WORKPLACE INJUSTICE AND THE PLACE OF THE VICTIM; THE ANTECEDENTS OF TALK ABOUT WORKPLACE INJUSTICE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BAMENDA, CAMEROON

Purpose: This study examines the role of a victim of workplace injustice in their own recovery process. It asks: can victims recover from the negative effects of a fairness violation, and more specifically, can talk, that is, conversation with others, aid such a recovery process? This study argues that such victims of workplace injustice will be motivated to reduce this distressing condition, to repair their relational selves, via talk. It is argued that this state of threatened relational need will lead to both emotional and cognition talk via anger. Methodology/Design/Approaches: A repeated cross-sectional survey was carried out at two time points separated by six weeks. The data and analyses for this study came from the first survey, with a replication of the results conducted with the second time point of data to examine the validity of the findings. The sample for this study used 166 employees of the University of Bamenda. The average age of participants was 43 years (SD = 15.66), and their tenure with the company was on average 7.94 years (SD = 7.33). Sixty percent (60%) of the participants were Female. Findings: The study uncovered antecedents and consequences of talk; anger and thwarted justice needs were found to trigger talk, with an interaction between emotion and cognition talk driving victim-centred outcomes of rumination, self-affirmation and active solutions. Research Limitations: It should be noted, that the present study is perhaps best assessed by cross-sectional design rather than separating predictor and criterion variables over separate time periods. The issue lies with the nature of talk – conversations unfold soon after an event. Too much temporal separation leaves a researcher open to missing the fundamental intricacies of conversation that occurs and perhaps artificially inflating the links between injustice, needs and talk. Originality: This empirical research is the first of its kind to be carried out within the context of the victims of injustice at the University of Bamenda. The study area is unique as no related research has been carried out within the University of Bamenda. As such, if the findings of this study are implemented within the study area, the present study will be one step towards a greater appreciation of workplace injustice as experienced through the eyes of a victim, providing impetus to the integration of both organisational justice and talk as fields of enquiry.  Article visualizations

Family planning services provided by healthcare providers in the Bamenda Health District Cameroon

Family planning is one of the ways through which maternal deaths can be reduced. Studies have shown that up to 40% of maternal deaths could have been averted through the use of family planning services. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the available family planning services offered to the population of the Bamenda Health District by health care providers. Method: A multistage cross-sectional, descriptive study design was used where data was collected at a point in time. The study population constituted all health workers (Nurses and midwives), randomly selected from the Bamenda Health District. Data were collected from randomly selected health facilities from the 13 health areas of the Bamenda Health Districts with the use of a semi-structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 21. Result: The result showed that only 36.4% of respondents offer all the aspects of family planning. Based on the types of family planning services available, there were three aspects of family planning services they know: Contraceptive services (27.1%), pregnancy Testing and Counselling (6.4%), and Sexually Transmitted Disease services (3.6%). The most used services by clients were the provision of contraceptives (48.6%) and premarital counseling/preconception care (31.4%). Family planning services least used by clients were sexual and reproductive health education (21.4%), sex determination (27.9%), and breast/cervical cancer screening (7.1%). Success has been made in FP such as reduced unwanted pregnancy and abortion (69.3%) and greater spacing between births, reducing the risk of infant and child mortality (10%). Conclusion: all health centers and hospitals, should consider all aspects of family planning services as an integral part of maternal and child health with Primary Health Care services at all levels to ensure the provision of complete Family Planning services. This will improve the uptake of family planning services by the population

Maternal choices of delivery sites among recently delivered women in Liberia, 2017

Introduction: To reduce maternal mortality, many countries encourage women to deliver in health facilities, where complications can be handled more effectively. In Liberia, attempted home deliveries accounted for about 10% of maternal deaths in 2016/2017. It is therefore necessary to identify the factors influencing maternal choice of delivery site in Liberia. This study seeks to determine the preferred choice of delivery site and factors associated with the choice in Liberia. Methods: A cross-sectional design was used to study 630 women of reproductive age who had given birth less than one year before the survey. A two-stage cluster sampling method using a modified WHO 30 by 7 approach was used to select 30 communities (clusters) and 21 women within each cluster as respondents. A pre-tested interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaire was used. Results: The mean age of study participants was 26 ± 6.8 years, with 84% between 18 and 35 years. The median number of births per woman was 5 (1 - 12). The proportion of mothers who preferred health facility over home delivery as their original choice of delivery site was 86%, four times greater than those who preferred home over health-facility delivery (22%), (POR= 3.8, 95% CI: 1.6 – 9.1). Mothers who attended < 4 antenatal visits were 30% less likely to originally choose health facilities as their preferred delivery site compared to those who had 4 or more antenatal visits (60% vs 86%) (POR= 0.7, 95% CI: 0.5 – 0.9). Women living in communities where the leaders had instituted sanctions against women who deliver at home were 10% more likely to choose health facility delivery, compared to those whose communities had no sanctions (POR= 1.1, 95% CI: 1.0 – 1.2). Conclusion: Health-facility deliveries are preferred to home deliveries. County Health Teams should sensitize the community on the benefits of delivering at the health facility and increase community involvement (local authorities)

Comparative Business Practices and Productivity Performance between Family and Non-family Firms: Perceptions and Poverty Reduction Effects in Cameroon

This policy brief attempts to explain productivity performance between family and non-family firms in Cameroon. It also attempts to determine whether family firms' relative contribution to the social and economic development of a country is related to differences in production technologies and production efficiency, compared to non-family firms

Leprosy persistence in the health district of Kenieba despite its elimination as a public health problem at the national level in Mali

WHO defined leprosy elimination as reaching a prevalence < 1 case of leprosy per 10,000 inhabitants. Mali eliminated the disease since 2001 but in 2011, it recorded 226 new cases. This has a serious involvement in term of disease spreading. Therefore, we undertook a cross sectional study in Kenieba health district, still above the WHO recommended elimination threshold to better understand the disease epidemiology and its associated potential factors. The study took place from October 2013 to September 2014. All consenting villagers, living in one of the selected villages were included and clinically examined for leprosy signs

Measurement Invariance of the Brief Multidimensional Student’s Life Satisfaction Scale Among Adolescents and Emerging Adults Across 23 Cultural Contexts

There is hardly any cross-cultural research on the measurement invariance of the Brief Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scales (BMSLSS). The current article evaluates the measurement invariance of the BMSLSS across cultural contexts. This cross-sectional study sampled 7,739 adolescents and emerging adults in 23 countries. A multi-group confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit of configural and partial measurement weights invariance models, indicating similar patterns and strengths in factor loading for both adolescents and emerging adults across various countries. We found insufficient evidence for scalar invariance in both the adolescents’ and the emerging adults’ samples. A multi-level confirmatory factor analysis indicated configural invariance of the structure at country and individual level. Internal consistency, evaluated by alpha and omega coefficients per country, yielded acceptable results. The translated BMSLSS across different cultural contexts presents good psychometric characteristics similar to what has been reported in the original scale, though scalar invariance remains problematic. Our results indicate that the BMSLSS forms a brief measure of life satisfaction, which has accrued substantial evidence of construct validity, thus suitable for use in cross-cultural surveys with adolescents and emerging adults, although evaluation of degree of invariance must be carried out to ensure its suitability for mean comparisons

Decreased Ebola Transmission after Rapid Response to Outbreaks in Remote Areas, Liberia, 2014

We measured the reproduction number before and after interventions were implemented to reduce Ebola transmission in 9 outbreaks in Liberia during 2014. We evaluated risk factors for secondary cases and the association between patient admission to an Ebola treatment unit (ETU) and survival. The reproduction number declined 94% from 1.7 (95% CI 1.1–2.6) to 0.1 (95% CI 0.02–0.6) after interventions began. The risk for secondary infections was 90% lower for patients admitted to an ETU (risk ratio 0.1, 95% CI 0.04–0.3) than for those who died in the community. The case-fatality rate was 68% (95% CI 60–74), and ETU admission was associated with a 50% reduction in death (hazard ratio 0.5, 95% CI 0.4–0.8). Isolation and treatment of Ebola patients had the dual benefit of interrupting community transmission and improving survival

Secondary Infections with Ebola Virus in Rural Communities, Liberia and Guinea, 2014–2015

Persons who died of Ebola virus disease at home in rural communities in Liberia and Guinea resulted in more secondary infections than persons admitted to Ebola treatment units. Intensified monitoring of contacts of persons who died of this disease in the community is an evidence-based approach to reduce virus transmission in rural communities