| 1. |
- Ziaei, Shirin, et al.
(author)
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Women´s autonomy and social support and their associations with infant and young child feeding and nutritional status : community-based survey in rural Nicaragua
- 2015
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In: Public Health Nutrition. - 1368-9800 .- 1475-2727. ; 18:11, s. 1979-1990
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- ObjectiveTo evaluate the associations of women’s autonomy and social support with infant and young child feeding practices (including consumption of highly processed snacks and sugar-sweetened beverages) and nutritional status in rural Nicaragua.DesignCross-sectional study. Feeding practices and children’s nutritional status were evaluated according to the WHO guidelines complemented with information on highly processed snacks and sugar-sweetened beverages. Women’s autonomy was assessed by a seventeen-item questionnaire covering dimensions of financial independence, household-, child-, reproductive and health-related decision making and freedom of movement. Women’s social support was determined using the Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire. The scores attained were categorized into tertiles.SettingLos Cuatro Santos area, rural Nicaragua.Subjects A total of 1371 children 0–35 months of age.ResultsChildren of women with the lowest autonomy were more likely to be exclusively breast-fed and continue to be breast-fed, while children of women with middle level of autonomy had better complementary feeding practices. Children of women with the lowest social support were more likely to consume highly processed snacks and/or sugar-sweetened beverages but also be taller.ConclusionsWhile lower levels of autonomy and social support were independently associated with some favourable feeding and nutrition outcomes, this may not indicate a causal relationship but rather that these factors reflect other matters of importance for child care.
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| 2. |
- Tapper, Michael
(author)
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Snö från Nicaragua
- 2017
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In: Sydsvenskan. - 1652-814X.
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Journal article (pop. science, debate, etc.)
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| 3. |
- Schmeer, Kammi K., et al.
(author)
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Maternal resources and household food security : evidence from Nicaragua
- 2015
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In: Public Health Nutrition. - 1368-9800 .- 1475-2727. ; 18:16, s. 2915-2924
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective: Women (especially mothers) are theorized as critical to reducing household food insecurity through their work and caregiver roles. The present study tests these assumptions, assessing how maternal economic and social resources are associated with food insecurity in households with young children. Design: Data from a population-based sample of households was collected in Leon, Nicaragua (n 443). Data include a newly validated measure of household food insecurity (ELCSA), maternal resource measures, and household economic status and demographics. Regression analysis tests the statistical associations (P<0.05) of maternal resources with household, adult-specific and child-specific food insecurity. Setting: Municipality of Leon, Nicaragua. Subjects: Households with children aged 3-11 years in rural and urban Leon. Results: Only 25 % of households with young children were food secure, with 50 % mildly food insecure and 25 % moderately/severely food insecure. When mothers contributed substantially to household income, the odds of moderate/severe household food insecurity were 34 % lower than when their spouse/partner was the main provider. The odds of food insecurity were 60 % lower when mothers managed household money, 48 % lower when mothers had a secondary (v. primary) education, 65 % higher among single mothers and 16 % lower with each indicator of social support. Results were similar for adult-and child-specific food insecurity. Conclusions: This research provides new evidence that maternal economic and social resources are important for reducing household food insecurity and adult- and child-specific food insecurity. Women's social status, social support and access to economic resources need to be enhanced as a part of policies aimed to reduce food insecurity in high-poverty settings.
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| 4. |
- Ziaei, Shirin
(author)
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Women’s status and child nutrition : Findings from community studies in Bangladesh and Nicaragua
- 2016
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The importance of women’s status for child nutrition has recently been recognized. However, pathways through which women’s status can affect their caretaking practices and child nutrition have not been fully determined. The aim of this thesis was to evaluate associations between aspects of women’s status – including exposure to domestic violence and level of autonomy and social support – with their level of stress, feeding practices and child nutritional status in two different cultural settings: Bangladesh and Nicaragua.Data were acquired from population-based studies. For Study I we used data from the Bangladesh 2007 Demographic and Health Survey, and Study II was embedded in the 2009 Health and Demographic Surveillance System conducted in Los Cuatro Santos, rural Nicaragua. Studies III and IV were part of the MINIMat study, conducted in rural Bangladesh. In-person interviews were conducted and validated questionnaires were used in each of the studies. Anthropometric characteristics of the children were recorded based on standardized World Health Organization techniques.In Bangladesh, we found women with lifetime experience of domestic violence to be more likely to report emotional distress during pregnancy, cease exclusive breastfeeding before 6 months and have a stunted child. Further, we found a negative association between experience of domestic violence and duration of excusive breastfeeding to be mitigated with breastfeeding counseling. In Nicaragua, a lower level of maternal autonomy was associated with more appropriate breastfeeding practices such as higher odds of exclusive breastfeeding and longer continuation of breastfeeding. Further, a maternal lower level of social support was associated with better child nutritional status.In conclusion, this investigation showed that different dimensions of women’s status were associated with their feeding practices and child nutritional status and also revealed that the strength and direction of these associations may vary by the child’s age, setting and other contextual factors. These findings suggest that women’s status might have an important public health impact on child health and its role should be considered in programs and policies aiming to improve child health and nutrition.
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| 5. |
- Segnestam, Lisa
(author)
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Interactions in Hazard Management Policies : the Case of Drought in Nicaragua, 1976-2010
- 2015
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In: Disasters. The Journal of Disaster Studies, Policy and Management. - : Wiley. - 0361-3666 .- 1467-7717. ; 39:4, s. 715-737
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The literature on adaptive and multi-level governance calls for interactive hazard management to increase societies’ resilience. This paper maps the hazard management policies in a poor and hazard-prone country—Nicaragua—and examines what role the government gives to interactions among different actors at different societal levels. A new analytical framework is developed that includes scope and direction to capture unidirectional or mutual interactions that are either horizontal or vertical. This enables a more complex analysis of interactions than that found in previous research. The review shows that the historical change in the role given to interactions, as a result of a focus on short-term emergency response being complemented by long-term risk management, mainly lies in how they are characterised—with more participants and other types of content categories—and the awareness that interactions other than mutual ones can be positive. This illustrates the complexity of the issue of interactions.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Chham, E., et al.
(author)
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Sources of the seasonal-trend behaviour and periodicity modulation of 7Be air concentration in the atmospheric surface layer observed in southeastern Spain
- 2019
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In: Atmospheric Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 1352-2310. ; , s. 148-158
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The components and the periodicity characterising airborne 7Be monthly concentration collected in Granada (SE Spain) between 2000 and 2018 are studied. These 19 years of measurements are particularly significant for the 7Be analysis as they cover the complete 24th solar cycle, 2008–2018. A Time Series Decomposition (TSD) technique has been applied to determine the different components present in the dataset: the trend, seasonal and irregular components. Then, the atmospheric parameters (Precipitation (Pp), Relative Humidity (RH), Temperature (Temp), Wind speed (WS), Total Cloudiness (TC), Low Cloudiness (LC)), teleconnection indices and the solar activity (Sun Spot Number, SSN) were used to justify the variability of each component. SSN and the teleconnection indices (Western Mediterranean Oscillation (WeMO), Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and Quasi Biennial Oscillation (QBO)) are found to have a major impact on the trend component of 7Be. In turn, all the atmospheric parameters were found to have strong impact on the seasonal component. In order to observe the change in the impact of the parameters from the 24th solar cycle (from 2008 to 2018) to the complete time series (starting in 2000), the comparison between the two periods has been carried out. The results show that, over the 24th solar cycle, the SSN impacted predominantly on the trend component, whereas atmospheric parameters showed a slightly higher impact on the seasonal component. In addition, some atmospheric factors (Temp, RH, Pp, TC, LC) appeared to partially affect the irregular component. The analysis of the two phases of the 24th solar cycle shows that the influence of SSN is higher during the descending phase than during the ascending one. This behaviour is opposed to the one found for the 23rd solar cycle, which clarifies the special characteristics of the 24th cycle. Besides that, the Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) analysis was applied in order to extract the possible periodicities characterising 7Be data. The analysis revealed three sets of periodicities. Then, the Wavelet Coherence Analysis (WCA) method was particularly useful to study coherences between 7Be data and teleconnection indices. The 7Be concentrations in the large period (11–14 years) detected by CWT was found to be mainly modulated by WeMO, AMO and QBO, while the NAO modulates the smaller periods. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd
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| 9. |
- Gustafsson, Cecilia, 1977-
(author)
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‘“For a better life …“ A study on migration and health in Nicaragua’
- 2018
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In: Global Health Action. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1654-9716 .- 1654-9880. ; 11:1
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Nicaraguans have migrated internally and internationally for centuries due to economic, political and sociocultural factors. Deficiencies in the country’s health care system have produced inequities in people’s access to health care and medicines. Remittances have become an important source of income, partly invested in health.Objectives: The overall aim of the study was to analyse migration–health relations in contemporary Nicaragua within a broader context of socio-economic transformations.Methods: The study uses a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative interview data and quantitative survey data.Results: The findings show that migration is commonly practised as a strategy for making a living and is related to the struggle for a better life. Health concerns are indirectly embedded in people’s mobile livelihoods, but also directly influence migration motives. Furthermore, migration involves both advantages and disadvantages for health. Physical and sexual violence can come to an end for migrating women, health care and medicine can become more accessible for internal migrants, and vulnerabilities caused by environmental disasters can be avoided by moving. Moreover, remittances can improve people’s everyday life and health. Yet migration can also be a stressful and health-damaging event. International migrants, particularly the undocumented, can have problems accessing health care, and also experience much danger at border crossings. Transnational families can suffer emotionally as well as physically due to separation. Findings from the survey show that family members of migrants do not rate their physical health as good as often as non-migrating families.Conclusions: The Nicaraguan population is not guaranteed its social rights of citizenship. This results in mobile livelihoods and the need for translocal social support (e.g. remittances). Migration can have both positive and negative effects on health for migrants and their family members; geographical distance and social differences are key to the outcome.
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| 10. |
- Dimitrova, Radosveta, et al.
(author)
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Relationships Between Religiousness and Life Satisfaction Among Emerging Adults in Mexico and Nicaragua
- 2017
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In: Well-Being of Youth and Emerging Adults across Cultures. - Cham : Springer. - 9783319683621 - 9783319683638 ; , s. 225-234
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study examines relationships between religiousness and life satisfaction among 571 emerging adults (M age 29.94, SD = 2.93) from Mexico and Nicaragua. Based on the four-factor religiousness model (Saroglou V, J Cross-Cultural Psychol 42:1320-1340, 2011), we investigated the interplay of believing (beliefs relative to external transcendence), bonding (rituals and emotions), behaving (adherence to norms) and belonging (social group cohesion) and their relation to life satisfaction. Participants completed the Four Basic Dimensions of Religiousness Scale (4-BDRS; Saraglou V, J Cross-Cultural Psychol 42:1320-1340, 2011) and the Life Satisfaction Scale (SWLS; Diener E, Emmerson RA, Larsen RJ, Griffin S, J Pers Assess 49:71-75), 1985). We tested measurement invariance and associations of religiousness and life satisfaction models across groups. Findings indicated good measurement invariance for both measures and that life satisfaction was consistently associated with high endorsement of all four religiousness domains.
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