The percent of families with parents from different racial or ethnic backgrounds has risen exponentially in the last decades. Approximately 14% of children were born into multiethnoracial (MER) families in the United States in 2015, more than double the rate from 1980 (Bialik, 2017). Studies show that MER couples are more likely to separate or divorce than their monoethnoracial (MoER) counterparts, perhaps due to greater conflict stemming from differing values, coping strategies, and conflict management styles and decreased access to family and community support (Fu, Tora, & Kendall, 2001; Zhang & Van Hook, 2009). With the growing rates of MER couples, there has been increased interest and research addressing the unique benefits and challenges of being in a MER relationship. It is likely that the challenges that arise in MER families peak across the transition to parenthood when couples must negotiate how to merge their respective values, behaviors, and beliefs into a new family unit. The proposed study examines how the ethnoracial composition of couples (i.e., same versus different racial/ethnic backgrounds) predicts levels and increases in coparental conflict across early parenthood; and, in addition, the role of familial support as both a mediator and moderator of this relationship. Identifying the processes linking couples’ ethnoracial composition to the quality of family relationships could help inform parent interventions to better support MER parents across the transition to parenthood.

A thorough examination of policies and guidelines tailored towards enabling access to land and housing in Gaborone suggests incongruences' inherent in these strategies. Besides, planners and policymakers' continuous oversight to recognise the complexities of the urban everyday survival strategies and the lived experiences of the populace needs to be investigated. Numerous interventions have been introduced to facilitate land and housing access for low-income households in Gaborone. Even so, restricted access to these assets remains an enormous task, proven complex and problematic to resolve. The empirical evidence specifies the predominant situation articulated by a clash of rationalities between policies and everyday socio-economic practices of access to land and housing by low income households in Gaborone. The investigation of these tensions between policies promoting access to land and housing and the advocacy of the Self-Help Housing Agency as the primary rationale for home building and ownership by low-income households in Gaborone was articulated through policy assessment and analysis. Furthermore, in-depth interviews to appreciate the affected populace's lived experiences in response to the practicality of these policies was conducted. In terms of findings, this research has established that urban environments are persistently transformed with new configurations relating to access to land and housing frequently surfacing. Moreover, urban land and housing management policies fail to get in touch with the complexities of grassroots experience with access to land and housing in Gaborone. There is also the entrenchment of low-income households in a vicious circle of poverty and living precariously at the urban fringes with no security of tenure and affordable housing opportunities. All these experiences and practices resonate with the current endeavours to evaluate the realities of accessing land and housing resources in cities, as well as their correlation with promoting livelihood strategies for low-income households.

This quantitative study explored the impact of the Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program on welfare dependency over time, by evaluating participant income 5 years after completing the FSS program. The study was guided using the framework of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, which initiated welfare reform in an effort to decrease dependency on government assistance; and the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act, the law that initiated Public housing reform by reducing the high concentration of poverty. The research question examined whether the FSS Program in Los Angeles County reduced dependency on welfare overtime. The sample size for this study included 256 participants who received housing assistance payments from the Los Angeles County Housing Authority between 2010 and 2019. The results of this study demonstrate that Los Angeles County FSS program graduates are indeed, self-sufficient over time, thus reducing dependency on welfare. Implications for positive social change imply that cities across the nation could experience a decrease in poverty while benefiting from increased tax revenue resulting from higher employment rates. Working adults tend to be less prone to crime if they are making decent wages that can provide for their family.

Obesity, being one of the most crucial health problems, affects an increasing part of the world population as it has severe health, social, psychological and economic consequences. Its main cause lies in today's obesogenic environment characterised by a passive lifestyle, easy access to energy- dense foods and their aggressive marketing strategies. Because of significant changes in both production and consumption, it is not possible to blame obesity merely on individual lifestyle choices. An important feature of today's obesity epidemic is its uneven distribution. Obesity prevalence is besides other things determined by education, income, gender, family status and age. Analysis of available data showed that also in the Czech Republic the occurrence of obesity has been increasing and the number of overweight and obese people is higher than the number of people with normal weight. The assumption that there be higher prevalence of excess weight among men was confirmed, however, the expected higher prevalence of obesity among women was disproved; both genders suffer from obesity equally, yet the tendency towards obesity increases more significantly among men. The hypothesis about negative dependence of education, income and BMI was confirmed only partially in the Czech Republic: contrary to expectations, groups...

Magister Scientiae (Medical Bioscience) - MSc(MBS) / Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are among the top 10 causes of death in all ages in South Africa. The prevalence of maternal smoking and alcohol consumption during pregnancy is alarmingly high in South Africa. In utero exposure to nicotine and alcohol may cause CVD later in life. There is a global need for early detection of CVD especially those vulnerable during early childhood, to prevent the development of CVD risk factors in adulthood. The aim of this study was to compare CVD risk in five-year-old children from a low socio-economic population with in utero dual exposure to nicotine and alcohol and in utero nicotine exposure by measuring carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT), anthropometric measurements and clinical measurements including blood pressure. A case-control study was conducted on 468 children at five years old through interviews to collect data on demographic characteristics and health statistics. The cIMT was measured using B-mode ultrasonography. Anthropometric measurements were taken such as skinfold thickness, waist circumference, height and weight to calculate Body Mass Index (BMI). Blood pressure measurements such as systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) were taken. The data was analysed using SPSS version 26. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Spearman’s correlations, non-parametric partial correlations), Kruskal-Wallis H, Chi-square tests and logistic regression were used for statistical analysis. Results showed a significantly higher right cIMT (RcIMT) (0.36 ± 0.05 mm; P < 0.01) in children with in utero exposure to nicotine and alcohol during pregnancy and a higher RcIMT in males (0.37 ± 0.06 mm; P < 0.01) with in utero dual exposure to nicotine and alcohol when compared to females. A significant association was found between in utero dual exposure to nicotine and alcohol and a high RcIMT, specifically in females at five years old after the adjustment for confounders (B= -1.618, P = 0.002). Consequently, females in the dual exposed group were 7.6 times more likely to exhibit higher RcIMT with a relative risk of 2.6 times greater to children with no exposure. Females also had significantly higher SBP (U= 3829.50, p <0.01), DBP (U= 3527.50, p <0.05), MAP (U= 3561.00, p <0.05) and HR (U= 3887.50, p <0.01) in the dual exposed group. Cardiovascular risk factors were modestly prevalent at five years old in children with in utero teratogen exposures. However, increased adiposity indices were not observed in this population at five years old and were not associated with teratogen exposures. This may indicate that dual exposure to nicotine and alcohol has a significant effect on the intima-media thickness of the carotid arteries in children, but not necessarily on central and peripheral adiposity at five years old. Therefore, CVD risk factors need to be identified early in children in low socioeconomic regions with in utero exposure to nicotine and alcohol to prevent CVD later in life.

SUMMARY Background: The practice of hand hygiene by nurses is important in preventing and decreasing hospital-associated infections. There are guidelines from WHO available about correct hand hygiene and it is not clear if nurses in low-income countries follow these guidelines. Aim: The aim of this review was to describe the challenges related to hand hygiene these nurses experience. Method: A qualitative literature review was conducted using twelve articles that were analysed using Friberg’s five-step analysis. The search was done in databases CINAHL, MEDLINE and PubMed. Results: The results were categorised into three categories; Challenges in education, Challenges in the working environment and Challenges in compliance. Most nurses in low-income countries were well-informed about hand hygiene, but many had undermined the practice due to lack of regular training, lack of necessary resources, feedback and role models. Conclusion: The study revealed that these nurses had knowledge about hand hygiene, although some of them showed confusion in hand hygiene products and routine. The review identified hindrances to effective hand hygiene practices in low-income countries. Regular courses about effective hand hygiene for nurses are recommended. Further research on qualitative data on hand hygiene while focusing on nurses’ experience in low-income countries is needed. / SAMMANFATTNING Bakgrund: Sjuksköterskan handhygien är viktigt för förbyggande och minskning av vårdrelaterade infektioner. Det finns riktlinjer från WHO om korrekt handhygien men det är inte tydligt om sjuksköterskor i låginkomstländer följer dessa riktlinjer. Syfte: Syftet var att beskriva de utmaningar som sjuksköterskor i låginkomstländer upplever relaterat till handhygien. Metod: En kvalitativ litteraturöversikt genomfördes där tolv artiklar analyserades med Fribergs femstegsanalys. Sökningen av artiklar utfördes i databaserna; CINAHL, MEDLINE och PubMed.  Resultat: Resultatet delades in i tre kategorier; Utmaningar i utbildning, Utmaningar i arbetsmiljö och Utmaningar i följsamhet. De flesta sjuksköterskor i låginkomstländer var välinformerade om handhygien, men många undervärderade god handhygien på grund av oregelbunden utbildning, brist på nödvändiga resurser, feedback och förebilder. Slutsats: Studien visade att sjuksköterskorna ofta hade kunskap om handhygien, men att en del sjuksköterskor var konfunderade angående produkter för handhygien och rutiner. Regelbundna kurser om effektiv handhygien för sjuksköterskor rekommenderas och vidare forskning av kvalitativ data om handhygien med fokus på sjuksköterskors erfarenheter i låginkomstländer efterfrågas.

This qualitative study sought to explore low income working mother's perceptions of community support for exclusive breastfeeding after returning to work. The results from 12 indepth semi-structured interviews conducted with low income mothers, working full-time in a clothing factory located in the Cape Flats area, were analysed using thematic analysis. Three key themes emerged. The mothers generally expressed that they received informational support for breastfeeding from various members of their community, however there was a lack of emotional, instrumental, and appraisal support for these working mothers to continue to exclusively breastfeed after returning to work. Furthermore, the mothers come from communities in which there is a shared responsibility for raising babies. They are often given instructions and advice on how to feed their babies by different people and this advice often contradicts the World Health Organization's breastfeeding recommendations. Lastly, the mothers expressed that breastfeeding is an act that is usually reserved for stay at home mothers. Working mothers' breastfeeding intentions are generally not supported within their communities and working mothers are often encouraged to give their babies formula and other feeds as early as possible. It is important for organisations employing low-income mothers to understand the community context when designing workplace policies and interventions aimed at promoting exclusive breastfeeding. This will allow organizations to address their employees breastfeeding challenges in a culturally sensitive ways.

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