Civic engagement among orphans and non-orphans in five low- and middle-income countries.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Communities and nations seeking to foster social responsibility in their
youth are interested in understanding factors that predict and promote youth involvement
in public activities. Orphans and separated children (OSC) are a vulnerable population
whose numbers are increasing, particularly in resource-poor settings. Understanding
whether and how OSC are engaged in civic activities is important for community and
world leaders who need to provide care for OSC and ensure their involvement in sustainable
development. METHODS: The Positive Outcomes for Orphans study (POFO) is a multi-country,
longitudinal cohort study of OSC randomly sampled from institution-based care and
from family-based care, and of non-OSC sampled from the same study regions. Participants
represent six sites in five low-and middle-income countries. We examined civic engagement
activities and government trust among subjects > =16 years old at 90-month follow-up
(approximately 7.5 years after baseline). We calculated prevalences and estimated
the association between key demographic variables and prevalence of regular volunteer
work using multivariable Poisson regression, with sampling weights to accounting for
the complex sampling design. RESULTS: Among the 1,281 POFO participants > =16 who
were assessed at 90-month follow-up, 45 % participated in regular community service
or volunteer work; two-thirds of those volunteers did so on a strictly voluntary basis.
While government trust was fairly high, at approximately 70 % for each level of government,
participation in voting was only 15 % among those who were > =18 years old. We did
not observe significant associations between demographic characteristics and regular
volunteer work, with the exception of large variation by study site. CONCLUSION: As
the world's leaders grapple with the many competing demands of global health, economic
security, and governmental stability, the participation of today's youth in community
and governance is essential for sustainability. This study provides a first step in
understanding the degree to which OSC from different care settings across multiple
low- and middle-income countries are engaged in their communities.
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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/13142Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1186/s12992-016-0202-8Publication Info
Gray, Christine L; Pence, Brian W; Messer, Lynne C; Ostermann, Jan; Whetten, Rachel
A; Thielman, Nathan M; ... Whetten, Kathryn (2016). Civic engagement among orphans and non-orphans in five low- and middle-income countries.
Global Health, 12(1). pp. 61. 10.1186/s12992-016-0202-8. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/13142.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Christine L Gray
Assistant Research Professor of Global Health
Dr. Christine (Chris) Gray is an assistant research professor in the Center for Health
Policy and Inequalities Research (CHPIR) in the Duke Global Health Institute. She
earned her PhD from the Department of Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) and her MPH from Emory University. She has been working with
CHPIR since 2014, when she began analytic work on the longitudinal Positive Outcomes
for Orphans cohort study as a doctoral student.
Prior to her do
Jan Ostermann
Adjunct Associate Professor of Global Health
Brian Wells Pence
Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health
Brian Wells Pence, PhD MPH, is trained as an infectious diseases epidemiologist.
His research interests focus primarily on the impact of trauma, mental illness, and
other psychosocial characteristics on HIV-related behaviors and clinical outcomes
and on the development of effective and practical interventiosn to address mental
illness in HIV patients.
Nathan Maclyn Thielman
Professor of Medicine
Broadly, my research focuses on a range of clinical and social issues that affect
persons living with or at risk for HIV infection in resource-poor settings. In Tanzania,
our group is applying novel methods to optimize HIV testing uptake among high-risk
groups. We recently demonstrated that the Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE), a form
of stated preference survey research, is a robust tool for identifying (a) which characteristics
of HIV testing options are most preferred by different populati
Kathryn Whetten
Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy
Director, Center for Health Policy and Inequalities ResearchResearch Director, Hart
Fellows Program,Professor, Public Policy and Global Health Professor, Nursing and
Community & Family Medicine Pronouns: they/themKathryn Whetten is the Principal Investigator
on multiple grants and publishes numerous scientific articles every year. In addition,
they mentor many students and give guest lectures and presentations throughout the
year.
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