Browsing by Author "Fosu, M."
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Item Building Urban Resilience Assessing Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture in Tamale, Ghana(United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 2014) Gyasi, E.A.; Fosu, M.; Kranjac-Berisavljevic, G.; Mensah, A. M.; Obeng, F.; Yiran, G.A.B.; Fuseini, I.Food production in and around cities is an integral part of the urban fabric in much of the developing world. In these regions, urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) plays an important role in diversifying urban diets and providing environmental services in urban and peri-urban areas. As such, there is growing interest in UPA as a strategic component of urban resilience and climate change adaptation planning. However, advocacy for UPA in this capacity is outpacing the body of evidence regarding important stressors and drivers that act on UPA. Such knowledge is especially critical in the developing world where urban areas are experiencing rapid growth and transformation. In these regions, UPA is facing intensifying pressures from urban encroachment, waste disposal, pollution, and climate change that may undermine the sector’s long-term viability. The need to better understand these critical sustainability dimensions provided the impetus for city-level knowledge assessments of UPA, whose main findings are contained in nine underlying assessment reports including this one. The assessed cities were Dakar (Senegal), Tamale (Ghana), Ibadan (Nigeria), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Kampala (Uganda), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Kathmandu (Nepal) and Chennai (India). All of the reports and the synthesis report can be found at http://start.org/programs/upa. The assessments were conducted in 2012, with initial stakeholder engagement beginning in 2011. The assessments were led by city-based teams, the composition of which varied, with some of the teams being comprised predominately of researchers and other teams comprising of a mix of researchers, city officials and urban NGO representatives. The assessments seek to better understand the changing nature of UPA systems, and the critical interactions at the land-water-climate nexus that influence resilience of UPA in rapidly growing developing-country cities. The audience for these assessments includes national and city-level policymakers, sectoral experts and city planners, the research community, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that interface with urban farmers and other actors within the broader UPA sector. The UPA assessments are part of a larger project on strengthening understanding of critical links between climate change and development planning in West Africa, East Africa and South Asia. The premise for the project is that progress towards undertaking effective action to address climate change risks in these regions is hindered by low levels of awareness of global climate change, lack of understanding of the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other sources of scientific information, lack of location and sector specific knowledge, and the need for strengthening capacities to undertake integrated assessments that support decision making. This multi-year project has been a collaborative effort between the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), START, the University of Ghana, the University of Dar es Salaam, and the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS).Item Explaining Technology Adoption with Financial Motivation(IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, 2019-05) Budu, J.; Seneadza, J.; Entee, E.; Fosu, M.; Asare, B.T.; Mensah, C.Several theories and their variant extensions have been posited to explain or to suggest factors that influence technology adoption. However, these theories seem inadequate in certain scenarios. For instance, none of such technology adoption theories identify or account for the possible influence of external non-personal and non-technology incentives or rewards or compensation on persons faced with the choice to accept or use a technology. However, existing psychology research posits a positive correlation between the offer of financial motivation and the performance of tasks. Therefore, this paper purposes to explain the relationship between financial motivation and individuals’ technology adoption.Item Linguistic Complexity and Second Language Advertising Audiences: Is There a Case for Linguistic Exclusion?(Journal of Communication Inquiry, 2017-10) Yeboah-Banin, A.A.; Fosu, M.; Tsegah, M.In many Anglophone developing countries, the language of most public service advertising is English, a language that is second rather than primary for audiences. Set in a dual-language context where English exists alongside several local languages, as means of interaction, this means that audiences must engage with messages in a language not necessarily preferred for conversation. In addition, messages are often carried on radio, a transient medium where meaning can be lost in the temporality of messages. This increases the task on audiences for processing messages, as the ability to understand most advertisements becomes contingent on their attainment of formal education. While this highlights the critical role of the English language in determining the effectiveness of public service advertisements among second language audiences, it remains understudied in media/communication scholarship. Using a textual analysis of two public service advertising campaigns in Ghana, the study unpacks the English used and examines the implications for audience comprehension.Item Linguistic Complexity and Second Language Advertising Audiences: Is There a Case for Linguistic Exclusion?(Journal of Communication Inquiry, 2018) Yeboah-Banin, A.A.; Fosu, M.; Tsegah, M.In many Anglophone developing countries, the language of most public service advertising is English, a language that is second rather than primary for audiences. Set in a dual-language context where English exists alongside several local languages, as means of interaction, this means that audiences must engage with messages in a language not necessarily preferred for conversation. In addition, messages are often carried on radio, a transient medium where meaning can be lost in the temporality of messages. This increases the task on audiences for processing messages, as the ability to understand most advertisements becomes contingent on their attainment of formal education. While this highlights the critical role of the English language in determining the effectiveness of public service advertisements among second lan guage audiences, it remains understudied in media/communication scholarship. Using a textual analysis of two public service advertising campaigns in Ghana, the study unpacks the English used and examines the implications for audience comprehensionItem Modeling nutrient and water productivity of sorghum in smallholder farming systems in a semi-arid region of Ghana(Elsevier, 2010) MacCarthy, Dilys S.; Vlek, Paul L.G.; Bationo, A.; Tabo, R.; Fosu, M.The CERES-sorghum module of the Decision Support System for Agro-Technological Transfer (DSSAT) model was calibrated for sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) using data from sorghum grown with adequate water and nitrogen and evaluated with data from several N rates trials in Navrongo, Ghana with an overall modified internal efficiency of 0.63. The use of mineral N fertilizer was found to be profitable with economically optimal rates of 40 and 80 kg N ha−1 for more intensively managed homestead fields and less intensively managed bush fields respectively. Agronomic N use efficiency varied from 21 to 37 kg grain kg−1 N for the homestead fields and from 15 to 49 kg grain kg−1 N in the bush fields. Simulated grain yield for homestead fields at 40 kg N ha−1 application was equal to yield for bush fields at 80 kg N ha−1. Water use efficiency generally increased with increased mineral N rate and was greater for the homestead fields compared with the bush fields. Grain yield per unit of cumulative evapo-transpiration (simulated) was consistently higher compared with yield per unit of cumulative precipitation for the season, probably because of runoff and deep percolation. In the simulation experiment, grain yield variability was less with mineral N application and under higher soil fertility (organic matter) condition. Application of mineral N reduced variability in yield from a CV of 37 to 11% in the bush farm and from 17 to 7% in the homestead fields. The use of mineral fertilizer and encouraging practices that retain organic matter to the soil provide a more sustainable system for ensuring crop production and hence food security.Item Patient-Reported Experiences of Medication Adherence at a Community-Based HIV Clinic, Ghana(Journal of Patient Experience, 2022) Fosu, M.; Teye-Kwadjo, E.; Yendork, J.S.There is little information on patients’ medication adherence experiences at community-based clinics in Ghana. This study investigated adherence to antiretroviral medication among people living with HIV (PLHIV) attending a community-based HIV clinic. PLHIV (N = 349) completed a questionnaire battery on medication adherence, doctor-patient communication, HIV stigma, patient general self-efficacy, perceived social support, and on patient spirituality. Linear Regression was used to analyze the data. Results showed that doctor-patient communication (β=.38, 95% CI [0.09, 0.18], P <.001) and social support from significant others (β=.46, 95% CI [0.18, 0.67], P <.001) were positively associated with medication adherence in this sample. In contrast, HIV stigma (β=–.16, 95% CI [–0.58, −0.09], P <.01), patient spirituality (β=–.22, 95% CI [–0.44, −0.00], P <.05), and patient general self-efficacy (β=–.14, 95% CI [–0.17, −0.02], P <.01) were negatively associated with medication adherence. There is a need for educational interventions targeted at enhancing doctor-patient communication and social support while reducing stigma among PLHIV in Ghana.Item Peer victimization, prison climate, resilience and psychological distress of incarcerated juvenile offenders in Ghana: A serial mediation examination(Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, 2022) Owusu Ansah, K.O.; Atindanbila, S.; Doku, P.N.; Owusu, J.O.; Duah, C.A.; Pharin, F.; Fosu, M.A B S T R A C T Most Ghanaian research in the area of victimization among children has focused on the school setting. Little research has been done in an attempt to understand inmate-on-inmate victimization within the juvenile correctional facilities in Ghana. This study, therefore, investigated the extent to which peer victimization influences psychological distress among juvenile offenders in the Senior Correctional Center of Ghana. A crosssectional design was used to purposively sample 115 juvenile offenders for the study. Following mediation analysis performed in PROCESS, the results revealed that prison climate and resilience serially mediated the relationship between peer victimization and psychological distress. Independently, both prison climate and resilience mediated the relationship between peer victimization and psychological distress. It was recommended that anti-bullying programs ought to be institutionalized to create mental health awareness within the correctional facilities. Also, support systems such as the Listener Scheme need to be deployed within the correctional facilities.Item Predictors of Medication Adherence: A Study among People Living with HIV (PLWHIV) in the Ashanti Region of Ghana(University Of Ghana, 2020-07) Fosu, M.Based on the importance of strict medication adherence needed to achieve significant viral suppression and good clinical outcome in HIV patients, continuous investigations into factors that predict adherence have always been considered necessary due to the global threat the virus poses. The present study aimed at investigating predictors of medication adherence among PLWHIV in the Ashanti Region, Ghana. This study specifically investigated how factors such as HIV stigma, spirituality, self-efficacy, doctor’s communication skills and perceived social support each predict medication adherence among PLWHIV. The study used 349 PLWHIV from the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Standard Multiple Regression was used to test the relationship between HIV-related stigma, spirituality, self-efficacy, doctor’s communication skills, perceived social support and HIV medication adherence. Gender difference in medication adherence was also tested using Independent Samples t-test. Findings from the study revealed that doctor’s communication skills and perceived social support from significant other each had a positive relationship with HIV medication adherence. HIV-related stigma, general self-efficacy, and spirituality each had a negative relationship with medication adherence. There were no significant differences between men and women in HIV medication adherence. These findings suggest that healthcare providers in HIV management including physicians and psychologists should improve their communication skills as this has been shown to promote medication adherence.