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Health Promotion.

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Browsing Health Promotion. by Subject "Coping strategies."

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    Investigating the mental health needs of Zimbabwean refugees in Durban, South Africa : a thematic analysis.
    (2017) Dreyer, Chandré.; Cartwright, Duncan James.
    This study endeavoured to investigate the mental health needs of refugees to help establish the real cause of prevailing problems they experience in their host country, South Africa, so that deficits, gaps and needs in current intervention programs and services can be addressed to aid this population. The research questions aimed to investigate the psychological, emotional, social and environmental difficulties that refugees face on a daily basis which could contribute to their mental health needs. How refugees manage these difficulties was also investigated. A qualitative research design was used, with Braun and Clarke’s six-phased thematic analysis process used as the methodology of choice. Ten refugees from Zimbabwe living in Durban, South Africa, were purposively selected and semi-structured interviews were conducted to provide the required data. Thematic analysis was conducted and resulted in the identification of five themes: inaccessibility, basic needs, being a foreigner, emotional well-being, and internal and external coping strategies. The findings of this study show that refugees living in Durban present with mental health needs as they encounter various difficulties across the psychological, emotional, social and environmental domains. The primary difficulties identified by the refugees were difficulty with accessing employment and maintaining a secure income, as well as difficulty being a foreigner and not being accepted by the locals in Durban. The primary coping strategies identified by the refugees with these difficulties were their spiritual faith and social support. Limitations to the study included minimal time that the researchers could have with the refugees as only one interview could be conducted with each participant, and due to the sensitive experiences refugees might encounter, the possibility that some participants only share general and superficial concerns is possible.
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    Physical and mental health challenges of migrant female head porters (Kayayei) in Ghana: guidelines for health promotion interventions.
    (2021) Komesuor, Joyce.; Meyer -Weitz, Anna.
    Background: While internal migrants (Kayayei) in Ghana have been perceived as a vulnerable group faced with mental and physical health challenges, there has not been enough research on the impact of the trade on their health. Grounded on the broad bioecological framework of Bronfenbrenner and Morris, this study investigated the lived experiences, prevalence of physical and mental health challenges, risk factors for mental health challenges, protective factors that mitigate the effects of the daily lived experiences on mental health. Methods: The study adopted a sequential exploratory mixed method design whereby qualitative data were collected and analysed first to get in-depth understanding of the physical and mental health of Kayayei, followed by the quantitative survey. For the qualitative study, the study employed a purposive sampling technique to select 31 Kayayei from the Agbogbloshie market. The study utilised Interpretive Phenomenology Analysis (IPA) to analyse the transcripts from the qualitative study interviews. The quantitative aspect of the study undertook a cross-sectional survey using an interviewer-administered questionnaire to collect data from 352 participants. On the other hand, the quantitative study used exploratory factor analysis, Chi-Square test, mean test, and binary logistic regression for the analysis. Results: Results for the qualitative study showed that the main reasons for migrating to Accra are economic and cultural restrictions and oppression. The findings also revealed that the Kayayei were often maltreated, lacked decent accommodation, and were involved in accidents. To cope with the situation, they used religion, social support, and distractions such as entertainment. The quantitative results indicated that participants had low level of education. Only 6.2 per cent (n=21) had Senior High education, and the majority suffered from poor physical (59.9%) and mental health, [anxiety a94.4 per cent, followed by depression 86.6 per cent, and stress at 42.4 per cent] challenges. The difficult nature of their work context coupled with maltreatment by their clients contributed to poor mental health outcomes. The results showed participants adopted various coping strategies to deal with their situation. However, apart from humour, which helped mitigate stress (OR=0.358, 95% CI=0.169, 0.757, p= 0 007), all other coping strategies used by the Kayayei increased mental health distress. The use of denial coping strategy predicted depression (95% CI=2.428, 27.038, p=0.001), stress (95% CI=0.988, 3.323, p=0.005, p=0.005), and anxiety (95% CI= 2.37, 54.088, p= 0.002). The results also showed that participants received low to medium social support overall, while support from family and friends helped mitigate mental health distress. Conclusion: The results of the present study indicated that even though the work of Kayayei exposes them to physical and mental health challenges, the coping strategies they adopt create more rather than less mental health concerns. However, social support from family and friends helped to buffer the impact of the challenges. The findings of the present study were used to develop a multilevel prevention intervention aimed at training the Kayayei on the appropriate coping strategies to adopt to improve mental health outcomes. It is recommended that at the personal level, the Kayayei should have access to psychological counselling that will teach them how to adopt better coping strategies that could enhance their mental health outcomes. At the interpersonal level, the Kayayei should be assisted to form cooperatives that could facilitate social networks, proper integration, and social support for its members. At the structural level, relevant governmental and non-profit organisations should address the determinants of health including access to physical and mental health care services, employment opportunities, skills training, and affordable housing for the Kayayei. Finally, there should be structural change and interventions that target the mental health of the vulnerable in society, particularly women.