ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Illness perception, diabetes knowledge and self-care practices among type-2 diabetes patients: A cross-sectional study

Background: Self-care practices among persons living with type-2 diabetes are very crucial in diabetes manages as poor self-care results in complications. However, little research exists within the Ghanaian context. This study examined whether type-2 diabetes patients' illness perception and diabetes knowledge significantly predict diabetes self-care practices. Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was employed and a total of 160 participants (45 males and 115 females) were sampled from a general hospital in Accra. A self-administered questionnaire measuring illness perception, diabetes knowledge and diabetes self-care practices as well as demographic checklist were used collect data. Results: Results showed that illness perception and diabetes knowledge significantly predicted overall diabetes self-care practices. Analysis of domain specific self-care practices showed that patients' diet was significantly predicted by illness perception and diabetes knowledge. Exercise was significantly predicted by only illness perception while blood sugar testing and diabetes foot-care were significantly predicted by diabetes knowledge. Conclusion: Cognitive and emotional representation of diabetes and diabetes knowledge are key determinants of patients' diabetes self-care practices. It is therefore important that appropriate psychosocial interventions are developed to help patients' adherence to recommended self-care practices.

Source: UG
Illness perception, religiosity and mental health of diabetic patients in Ghana

This study examines the influence of diabetic patients’ perception of their illness and their levels of religiosity on their mental health problems. A sample of 194 diabetic patients was drawn from two major hospitals (Korle-Bu Teaching and Tema General Hospitals) in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. The cross-sectional survey method was used as the study design. Results from Pearson correlation show that the diabetic patients’ level of religiosity did not significantly correlate with their mental health problems. However, illness perception correlates significantly and positively with their general mental health problem (GSI) and specific ones such as somatization, obsessive-compulsion, depression, anxiety and psychoticism. Multiple regression analyses show that level of general mental health problem (GSI) was significantly predicted by perception of illness Coherence followed by perceptions Symptoms and Concern. Similarly, perception of coherence was the most significant predictor of both depression and anxiety among diabetic patients. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Source: UG
Illness representations and coping practices for self-managing hypertension among sub-Saharan Africans: A comparative study among Ghanaian migrants and non-migrant Ghanaians

Objective Hypertension (HTN) control is a major obstacle among sub-Saharan African populations partly due to poor self-management. We explored and compared how persons’ social and physical context shapes their illness representations regarding HTN and the coping strategies they develop and adapt to mitigate challenges in self-managing HTN. Methods A cross sectional multisite qualitative study using semi-structured interviews among 55 Ghanaians with HTN living in The Netherlands and urban and rural Ghana. A thematic approach was used in data analysis. Results Family HTN history, personal experiences with HTN and outcomes of using biomedical and traditional treatments shaped participants’ illness representations and coping strategies. Migrants and urban non-migrants modified medication schedules and integrated taking medication into daily routine activities to cope with experienced side effects of taking antihypertensive medication while rural non-migrants used traditional remedies and medicines to mitigate experienced medication side effects and/or in search for a cure for HTN. Conclusion Contextual factors within participants’ social and physical environments shape their illness representations and coping strategies for HTN though interactive phrases. Practice implications Health professionals should harness the relationships within peoples’ social and physical environments, encourage implementation of family-wide behavioural changes and involve family and communities in HTN treatment to enhance patients’ self-management of HTN.

Source: UG
The “illusion” of administrative sovereignty in developing countries: A historical institutionalism perspective on administrative sovereignty in Ghana

The emergence of transnational administrations and their influence on domestic affairs of countries have led to the questioning of the notion of administrative sovereignty. Yet, the question of whether countries have this sovereignty and how it should be understood is to be fully resolved and the debate continues unabated. In this In this paper, we contribute to this debate by focusing on whether countries from the developing south are and can be administratively sovereign and to what extent can be considered as such. Have Have developing countries ever been administratively sovereign? To what To what extent are these states administratively sovereign, if any? In short, how free are the authorities in these countries to organize their own administrative apparatuses in policy development and service delivery? What can historical institutionalism teach us about the issue of administrative sovereignty? Following the continuum in the understanding of administrative sovereignty and using a desk review and organizing the evidence through historical institutionalism as a concept, the Ghanaian case shows limited administrative sovereignty

Source: UG
The Image of Nurses and Midwives in Ghana: Patient and Family Perspectives

This study aims to explore the perceptions of patients and family caregivers on the image of nurses and midwives in Ghana. The study adopted a qualitative exploratory descriptive approach. A total of 25 participants were interviewed during data collection. Content and thematic analysis were applied in the data analysis to develop themes. The findings are captured under two major themes that describe the primary influences on participant images of nurses: Thus, (1) nurses’ and midwives’ attributes with four subthemes; staff appearance, communication strategies and behaviors, work attitudes, and professional competence and (2) patients’ status and subthemes were; uneducated poor and educated rich. We conclude that patients and families in Ghana recognize the professional attributes of the nurse and midwife, which reflect in their personality, grooming, communication, competencies, and attitudes. However, low publicity of the professional roles of nurses and midwives may have negative repercussions for their professional image. A policy to perform a regular public audit on the image of the Nurse/Midwife is important for professional advancement.

Source: UG
Images of Rape in African Fiction: Between the Assumed Fatality of Violence and the Cry for Justice

A horrendous aspect of patriarchy and dominator ideology, rape has in recent times captured the attention of civil society and the imagination of creative writers. The frequency of rape in peacetime, traditional, colonial, liberation war, and civil war contexts, since the dawn of time, seems to suggest that this gendered violence is inevitable. The paper argues that in presenting various images of rape, no matter how traumatizing, writers seek to draw attention to the crime and even more importantly, to the need to halt its frequency and dispel its aura of fatality.

Source: UG
Imaginaries of platform entrepreneurship in the creative industries: techno-optimism and subversion in Ghanaian filmmaking

This article examines imaginaries of platform entrepreneurship in film industries in Ghana. To understand how these imaginaries are spatially shaped and locally defined, we carried out in-depth qualitative research with fifty filmmakers in four regions of Ghana. Digital and platform technologies have long been optimistically celebrated as a way for marginalized creative entrepreneurs, particularly in Africa, to break into global markets and reach unprecedented levels of business success. However, far from being universally adopted by African creative entrepreneurs, these global techno-optimistic imaginaries are continually reworked, contested and subverted in practice. In this article, we show how Ghanaian filmmakers mobilized, deployed and resisted imaginaries of platform entrepreneurship in their efforts to make sense of their situated entrepreneurial practices and to imagine the future of their creative businesses. We found that rather than naïvely adhering to techno-optimist imaginaries, through their practices, Ghanaian filmmaking entrepreneurs challenged the power geometry of the current platform ecosystem dominated by major Silicon Valley players. We contribute empirically rich data on how filmmaking entrepreneurs use and imagine platform technologies, as is necessary when African digital entrepreneurs are surrounded by hype but inadequate data. We also contribute to the literature about how individual platforms and platform types have unique affordances and how these affordances are shaped by the location and socio-economic position of the entrepreneur.

Source: UG
Imaginaries of platform entrepreneurship in the creative industries: techno-optimism and subversion in Ghanaian filmmaking

This article examines imaginaries of platform entrepreneurship in film industries in Ghana. To understand how these imaginaries are spatially shaped and locally defined, we carried out in-depth qualitative research with fifty filmmakers in four regions of Ghana. Digital and platform technologies have long been optimistically celebrated as a way for marginalized creative entrepreneurs, particularly in Africa, to break into global markets and reach unprecedented levels of business success. However, far from being universally adopted by African creative entrepreneurs, these global techno-optimistic imaginaries are continually reworked, contested and subverted in practice. In this article, we show how Ghanaian filmmakers mobilized, deployed and resisted imaginaries of platform entrepreneurship in their efforts to make sense of their situated entrepreneurial practices and to imagine the future of their creative businesses. We found that rather than naïvely adhering to techno-optimist imaginaries, through their practices, Ghanaian filmmaking entrepreneurs challenged the power geometry of the current platform ecosystem dominated by major Silicon Valley players. We contribute empirically rich data on how filmmaking entrepreneurs use and imagine platform technologies, as is necessary when African digital entrepreneurs are surrounded by hype but inadequate data. We also contribute to the literature about how individual platforms and platform types have unique affordances and how these affordances are shaped by the location and socio-economic position of the entrepreneur

Source: UG
An imaginary line? Decolonisation, bordering and borderscapes on the Ghana–Togo border

Africa’s inherited colonial borders have been central in debates on decolonisation for reasons that include challenges posed to African mobilities and identities, suggesting that there is a crisis of ideas about the border. This article draws on critical border studies (CBS) to examine the agency and negotiating capabilities of border residents using Leklebi and Wli, on the Ghana–Togo border, as case studies. How are discourses and practices of the border embedded in the contemporary everyday life of the borderland residents? What do their bordering practices reveal about their borderscapes? Are borderscapes being created or negotiated dependent on context? It argues that in these borderlands, borderscapes and bordering are conceived and expressed con textually not only through the lens of the postcolonial territorial border but also through the precolonial migration histories as well as precolonial concepts of political space. It contributes to border studies by highlighting the importance of historical and cultural factors in bordering and borderscapes. An understanding of such complexities may, in a significant way, help us to rethink or reconsider the arbitrariness of borders.

Source: UG
Imaging a President: Rawlings in The Ghanaian Chronicle

The post-independence political history of Ghana is replete with failed civilian and military governments. At the close of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, a young Air Force Officer, Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, burst onto the political scene through a coup. After a return to civilian rule in 1992, with him as Head of State, he was to finally step down in 2000. For a greater part of his rule, press freedom was curtailed. But with the advent of civilian rule backed by a Constitution that guarantees press freedom, the country experienced a phenomenal increase in privately-owned media. One of these is The Ghanaian Chronicle, the most popular private newspaper in the last years of Rawlings’ time in office. This study, under the influence of Critical Discourse Analysis, examines “Letters to the Editor” published in The Ghanaian Chronicle that focused on Rawlings. Through manipulating various discourse structures, writers of these letters project an anti-Rwalings ideology as a means of resisting what they see as political dominance reflected in Rawlings rule.

Source: UG
Imagining a future from the pit: Future aspirations of young artisanal-small scale miners in rural northern Ghana

Artisanal Small-Scale Mining (ASM) in rural northern Ghana provides significant income earning opportunities for young men and women. However, little is known about the role of ASM in the imagined futures of these young people. This paper draws ghhon a qualitative study involving semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions held with 35 rural youth to fill this information gap. Data were analysed using the thematic analysis approach. The findings show that rural young miners imagine a future in which ASM would not be their mainstay of employment. Instead, ASM is viewed as a means to accumulate money to either restart or further their education, secure professional employment, or to establish their own business. Finance together with unforeseen life events and hazards such as accidents, death, illness, and injuries are cited by all respondents as key challenges that might make it impossible for them to realise their imagined futures. These findings have important implications for policies seeking to promote youth employment in rural Africa

Source: UG
Imbalance of antioxidant enzymes activities and trace elements levels in Ghanaian HIV-infected patients

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and antiretroviral therapy (ART) have been associated with high oxidative stress in HIV patients. The disparity in antioxidant-oxidant levels in HIV patients favours viral replication and disease progression. This study aimed at determining the effect of ART on antioxidant enzymes activities and trace elements levels in Ghanaian HIV patients. A total of 242 participants; comprising of 105 HIV-infected patients on ART, 77 HIV-infected ART-naïve, and 60 HIV seronegative controls were recruited for the study. Whole blood was collected and used for haematological profiling, and the determination of CD4+ counts, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and trace element levels. Serum was used for liver function tests and the determination of glutathione reductase (GR) activity, and plasma was used to estimate reduced glutathione (GSH) levels. Low levels of haemoglobin (HB), hematocrit, mean cell volume (MCV) and mean cell hemoglobin (MCH), and trace elements were found in ART-naïve patients compared to those on ART and the seronegative controls. In the ART-naïve patients, glutathione reductase (GR) activity and reduced glutathione (GSH) level were significantly low compared to patients on ART and seronegative controls. Activity of SOD was significantly reduced in ART-naïve patients compared to those on ART and the control group, and manganese is the only trace element that showed a strong negative correlation with SOD activity and a positive and significant correlation with CD4+ count, and therefore needs to be investigated further. The study suggests that assessing antioxidant levels or enzymes activities of patients infected with HIV should be considered during therapy.

Source: UG
Immediate management of inadvertent dural puncture during insertion of a labour epidural: a survey of Australian obstetric anaesthetists

Immediate management of inadvertent dural puncture during insertion of an epidural needle during labour is controversial and evidence to guide clinical practice is limited. We surveyed Australian obstetric anaesthetists by anonymous postal questionnaire. Of the 671 surveys sent, 417 (62%) were returned. Following dural puncture, 265 respondents (64%) indicated that they "would usually remove the Tuohy needle and resite". The most common reason for this decision was concern regarding the safety of intrathecal catheters (ITC) (n = 236, 89%), in particular, the risk of misuse (n = 182, 70%). The most frequently reported reason for "usually inserting an ITC" was that this reduced the incidence (n = 120, 84%) and severity (n = 110, 77%) of post dural puncture headache. Increased frequency of ITC insertion was reported by respondents who practised more frequent sessions of obstetric anaesthesia, had fewer years of experience as a consultant anaesthetist and worked in a public hospital. The more widespread use of ITCs seems to be limited by safety concerns.

Source: UG
Immigration to ghana

The globalization of international labor migration is manifest in all countries now engaging in migration systems that are growing in size and complexity and producing an increasing diversity of flows. Furthermore, many of the processes that create and drive these systems operate on a worldwide basis, the consequence of economic globalization, capital mobility and widespread realization by governments that human resources can be traded for profit like any other resource. This paper looks at Ghana's immigration policy in the light of its economic situation. It characterizes Ghana's immigration policy as geared towards using immigration to attract critical foreign investment, transfer of technology and human resource capital/skills for socio-economic development. Running concurrently is the policy to prevent illegal immigration, transnational crime, economic exploitation, social corruption and human trafficking. The paper concludes that when the economic situation of Ghana was buoyant in the 1960s it attracted many immigrants especially from neighboring West African countries, however when the country's economy saw a down turn, immigrants were used as a convenient scapegoat and many were expelled. The irony though is that while the current poor economic situation of Ghana has made Ghanaians to immigrate to other countries, the political stability of the country does attract other West Africans and non-Africans and it is affording the country the opportunity to streamline its immigration and citizenship laws. © 2006 by The Haworth Press, Inc.

Source: UG
Immigration, education, sense of community and mental well-being: the case of visible minority immigrants in Canada

Immigrants often cite improvements in quality of life as the motivation for immigration, yet it can lead to the loss of social networks, family and community ties. This article employed key informant interviews to explore visible minorities’ sense of community from the perspectives of immigrant resettlement service providers. Nine key informants were interviewed to document visible minority immigrants’ experiences in Canada, and how this affected their sense of community. Participants identified barriers to immigrants’ development of a new sense of community, including discrimination tied to improper placement within the Canadian educational system, unemployment/underemployment, poor housing conditions, language barriers, and lack of social support networks. Confronting these barriers will require creating a stronger sense of community by providing more and better support of immigrants, visible minorities and everyone across Canada. This would help eliminate discrimination against ethnic minorities and enhance a sense of community belonging amongst visible minorities in Canada.

Source: UG
Immune activation and arterial stiffness in lean adults with HIV on antiretroviral therapy

Background: Greater T-cell activation was associated with reduced vascular compliance amongst persons living with HIV (PLWH) especially among overweight and obese individuals. There is a paucity of data regarding immune activation and arterial stiffness amongst PLWH in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Objective: To determine the association between immune activation and arterial stiffness in lean PLWH in SSA. Method: Forty-eight human immunodeficiency virus positive (HIV+) adults on antiretroviral therapy (ART) >5 years and 26 HIV-negative adults, all with BMI < 25 kg/m2 and no history of CVD, were enrolled. The relationship of vascular compliance with circulating CD4+ and CD8+ naïve, memory, activated and senescent T cells, and serum 8-isoprostane was assessed by HIV status. Results: Increased immune activation was observed in the CD4+ and CD8+ T cells of PLWH, 16.7% vs. 8.9% and 22.0% vs. 12.4% respectively; p < 0.001 (both). Furthermore, a higher proportion of senescent CD4+ T cells were associated with a lower carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV; p = 0.01), whilst a higher proportion of activated CD8+ T cells were associated with a lower carotid-radial pulse wave velocity (crPWV; p = 0.04), after adjustment for BMI and age. However, PLWH also had a higher median carotid-femoral augmentation index (cfAiX) (21.1% vs. 6.0%; p < 0.05) in comparison to their HIV controls. Conclusion: Our population of lean PLWH had increased immune activation and higher cfAiX, a marker of arterial stiffness, compared to HIV-negative persons. The negative association between immune activation and arterial stiffness as measured by crPWV in PLHW on long-term treatment needs further elucidation.

Source: UG
Immune responses during helminth-malaria co-infection: a pilot study in Ghanaian school children

The Department of Parasitology conducts research into parasitic diseases of public health importance with the overall goal of reducing their transmission and the heavy disease burden that they impose on affected populations. The Department maintains focus on parasitic diseases in general. These include major diseases such as malaria, and others listed under the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) control initiative such as, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis.

Source: UG
Immune Responses to the Sexual Stages of Plasmodium falciparum Parasites

Malaria infections remain a serious global health problem in the world, particularly among children and pregnant women in Sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, malaria control and elimination is hampered by rapid development of resistance by the parasite and the vector to commonly used antimalarial drugs and insecticides, respectively. Therefore, vaccine-based strategies are sorely needed, including those designed to interrupt disease transmission. However, a prerequisite for such a vaccine strategy is the understanding of both the human and vector immune responses to parasite developmental stages involved in parasite transmission in both man and mosquito. Here, we review the naturally acquired humoral and cellular responses to sexual stages of the parasite while in the human host and the Anopheles vector. In addition, updates on current anti-gametocyte, anti-gamete, and anti-mosquito transmission blocking vaccines are given. We conclude with our views on some important future directions of research into P. falciparum sexual stage immunity relevant to the search for the most appropriate transmission-blocking vaccine.

Source: UG