ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Cardiovascular disease risk factors in Ghana during the rural-to-urban transition: A cross-sectional study

Populations in sub-Saharan Africa are shifting from rural to increasingly urban. Although the burden of cardiovascular disease is expected to increase with this changing landscape, few large studies have assessed a wide range of risk factors in urban and rural populations, particularly in West Africa. We conducted a cross-sectional, population-based survey of 3317 participants from Ghana (≥18 years old), of whom 2265 (57% female) were from a mid-sized city (Sunyani, population ∼250,000) and 1052 (55% female) were from surrounding villages (populations <5000). We measured canonical cardiovascular disease risk factors (BMI, blood pressure, fasting glucose, lipids) and fibrinolytic markers (PAI-1 and t-PA), and assessed how their distributions and related clinical outcomes (including obesity, hypertension and diabetes) varied with urban residence and sex. Urban residence was strongly associated with obesity (OR: 7.8, 95% CI: 5.3-11.3), diabetes (OR 3.6, 95% CI: 2.3-5.7), and hypertension (OR 3.2, 95% CI: 2.6-4.0). Among the quantitative measures, most affected were total cholesterol (+0.81 standard deviations, 95% CI 0.73-0.88), LDL cholesterol (+0.89, 95% CI: 0.79-0.99), and t-PA (+0.56, 95% CI: 0.48-0.63). Triglycerides and HDL cholesterol profiles were similarly poor in both urban and rural environments, but significantly worse among rural participants after BMI-adjustment. For most of the risk factors, the strength of the association with urban residence did not vary with sex. Obesity was a major exception, with urban women at particularly high risk (26% age-standardized prevalence) compared to urban men (7%). Overall, urban residents had substantially worse cardiovascular risk profiles, with some risk factors at levels typically seen in the developed world.

Source: UG
Cardiovascular disease risk prediction in sub-Saharan African populations — Comparative analysis of risk algorithms in the RODAM study

Background: Validated absolute risk equations are currently recommended as the basis of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk stratification in prevention and control strategies. However, there is no consensus on appropriate equations for sub-Saharan African populations. We assessed agreement between different cardiovascular risk equations among Ghanaian migrant and home populations with no overt CVD. Methods: The 10-year CVD risks were calculated for 3586 participants aged 40–70 years in the multi-centre RODAM study among Ghanaians residing in Ghana and Europe using the Framingham laboratory and non-laboratory and Pooled Cohort Equations (PCE) algorithms. Participants were classified as low, moderate or high risk, corresponding to < 10%, 10–20% and > 20% respectively. Agreement between the risk algorithms was assessed using kappa and correlation coefficients. Results: 19.4%, 12.3% and 5.8% were ranked as high 10-year CVD risk by Framingham non-laboratory, Framingham laboratory and PCE, respectively. The median (25th–75th percentiles) estimated 10-year CVD risk was 9.5% (5.4–15.7), 7.3% (3.9–13.2) and 5.0% (2.3–9.7) for Framingham non-laboratory, Framingham laboratory and PCE, respectively. The concordance between PCE and Framingham non-laboratory was better in the home Ghanaian population (kappa = 0.42, r = 0.738) than the migrant population (kappa = 0.24, r = 0.732) whereas concordance between PCE and Framingham laboratory was better in migrant Ghanaians (kappa = 0.54, r = 0.769) than the home population (kappa = 0.51, r = 0.758). Conclusion: CVD prediction with the same algorithm differs for the migrant and home populations and the interchangeability of Framingham laboratory and non-laboratory algorithms is limited. Validation against CVD outcomes is needed to inform appropriate selection of risk algorithms for use in African ancestry populations. © 2017 The Authors

Source: UG
Cardiovascular physical examination as a screening tool for congenital heart disease in newborns at a teaching hospital in Ghana

Objectives: To determine the usefulness of cardiovascular physical examination (CPE) as a screening tool in a lowresource setting for detecting congenital heart disease (CHD) in newborns delivered at the Maternity Unit of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), Accra, Ghana. Design: A hospital-based cross-sectional study with a comparison group component. Setting: Maternity Unit of the KBTH, Accra, Ghana. Participants: Over eight months, newborns aged 1-14 days delivered at ≥ 34 weeks’ gestation at the Maternity Unit, KBTH, were recruited into the study. Intervention: Each newborn was examined using a set of CPE parameters for the presence of congenital heart disease. Those with suggestive features of CHD had a confirmatory echocardiogram test. Main Outcome Measure: Abnormal CPE features and their corresponding echocardiogram findings. Results: A total of 1607 were screened, with 52 newborns showing signs of CHD on CPE, of which 20 newborns were proven on echocardiogram to have congenital heart disease. Abnormal CPE parameter that was associated with CHD was murmur (P=0.001), dysmorphism (p=0.01), newborns with chest recessions (p=0.01) and lethargy (p=0.02). CPE’s sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were 95%, 60.7%, 36.5% and 98,1%, respectively. The most common acyanotic CHD found was isolated atrial septal defect (ASD), followed by patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). The only cyanotic CHD found was a case of tricuspid atresia. Conclusion: Cardiovascular physical examination at birth is an effective and inexpensive screening tool for detecting CHD in newborns, which can easily be utilised in low-resource settings.

Source: UG
Care Decision Making of Frontline Providers of Maternal and Newborn Health Services in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana

The Epidemiology Department contributes to the mission of the institute through basic and applied epidemiological research on, but not limited to, malaria and other diseases of public health importance. It is also home to the Social Science Unit of the Institute, including the Health Support Centre for HIV/AIDS and other communicable and noncommunicable health problems.

Source: UG
Care Delivery In The Context Of District Mental Healthcare Plans In Ghana: A Qualitative Study Exploring Experiences Of Primary Healthcare Workers And Service Users.

Objective To explore the perceptions and experiences of mental health service users and healthcare workers regarding the implementation of district mental healthcare plans (DMHPs) in three district demonstration sites in Ghana. Design The study employed a qualitative design using reflexive thematic analysis. Interview data were analysed by combining inductive and deductive approaches. Setting The study was conducted in three DMHP districts in Ghana: Anloga (Volta), Asunafo North (Ahafo) and Bongo (Upper East). The districts were selected via national stakeholder consultations, using a DMHP framework. Data were collected between January 2023 and June 2023. Participants In-depth interviews were conducted with 28 primary healthcare workers who played key roles in the delivery of care in the demonstration districts. Thirty-two service users who are 18 years and above and have been receiving healthcare for the past year in the demonstration districts were also interviewed. Participants were purposively sampled. Findings Three main themes were identified: (1) factors supporting DMHP implementation, including capacity building, collaboration, awareness creation and acceptability; (2) challenges affecting DMHP implementation, such as inadequate resources and medication shortages and (3) perceived outcomes of the DMHPs, including improved well-being and daily functioning as well as changing attitudes towards mental health. Some district-level variations were noted in the intensity of challenges and outcomes. Conclusion The DMHPs have shown promise in improving mental healthcare in primary care settings in Ghana. However, addressing resource constraints and medication shortages and sustaining capacity building and awareness creation efforts will be crucial for successful scale-up. The perspectives of service users and healthcare providers offer valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners aiming to enhance integrated mental healthcare.

Source: UG
Care in creative work: exploring the ethics and aesthetics of care through arts-based methods

This article investigates creative work from an ex-centric perspective, bringing insights from work experiences in the Ghanaian creative industries to bear on the understanding of creative work as a relational labour of care and caring. We argue that the ethics and aesthetics of care in creative work can best be captured and appreciated through the use of innovative arts-based methodologies that afford researchers the opportunity to explore care-fully the relational aspects of creative work. Accordingly, we base our findings on insights generated from the organisation of and participation in an artistic research workshop in Ghana. We show that artistic workshops themselves constitute a caring and socially useful form of empirical research that upholds the principles of “creative justice” by fostering more respectful, attentive, and affective relationships among research participants and between researchers and participants.

Source: UG
Care-‘less’: exploring the interface between child care and parental control in the context of child rights for workers in children’s homes in Ghana

Background This study explored how employed caregivers experience the interface between child care, parental control and child rights in the context of Children’s Homes in Ghana. The focus was on investigating caregiver perceptions of proper child care, their experiences with having to work with child rights principles and the implication of these for their relationships with the children and the care services they deliver. Methods Adopting a qualitative approach with phenomenological design, data were collected from 41 caregivers in two children’s homes in Ghana using focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. Results It emerged that caregivers experienced frustrations with perceived limitations that child rights principles place on their control over the children describing it as lessening and, at the same time, complicating the care services they provide. Conclusions The findings suggest a need for a review of the implementation strategies of the child rights approach in that context. A re-organization of the children’s homes environment and re-orientation of caregivers and children regarding their relationship is also suggested.

Source: UG
Care-giver child interactions and early cognitive development in West and Central Africa

This paper studies the association between caregiver-child interactions and early childhood development in literacy and numeracy in West and Central Africa. data comes from Multiple Cluster Indicator Surveys (MICS) conducted in Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Togo between 2017 and 2020. A multilevel logistic regression is used to estimate the likelihood of being developmentally on track for 35,752 children aged 3–4 years. The results indicate that cognitive stimulating interactions with caregivers, such as reading and telling stories are correlated with a higher likelihood of being developed on track. Interactions with mothers are associated with significantly higher odds of being developmentally on track but not engaging in interactions with fathers.

Source: UG
Career adapt-abilities scale in Ghana: Psychometric properties and associations with individual-level ambidexterity and employees’ service performance

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale (CAAS) in Ghana and its associations with individual-level ambidexterity and employees’ service performance. The CAAS International-Form constitutes four sub-scales, each with six items, which measure career concern, career control, career curiosity, and career confidence as self-regulatory resources that could help individuals to effectively manage occupational transitions, developmental tasks, and work roles. We hypothesized that career adaptability relates positively to the two outcomes. We tested the internal consistency, factor structure, and the hypotheses with 443 service representatives in Ghana. Results indicated that the overall CAAS score and sub-scales were good and reliable. The factor structure was identical to that of the CAAS International-Form. As expected, career adaptability positively related to individual-level ambidexterity and employees’ service performance. These findings provide insights for research and career development.

Source: UG
Career adaptability and ambidextrous behavior among customer-service representatives: the role of perceived organizational support

With the increasing need for dynamism in the world, organizations and researchers have been interested in how employees can easily cope with change and be flexible on the job by using their foreknowledge and still being open to new ideas to boost their work output. Consequently, there has been an increase in research on ambidexterity. However, much is still unknown regarding the determinants of individual-level ambidexterity. This article examines the importance of career adaptability resources in predicting employees’ ambidextrous behavior and service performance. Our study also demonstrates the mediation role of ambidexterity in the career adaptability–service performance relationship as well as the moderating role of perceived organizational support (POS) in the ambidexterity–service performance relationship. Data were collected from 443 service representatives of telecommunication organizations in two timepoints. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the research hypotheses. SEM results show that career adaptability positively relates to ambidextrous behavior and service performance. While POS interacts with ambidexterity to positively predict service performance, ambidexterity serves as a mechanism through which career adaptability influences service performance. The study provides insight for practitioners to offer adequate guidance and a supportive working environment for both existing and prospective employees toward training and performance.

Source: UG
Career Aspirations of final year diploma in librarianship students of the University of Ghana, Legon

This study examines career aspirations of final year diploma in librarianship students at the University of Ghana. The questionnaire administered covered the demographic factors, educational background, work experience, career aspirations, and further education of the respondents. The findings of the study indicate that majority of the students are interested in the information profession but quite a significant number is not interested in the profession but rather interested in areas like banking, public relations, computer engineering, home science, military service among others. It has been suggested that students who are not interested in information management and related fields should be excluded out through a rigorous interviewing session since the mandate of the Department of Information Studies is to train information professionals.

Source: UG
Career development experiences of policewomen: insights from Ghana

Purpose – This study explores the career development experiences of policewomen in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach – This study used phenomenology to explore the career development experiences of policewomen. The policewomen were purposively selected from the Ghana Police Service. The data were gathered from 23 policewomen. The data were thematically analyzed with the help of the NVivo 14 qualitative software application. Findings – Career leadership orientations, career support mechanisms and career environments shaped the career development experiences of policewomen. These major themes, with related sub-themes and codes, enhance our understanding of these experiences. Practical implications – The senior management of the Ghana Police Service can eliminate institutionalized gender biases against policewomen by formulating and implementing gender-inclusive and women-sensitive staff development policies. Originality/value – This study first highlights the importance of career leadership orientations, career support mechanisms and career environment in understanding the career development experiences of policewomen.

Source: UG
Career development: follow-up studies of former graduate students of the Deparment of Library and Archival Studies University of Ghana, 1991/1992 to 1996/1997

This forms the concluding part of studies carried out by the Department of Library and Archival Studies, University of Ghana on the professional careers and activities of graduates of its Graduate-Diploma programme. As far as possible, the findings are compared with results of the earlier studies.

Source: UG
Career geographies in the Ghanaian fashion industry: from brain drain to brain gain and brain circulation

Brain drain has long been argued to be one of Africa’s key development challenges. This paper provides a more nuanced analysis of African career mobility through a focus on professionals in the creative industries, specifically Ghanaian fashion designers. Drawing on interviews with 31 fashion designers but focussing on the career geography of internationally renowned Kofi Ansah, we show how ‘brain drain’ turned into ‘brain gain’ and consequently ‘brain circulation’, fundamentally transforming Ghana’s fashion industry. The paper thus demonstrates how the knowledge and expertise return migrants gather through international career mobility can be converted into assets at an individual, national, and international level.

Source: UG
Career in radiology; the ghanaian clinical medical Student's perception

Background: The importance of radiology in this era of evidence-based medicine cannot be disputed. This has resulted in the increase in demand for radiologists. Thus, the issue of whether there would be sufficient numbers of medical students to meet this growing demand needs further probing. Purpose: To assess Ghanaian clinical medical students’ perceptions about a career in radiology. Materials and methods: This was an online questionnaire-based survey of 575 clinical medical students in five public medical schools in Ghana from September 2020 to February 2021. Student's t-test and one way analysis of variance was used to compare means. For the Likert scale questions, differences in the mean Likert scale responses were assessed among various clinical year groups and across gender using Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann–Whitney U tests. A logistic regression was used to determine the significant predictors of the choice of radiology as a career. Results: Most 340 (59.1%) of the participants were males. The average age of participants was 24.64 3.084 years. Students agreed that, radiology is relevant in this era of evidence-based medicine (mean Likert score ¼ 4.62, SD ¼ 0.819), which yielded significant responses in the third clinical year (p ¼ 0.004). Nearly 30% of respondents stated they did not receive enough didactic lectures or tutorials in radiology, citing insufficient lectures (89.9%), a lack of lecturers (9.5%), and trouble grasping ideas (0.7%) as their main concerns. 133 (23.1%) stated they would choose radiology as a specialty, with flexible working schedule (61.9%) and high income (68.3%) as their topmost reasons. Less patient contact (8.0%) was the least observed reason. A flexible working schedule increased the choice of radiology as a specialty by 2.319 folds (95% CI: 1.413–3.805, P ¼ 0.001). Teleradiology significantly contributed to the choice of radiology as a career (p ¼ 0.001). Conclusion: Generally, the clinical students had varied but positive perceptions on radiology as a specialty

Source: UG
Career progression of female librarians in public university libraries in Ghana

The growing interest in gender issues and female employment has generated a number of studies and the library and information profession has not been excluded from this interest in promoting female equality in employment. This study investigates the career patterns of practising professional female librarians in six selected public university libraries in Ghana, in order to establish the enhancers and inhibitors they experience in their career progression. The study, conducted with a survey method, adopted the use of self-administered questionnaires for data collection. Quantitative data gathered from the 128 librarians were analysed to report on descriptive characteristics of respondents, while qualitative data, from open-ended questions, were analysed, using the narrative analysis technique, to present a profile of respondents and their career histories. The findings reveal females in the study were unable to meet requirements for promotion in their various public university libraries, which has resulted in very slow progress in their careers and even stagnated careers. The study concludes by recommending that there should be a career development support system for females, to help them overcome barriers to advancement in university libraries

Source: UG
Caregiver Acceptability Of Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention In Two Districts In The Upper West Region, Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract Background Acceptability of malaria chemoprevention interventions by caregivers is crucial for overall programme success. This study assessed coverage and acceptability of Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) in selected com munities in the Northern part of Ghana. Methods An analytical cross-sectional design was conducted from“July 23rd to August 4th, 2020—a 12-day period that covered 5 days of the frst SMC implementation cycle and 7 days post-implementation. Using a stratifed multi stage sampling technique, a total of 495 caregivers providing care for 569 eligible children aged 3–59 months from randomly selected households in the study communities were enrolled into the study. Acceptability of SMC was assessed on a set of 19 questionnaire items-8 of the items measured caregivers’ perceptions and 11 items meas ured children’s reaction to administered medicines. Univariable and stepwise multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the predictors of acceptability of SMC at a 95% confdence interval and a p-value of 0.05. Results SMC coverage was 95.1% (541/569). Caregivers had a good level of knowledge of SMC (n=475; 96.0%; 95% CI 94.2—97.7%) and a good perception of SMC (n=471; 95.2%; 95% CI 93.3–97.0). Seven out of ten caregivers (70.9%; 95% CI 66.9–74.9%) had good acceptability of SMC. For 7 out of 28 children who did not receive the SMC interven tion, their caregivers intentionally refused them the intervention. Of those that received the treatment, 17.2% (n=85; 95%CI 13.8–20.5%) of caregivers had at least one leftover amodiaquine tablet after the third day of treatment. Caregiv ers who practice Christianity or Islam had better acceptability than caregivers who practice African traditional religion (p<0.001). Conclusion Health authorities and stakeholders can work towards bridging the gap between knowledge and SMC treatment practices of caregivers through continuous education, adherence counseling, and efective monitoring of SMC practices in malaria-endemic countries. Keywords SMC, Caregivers, Malaria, Acceptability, Ghana, Upper West region, Amodiaquine–sulfadoxine– pyrimethamine

Source: UG