School of Social Sciences
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Item Dwindling water supply and its socio-economic impact in Sekyere Kumawu District in Ashanti Region of Ghana: public opinion on the role of climate change(GeoJournal, 2020) Adjei-Mensah, K.; Kusimi, J.M.Water remains a vital natural resource necessary for sustaining life and development. Glob ally there has been an increasing demand for water due to the increasing population. Water demand has worsened in certain regions where instead of climate change water resources are declining. This has created livelihood impacts. Using in-depth interviews and household surveys of household heads and opinion leaders in the district, the study ascertained public opinion on the role of climate change on dwindling domestic water provision and how inadequate water supply affects the socio-economic lives of people at household level in Sekyere-Kumawu District in Ghana. Rising temperatures, declining rainfall amounts, and stormy weather were some of the perceived changing climatic ele ments explaining the reduction in the water resource base of the district. Shortage in water supply has a great impact on the socioeconomic livelihood and health of residents with a greater impact on women and children. Households attributed low crop yields, the prevalence of water-borne diseases and poverty as some consequences of low water supply owing to bad climatic conditions. The study recommends the development of district-level climate change strategies, incorporating them into the overall national climate change policy to ensure a comprehensive climatic resilient economy to promote sustainable growth and developmentItem Urban Flooding, Adaptation Strategies, and Resilience: Case Study of Accra, Ghana(African Handbook of Climate Change Adaptation, 2021) Owusu, K.; Obour, P.B.Despite massive flood-controlling investments, perennial flooding continues to be a major challenge in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Assembly in Ghana. Previous studies have mostly considered the vulnerability of Accra to flooding induced by urbanization and climate change. This chapter examined the impacts of and adaptation strategies to flooding in two flood-prone residential areas in Accra. A survey was conducted among 320 household heads to ascertain the local impacts of floods and community adaptation strategies. To obtain a broader picture of government interventions and challenges, key stakeholders such as personnel from ministries, departments, and agencies who are involved in city planning, and private urban planning consultants were interviewed. The study found that a notable driver of floods in Accra is blocked waterways, and flawed and ad hoc engineering works. About three-quarters of the households interviewed have suffered flood-related losses over the past decade such as housing damage, income, and even the death of a relative. Key flood control interventions included dredging before the start of rains and sporadic demolition of unauthorized buildings on or near waterways to allow the free flow of water. However, these interventions only seem to be ephemeral due to the rapid rate of littering and re-siltation of the waterways after a few rain events. The study highlights the need for more pragmatic and robust engineering solutions to build the resilience of Accra to floods.Item Leveraging Healthcare Opportunities for Improved Access among Ghanaian Retirees: The Case of Active Aging(Social Sciences, 2018) Dovie, D.A.This paper is a policy brief with targeted interviews of older adults in urban Ghana with recommendations for future healthcare policy. Using a qualitative explorative approach, the scope of the research is to examine opportunities that focus on healthy aging to enhance the healthcare infrastructure in Ghana in preparation for an increased number of older adults. The paper mainly finds that improved healthcare solicitation and the social world of older adults are intricately linked. The healthcare needs of older adults are met through diverse mechanisms—the Pensioners’ Medical Scheme and claim concept. These depict a transformation in healthcare access and delivery with implications for wider healthcare, solidarity, and efficiency. Active ageing strategies therefore facilitate the provision of supplementary healthcare access by seeking health solutions independently, including the creation of awareness about the challenges and the concomitant health resource opportunities for older adults. These tend to the development of an acumen for healthcare-related resilience. I argue that health-related challenges depict opportunities for smarter solutions and mutual growth, further showing that aging is a gain and a human development issue that fosters the emergence of an integrated healthcare system. Crucially, the paper reveals that health-related challenges are used to leverage entry and participation in the healthcare products market and by extension access to quality and holistic healthcare services. This encompasses innovative healthcare infrastructural resources that Ghanaian older adults patronize. These health resources are worth pursuing and may need to be incorporated into the National Policy on Ageing, with envisaged universal coverage in focus.Item Incidence of Self-esteem among Children Exposed to Sexual Abuse in Kenya(Global Social Welfare, 2018) Mutavi, T.; Dako-Gyeke, M.; Obondo, A.; et.alIt has been established that sexual abuse against children is a widespread global problem (Stoltenborgh et al. 2011). Some scholars have reported that child abuse, including sexual abuse among children, is high in Africa, as well as other continents (Filkelhor et al. 2013; Hillis et al. 2016). Sexual abuse against children is a public health concern because its outcomes are detrimental to the health of children, families, and society (Madu et al. 2010). Often, mental health problems among children are detected late, and identification rates by health professionals are quite low (Grant & Brito, 2010; Ndetei et al. 2009).Item Suffering in the Hands of a Loved One: The Endemic to Intimate Partner Violence and Consequences on Migrant Female Head-Load Carriers in Ghana(Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2019) Adomako, E.B.; Baffour, F.D.The study contributed to filling a knowledge gap in the area of intimate partner violence (IPV). Previous studies conducted in Ghana have investigated the causes and types of IPV, leaving a gap in the consequences the violence had on the victims. Using a population of local economic migrants (hereafter, head-load carriers), a qualitative design with emphasis on phenomenology was employed to investigate the effects of IPV on 20 head-load carriers in two major cities in Ghana (Kumasi and Accra). The analysis performed on the data, using interpretive phenomenological analysis, revealed that IPV affected the head-load carriers’ health, employment, and human relationships. Each of the participants spoke of one or more health complications, which they attributed to IPV. Among the health-related effects reported by the head-load carriers were body pains, wounds, depression, suicide ideation, headache, and abdominal pains that resulted from the termination of an unwanted pregnancy the head-load carriers recounted the detrimental outcomes of IPV on their job and human relationships. After they had experienced IPV, some of the victims could not go to work due to fear of stigmatization, and those who were able to could not work as they usually do due to severe pain. At their workplace, some of the IPV victims became aggressive toward customers and coworkers, whereas others remained isolated. These negatively impacted their human relationship skills and earnings. Based on the findings, there is a need for policies that seek to address IPV to consider the effects on victims’ employment, earning, and behavior.Item The Status of Older Adult Care in Contemporary Ghana: A Profile of Some Emerging Issues(Frontiers in Sociology, 2019) Dovie, D.A.The paper examines how the healthcare and social care pillars of social policy for aging societies shape inequalities in health and well-being in old age, utilizing qualitative and quantitative datasets. The results indicate the lack of geriatric infrastructure, hence the inadequacy of geriatric care provision for older adults. Systemic problems or gaps existent in Ghana led to private individuals taking advantage of the situation, turning it into an opportunity for service providers. Thus, the evolution of recreational/residential homes in Ghana is situated along three distinct patterns or forms namely the occasional, the adult day care center, and residential archetypes. Collectively, these constitute formal and informal care facilities. These are often privately owned and at a cost. The nature of quality of care may be affected by the types of homes available, especially in the globalized cultural setting. A growing number of older adults resort to care homes as an alternative measure. These are discussed from two viewpoints. First, is geriatric data generation, the absence of which impedes healthcare provision. Second, cash-for-care policies may exacerbate existing inequalities in care with negative consequences for health and well-being. In short, policies for aging populations are being implemented across Ghana with too little known about their consequences for inequalities in health and well-being in later life. The paper sought to address this knowledge gap by exploring a significant infrastructure by undertaking a systematic examination of how recent policy developments for aging exacerbate or reduce inequalities in health and well-being among older adults. The paper concludes that social policy for aging societies’ specific key pillars (healthcare and social care research) offers opportunities for analyzing and understanding internal dynamics including the effects of policy implementation for inequalities in health and well-being at older ages, therefore enabling the identification of strategies to improve older adults’ circumstances, without which older adult population will far outpace eldercare provision.Item Religion as Meaning-Making Resource in Understanding Suicidal Behavior in Ghana and Uganda(Frontiers in Psychology, 2021) Knizek, B.L.; Andoh-Arthur, J.; Osafo, J.; et.alSuicidal behavior is condemned by religions and traditions, and suicide attempts are criminalized by law in several African countries, including Ghana and Uganda. Suicide and suicide attempts may have severe consequences for both the entire family and the community. Religion is known to act as a protective coping force that helps people to make meaning and find comfort when dealing with stressful life events or situations like suicide. In this article, we focus on the cultural interpretations of the dominating religion in Ghana and Uganda, Christianity, and whether these affect attitudes toward suicidal behavior, meaning-making, and coping possibilities for people who have attempted suicide or are bereaved by suicide. This article is based on data material from previous studies on the mentioned topics by the authors.Item Cultural Models of Well-Being Implicit in Four Ghanaian Languages(Frontiers in Psychology, 2020) Osei-Tutu, A.; Dzokoto, V.A.; Affram, A.A.; et.alThis contribution to the collection of articles on “African Cultural Models” considers the topic of well-being. Reflecting modern individualist selfways of North American and European worlds, normative conceptions of well-being in hegemonic psychological science tend to valorize self-acceptance, personal growth, and autonomy. In contrast, given the embedded interdependence of everyday life in many West African worlds, one can hypothesize that cultural models of well-being in many Ghanaian settings will place greater emphasis on sustainability-oriented themes of material sufficiency and successful navigation of normative obligations. To explore this hypothesis, we interviewed local cultural experts who function as custodians of religion and an important source of support for well-being in many Ghanaian settings. We asked participants to identify and explain models of well-being implicit in four Ghanaian languages (Akan, Dagbani, Ewe, and Ga). Participants were 19 men and 15 women (age range 32– 92 years; Mean = 59.83; SD: 14.01). Results reveal some features of local models, including good health and positive affective states, that appear to resonate with standard understandings of well-being in hegemonic psychological science. However, results also provide evidence for other features of local models – specifically, good living (including moral living, material success, and proper relationality) and peace of mind – associated with a sustainability or maintenance orientation to well-being.Item Emotion Norms, Display Rules, and Regulation in the Akan Society of Ghana: An Exploration Using Proverbs(Frontiers in Psychology, 2018) Dzokoto, V.A.; Osei-Tutu, A.; Kyei, J.J.; et.alProverbs are widely used by the Akan of West Africa. The current study thematically analyzed an Akan proverb compendium for proverbs containing emotional references. Of the identified proverbs, a focus on negative emotions was most typical. Emotion-focused proverbs highlighted four emotion regulation strategies: change in cognition, response modulation, situation modification, and situation selection. A subset of proverbs addressed emotion display rules restricting the expression of emotions such as pride, and emotional contagion associated with emotions such as shame. Additional themes including: social context influences on the expression and experience of emotion; expectations of emotion limits; as well as the nature of emotions were present in the proverb collection. In general, Akan emotion-related proverbs stress individual-level responsibility for affect regulation in interpersonal interactions and societal contexts.Item Conflict Handling in Ghanaian In-law Relationships: Implications for Face Concerns(Journal of Family Communication, 2020) Affram, A.A.; Osei-Tutu, A.; Dzokoto, V.A.We interviewed 34 married individuals between the ages of 32 and 69 in Southern Ghana regarding conflict handling strategies they adopt in their in-law relationships. We conceptualized the strategies around face concerns. Findings from inductive thematic analysis support participant use of five main conflict-handling strategies: human/divine third-party engagements, obsequious behavior, apologizing, ignoring, and confronting. These strategies map onto considerations for other-face concerns as well as mutual-face concerns. Findings offer insights about conflict, face concerns, and in-law relationships within a previously understudied cultural context.