Young women's perspectives on social services in the slums of Kampala, Uganda: qualitative focus group findings from the TOPOWA study
Disciplines
Social Work
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Slum dwelling youth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) experience significant social vulnerabilities and health disparities, and young women in these contexts are disproportionately impacted. At the same time, communities in SSA do have existing resources which provide some amelioration of the difficult circumstances faced by these young women. This research project, based on an ongoing NIH R01, explores young women’s perspectives on the social services they are receiving from a local organization. Using a combination of inductive and deductive thematic methods, we analyzed baseline focus group data from a community-based cohort study (6 groups, 60 participants).
We found a variety of themes related to the benefits of these services, as well as some themes related to service-related challenges. Benefits included: increased economic autonomy; increased confidence, motivation, and self-reliance; increased optimism, pride, and satisfaction; increased social connection; improved social standing; and improved stress management. Challenges included: negative community perceptions of the social service organization; other program participants as sources of stress; and challenges being on time to training, traveling to training, or balancing training with other responsibilities.
Young women in SSA are an underserved, understudied population, and their perspectives on social services are not frequently reported in the scientific literature. Our work begins, therefore, to fill a research gap by providing insight into the emic perspectives of these key stakeholders. Despite some challenges, overall, the young women reported significant benefits of training, with improvements in confidence, social standing, and economic success in response to their training experiences. These findings should prompt future research on how to build on the successes of existing programs and address the challenges that these young women report.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
WCHHS - Health Promotion and Physical Education
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Matthew Lyons
Young women's perspectives on social services in the slums of Kampala, Uganda: qualitative focus group findings from the TOPOWA study
Slum dwelling youth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) experience significant social vulnerabilities and health disparities, and young women in these contexts are disproportionately impacted. At the same time, communities in SSA do have existing resources which provide some amelioration of the difficult circumstances faced by these young women. This research project, based on an ongoing NIH R01, explores young women’s perspectives on the social services they are receiving from a local organization. Using a combination of inductive and deductive thematic methods, we analyzed baseline focus group data from a community-based cohort study (6 groups, 60 participants).
We found a variety of themes related to the benefits of these services, as well as some themes related to service-related challenges. Benefits included: increased economic autonomy; increased confidence, motivation, and self-reliance; increased optimism, pride, and satisfaction; increased social connection; improved social standing; and improved stress management. Challenges included: negative community perceptions of the social service organization; other program participants as sources of stress; and challenges being on time to training, traveling to training, or balancing training with other responsibilities.
Young women in SSA are an underserved, understudied population, and their perspectives on social services are not frequently reported in the scientific literature. Our work begins, therefore, to fill a research gap by providing insight into the emic perspectives of these key stakeholders. Despite some challenges, overall, the young women reported significant benefits of training, with improvements in confidence, social standing, and economic success in response to their training experiences. These findings should prompt future research on how to build on the successes of existing programs and address the challenges that these young women report.