Violence and sexual and reproductive health service disruption among girls and young women during COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal: A cross-sectional study using interactive voice response survey

Introduction There is a paucity of data on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on girls and young women. The study examines the prevalence and correlates of violence and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) service disruption among girls and young women during COVID-19 restrictions and lockdown. Methods An interactive voice response survey was conducted among girls and women aged 18–24 years between 10th March to 24th April 2021. The survey enrolled 1314 participants. Descriptive analysis was used to assess prevalence of violence and SRH service disruption. Two sampled test of proportion was used to asses difference in prevalence of violence before and after the pandemic. Logistic regression was used to examine relationship between the outcome variables and socio demographic predictors. Results The study did not find significant difference in prevalence of violence before and after the pandemic. Education was found to be protective against experience of both physical and sexual violence after the pandemic. Dalit participants were four times more likely to report physical violence after the pandemic than Brahmin/Chhetri participants (OR:3.80; CI:1.41–10.24). Participants from 22-24-year age group were twice as likely to experience sexual violence compared to girls and participants from 18-21year age group (OR:2.25; CI:1.04–4.84). Participants from urban municipalities were 29% less likely to report SRH services disruption than participants from rural municipalities (OR-0.71, 95% CI: 0.55–0.91). Participants with disability were twice as likely to report disruption than participants without disability (OR-2.35, 95% CI: 1.45–3.82). Conclusions To reduce violence against girls and women due to the pandemic, interventions should focus on Dalit women and on preventing education discontinuation among girls and women. SRH service during the pandemic needs to be improved for girls and women with focus on girls and women from rural municipalities and girls and women with disability.

The relationship between the professional, social, and political experience and leadership style of mayors and organisational culture in local government. Empirical evidence from Poland

This paper aims to identify the organisational culture profiles of Polish municipalities and examine the influence of the professional, social and political experience and place-based leadership style of mayors on municipalities’ organisational culture profiles. The Organisational Culture Assessment Instrument was selected due to its suitability in assessing the organisation’s underlying culture. In the study, 917 mayors of municipalities in Poland, completing an on-line questionnaire. It was found that most of the Polish municipalities’ organisational culture is characterised by a clan type which is reflected in how employees are managed, how the organisation is held together, and how the organisation’s strategy is defined. The leadership style and the organisation’s success are hierarchy-focused, while the dominant characteristic is market type. The ANOVA and UNIANOVA analysis results suggest that the type of organisational culture depends on the type of municipality. The clan culture is dominant in rural municipalities. In urban municipalities, market culture and adhocracy are stronger than in rural municipalities, while clan culture is weaker. There is also an association between the dominant type of organisational culture and the mayors’ work experience in local administration and their membership in an NGO. The length of the mayor’s seniority in local government administration differentiates the importance of hierarchy culture, while his experience in the NGO sector strengthens the clan characteristics of the organisational culture of the office he heads. These findings provide important implications for the initiation and implementation of cultural change in local government administration and cooperation projects and local experiments. A cultural change is difficult to implement, and a change of mayor is not enough to initiate it. It requires planning and management. Cultural change may contribute to the increase of municipalities’ activity in cooperation’s projects and experiments. There is a need for more research on this topic to determine to what extent the organisational culture supports local cooperation projects.

Predictores de salud y pobreza en contagios de covid-19 en municipios rurales

El objetivo fue analizar datos de salud y pobreza para encontrar causas de contagio de COVID-19 en municipios rurales segmentados por hombres y mujeres. Se elaboraron dos modelos de regresión lineal múltiple por el método de mínimos cuadrados ordinarios, con datos de municipios rurales del país. En los resultados se encontró que en los hombres el contagio aumenta cuando tienen neumonía, asma, hipertensión, obesidad y presentan alguna carencia social, en cambio, en las mujeres el contagio aumenta con neumonía, diabetes, inmunosupresión, obesidad, presencia de carencia social y vivir en pobreza extrema. Se recomienda dar continuidad al análisis de la pobreza en municipios rurales incluyendo la movilidad de la población para evitar contagios. El trabajo tiene como limitación la omisión de la edad, y su originalidad es el análisis de las causas de contagio de COVID-19 en las comunidades rurales. Se concluye que es necesario dar prioridad en atención de salud a los hombres con COVID-19 con enfermedades de asma, obesidad e hipertensión, así como a las mujeres con inmunosupresión y que viven en pobreza extrema. The objective was to analyze health and poverty data to find causes of contagion of COVID-19 in rural municipalities segmented by men and women. Two multiple linear regression models were developed using the ordinary least squares method, with data from rural municipalities in the country. In the results, it was found that in men the contagion increases when they have pneumonia, asthma, hypertension, obesity and present some social deprivation, on the other hand, in women the contagion increases with pneumonia, diabetes, immunosuppression, obesity, presence of social deprivation and live in extreme poverty. It is recommended to continue the analysis of poverty in rural municipalities including population mobility to avoid contagion. The work is limited by the omission of age, and its originality is the analysis of the causes of contagion of COVID-19 in rural communities. It is concluded that it is necessary to give priority in health care to men with COVID-19 with asthma, obesity and hypertension diseases, as well as to women with immunosuppression and living in extreme poverty.

Social and Local Inequalities in Leisure. Adolescents’ Experiences in Their Living Space

This article analyses how the political-institutional, spatial, social and symbolic dimensions of their living space influence teenagers’ leisure experiences, both separately and in conjunction with one another. We look in particular at how leisure policies for youth in France, as implemented by urban and rural municipalities, influence adolescents’ experience by defining opportunities, and how territorial inequalities combine with social inequalities. In this perspective, the article reports the results of research based on quantitative and qualitative surveys on leisure activities of teenagers living in diverse geographical and political territories, differentiated in terms of their leisure offer and its geographical accessibility. It appears that territorial inequalities in leisure and transport can be accentuated or compensated for by socio-familial resources and the representations that adolescents and their parents have of their living space.

LEVEL AND DIVERSITY OF HOUSING CONDITIONS OF THE POPULATION OF RURAL MUNICIPALITIES IN THE METROPOLITAN AREA OF POZNAŃ

The main objective of this article is to assess the level and identify occurring differences in the level of housing conditions of the population of rural municipalities in a selected metropolitan area in Poland in 2004 and 2019. The Poznań Metropolitan Area (POM) was analysed. Studies were carried out based on data from the Local Data Bank of Statistics Poland (Polish Central Statistical Office). In the first stage of the study, selected indicators that illustrate the housing conditions of municipalities situated in the POM in comparison with other rural municipalities in the Wielkopolskie voivodeship were evaluated. In the second part of the study, a synthetic assessment of the level of housing conditions and their changes over time in rural municipalities located in the POM was carried out using the TOPSIS method. As a result of ongoing demographic changes in rural areas around Poznań, associated with the phenomenon of suburbanisation and the change in the functionality of these areas, which perform residential and service functions increasingly often, the level of housing conditions of the population is clearly improving. Better housing conditions distinguish rural municipalities situated in the POM in relation to other rural municipalities outside this area, yet the latter are distinguished by higher dynamics of changes in housing conditions in numerous study aspects.

Differences in depressive symptoms by rurality in Japan: a cross-sectional multilevel study using different aggregation units of municipalities and neighborhoods (JAGES)

Background Rurality can reflect many aspects of the community, including community characteristics that may be associated with mental health. In this study, we focused on geographical units to address multiple layers of a rural environment. By evaluating rurality at both the municipality and neighborhood (i.e., a smaller unit within a municipality) levels in Japan, we aimed to elucidate the relationship between depression and rurality. To explore the mechanisms linking rurality and depression, we examined how the association between rurality and depression can be explained by community social capital according to geographical units. Methods We used cross-sectional data from the 2016 wave of the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study involving 144,822 respondents aged 65 years or older residing in 937 neighborhoods across 39 municipalities. The population density quintile for municipality-level rurality and the quintile for the time required to reach densely inhabited districts for neighborhood-level rurality were used. We calculated the prevalence ratios of depressive symptoms by gender using a three-level (individual, neighborhood, and municipality) Poisson regression. Community social capital was assessed using three components: civic participation, social cohesion, and reciprocity. Results The prevalence of depressive symptoms was higher in municipalities with lower population density than those with the highest population density; the ratios were 1.22 (95% confidence intervals: 1.15, 1.30) for men and 1.22 (1.13, 1.31) for women. In contrast, when evaluating rurality at the neighborhood level, the prevalence of depressive symptoms was 0.9 times lower for men in rural areas; no such association was observed for women. In rural municipalities, community civic participation was associated with an increased risk of depressive symptoms. In rural neighborhoods, community social cohesion and reciprocity were linked to a lower risk of depressive symptoms. Conclusions The association between rurality and depression varied according to geographical unit. In rural municipalities, the risk of depression may be higher for both men and women, and the presence of an environment conducive to civic participation may contribute to a higher risk of depression, as observed in this study. The risk of depression in men may be lower in rural neighborhoods in Japan, which may be related to high social cohesion and reciprocity.

Between Passion and Rejection – Attitudes to Farming among Young University Graduates in Rural Areas of Poland

The aim of the article is to analyse the significance of farming and agriculture in the lives of young rural university graduates in Poland. Their educational and professional choices are discussed. How many of them graduated from agricultural higher education institutions and agricultural disciplines? Do such decisions translate into taking up farming after having completed the studies? What are the reasons that young people with higher education living in rural areas may be or may not be interested in farming? Another objective is to identify the main factors potentially “pulling” them towards agriculture and those “pushing” them out of this sector. The article is based on 92 in-depth interviews with university graduates aged 25–34 and 27 in-depth interviews with competent local informants conducted in ten purposely selected rural municipalities across Poland. The results show that farming and agriculture are more present in young university graduates than their educational and professional choices suggest. However, the interviews reflect the dominance of the modernisation paradigm shaping the perceptions of farmers and agriculture in Poland.