Do Conversations About Food Actually Happen? A Qualitative Study About the Food-Based Communication Habits of Female Consumers

Agricultural organizations have encouraged farmers and others involved in the agricultural industry to discuss their experiences with consumers and to have meaningful conversations about food. While agriculturalists are encouraged to share their stories on the internet through social networking platforms and blogs, they are also encouraged to have interpersonal conversations about food and agriculture. Due to the elevated concerns of mothers about food, and the nature of women and social capital, mothers are a forced to communicate about food and agriculture.This qualitative study utilized in-depth interviews with mothers with agricultural backgrounds to answer four research questions: (1) What information are mothers sharing and receiving about food? (2) How does information they receive affect mothers' food purchasing decisions? (3) How do mothers characterize their relationships with those that they are having conversations about food and their connections with those individuals? (4) How are mothers are utilizing emotion and personal relationships to share information with others about agriculture and food?Using constant comparative method, participants' responses were organized into themes. The themes that emerged were information sharing is often limited to certain scenarios, information receiving is mainly online, concerns about food are common, strangers are easiest to talk to about food and agriculture issues, and social pressures exist but are not felt by all.While some mothers were willing to discuss food and agricultural issues with others, many participants were hesitant to discuss them to avoid tensions with acquaintances and those they were close to. As a result of their hesitance, mothers are not having the conversations encouraged by agricultural organizations. Some mothers feel judgment from their peers in the form of social pressure while grocery shopping which means relationships influence on food purchasing. This study provided insight into the standpoint of mothers with agricultural backgrounds. Agricultural communications practitioners should use this information to give women the tools to have conversations about food and agriculture without fear of causing tension. Agricultural communications educators should use the results of this study to provide students with an idea of how mothers will communicate with each other about agricultural and food issues

What Are Reviewers Looking For? A Qualitative Analysis of Open-Ended Responses from a Questionnaire Sent to Faculty in Agricultural Communications

While peer review is the best system available for assessing the quality of research manuscripts, the system is imperfect at best. How peer review is conducted is often guided by unwritten rules, which can make writing articles for peer review more difficult. New reviewers also lack information on what other reviewers are looking for. This project assessed what reviewers were looking for when evaluating research papers. An anonymous link was sent to agricultural communications faculty members were eligible to review papers. There were 22 responses from the 43 faculty members who were sent the link to participate. Processes for reviewing varied, but it was typical to take notes while reading the article. About half of reviewers spent less than two hours per article. Overarching criteria reviewers were looking for were connection between sections of the paper, overall quality of work, writing quality, clarity, and the contribution of the work. Each section of research papers was also addressed in the study. The results of this study provide an overall roadmap for what agricultural communications reviewers are looking for, but it needs to be noted that different reviewers were looking for different things, so there will likely never be a single right approach for authors trying to clear the peer review hurdle. Future research is needed to further clarify the peer review process, including authors and those who have overseen the peer review process, such as editors and conference organizers

Household decision-making about delivery in health facilities: evidence from Tanzania.

This study investigated how partners' perceptions of the healthcare system influence decisions about delivery-location in low-resource settings. A multistage population-representative sample was used in Kasulu district, Tanzania, to identify women who had given birth in the last five years and their partners. Of 826 couples in analysis, 506 (61.3%) of the women delivered in the home. In multivariate analysis, factors associated with delivery in a health facility were agreement of partners on the importance of delivering in a health facility and agreement that skills of doctors are better than those of traditional birth attendants. When partners disagreed, the opinion of the woman was more influential in determining delivery-location. Agreement of partners regarding perceptions about the healthcare system appeared to be an important driver of decisions about delivery-location. These findings suggest that both partners should be included in the decision-making process regarding delivery to raise rates of delivery at facility

Frindle: A Review for Agricultural Communications Courses

Review of Frindle

Agricultural Mothers’ Conversations & Decision-Making about Food

Agricultural organizations have encouraged farmers and others involved in the agricultural industry to discuss their experiences with consumers and to have meaningful conversations about food. While agriculturalists are encouraged to share their stories on the internet through social networking platforms and blogs, they are also encouraged to have interpersonal conversations about food and agriculture. Due to the elevated concerns of mothers about food and the nature of women and social capital, we need to understand how mothers communicate about food. This qualitative study utilized in-depth interviews with mothers with agricultural backgrounds to answer two research questions: 1) How are mothers sharing and receiving information about food? 2) How does information they receive affect mothers’ food purchasing decisions? Using constant comparative method, participants’ responses were organized into themes. The themes that emerged were information sharing is often limited to certain scenarios, information receiving is mainly online, concerns about food are common, strangers are easiest to talk to about food and agriculture issues, and social pressures exist but are not felt by all. While some mothers were willing to discuss food and agricultural issues with others, many participants were hesitant to discuss them to avoid tensions with acquaintances and those they were close to. As a result of their hesitance, mothers are not having the conversations encouraged by agricultural organizations. Some mothers feel judgment from their peers in the form of social pressure while grocery shopping, which indicates peer relationships can influence food purchasing

Study protocol for a cluster-randomized controlled trial of an NCD access to medicines initative: Evaluation of Novartis Access in Kenya

INTRODUCTION: Novartis recently launched Novartis Access, an initiative to provide a basket of reduced price medicines for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) to be sold through the public and private nonprofit sectors in programme countries. This study will evaluate the impact of Novartis Access on the availability and price of NCD medicines at health facilities and households in Kenya, the first country to receive the programme. METHODS: This study will be a cluster randomised controlled trial. 8 counties in Kenya will be randomly assigned to the intervention or control group using a covariate constrained randomisation method to maximise balance on demographic and health characteristics. In intervention counties, public and private non-profit health facilities will be able to order Novartis Access NCD medicines from the Mission for Essential Drugs and Supplies (MEDS). Data will be collected from a random sample of 384 health facilities and 800 households at baseline, midline after 1-year of intervention, and end-line after 2 years. Quarterly surveillance data will also be collected from health facilities and a subsample of households through phone-based interviews. Households will be eligible if at least one resident has been previously diagnosed and prescribed a medicine for an NCD addressed by Novartis Access, including hypertension and diabetes. The primary outcomes will be availability and price of NCD medicines at health facilities, and availability, price, and expenditures on NCD medicines at households. Impacts will be estimated using intention-to-treat analysis. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Boards at Strathmore University and at Boston University. Informed consent will be obtained from all participants at the start of the trial. The findings of the trial will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals, international conferences, and meetings and events organised with local stakeholders

Childhood adversity and educational attainment: evidence from Zambia on the role of personality

INTRODUCTION: We examine whether personality traits mediate the association between childhood adversity and educational attainment using longitudinal data from a cohort in Zambia. METHODS: We fit a structural equation model using data on three forms of childhood adversity-household poverty, stunting as a measure of chronic malnutrition, and death of a parent-and data on the "Big Five" personality traits and educational attainment assessed at 15 years of age. RESULTS: We find that childhood poverty and death of a parent are associated with lower openness to experience. Furthermore, openness to experience mediates 93% of the negative association between death of a parent and school enrollment and 19% of the negative association between childhood poverty and enrollment. DISCUSSION: Our findings reinforce a diverse and growing body of evidence linking childhood adversity to educational attainment while also placing it in a new light. Future work should continue to examine the biological and psychosocial pathways that determine openness to experience and other personality traits, as well as their role in shaping important life outcomes

Lessons from a year of COVID-19 in Zambia: reported attendance and mask wearing at large gatherings in rural communities

Zambia instituted prevention behavior guidelines for social gatherings before the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed on March 18, 2020. Guidelines included nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) including mask wearing, social distancing, and reducing sizes of gatherings. Within a larger cluster randomized trial of community-based parenting groups in four rural districts (three in Southern Province, one in Eastern Province), we collected 5,711 questionnaires from intervention participants between August 2020 and September 2021, during which the country saw two COVID-19 waves. Questionnaires asked about participation and behaviors at community gatherings. Generally, perception of risk of contracting COVID-19 was low for respondents in districts in Southern Province but higher for those in Eastern Province. The highest compliance to mask wearing was reported at clinics (84%) and church services (81%), which were the most frequently attended gatherings. Many funerals were attended by 200 to 300 people, but individuals were 30% less likely to report wearing masks (odds ratio [OR] = 0.71, 95% confidence ratio [CI]: 0.6-0.8) than those attending a clinic visit. After controlling for other variables, the odds of self-reported mask wearing at events were higher in January to March 2021 (adjusted OR = 1.5, 95% CI: 1.3, 1.7) and July and September of 2021 (adjusted OR = 3.0, 95% CI: 2.5-3.5), timepoints that broadly overlay with two COVID-19 peaks observed in Zambia. Results suggest guideline dissemination penetrated the rural areas. However, there is need to optimize the messaging to increase compliance to NPIs at high-risk gatherings, including funerals. The findings from this analysis should be considered as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve

Prevalence and treatment of hypertension, diabetes and asthma in Kenya: A representative household survey in eight counties in 2016

Objectives: In 2014, 27% of total deaths in Kenya were due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The objectives of this study were: 1) To report on the prevalence of households with members diagnosed and treated for hypertension, diabetes, and asthma in eight counties in Kenya, and 2) To explore possible reasons for the variation in prevalence of these three NCDs in the different counties. Design, Setting andSubjects: A total of 7,870 households in a representative sample in eight Kenyan counties were screened for the presence of any non-communicable disease. Diagnosis and treatment data on these NCDs was collected and compared using county specific independent data from the 2014 Kenyan Demographic Health Survey (DHS).Main Outcome Measures: Over all the eight surveyed counties, 10.7% of households reported having one or more individuals with an NCD. The county specific prevalence varied from 3% to 30.2%. Of the 7,870 households surveyed, 6.9% reported having a diagnosis of hypertension, 3.2% of asthma, and 2.3% of diabetes.Results: The strongest explanatory variables for the variation in overall prevalence of NCDs related to access to health services and lifestyle risk factors. Conclusion: The prevalence of reported NCDs varies considerably between  counties in Kenya. Reasons may relate to a lack of access to diagnostic facilities or  ifferences in lifestyle risk factors. We recommend a comprehensive field survey of biometric, health access, and lifestyle risk factors to determine the true prevalence and related risk factors for NCDs in Kenya

Evaluation of pharmaceutical industry led access programmes: A standardised framework

Pharmaceutical industry-led access programmes are increasing in number and scope worldwide. We present a new standardised framework for evaluation of these programmes that includes three components: a taxonomy of 11 access programme strategies; a series of logic models, one for each strategy and a set of measurement indicators. The logic models describe pathways of potential programme impact. Concepts relevant across a broad range of strategies were prioritised for inclusion in logic models to ensure consistency and to facilitate synthesis and learning across programmes. Each concept has at least one corresponding measurement indicator with metadata that includes the definition, details on how it should be measured and recommended data sources. The framework establishes a shared language for the collection and reporting of meaningful industry-led access programme information