Young mothers speak out: Young Pākehā women's experiences of motherhood.

Early motherhood is a much debated and highly contentious topic. This research aimed to explore young Pākehā women's experiences of motherhood using a feminist qualitative framework. Twelve women, six current young mothers and six former young mothers, were interviewed via focus groups and individual interviews. The analysis revealed that Pākehā culture constructs young mothers as problematic because they challenge the 'traditional' family dominant in Pākehā culture. By having children prior to, rather than after, workforce participation and achieving economic independence, young mothers challenge the prescribed life trajectory for Pākehā women. The women in this study discussed both the positive aspects and the challenges they faced as young mothers. In contrast to common public perceptions and media representations of early motherhood as negative, motherhood positively transformed the women's lives. This was discussed in terms of ceasing destructive activities and gaining motivation to return to education. The young mothers in this study had flexible parenting styles, which allowed them freedom from Pākehā cultural pressure to 'do motherhood' in a particular way. As young mothers, the women had high energy levels and anticipated early future freedom from childcare duties to pursue their dreams. Challenges discussed by the women included incorporating unanticipated early motherhood into long-held life goals, feeling exhausted, having a lack of time for themselves and having too little support. Financial hardship, poverty, judgment and stigma surfaced as major challenges which affected all areas of the women's lives. However, the women also resisted this discrimination by using a range of strategies, which positions them as women with agency, challenging their representation within literature as passive victims. Young women will not use services where they perceive they will be judged for being who they are. As levels of support appear to determine how young women experience motherhood, services have a vital role to play in supporting young mothers. The findings of this study highlighted the complex and contradictory nature of the young mothers' stories, presenting a challenge to simple and stereotypical negative discourses of early motherhood

Poverty and disability in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: Disability and poverty are believed to operate in a cycle, with each reinforcing the other. While agreement on the existence of a link is strong, robust empirical evidence substantiating and describing this potential association is lacking. Consequently, a systematic review was undertaken to explore the relationship between disability and economic poverty, with a focus on the situation in low and middle income countries (LMICs). METHODS: Ten electronic databases were searched to retrieve studies of any epidemiological design, published between 1990-March 2016 with data comparing the level of poverty between people with and without disabilities in LMICs (World Bank classifications). Poverty was defined using economic measures (e.g. assets, income), while disability included both broad assessments (e.g. self-reported functional or activity limitations) and specific impairments/disorders. Data extracted included: measures of association between disability and poverty, population characteristics and study characteristics. Proportions of studies finding positive, negative, null or mixed associations between poverty and disability were then disaggregated by population and study characteristics. RESULTS: From the 15,500 records retrieved and screened, 150 studies were included in the final sample. Almost half of included studies were conducted in China, India or Brazil (n = 70, 47%). Most studies were cross-sectional in design (n = 124, 83%), focussed on specific impairment types (n = 115, 77%) and used income as the measure for economic poverty (n = 82, 55%). 122 studies (81%) found evidence of a positive association between disability and a poverty marker. This relationship persisted when results were disaggregated by gender, measure of poverty used and impairment types. By country income group at the time of data collection, the proportion of country-level analyses with a positive association increased with the rising income level, with 59% of low-income, 67% of lower-middle and 72% of upper-middle income countries finding a positive relationship. By age group, the proportion of studies reporting a positive association between disability and poverty was lowest for older adults and highest for working-age adults (69% vs. 86%). CONCLUSIONS: There is strong evidence for a link between disability and poverty in LMICs and an urgent need for further research and programmatic/policy action to break the cycle

Gravitational Wave Backgrounds from Colliding ECOs

Long baseline atom interferometers offer an exciting opportunity to explore mid-frequency gravitational waves. In this work we survey the landscape of possible contributions to the total 'gravitational wave background' in this frequency band and advocate for targeting this observable. Such an approach is complimentary to searches for resolved mergers from individual sources and may have much to reveal about the Universe. We find that the inspiral phases of stellar-mass compact binaries cumulatively produce a signal well within reach of the proposed AION-km and AEDGE experiments. Hypothetical populations of dark sector exotic compact objects, harbouring just a tiny fraction of the dark energy density, could also generate signatures unique to mid- and low-frequency gravitational wave detectors, providing a novel means to probe complexity in the dark sector.Comment: 32 pages, 5 figure

Broad Sterile Neutrinos & the Reactor/Gallium Tension

Significant evidence exists for the apparent disappearance of electron-type neutrinos in radioactive source experiments. Yet, interpreted within the standard `3+1 sterile neutrino scenario', precision short-baseline measurements of electron antineutrinos from nuclear reactors strongly disagree with these results. Recently, it has been demonstrated that allowing for a finite wavepacket size for the reactor neutrinos can ameliorate such a tension, however the smallness of the required wavepackets is a subject of intense debate. In this work, we demonstrate that a `broad' sterile neutrino may relax this tension in much the same way. Such a phenomenological possibility can arise in plausible hidden sector scenarios, such as a clockwork-style sector, for which we provide a concrete microscopic model

No One Left Behind? Comparing Poverty and Deprivation between People with and without Disabilities in the Maldives

The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals call for the disaggregation of all indicators by disability and other characteristics so as to “leave no one behind” from development progress. Data on disability, however, is acknowledged to be lacking, which is essential for informing policy and planning. Consequently, this study estimates the prevalence of disability in the Maldives and compares indicators of poverty and living conditions between people with and without disabilities, using nationally-representative, population-based data (n = 5363). The prevalence of disability was estimated at 6.8%. Overall, this research finds that people with disabilities are at risk of being left behind from progress across multiple Sustainable Development Goal domains, including in combatting income poverty, food insecurity and exclusion from health, education, work and social participation, and vulnerability to violence. Further, amongst people with disabilities, people with cognitive and mental health impairments, people living outside the capital, Male’, and children and working-age adults tend to face the highest levels of deprivation.</jats:p

Australian women’s self-perceived barriers to participation in cervical cancer screening: a systematic review

Background: Australia has recently introduced a new screening program for cervical cancer. There has also been a decline in participation rates for cervical screening. Aim: To complete a systematic literature review of the factors that prevent Australian women from participating in cervical screening. Methods: Authors searched CINAHL, Medline, SCOPUS and the Cochrane Library to obtain articles discussing Australian women’s self-identified barriers to cervical screening. Quantitative studies published in peer-reviewed journals after 1991 were considered. PROSPERO Registration Number: CRD42018105028. Results: The final search produced 1749 studies with 13 quantitative papers included in the narrative synthesis after screening by two independent reviewers. No articles were excluded due to bias. Discussion: Self-identified barriers to screening were categorised into personal, practitioner, test-related and logistical factors. The most commonly stated barriers included lack of time, embarrassment, fear of results, irrelevance and male health professionals. The use of HPV triage in cervical screening was not a barrier to screening however, some women regarded self-collected HPV testing as a barrier. Barriers to self-collection included desire for the general practitioner to complete the test, fear of doing the test incorrectly, wishing to include it in a general check-up and concerns about the test itself. Conclusion: A variety of personal, practitioner, test-related and logistical barriers negatively impact the screening participation of Australian women. Further research into barriers in the Australian population, and women’s attitudes towards HPV testing and self-collection is required to create effective health interventions to improve participation in cervical screening

Disability-inclusive COVID-19 response: What it is, why it is important and what we can learn from the United Kingdom's response.

All too often, disabled people are left behind in emergencies, and this is a risk in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This is an important issue, as globally there are approximately one billion people with disabilities. This number includes one in three people aged over 60, who are the group at greatest risk from COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic in the UK has highlighted additional difficulties that disabled people may face. Complying with preventative measures, like social distancing, can be challenging, particular for people who rely on carers. Disabled people may also be at greater risk of morbidity and mortality if they contract the virus, yet in danger of being de-prioritised for care. Many people with disabilities have ongoing healthcare needs, and these need to still be supported during the pandemic. Furthermore, people may become newly disabled as a result of the pandemic, and therefore require appropriate care. Good practice examples have emerged for meeting these challenges, such as guidance for healthcare professionals on treating people with dementia, but these need to be scaled up further and adapted for other settings. In conclusion, it is clear that a disability-inclusive COVID-19 response is needed, both in the UK and as the pandemic unfolds globally. This response will require inclusion of disability measures within data collection, consulting with disabled people, and tailoring responses to be appropriate for this group

"If he could speak, he would be able to point out who does those things to him": Experiences of violence and access to child protection among children with disabilities in Uganda and Malawi.

INTRODUCTION: There is growing evidence that children with disabilities face an increased risk of violence globally. While child protection mechanisms to prevent and respond to violence-including formal government systems and more informal programmes and activities run by local communities or NGOs-are slowly becoming operationalised in low- and- middle-income countries, little is known about whether existing mechanisms are disability-inclusive. The aim of this study is to provide a better understanding of children with disabilities' experiences of violence and their access to available child protection mechanisms in low resource settings. METHODS: This study was conducted in Kasungu and Mulanje districts in Malawi and Kamuli district in Uganda between October-December 2015. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with approximately 20 purposively selected child/caregiver pairs in each country (43 pairs total). Interviews with key informants involved in the provision of child protection and disability support were also conducted. All interviews were recorded, transcribed and coded in NVivo. Thematic Analysis, complemented by constant comparison as described in Grounded Theory, was used to analyse the data. RESULTS: Almost all children with disabilities reported experiencing violence, with verbal abuse and bullying the most common forms. Very few of these children sought recourse through available child protection mechanisms. Some of the key factors impeding access to child protection for children with disabilities included: lack of local government disability-inclusive planning and budgeting; centralization of limited disability and social protection services; financial barriers to seeking and receiving care; and stigma and negative attitudes toward disabilities. CONCLUSION: Children with disabilities face both high levels of violence and high barriers to accessing available child protection mechanisms. There is an urgent need to ensure that all efforts to prevent and respond to violence against children are more disability-inclusive. In addition, it may be appropriate to target child protection mechanisms specifically toward children with disabilities because of the different and intersecting vulnerabilities that they face