11 research outputs found
Depression, anxiety, and psychological distress among caregivers of young children in rural Lesotho: Associations with food insecurity, household death and parenting stress
Good mental health is a critical resource for mothers and caregivers of young children, given the central role of mental health in enabling responsive caregiving. However, fulfilling caregiving responsibilities under challenging circumstances such as extreme poverty, food insecurity, and gender inequality intensifies vulnerability to poor mental health. Previous research focuses on mental health of mothers, while in many LMICs children are cared for by other caregivers, such as grandparents. We examined the prevalence of mental health problems among primary caregivers of young children in rural Lesotho, and investigated factors associated with these mental health problems. We analysed baseline data from a cluster randomised controlled trial, where all caregivers with children between 1 and 5 years old across 34 villages were invited to participate. The analysis included mental health data from 781 caregivers of 998 children. We assessed caregiver mental health using three self-report screening instruments. Univariate and multivariate regression modelling tested associations between caregiver, child and household variables and (1) depression symptoms (PHQ-9), (2) anxiety symptoms (GAD-7), (3) psychological distress (SRQ-20), (4) suicidal ideation and (5) help-seeking for mental health. This study reported a high prevalence of symptoms of psychological distress (46.2%), depression (25.7%), anxiety (17.1%) and suicidal ideation (27.5%) among caregivers. Greater prevalence was associated with food insecurity, parenting stress or recent death in the family/household. Older caregivers reported higher rates of psychological distress and depression, while younger caregivers reported higher rates of anxiety. Suicidal ideation was associated with greater food insecurity and parenting stress, and lower caregiver education. Our findings support the need to address intersecting public health issues to improve conditions for caregivers in these settings. Targeting modifiable risk factors such as food insecurity among individuals within a society who carry disproportionate burdens of caregiving should be prioritised, especially in contexts of scarcity, where mental health is not prioritised
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Improving early childhood care and development, HIV testing, treatment and support, and nutrition in Mokhotlong, Lesotho: study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial
Background
Since 1990, the lives of 48 million children under the age of 5 have been saved because of increased investments in reducing child mortality. However, despite these unprecedented gains, more than 200 million children in low and middle income countries (LMIC) cannot meet their developmental potential due to poverty, poor health and nutrition, and lack of necessary stimulation and care. Lesotho has high levels of poverty, HIV and malnutrition, all of which affect child development outcomes. There is a unique opportunity to address these complex issues through the widespread network of informal preschools in rural villages in the country, which provide a setting for inclusive, integrated Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD), HIV and nutrition interventions.
Methods
We are conducting a cluster randomised controlled trial in Mokhotlong district, Lesotho, to evaluate a newly developed community-based intervention programme to integrate HIV testing and treatment services, ECCD, and nutrition education for caregivers with children aged 1-5 years living in rural villages. Caregivers and their children are randomly assigned by village to intervention or control condition. We select, train, and supervise community health workers recruited to implement the intervention, which consists of nine group-based sessions with caregivers and children over 12 weeks (eight weekly sessions, and a ninth top up session one month later), followed by a locally hosted community health outreach day event. Group-based sessions focus on using early dialogic booksharing to promote cognitive development and caregiver-child interaction, health-related messages, including motivation for HIV-testing and treatment uptake for young children, and locally appropriate nutrition education. All children aged 1-5 years and their primary caregivers living in study villages are eligible for participation. Caregivers and their children will be interviewed and assessed at baseline, immediately after completion of the intervention, and 12 months post intervention.
Discussion
This study provides a unique opportunity to assess the potential of an integrated early childhood development intervention to prevent or mitigate developmental delays in children living in a context of extreme poverty and high HIV rates in rural Lesotho. This paper presents the intervention content and research protocol for the study
Change management in organisations : a case study analysis of the management of change processes in the civil service of Lesotho.
Thesis (MBA)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.This study is an evaluation of the implementation of change processes in the
Lesotho Civil Service, Ministry of the Public Service (MPS). A qualitative method
was used where an exploratory study was conducted by drawing a case study to
evaluate the change implementation process in the organisation.
In enabling the researcher to conduct a more focussed study, only five factors
that have an impact on the successful implementation of change were
considered. The factors were namely: forces for change; managing and leading
change; building the desired culture; resistance to change and errors common to
organisational change. The relevant information for the case study was obtained
mainly from interviews and questionnaires. The pattern matching technique was
performed on the case study, whereby the way change was implemented in the
Lesotho Civil service was compared to that suggested by the literature.
Fifty questionnaires were administered to fifty employees in the Ministry of the
Public Service. Finally an evaluation based on the responses of the respondents,
what actually happened and that which the literature suggests were evaluated
interdependently.
Based on this evaluation, it was found that, there were forces for change in the
organisation, but management did not communicate with the employees as to the
need for change and how it was to be implemented. Employees were never
involved or asked to participate in the planning process of the change.
Management in the organisation did not take all aspects into account when
planning for change as suggested by the literature and all these aspects need to
be improved upon by the leaders in the organisation
Integration of wireless power transfer and low power wide area networks in IoT applications—A review
The significance of a more convenient and sustainable power transfer has been more crucial recently with the increasing need for low power electronic devices and their applications in internet of things (IoT). Wireless power transfer (WPT) technologies can conveniently transmit power to sensor and electronic devices deployed in hard-to-reach locations and therefore improving their convenience and mobility. On the other hand, low power wide area networks (LPWANs) provide low-power consumption, low bandwidth interaction between IoTs and the cloud, all which are traits of low-cost solutions for long range communication. Conversely, due to these devices’ locations (hard-to-reach/hazardous), it is a challenge to sustainably charge them and for the power sources or their mechanisms to last for longer term. This review analyses recent work on LPWANs and low power WPT with strong focus on the main challenges and key solutions that would allow for their integration in IoT applications. Challenges facing WPT systems such as end-device power intake, transmission power loss, power regulation, and coil/loop misalignment are highlighted in reference to recent research, recommending various challenge-mitigating techniques. Furthermore, for LPWAN end-devices, energy profiling of such devices is discussed through recent work aiming to optimise their power consumption. Specifically, we discuss factors affecting LPWAN end-devices’ power consumption which comprises the spreading factor, communication range and bit-rate. Also, comparison analysis is performed to highlight the superiority of wireless sensors/power transfer, in terms of cost, reliability, environmental impact and scalability Essentially, it is necessary to realise the potential of these two techniques (WPT and LPWAN), as their integration can advance various fields like structural health monitoring (SHM), precision agriculture, healthcare, and environmental monitoring