of safety accidents and reduce the human-caused accident rate, the evaluation index of safety occupational adaptability of coal excavation workers has been studied. Questionnaire survey method was used to conduct 13 physical and psychological abilities tests on 50 coal tunneling workers, and select the core ability indicators that reflect the mental load of the workers and the individual priority allocation of psychological resources. Secondly, using the Delphi method and the quartile method, the opinions of 20 experts in related fields were sought anonymously, and the main physical and mental ability indicators were screened and filtered through scoring methods. Finally, six indicators of “accuracy, attention, rapid response ability, proficiency, judgment, and foresight” were determined as the main physical and psychological indicators of coal tunneling workers. This study fills up the gap of safety occupational adaptability in the field of mining construction, and has important theoretical value and practical significance.

Social-Emotional Health and Psychological Well-Being among Church School Students

Introduction: This study aims to determine the level of social-emotional health of church school students and relationships among the variables of social-emotional health and psychological well-being. Methods: The research group consisted of 73 church school students in Presov Region. The data collection tools were the Social – Emotional Health Survey for secondary education (SEHS-S) and the Scale of Psychological Well-Being (PWB). The presented quantitative study has a correlation character with the comparative questions and exploratory - verification design. Results: The findings of the study showed that there is a strong positive correlation between overall social-emotional health referred to covitality and psychological well-being. Strong and moderate correlations were found among domains and psychological indicators of social-emotional health and dimensions of psychological well-being. A domain belief in others strongly correlates with positive relations with others. A strong correlation has been found between the indicator of peer support and the dimension of positive relations with others. The findings showed a moderately large, statistically significant difference in the level of belief in self in favor of males compared to females. Small and medium-sized differences between males and females were also found at the level of psychological indicators. The level of overall social-emotional health increases with the increase in the mastery of the environmental mastering and positive relations with others, which explains 35% of the data variance. Discussion: Research indicates relationships between the social-emotional health and psychological well-being as well as among dimensions, domains and indicators. The results support previous findings of other authors. Furthermore, the results showed a significant difference in the level of belief in self domain in favour of males compared to females. This finding indicates that males have higher self-confidence while compared to females. Limitations: There are certain limitations in the research, which include usage of non-standardized methods on Slovak population and a low level of reliability for Psychological Well-being Scale. Among other limitations, we include the time of data collection, which took place during the last class at the end of the week. Conclusion: Mental Health is about more than mental illness. Being mentally healthy and feeling well is important. To measure and identify elements of mental health may be useful to comprehend and promote psychological strengths of a person. A value of the paper lies in findings concerning social-emotional health of church school students, which contributed to the standardization of SEHS-S in Slovakia. Nevertheless, social-emotional health of Slovak students should not be neglected and further research on a larger sample is needed.