Language Centre
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Recent Submissions
Item The role of social support in antiretroviral therapy uptake and retention among pregnant and postpartum women living with HIV in the Greater Accra region of Ghana(BMC Public Health, 2024) Ameyaw, E.K.; Thompson, R.G.A.; Yeboah, I.; et al.Introduction The role of social support in antiretroviral therapy (ART) uptake and retention among pregnant and Postpartum women in Ghana’s capital, Accra, have received limited attention in the literature. This cross-sectional study extends existing knowledge by investigating the role of social support in ART adherence and retention among pregnant and postpartum women in Accra. Methods We implemented a cross-sectional study in eleven (11) public health facilities. Convenience sampling approach was used to recruit 180 participants, out of which 176 with completed data were included in the study. ART adherence in the three months preceding the survey (termed consistent uptake) and ART retention were the outcomes of interest. Initial analysis included descriptive statistics characterized by frequencies and percentages to describe the study population. In model building, we included all variables that had p-values of 0.2 or less in the bivariate analysis to minimize negative confounding. Overall, a two-sided p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. The data were analyzed using Stata version 14.1 (College Station, TX). Results In the multivariate model, we realized a lower odds trend between social support score and consistent ART adherence, however, was insignificant. Similarly, both the univariate and multivariate models showed that Social support has no relationship with ART retention. Meanwhile, urban residents had a higher prevalence of ART adherence (adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) = 2.04, CI = 1.12–3.73) relative to rural and peri-urban residents. As compared to those below age 30, women aged 30–34 (aPR=0.58, CI=0.34–0.98) and above 35 (aPR=0.48, CI=0.31–0.72) had lower prevalence of ART adherence Women who knew their partner’s HIV status had lower prevalence of ART adherence compared to those who did not know (aPR = 0.62, CI = 0.43–0.91). Also, having a rival or co-wife was significantly associated with ART retention, such that higher prevalence of ART adherence among women with rivals relative to those without rivals (aOR = 1.98, CI = 1.16–3.36) Conclusion Our study showed that social support does not play any essential role in ART adherence among the surveyed pregnant and postpartum women. Meanwhile, factors such as having a rival and being under the age of Thirty play an instrumental role. The study has signaled the need for ART retention scale-up interventions to have a multi-pronged approach in order to identify the multitude of underlying factors, beyond social support, that enhance or hinder efforts to achieve higher uptake and retention rates.Item Influence of depression and interpersonal support on adherence to antiretroviral therapy among people living with HIV(BioMed Central Ltd, 2023) Thompson, R.G.A.; Nutor, J.J.; Gyamerah, A.O.; et al.Abstract Background Poor adherence and under-utilization of antiretroviral therapy (ART) services have been major setbacks to achieving 95-95-95 policy goals in Sub-Saharan Africa. Social support and mental health challenges may serve as barriers to accessing and adhering to ART but are under-studied in low-income countries. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of interpersonal support and depression scores with adherence to ART among persons living with HIV (PLWH) in the Volta region of Ghana. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional survey among 181 PLWH 18 years or older who receive care at an ART clinic between November 2021 and March 2022. The questionnaire included a 6-item simplified ART adherence scale, the 20-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and the 12-item Interpersonal Support Evaluation List-12 (ISEL-12). We first used a chi-squared or Fisher’s exact test to assess the association between these and additional demographic variables with ART adherence status. We then built a stepwise multivariable logistic regression model to explain ART adherence. Results ART adherence was 34%. The threshold for depression was met by 23% of participants, but it was not significantly associated with adherence in multivariate analysis(p=0.25). High social support was reported by 48.1%, and associated with adherence (p=0.033, aOR=3.45, 95% CI=1.09–5.88). Other factors associated with adherence included in the multivariable model included not disclosing HIV status (p=0.044, aOR=2.17, 95% CI=1.03–4.54) and not living in an urban area (p=0.00037, aOR=0.24, 95% CI=0.11–0.52). Conclusion Interpersonal support, rural residence, and not disclosing HIV status were independent predictors of adherence to ART in the study area.Item Dialogue and subject positioning in pedagogical practice: the academic literacies classroom in a Ghanaian University(Taylor & Francis Group, 2021) Ayaawan, A.E.; Adika, G.S.K.The importance of academic literacy acquisition through enculturation in higher education is self-evident. Important within the processes of enculturation is how interactants are positioned. This study examines how interactants within the writing classroom of a higher education institution in Ghana are positioned through dialogue. Data for this study are recordings of lectures of a mandatory undergraduate programme. The study indicates that though there are attempts to position the student as an active and equal participant within the writing classroom, the instructor still emerges as dominant participant. It also establishes that the pedagogical practices of the classroom adopt strategies such as peer deliberations, and epistemic discovery to help foster personal agency development in the student. It concludes that the academic literacies model has not informed what goes on in the literacies classroom of the institution. The study recommends that the enculturation processes will have to adopt a more critical approach.Item The use or misuse of the relative clause as a modifier: A case of two Ghanaian Newspapers(International Journal of Educational Sciences (IJES), 2015) Adika, G.S.K.; Klu, E.This paper investigates the use of the relative clause as a modifier in two major Ghanaian newspapers – Daily Graphic and Daily Guide. Specifically, it examines how the three main relative clauses; namely, defining, non-defining and sentential have been used in the selected newspapers. Analyzing data drawn from both newspapers from 1st June – 30th November, 2011, the researchers discovered that both newspapers contained violations of the syntactic and semantic rules with regard to the use of relative clauses. These violations, the researchers argue, could create potential sources of confusion for the reader in the interpretation of the sentences. The paper describes the nature of the violations and recommends that editors pay greater attention to this aspect of written communication. Furthermore, language courses in schools and institutes of journalism as well as universities in Ghana should pay substantial attention to the teaching of relative clauses as modifiers.Item Credibility and Accountability in Academic Discourse: Increasing the Awareness of Ghanaian Graduate Students. Practice and Theory in Systems of Education(2015) Adika, G.S.K.Drawing from a social constructionist perspective to written scholarly communication, this paper argues that training in academic writing for students in higher education especially in second language contexts should go beyond emphasis on grammatical correctness and paragraphing strategies, and also focus on the rhetorical character of academic discourse together with the mastery of its communicative protocols. Using the University of Ghana as a reference point, the paper reviews a selection of Ghanaian graduate students’ awareness of the protocols that govern academic discourses in scholarly writing, and in consideration of their unique educational and socio-cultural circumstances, the paper proposes strategies, from the pedagogical and institutional standpoints, aimed at increasing students’ awareness of the relevant communicative practices that engender credibility and accountability