Browsing by Person "Eyber, Carola"

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Adapting teaching and learning in times of COVID-19: a comparative assessment among higher education institutions in a global health network in 2020
(BioMed Central, 2022-06-28) Puradiredja, Dewi Ismajani; Kintu-Sempa, Linda; Eyber, Carola; Weigel, Ralf; Broucker, Bruno; Lindkvist, Marie; Casamitjana, Nuria; Reynolds, Rodney; Klinkel, Hans-Friedemann; Matteelli, Alberto; Froeschl, Guenter
Abstract: Background: This research examines the ways in which higher education institutions (HEIs) across the tropEd Network for Education in International Health (tropEd) began to adapt their teaching and learning approaches in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Already during this early phase of the pandemic HEIs’ responses demonstrate global health approaches emphasising cooperation and communication, rather than national health driven strategies that emphasise quarantine and control. Key lessons learnt for multiple dimensions of teaching and learning in global health are thus identified, and challenges and opportunities discussed. Methods: Data collection includes a cross-sectional online survey among tropEd member institutions (n = 19) in mid-2020, and a complementary set of open-ended questions generating free-text responses (n = 9). Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, textual data were analysed using a Framework Analysis approach. Results: While early on in the pandemic the focus was on a quick emergency switch to online teaching formats to ensure short-term continuity, and developing the administrative and didactic competence and confidence in digital teaching, there is already recognition among HEIs of the necessity for more fundamental quality and longer-term reforms in higher education in global health. Alongside practical concerns about the limitations of digital teaching, and declines in student numbers, there is a growing awareness of opportunities in terms of inclusivity, the necessity of cross-border cooperation, and a global health approach. The extent to which the lack of physical mobility impacts HEI programmes in global health is debated. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about preventive measures that have had a considerable impact on various dimensions of academic teaching in global health. Going forward, international HEIs’ experiences and response strategies can help generate important lessons for academic institutions across different settings worldwide.
Alleviating psychosocial suffering: an analysis of approaches to coping with war-related distress in Angola.
(Queen Margaret University, 2001) Eyber, Carola
This study investigates the role that the notions of trauma and culture play in relation to the alleviation of distress within an war-affected population. It analyses how local, cultural conceptions of distress and those held by psychological service providers relate to one another, and how they contribute to improving the well-being of the displaced. Fieldwork was conducted with urban and rural displaced populations in the south-eastern province of Huila in Angola. Ethnographic, psychometric and participatory methods were used to examine issues of health, illness and distress amongst the displaced. Local idioms of distress in the form of pensamentos, mutima, madness and high and low blood pressure are common ways of expressing suffering related to war. The different explanatory models held about these illnesses and the various resources available in the popular, folk and professionals sectors of the health care system were explored. The religious and spiritual domains were found to be influential in the treatment of distress-related illnesses. The psychological services available in the war-displaced communities were examined in terms of their common theoretical and practical elements. These were then analysed in relation to the conceptualisations held by local populations, and points of similarity and difference were noted. Specifically, the conceptualisation of suffering as trauma and the cultural misunderstandings that arise as a result of this, and the representation of the displaced as traumatised and therefore dependent and passive people, are discussed. A particular subgroup in the community, the adolescents, was identified and participatory methods were employed to investigate the strategies and resources this group uses for coping with war-related distress. The youths predominantly make use of distraction, conselho, religious and cultural resources. The application of a PTSD scale, the EARAT, suggests that 71% of the adolescents had symptoms of trauma consistent with a diagnosis of PTSD. It is argued that for the vast majority such a conceptualisation does not reflect the adolescents' abilities to function on social, vocational, educational and physical levels. The implications of these findings for research and practice in the field of psychosocial work are discussed.
Child protection practices and attitudes of faith leaders across Senegal, Uganda, and Guatemala
(Routledge, 2021-03-08) Jailobaeva, Kanykey; Diaconu, Karin; Ager, Alastair; Eyber, Carola
Faith leaders are well-positioned to address violence against children, but the extent to which they do so is unclear. This mixed-method study examined faith leaders’ child protection practices, attitudes towards child rights, and views around physical punishment in Senegal, Uganda, and Guatemala. Child protection practices—specifically listening to children and reporting abuse—were strongest among faith leaders in Uganda, although they also most favored use of physical punishment. Overall, findings documented how faith leaders play an important role in promoting the wellbeing of children in their communities. Building on this contribution, however, requires sensitivity to important contextual differences.
Conselho: psychological healing in displaced communities in Angola
(2002-09-14) Eyber, Carola; Ager, Alastair
Development of the Faith Community Child Protection Scale with Faith Leaders and their Spouses in Senegal, Uganda and Guatemala.
(2022-10-15) Diaconu, Karin; Jailobaeva, Kanykey; Jailobaev, Temirlan; Eyber, Carola; Ager, Alastair
Violence, abuse and neglect constitute major threats to children's health and wellbeing globally. However, until recently, relatively little systematic attention has been paid to the role of faith communities in shaping the protective environment for children. This paper describes the development of a measure to capture child-protective disposition amongst faith communities through field studies with faith leaders and their spouses in Senegal, Uganda and Guatemala. Identifying common factors related to child care and protection practices, orientation to child rights and approaches to discipline, the measure potentially serves to both inform and evaluate interventions seeking to engage with the beliefs and behaviours of faith communities to support children's health and wellbeing. [Abstract copyright: © 2022. The Author(s).]
Environmental Education to Promote Peace and Cooperation: A Case Study of Tree Nurseries in Nakuru, Kenya
(The Board of Regents of the University of Colorado, a body corporate, for the benefit of the Children, Youth and Environments Center at the University of Colorado Boulder, 2013-01) Zinck, Emily; Eyber, Carola
This field report describes a peace education program in the Nakuru district of Kenya, focusing on environmental education tree nurseries. The peace clubs introduced tree nurseries as a way of equipping children to take care of their environment. The interaction required to maintain these nurseries strengthens these relationships and promotes cooperation. By planting and caring for tree nurseries, children are able to express their commitment to their community and to the lasting health of their environment.
Faith community contributions to ending violence against children: A final report for World Vision International
(Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, 2021-08) Eyber, Carola; Jailobaeva, Kanykey; Diaconu, Karin; Ager, Alastair
JLI Ending Violence Against Children Scoping Study – Literature Review
(Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities, 2019) Rutledge, Kathleen K.; Eyber, Carola
This literature review is one part of three of the JLI Ending Violence Against Children (EVAC) Hub scoping study. It presents an overview of published and grey literature in regard to the unique contributions of faith actors to eliminating violence against children as well as how faith actors have been involved in perpetuation thereof. This scoping study offers an initial contribution to exploring existing evidence in two specific areas: Firstly, the unique contributions of faith communities both in relation to ending, as well as contributing to, violence against children, to understand their involvement in this sphere. Secondly, the role of faith actors in influencing wider child protection systems to prevent and respond to EVAC to understand the potential for their engagement.
Positive mental health and wellbeing
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2017-02-04) White, Sarah C.; Eyber, Carola; White, Ross G.; Jain, Sumeet; Orr, David M. R.; Read, Ursula M.
The past 20 years have seen an explosion of interest in positive approaches to mental health, happiness, and wellbeing. While these concepts vary considerably from one another, they act as bridges between Global Mental Health and the broader arena of national and international policymaking. This chapter begins by sketching out some of the trajectories across different academic and policy fields that have contributed to this field and provides a critical discussion of the key concepts of ‘subjective wellbeing’ and ‘psychological wellbeing’. It then considers two very different ways that positive approaches are being pursued in policy and practice in the Global South: psychosocial wellbeing in the context of disasters and humanitarian crises, and political mobilisation around notions of ‘living well’ in Latin America.
Resiliency of children in child-headed households in Rwanda: implications for community based psychosocial interventions
(2009) Ward, Laura May; Eyber, Carola
This article focuses on the resilience of children facing extreme hardship and adversity. It is based on participatory research with children living in child headed households in Rwanda. It emphasizes the importance of listening to children's voices and recognizing their capacities when designing interventions to strengthen their psychosocial wellbeing. This study shows that children have developed innovative and profitable coping strategies and some have even developed the capacity to thrive through their situation of extreme hardship. The study of these coping strategies suggests that the children displayed resourcefulness, responsibility, and a sense of morality. However, when the stressors in a child's life became too great, they tended to employ negative, and potentially harmful, strategies to cope. A community based approach should focus on strengthening overall community wellbeing, and should aim to build on the capacities of children, such as their positive coping mechanisms and resilient characteristics. At the same time, it should appropriately address their areas of vulnerability. Existing protective factors should also be identified and further developed in interventions. (C)2009 War Trauma Foundation
Tensions in conceptualising psychosocial wellbeing in Angola: The marginalisation of religion and spirituality
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2016-01) Eyber, Carola
The role and experience of local faith leaders in promoting child protection: a case study from Malawi
(War Trauma Foundation, 2018-03-28) Eyber, Carola; Kachale, Blessings; Shields, Tracey; Ager, Alastair
Frequently, community based strategies include engagement with local faith leaders. However, there have been few systematic attempts to document how faith leaders themselves define their roles in these initiatives. This study examined local faith leaders and their spouses, in flood affected areas of Malawi, who had been oriented to child protection issues through World Vision workshops aimed explicitly at relating protection concerns to religious teachings. Many participants reported that attending a workshop had been transformational in terms of their perspectives regarding the protection of children. The key child protection issues identified by participants included child marriage, lack of attendance at school, child labour (including forced labour), harsh physical punishment and sexual abuse. Many faith leaders - and their wives - became active in addressing child protection issues as a result of the programme, although the form of this action varied widely and was significantly influenced by their varied status and capacities.
Understanding female adolescent 'runaways' and the implications of their decisions in Tigray, northern Ethiopia
(2019-08-12) Lurgain, Jone G.; Eyber, Carola
This study aimed to understand the main factors influencing the decision of adolescent girls to run away from home in Tigray, northern Ethiopia, and to explore the social and cultural construction of female adolescent runaways in this region. In-depth qualitative interviews with seven runaway adolescent girls and six women married at an early age (11-16 years old) were conducted in Wukro and Mekelle in Tigray to investigate why the girls escaped from home and how communities responded to these decisions. Findings suggest that the immediate trigger that led all the young participants to run away was to escape an arranged marriage, except in one 'romantic' elopement case. Individual and structural factors, such as child maltreatment and educational aspirations, and new family law respectively, also contributed to the decision to escape. Adolescent runaways seem to be ignored or normalized within the community in Tigray and, in particular, by its public institutions. This may explain why there are limited services for runaway girls, such as shelters and other forms of support. This lack of social protection structures has left these girls unprotected and exposed to a range of risks, such as early and unwanted pregnancies, labor exploitation, dropping out of school, and transactional sex. To date, this phenomenon of adolescent runaways has remained an invisible issue in Tigray as runaway girls are counted under general migration figures. Further research is needed to explore how this phenomenon is categorized at policy level in order to address runaway girls' needs as defined by them.
"When a child has not made 18 years and you marry her off … don’t bother to invite me! I will not come": The role and involvement of faith leaders’ wives in child protection issues
(Routledge, 2020-03-17) Eyber, Carola; Jailobaeva, Kanykey; Kraft, Kathryn; Wilkinson, Olivia J.
This chapter draws on ongoing research conducted with World Vision’s Channels of Hope (CoH) Child Protection programme in Senegal and Uganda, and focuses on the perspectives of faith leaders’ wives on engaging with child protection issues in their communities. In the CoH programme, spouses of faith leaders are included primarily for two reasons: firstly, to jointly undergo the training with their marital partners so that the envisaged change in attitudes and behaviour is mutually understood and reinforced within the household; and secondly, as respected faith actors in their own right who have a certain status within the communities and influence over congregation members. Findings suggest that far from being a homogenous group, faith leaders’ wives constitute a diverse group of women, not only in regard to their demographic profiles, but also in regard to their varying roles and responsibilities in the Muslim and Christian congregations. As a consequence of the faith-based engagement with child protection issues in the CoH workshops, many wives initiated actions to improve the wellbeing and protection of children in their communities. These included individual, family, congregation and community-focused activities and strategies involved working alone, as part of a team, with other faith congregation members as well as collaborating with existing, formal child protection actors in the communities. Significant challenges were experienced by the wives in relation to the specific issues they sought to address, the strategies they employed as well as their own status within the communities. This was particularly noticeable when they challenged entrenched harmful attitudes and practices such as corporal punishment and early marriage. The ambiguities involved in this are explored and discussed. The wives, despite the difficulties they encounter, emerge as local faith actors who effectively use informal community mobilization mechanisms and as significant contributors to changing negative norms in their communities.