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Special Issue "Interventions Addressing Adolescent Health in Community Settings in Low-Resource Contexts"

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Special Issue Editors

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Guest Editor

Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA
Interests: poverty and its impact on child and family well-being; child labor, education, and youth development; migration/internal displacement; risk, resilience, youth and family well-being

Dr. Proscovia Nabunya

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Guest Editor

Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA
Interests: HIV stigma and shame; child and youth mental health; family and community-based support systems; children, youth and families impacted by HIV

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Adolescents (defined by the United Nations as those between the ages of 10 and 19) make up 16% of the world’s population. Adolescence is a critical developmental stage with significant psychological, cognitive, and physical changes. In addition, adolescence is a transitional period during which youth are more likely to engage in risky behaviors that may compromise their physical health and emotional well-being and their successful transition to adulthood. Hence, effectively addressing their needs and unique vulnerabilities during this transition period is of utmost importance. Yet, many adolescents in low-resource settings lack access to resources and to the physical and mental health services they need to successfully navigate their challenges.

Interventions that are delivered in settings where adolescents are already embedded in, including schools and other community settings, can potentially be more accessible and less stigmatizing for adolescents living in resource-scarce settings. This Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) focuses on the current state of evidence on the impact of evidence-based interventions delivered in community settings on adolescent health and well-being in low-resource contexts. New research papers, methodological papers, and systematic reviews of current evidence are welcome in this Issue.

Dr. Ozge Sensoy Bahar
Dr. Proscovia Nabunya
Guest Editors

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Keywords

adolescent health
resource-limited settings
evidence-based interventions
adolescents
adolescent well-being

Published Papers (3 papers)

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17 pages, 2288 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact of Family-Based Economic Empowerment Intervention, Suubi+Adherence (2012–2018) on Multidimensional Poverty for Adolescents Living with HIV (ALWHIV) in Uganda

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Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(21), 14326; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114326 - 02 Nov 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1328

Abstract

Children growing up in poverty are disproportionately affected by diseases, including HIV. In this study, we use data from Suubi+Adherence, a longitudinal randomized control trial (2012–2018) with 702 adolescents living with HIV (ALWHIV), to examine the effectiveness of a family-based multifaceted economic empowerment (EE) intervention in addressing economic instability and multidimensional poverty among ALWHIV in Southern Uganda. We constructed a Multidimensional Poverty Index of individual and household indicators, including health, assets, housing and family dynamics. We computed the proportion of multidimensionally poor children (H), estimated poverty intensity (A) and adjusted headcount ratio (M₀). Using repeated measures at five-time points (baseline, years 1, 2, 3 and 4-post baseline) across two study arms: treatment (receiving the EE intervention) vs. control arm (not receiving EE), we find that both the incidence and proportion of multidimensional poverty decreased in the treatment arm vs. the control arm. Given that there is a direct link between economic instability and poor health outcomes, these findings are informative. They point to the potential for family EE interventions to decrease multidimensional poverty among vulnerable children, including ALWHIV, impacting their overall wellbeing and ability to meet their treatment needs and improve HIV care continuum outcomes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interventions Addressing Adolescent Health in Community Settings in Low-Resource Contexts)

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19 pages, 730 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“ANZANSI Program Taught Me Many Things in Life”: Families’ Experiences with a Combination Intervention to Prevent Adolescent Girls’ Unaccompanied Migration for Labor

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Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(20), 13168; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013168 - 13 Oct 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1252 | Correction

Abstract

Approximately 160 million children work as child laborers globally, 39% of whom are female. Ghana is one of the countries with the highest rates of child labor. Child labor has serious health, mental health, and educational consequences, and those who migrate independently for child labor are even at higher risk. Yet, evidence-based efforts to prevent unaccompanied child migration are limited. In this study, we examined the acceptability of a family-level intervention, called ANZANSI (resilience in local language) combining two evidence-based interventions, a family economic empowerment intervention and a multiple family group family strengthening intervention, to reduce the risk factors associated with the independent migration of adolescent girls from the Northern region to big cities in Ghana. We conducted semi-structured interviews separately with 20 adolescent girls and their caregivers who participated in ANZANSI. Interviews were conducted in the local language and transcribed and translated verbatim. Informed by the theoretical framework of acceptability, the data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results showed high intervention acceptability among both adolescent girls and their caregivers, including low burden, positive affective attitude, high perceived effectiveness, low opportunity costs, and high self-efficacy. The study findings underline the high need for such interventions in low-resource contexts in Ghana and provide the foundation for testing this intervention in a larger randomized trial. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interventions Addressing Adolescent Health in Community Settings in Low-Resource Contexts)

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