The “Walking Estimated Limitation Stated by History” (WELSH) visual tool is applicable and accurate to determine walking capacity, even in people with low literacy level

Determination of the self-reported walking capacity by interview or standardized questionnaire is important. However, the existing questionnaires require the patient to be able to read and write in a specific language. We recently proposed the WELSH (Walking Estimated Limitation Stated by History) tool to be administrable to illiterate people. The main objective was to assess the applicability of WELSH tool in the community and in a large group. We performed a prospective study in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso during June 2020. We recruited 630 interviewers among medical students. They were trained to administer the WELSH, and to conduct a 6-minute walk test. We performed a Pearson’s “r” correlation between the WELSH and maximal walking distance (MWD). Of the 1723 participants available for the analysis, 757 (43.9%: 41.6–46.3) never went to school or attended only elementary school. The percentage of questionnaires with participant filling-in errors corrected by the investigator decreased with the decrease in educational level (p<0.001). The average WELSH score was 53 ± 22 and the average MWD was 383 ±142 meters. The Spearman correlation coefficient between the WELSH score and the MWD was r = 0.567 (p<0.001). Correlations ranged from 0.291 to 0.576 in males and females, (all p values < 0.05) and in different levels of education, with the highest coefficients found in illiterate people. The WELSH is feasible on the community by a wide variety of interviewers. It correlates with the MWD estimated by the 6-minutes’ walk test even for people with little or no schooling.

Indonesian Language Characteristics of Deaf Children and Implications for Literacy Skills

This research aimed to reveal the characteristics of the Indonesian language in deaf children and the implications for their literacy skills. A qualitative approach was used on the subjects determined through purposive sampling. Data were collected by recording student performance portfolios, interviewing teachers, and observing video recordings. The data were analyzed descriptively and explanatively. The results showed that the Indonesian language for deaf children is limited, as seen through four ways. First, the vocabulary of deaf children is dominated by general words (hypernyms) and concrete references. Second, they do not use figures of speech or idioms, compound words, and terms. Third, their ability to form derivative words is still low. Fourth, they generally produce core and single sentences, and only a small part uses compound sentences. The main and single sentences have an inversion pattern, where the verb precedes the subject. Moreover, they fail to use linking between sentences, and the resulting discourse is a collection of separate sentences. The linguistic barriers resulted in a low effective reading speed of 33.04 – 68, 30 words per minute. This has implications for low literacy skills. Therefore, an intervention program is needed to improve the language skills of deaf children.

Towards Sustainable Retirement Planning of Wageworkers in Thailand: A Qualitative Approach in Behavioral Segmentation and Financial Pain Point Identification

Thailand recently reached “aged” society status, signifying that over twenty percent of the population is over sixty. Considering that Thailand has a low literacy rate, a fractured pension system, and no regulations that could provide sufficient income to cover basic needs after retirement, there will be economic repercussions if the situation is not handled soon. The government and financial institutions have been encouraging Thai citizens to prepare retirement plans but lack understanding of the root causes of being unprepared for retirement. The objectives of this qualitative research were to explore the behavior, knowledge, and preparedness towards retirement in governmental and private wageworkers. Moreover, the study aims to identify the pain points of being unprepared for retirement and deliver the optimal solutions and sustainable retirement plans suitable for each segment. This article employed a sample of 46 wageworkers in Khon Kaen, Thailand with ages ranging from 20 to 59 years old. Qualitative semi-structured in-depth interviews and qualitative content analysis were conducted with the respondents asking about their income, expenses, pains, and problems towards saving for retirement, their desired outcome after they retire, and how they would achieve it. The framework used for the in-depth qualitative interview was by utilizing the customer, problem, and solution zoom tool. The research contributions were to facilitate Thai citizens being ready for retirement stages and overcome post-retirement risks sustainably. The results revealed that the sample could be divided into four segments by their characteristics. Two low-income segments share the same traits and behaviors that can prove that financial literacy plays an essential role in retirement readiness. Lower-income wage workers do not have their money put in place to prepare for retirement. Additionally, this article discussed the study’s implications for wageworkers, employers, and the Thai government. This article recommended that Thai citizens should accumulate wealth in various ways, including investment in financial assets and earning additional income from a second job. Employers should provide suitable retirement contribution schemes. The government should launch a policy enabling above-60-year-old seniors to continue working.

Evaluation of a Health Education Intervention to Improve Parental Knowledge and Attitudes About Chronic Stress and Depression Among Head Start Families

Background. Chronic stress and depression disproportionately affect families experiencing poverty, and likely contribute to disparities in early childhood developmental outcomes. Developing strategies to address chronic stress and depression may help mitigate these disparities. Early Head Start (EHS) and Head Start (HS) programs provide an important platform to address the disproportionate burden of stress and mental health issues experienced by EHS/HS families. However, few low-literacy, broad, scalable interventions improve parents’ knowledge and attitudes around these topics. Objectives. We examined parents’ knowledge and attitudes regarding stress and depression before and after a train-the-trainer (TTT) intervention delivered to 28 EHS/HS agencies across the United States. Methods. Following a TTT workshop, 18 agencies chose to deliver the stress training to 1,089 parents and 5 chose to deliver the depression training to 670 parents. Participating parents completed paper assessments at baseline and 3 months following the training. Paired T-tests and chi-square analyses tested whether responses significantly improved over time. Results. At baseline, 37.2% of parents reported feeling stressed most of the time and 13.4% reported feeling depressed most of the time. Following the trainings and reinforcement activities, parents’ knowledge, attitudes and self-reported behaviors significantly improved, including willingness to seek help for depression, avoidance of negative health-risk behaviors and utilization of healthy stress management practices. At follow up, 18.6% of parents reported feeling stressed most of the time and 11% reported feeling depressed. Conclusion. Findings suggest this low-literacy TTT approach is potentially a promising health promotion intervention with broad dissemination potential.

A Process Evaluation of ‘We Can Quit’: a Community-Based Smoking Cessation Intervention Targeting Women From Areas of Socio-Disadvantage in Ireland

Background: Smoking poses a serious risk of early preventable death and disease especially for women living with socio-economic disadvantage (SED). A smoking cessation programme ‘We Can Quit’ was developed in Ireland tailored to SED women. The programme includes group-based support delivered by trained lay local women and free nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). The intervention was pilot tested in a cluster randomised controlled trial, ‘We Can Quit 2’. A process evaluation assessed feasibility and acceptability of the programme and trial processes.Methods: Embedded qualitative design using the Medical Research Council’s (MRC) process evaluation framework. Semi-structured interviews with trial participants (N=18) and programme deliverers, the community facilitators (CFs; N=8). Thematic analysis was used for interview transcripts.Results: Results focused on programme and trial operational factors. Peer-modelling, a non-judgemental environment, and CFs supportive role of group support were viewed as facilitative. Potential for broader message diffusion into the social networks of participating women was observed. Free NRT was helpful for cessation. Some participants expressed concerns about NRT side effects. Community pharmacists provided guidance relating to NRT and additional support between programme meetings. Provision of saliva samples proved challenging. Low literacy was a barrier for engagement with programme and trial-related materials. Hypothetical scenarios of direct or indirect observational fidelity assessment for a future definitive trial (DT) were acceptable. Conclusions: The We Can Quit intervention and trial-related processes were feasible and acceptable to participants and Community Facilitators. Any future DT will need to address low literacy.Trial registration: Controlled trials ISRCTN74721694.

Decomposition Analysis of Poverty among Rural Farming Household in Oyo State, Nigeria

The incidence of poverty in Nigeria is worrisome, and it has constituted a national menace. The occurrence of poverty incidence had been found to be more pronounced among Rural farming households in the country. However, paucity of data exists in terms of decomposition of household poverty into relevant subgroups using their socio-economic characteristics. Therefore, this paper assessed the decomposition analysis of poverty among rural farming Households in Oyo State, Nigeria using the data collected through a well-structured interview schedule from 170 respondents who were selected through a multi-stage sampling procedure. Data collected were described using frequency counts and percentage while poverty Indices was analyzed using Foster-Greer Thorbecke model and Decomposition analysis. The findings revealed that higher proportion (73.5%) of the respondents were above 40 years, 65.3% were male, 78.2% were married and 27.6% had secondary education, while 62.4% had household size of between 5 and 9 persons. Majority (79.4%) had farm size of more than 1.5 hectares and 62.9% had no access to remittance. Poverty incidence (P0) was 40.59%, Poverty depth/gap (P1) was 16.11% and Poverty severity (P2) was 0.09%, among the respondents using income-poverty line measure. Decomposition analysis showed that Poverty was high among households that were headed by male, young with low literacy level, and large household size. The severity of poverty was higher among households headed by labour of other farms. Effective poverty reduction strategies should therefore focus on education, livelihood diversification and control of household size.

Cash Waqf Literacy Index and Determinants of Public Intention to Pay Cash Waqf

This research aimed to analyze the cash waqf literacy index and factors influencing public intention to pay cash waqf. The analysis used is theory of planned behavior (TPB) and structural equation modeling (SEM) to measure the relationship of latent variables, i.e. cash waqf literacy, religiosity, attitudes, subjective norms and behavior control. The SEM model in this study was processed using Lisrel version 8.3 software. The results showed that the cash waqf literacy index of people in Jabodetabek was 59.04%, which is still included in the low literacy category. The results also showed that cash waqf literacy, religiosity, attitudes, subjective norms and behavioral control have a significant and positive influence on the intention in paying cash waqf. Keywords: Literacy Index; Cash Waqf; Religiousity; Theory of Planned Behavior; SEM.

Evaluating the Application of the Mental Model Mapping Tool (M-Tool)

Mental models influence how individuals think and act in relation to their external environment and have been identified as leverage points to address sustainability challenges. Given the importance of mental models, a new tool to assess mental models has been developed: the Mental Model Mapping Tool (M-Tool). M-Tool was designed to have a standardized format and to be user-friendly for low literacy populations, using pictograms and audio instructions. In this paper, we evaluate M-Tool’s application in two studies with Tanzanian fishers. In Study 1, we investigated M-tool’s convergent validity compared to standard interviewing methods (n = 30). Study 2 investigated M-Tool’s construct validity by relating mental model complexity to participants’ education level (n = 185), a relationship that has been well established. The findings show that (1) mental models produced with M-Tool are more complex than mental models obtained through interviewing techniques; (2) model composition is similar across the two methods; and (3) participants with higher levels of education tend to produce more complex mental models with M-Tool than participants with lower levels of education, in line with previous research. These findings suggest that M-Tool can successfully capture mental models among diverse participants. This tool offers researchers and practitioners an instrument to map and compare perceptions of (conservation) challenges across groups.

Assessment of Knowledge, Perception, Attitude, Risk Factors Prevention and Treatment Options of Cancer Among Natives in Elgon Sub-Region, Uganda

Background Globally, cancer is one of the leading cause of morbidity and mortality and most cancers are due to infections and so, are preventable. Studies have shown that cancer prevention has been possible through intensified healthcare education but such information is poorly documented in Elgon sub-region. Therefore, our study was aimed at assessing cancer indigenous knowledge among natives in Elgon sub-region. Method Mixed methods research design were adopted. A total of 73 participants, selected through snowball sampling technique were involved. Data collection was done through pretested questionnaires. MedCalc version, 20.008 was used for data analysis and results were presented in tables and figures. Result Majority of the study participants were males (58%), aged between 46 – 55 years (58%), Ugandans (90%) and married (67%). Most of them had inadequate knowledge about cancer (p<0.05) and highlighted sores that slightly heal at any body parts as well as blood in faeces as putative predictors of cancer infection (p<0.005). A total of nine cancer types were documented and cervical was the most prevalent (p<0.0001). Smoking was the most pronounced cancer associated risk factor (p<0.0001) and avoiding smoking was perceived as the major prevention option (p<0.0001). No cancer treatment options in cancer treatment cited in this area (p<0.172). Conclusion The natives had limited knowledge and poor perception of cancer due low literacy level. Therefore, there is need to intensify on cancer health education programs through the word of mouths and radio talk shows. The plant medicinal plant used in cancer treatment needs to be documented.

SpLD - Silent Learning Difficulties? Factors influencing literacy learning of Māori students, as identified by teachers, SENCo, and parents

<p>This qualitative research study, conducted in primary English-medium schools in a mid-sized, central New Zealand city, uses mixed-methods to investigate the factors that teachers, special education needs coordinators (SENCo), and parents identify as influencing Māori student literacy learning. It looks at the prevalence of discourse around specific learning difficulties (SpLD), and whether the different parties consider SpLD as a potential reason behind low literacy achievement among Māori students. The motive for the study is to begin a conversation around the possibility of SpLD being overlooked in favour of socio-cultural understandings of literacy learning. It uses a critical theory lens and touches on the potential influence of unconscious bias amongst participant teachers. Data collection methods included an online survey, sent to all of the schools in the area for teaching staff to complete, interviews conducted with teachers and SENCo, both online and in person, and focus groups with groups of parents, in neutral and welcoming environments. There are three significant findings, and the study concludes that teachers, SENCo, and parents tend to look for social and cultural causes where there is low literacy achievement amongst Māori students. The three main findings are that teachers look ‘outwards’, to influences on literacy learning such as socioeconomic status, transiency, home background, and oral language development. Secondly, both teacher and parent participants generally do not consider specific learning difficulties as one of the main influences on literacy learning. There seems to be a lack of confidence amongst teachers in supporting students who have been identified as having a SpLD. The final major finding was that teachers, SENCo, and parents all agreed on and promoted the importance and value of relationships between teacher and child, and whānau as underpinning the student’s learning.</p>