Societies

The transition from education to work in the global economy is no longer a straightforward one-time move for young people. In Bulgaria, this change started with the transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy in the 1990s and was accompanied by the arrival of high rates of early school leaving, youth unemployment, and a growing group of disengaged youths (NEETs). The European initiatives in support of youth labour market integration are translated locally, with a narrow focus on “employability” while neglecting the many educational, training, and social needs of young people. The analysis in this paper is informed by the theoretical framework of life course research. It starts with an elaboration of the recontextualisation of EU policies such as the Youth Guarantee in the local realities of socioeconomic structures using Eurostat and national data. Second, we present 4 case studies (selected out of a total of 42 in-depth interviews) of young adults aged 18–30 in order to highlight the ways in which young people’s individual agency filters and influences the institutional policies and practices regulating youth social integration. Our qualitative analysis reveals the multiplicity and diversity of youth journeys into work through the institutions and social structures and the inadequacy of the applied policy measures. Full article

We share our collective stories as instructors and graduate students with an interest in decolonial education on how we learned together in a course on Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS). The course occurred in the environmental studies department at a predominantly White graduate school in the Connecticut river basin in the area now known as the USA. The topic of IKS is steadily gaining interest in the environmental education (EE) field, as evidenced by an increase (albeit small) in the number of publications in peer-reviewed journals. At the same time, decolonial educators are looking for ways to teach IKS in an ethical and respectful manner. Our goal for this paper was to share how we grappled with questions around ethics and cultural appropriation. For instance, as decolonial educators who are not Indigenous to communities where we work and reside, can we facilitate lessons on IKS? If so, how can we do it in a manner that honors IKS and knowledge holders, is ethical, respectful and not appropriating? We learned that applying decolonization factors was crucial. Specifically, our work revealed four key decolonization factors: centering programs in Indigenous philosophies of education, privileging Indigenous voices and engaging Elders as experts, promoting Etuptmumk/two-eyed seeing, and employing Indigenous ways of teaching and learning. This paper makes contributions to the environmental education field, particularly decolonial educators who are seeking respectful and ethical ways to engage with Indigenous knowledge systems. Full article

Due to an array of individual, institutional and structural factors, several constraints hinder the access of migrant youth to education, training and employment in Catalonia. In this article, we explore the conditions in which young migrants access the education and training system in Catalonia (Spain). Drawing on the theory of opportunity structures, we highlight three constraints that narrow their education and training opportunities. Our approach runs away from individualistic explanations of success or failure. The research draws on 5 focus groups and 10 in-depth interviews with young migrants who were participating in a training scheme in 2019 and 2020. Our results point out three types of conditioning factors that constrain opportunities and sometimes become unsurmountable barriers. Firstly, their migrant status narrows their opportunities for education, training and employment. Secondly, current administrative procedures eventually disrupt the ways in which certain young newcomers follow the mainstream education and training pathways. Finally, certain circumstances have inflicted socio-emotional wounds on young newcomers, not only because they have left their country and suffered from socio-economic deprivation, but also because they have been compelled to suddenly adjust their expectations. Full article

Alienation between farmers and citizens has increased amid complex developments of agriculture’s intensification, urbanization processes, demographic change, and specialization in food supply chains in developed countries. Traditional public relations instruments have failed to generate societal acceptance of today’s intensive agricultural practices. At the same time, the agricultural sector feels alienated from societal value changes. Other controversial contexts showed that open face-to-face encounters at eye level hold the potential to promote mutual understanding and acceptance. The study aims to analyze how speed-dating conversations between farmers and citizens, considering participants’ characteristics, impact different outcome variables. 24 farmers and 22 citizens specifically recruited for participation in the speed-dating were organized to have short conversations of 10–15 min in different farmer-citizen-constellations. Each conversation had a specific overall agricultural topic including animal welfare, agricultural technology, environmental protection, agricultural policy, and esteem for food. Four months after, different outcomes were measured in a follow-up survey. For 84 person-constellations complete dyadic data were available to be analyzed by hierarchical regression analyses. Participants were mostly satisfied with the dialogue format and gained new factual and personal information. Results indicate stronger impacts of socio-demographic characteristics and personality traits than characteristics of the conversations themselves. Constellations with male citizens, female farmers, more educated farmers, extroverted participants, emotionally stable farmers, and more open participants tended to have higher dyadic outcome variable values. The results call for a re-design of farmer-citizen dialogue formats to facilitate more direct interpersonal communication. Full article

One means of reducing violence against people experiencing domestic abuse is to improve the pathway which they use to access help from the police and other services. In this paper we report and reflect on a project which contributes to violence reduction via a participatory approach to service improvement, focusing on this pathway. We describe the four phases of an innovative experience-based co-design (EBCD) project, which involved collaborating with domestic abuse survivors as well as members of the police and domestic abuse organizations. We report on indicators of the acceptability and feasibility of EBCD in this context. We also reflect upon the potential of the EBCD approach for involving communities in collaborating with services to reduce domestic abuse. We discuss the conceptual and methodological implications with regard to adopting participatory and inclusive approaches in contexts where power-sharing may be difficult. We argue that EBCD has considerable potential for use in this setting and we identify several areas where insights from this project could be used to improve the future viability of any such initiatives. Full article

The Health in All Policies (HiAP) approach has emerged as a central strategy for promoting health at local, regional, and state levels in different countries. Representing a complex and complicated strategy, evaluations of HIAP at the local level are scarce, and scholars call for more knowledge and critical discussions regarding how to evaluate at this level. In this conceptual paper, I discuss how summative and formative evaluation approaches might supplement each other when evaluating HiAP at the local level. First, I discuss the possibilities of using summative and formative evaluation of HiAP. Further, I discuss how formative-dialogue research might represent possibilities for evaluation by combining the two approaches. Finally, I ask if there has been a shift in the Norwegian evaluation discourse, from the promotion of summative evaluation alone to a combination of both summative and formative methods. Full article

An earthquake of magnitude 7.8 M_W and 6.8 M_W struck Nepal on 25 April and 12 May, 2015, respectively, which caused massive damage. In such crises, understanding the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) situation is of paramount importance. Therefore, we aimed to assess the WASH situation and its impact on health, particularly in the Sindhupalchowk district. A questionnaire survey and microbial analysis of water samples were conducted. Descriptive statistics and parametric and non-parametric statistical tests were employed. The results revealed that 97.1% of water samples from the source during the pre-monsoon season and 98.5% during the monsoon season had fecal contamination. Similarly, 92.8% of water samples during the pre-monsoon season and 96.7% during the monsoon season at point of use (PoU) had fecal contamination. Furthermore, water consumption was comparatively less during the pre-monsoon season. The increase in water consumption improved hygiene behavior and lowered the prevalence of waterborne diseases. Similarly, less water consumption affected water handling behavior; for example, the cleaning interval of storage vessels was less frequent. An increase in cleaning interval resulted in fecal contamination of water at PoU. The findings of this study can be useful in the review of existing WASH policy and plans and integration with the disaster management plan for disaster risk reduction. Full article

This study concerns young people who have experienced war, taken shelter in Sweden, and been placed in institutions. The purpose of the study is to identify and analyze power relations that contribute to the shaping of young people’s identities and repertoires of action via stigmatizations and social comparisons with different reference groups. The study’s empirical material includes qualitatively oriented interviews with six young people from Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan who have experienced war, followed by placement in institutional care in Sweden. Analytical findings with the following themes are presented: (1) concrete—physical exercise of power, (2) blackmail as an exercise of power, and (3) anonymous—bureaucratized exercise of power. The study demonstrates that narratives about war, escaping war, and postwar life in Sweden, constructing and reconstructing an image of a series of interactive rituals that are both influenced by and influence the power dynamic between the actors. This relationship, in turn, creates and recreates an interplay among the stigmatizing experiences of the youths, their social comparisons, and definitions of inequality. Full article

In many countries, data collection on sexual violence incidents is not integrated into the healthcare system, which makes it difficult to establish the nature of sexual offences in this country. This contributes to widespread societal denial about the realities of sexual violence cases and the collective oppression of survivors and their families. Capturing detailed information about incidents (e.g., characteristics of perpetrators, where it happened, victims, and the offence) can dispel myths about sexual violence and aid in crime prevention and interventions. This article examines how information about sexual violence incidents—in particular, offences committed against children in Kenya—is gathered from two different data sources: the Violence Against Children Survey (VACS) and data collected by the Wangu Kanja Foundation (WKF), a survivor-led Kenyan NGO that assists sexual violence survivors in attaining vital services and justice. These two surveys provide the most comprehensive information about sexual and gender-based violence. The analysis indicates that, while the VACS provides information about the prevalence of sexual violence, it provides less detailed information about the nature of violence (e.g., characteristics of perpetrators, victims, and the offence) compared with the WKF dataset. We critically reflect on how validity and informativeness can be maximised in future surveys to better understand the nature of sexual violence, as well as other forms of gender-based violence, and aid in prevention and response interventions/programming. Full article

This study aimed to investigate how family structure varies and identify its time trends in European and North American countries using data from seven surveys conducted between 1994 and 2018 according to the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. The current family structure in 44 countries was described and time trend analysis of 28 countries was performed. Adolescents were asked whom they lived with in their home to describe family structures. Family structures showed distinct patterns and dynamics between countries. In 2018, in all countries, 73% of adolescents lived with both their mother and father; 14% and 5% of adolescents lived in a single-parent family and stepfamily, respectively; and around 9% of adolescents lived in another family type. In the period 1994–2018, the proportion of young people living in intact families decreased from 79.6% to 70.0%, on average about 10 percentage points. There were no significant changes in the prevalence of single-parent families and stepfamilies, but a significant increase in the number of adolescents living without either parent was revealed. The findings have implications for cross-national adjustment of adolescent health, well-being, and behaviours, and for critical analysis of socioeconomic family resources. Full article

Healthcare policy reform is evident when considering the past, present and future of long-term care (LTC) in Canada. Some of the most pressing issues facing the LTC sector include the changing demographic composition in Canadian LTC homes, minimal consideration for the role of intersectionality in LTC data collection and analysis, and the expanding need to engage diverse participants and knowledge users. Using the Transtheoretical Model of Change (TTMC) as a framework, we consider opportunities to address intersectionality in LTC research. Engaging diverse knowledge users in LTC (e.g., unpaid caregivers, paid care staff), community (e.g., advocacy groups, service providers) and policy decision-makers (e.g., provincial government) is crucial. Empowering individuals to participate, modifying environments to support engagement, and facilitating ongoing partnerships with knowledge users are critical aspects of change efforts. Addressing structural barriers (e.g., accessibility, capacity, jurisdictional policies, and mandates) to research in LTC is also essential. The TTMC offers a framework for planning and enacting individual, organizational, and system-level changes for the future of LTC. Full article

This paper examines the orientations to the future of young people living in low-income families in the U.K. and Portugal following the 2008 Global Financial Crisis and the contexts in which they are socially reproduced. It is based on data from comparative research on families and food poverty, funded by the European Research Council. The study focused on parents and young people aged 11–16 living in low-income families in three European countries (the U.K., Portugal and Norway); only the U.K. and Portuguese data were analysed here. Given the study was concerned with the consequences of low income for food insecurity, we primarily sought to understand how young people manage in the present; however, the project also affords a theoretical and methodological opportunity to explore young people’s thoughts about the future as they begin to transition to adulthood. We found that, when asked about the future, young people responded in different ways: some said they did not think about the future; others mentioned their dreams, but considered them unrealisable. while others expressed hopes that were more concrete and achievable. Precarity constrained the control that young people and their families exercised over their lives. We argue that young people’s aspirations and time horizons are framed in relation to the present and the temporalities of the life course, the public discourses to which they are subjected and the limited access of their families to resources provided by the labour market and the state. Full article

Almost all academic literature about the causes and consequences of fairness of elections and referenda is based on retrospective evaluations. One of the strongest findings of such studies is that nonvoting is higher among citizens who retrospectively perceived an election as unfair. However, on logical grounds, it is impossible to attribute lower rates of voting to retrospectively perceived unfairness because at the time of the vote citizens can only rely on their prospective expectations of fairness. Moreover, it is well documented that retrospective evaluations are strongly influenced by the outcome of the election which is, at the time of voting, still unknown. In view of the dearth of earlier studies on prospective views of electoral fairness, this article presents the first major exploratory analyses of determinants and consequences of prospective expectations of electoral fairness. Using data from Britain about expectations of fairness of three general elections and two referenda in the period between 2014 and 2019, it shows that the public hold mixed views about the fairness they expect to find when voting. The article demonstrates that these prospective fairness beliefs are sometimes noticeably different to retrospective beliefs in terms of their predictors. Moreover, in sharp contrast to literature based on retrospective evaluations, this article also finds that prospective evaluations do not importantly affect the decision to vote. These findings have important implications for how we understand and evaluate the inclusiveness of elections. Full article

The life course in general, and the educational trajectories of young people in particular, comprise a high degree of complexity as they take place in iterative, recursive and interactive negotiation processes in which numerous actors, institutions and discourses are involved. In this paper, an attempt is made to combine two conceptual discussions—Life Course and Governance—bringing them to bear on the examination of how Lifelong Learning (LLL) policies have been used to govern young people’s life courses. The paper synthesizes different discussions of the complex relations among governance, discourses and structures of opportunity that impact the governing of the life course and particularly educational trajectories. It suggests that the combination of life course research and a governance perspective enables analyzing the governance of educational trajectories along discursive, institutional and relational dimensions of opportunity structures. Considering these various dimensions, the paper argues, allows us to attend to the social interactions, decision-making processes and processing mechanisms that precede and/or underlie educational processes and thus favor or complicate them. The contribution also critically discusses the implications of a governance perspective on life courses and closes with a discussion of the multidimensional and multilevel challenge of governing life course by means of LLL policies. Full article

The structural risk perspective conceptualizes the causes of inequities in child protection system contact as unequal exposure to the structural causes of child abuse risk, combined with biases in the responses of child welfare workers and reporters. This conceptual article proposes a third mechanism of inequity: instrumental biases. It is proposed that instrumental biases operate as a third group of mechanisms that inequitably increase the involvement of some groups and not others. Instrumental biases operate through institutional structures, interpretive concepts and risk proxies that affect how risk is coded and becomes attached to particular people. Against the background of the notify-investigate model that creates poor conditions for decision making, and shapes institutional structures, instrumental biases include the miscalibration of the demand and supply of services (an institutional cause); family-specific surveillance bias and a reliance on prior case histories (a risk proxy cause); widening legal definitions of serious harm (an interpretive concept cause); and complex responses to intimate partner violence that minimize theories of IPV and the social context it occurs within (concept and risk proxy causes). It is argued that within the decision-making context of the child protection system, how services are structured and risk becomes codified has disproportionate impacts on some communities compared to others. Examples from Aotearoa New Zealand, with reference to Māori and people living in high-deprivation areas, are used to illustrate these concepts. Full article

Introduction: The rapid global spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has made COVID-19 one of the biggest pandemics of all time, with several devastating public health challenges. In this study, we investigated the knowledge towards COVID-19 best practices in the north of Portugal. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed with a convenience sample of the population of northern Portugal to assess their knowledge about COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 and measures to prevent and mitigate pandemics. An online validated questionnaire was completed by 411 participants, from September to October 2020. Results: The overall correct knowledge was 81.3%, which indicates a good knowledge by the northern Portuguese respondents about COVID-19. The correct answer score differed considerably between men and women, being significantly higher among the latter (12.28 ± 1.22; p = 0.011). Moreover, the highest knowledge was observed in participants who attended high school or above (12.27 ± 1.21; p < 0.000). Conclusion: This study contributes to the analysis of COVID-19 knowledge by the northern Portuguese population, emphasizes the crucial role of health education in the control and mitigation of the COVID-19 pandemic, and provides field-based evidence to prevent the next pandemic event. Full article

Since the turn of the millennium, human resource transformation (HRT) has emerged as a popular management concept among organizations and consultants around the world. HRT has been presented as a recipe for how to transform the traditional personnel function and make personnel and HR work in more business-oriented, cost-effective, and value-creating ways. Through a comparative study of the actors that make up the so-called “management fashion arena” around HRT in the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden, and Denmark), the study provides insight into how the national actors influence and shape the diffusion of popular management concepts. The study shows that there are both similarities and differences between how the supply side is configured in the three countries. For example, large consulting firms have played an influential role in all three countries, while the influence of actors such as business schools and professional organizations varies considerably between the countries. The findings also suggest that there are powerful alliances between actors involved in the diffusion of HRT. Overall, the study sheds light on the global diffusion and “travel” of a predominantly North American-based HR concept and its reception in Scandinavia. Full article

Health professionals play an essential role in the protection and promotion of health rights without distinction of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, ethnicity/race, nationality and migration status, age, functional diversity, or any other individual and/or cultural positions. With the growing diversity of patient populations, health professionals must be able to identify and be responsive to individual and cultural diversity, ensuring equity in access to high-quality individually-centered care. For this, it is fundamental to promote training in cultural competence, understood as responsivity and the ability to work the valorization of multiple and intersectional identities throughout life. The paper aims to describe the experience of the implementation of the program “Health in Equality”, aimed at training the primary healthcare workforce in Portugal, which was based on Sue and Sue’s (2008) three-dimensional model of multicultural skills, which champions cultural best practices in an intersectional perspective. Based on the trainees’ and trainers’ evaluation of four completed editions developed online between March and July 2021, this study discusses ways to improve the impact of the training program and amplify the number of leaders and role models for other health care providers towards culturally competent healthcare systems and organizations. Full article

The racial identity literature has operationalized identity formation as progressive stage models, usually triggered by the experience of a negative race-based event. With the advent of new genealogical technology, it is imperative to include experiences that participants elect to experience (i.e., self-initiated or agentic encounter events). By using this perspective, identity processes become fluid and more expansive. In the context of this study, genetic ancestry tests are operationalized as a self-initiated encounter event. Participants (n = 8) were enrolled in an arts-in-education program that uses theater to explore Black Americans’ identities and family histories. This study used theater performance and modified life narrative interviews to understand how participation informed understandings of the self and others. Subsequent interviews highlighted how participants internalized the genetic test results and their participation within the group. Results indicated that, while participants were deeply invested in learning more about their ancestral roots, there were concerns related to the test results and their meaning for individuals. This study highlights that for the Black diaspora, identity is informed by ancestry and family history, as well as by interactions with created community members. Overall, this study opens the possibility for deeper exploration of racial identity formation within critical social psychology. Full article