rural women

Background: Rural women in India are often confronted with situations that make it difficult for them to access formal mental health services such as inaccessibility, internalized stigma, believing that suffering is due to external causes and gender inequalities. These barriers delay receiving formal care for mental health and make these women resort to informal ways of coping such as community support and local faith healers. Methods: This study aimed to explore the informal coping strategies and beliefs around mental health among 100 rural women over the age of 18 years residing in Amroha district of Uttar Pradesh, India. Being a qualitative study, the method employed for the survey was focused group discussions and the participants were included through a convenience snowball sampling. The discussions were held in Hindi language for the ease of the participants and were recorded for analysis which was done through a thematic analysis approach. Results: The results highlighted six broad themes: (1) burden of responsibilities and emotional burnout, (2) physiological manifestations of psychological distress, (3) normalization of chronic stress, (4) psychological distress arising from marital conflict and gender-based adversity, (5) reliance on spiritual and informal coping strategies in place of formal mental healthcare, and (6) emotional suppression and silent tolerance. Conclusions: The findings suggest the urgent need to design culturally aligned psychotherapeutic interventions that focus on creating awareness through psychoeducation that could reduce stigma as well as helping rural women deal with their unmet mental health challenges.

Gender inequality in higher education remains a concern in rural Pakistan, where women’s education opportunities are shaped by social expectations concerning mobility, family responsibilities, and appropriate gender roles. This study examined how social stigmatization associated with staying at home and performing domestic roles is experienced by rural females and how public and self-stigma relate to their participation in higher education. A qualitative descriptive phenomenological design was employed. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews from 30 participants in rural Pakistan, including eight female students and nine female family members, and 13 male family and community members. Thematic analysis identified four interrelated themes: restricted mobility and chaperonage, conditional educational and career aspirations, internalized domestic identity, and protectionist concerns surrounding coeducation. The findings indicate that female education was generally valued, but support was often conditional on family approval, proximity to home, supervision, and conformity with socially accepted roles as daughters, wives, and mothers. Public stigma was reflected in shared expectations that restricted women’s mobility, educational location, and career choices. While self-stigma through self-censorship became apparent when some female students anticipated these judgments and adjusted their educational aspirations accordingly. These findings suggest that educational inequality in the setting examined is associated not only with material and institutional barriers but also with social judgments and their internalization. By applying a stigma perspective, the study provides a context-specific account of how public stigma, self-stigma, and self-censorship may interact with gendered expectations to narrow higher education opportunities for rural females.

Socio-economic status (SES) is a key determinant of livelihood outcomes among rural women farmers, yet existing measures often fail to capture the multidimensional and context-specific nature of rural livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa. Conventional SES indices rely heavily on income or asset ownership and frequently overlook education, productive capacity, and informal household resources. This study developed and validated a culturally appropriate SES scale for rural women farmers in Southwest Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Ogun and Ondo States with a validation sample of 330 rural women farmers. Items were generated from literature, expert consultation, and focus group discussions, refined through pilot testing, and subjected to exploratory factor analysis and reliability assessment. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a four-factor structure, Material Assets, Modern Amenities, Demographics & ICT, and Infrastructure & Resources, explaining 41.5% of total variance. After iterative item reduction, a final 39-item scale was obtained, with all retained items loading ≥ 0.50. Internal consistency was acceptable (Cronbach’s alpha values ranged from 0.75 to 0.92 across factors, with an overall alpha of 0.87). Preliminary known-group validity was supported by significant differences in educational attainment across SES groups, with respondents in higher SES quartiles demonstrating higher levels of education. However, sampling adequacy was modest (KMO = 0.612), and convergent/discriminant validity against external outcomes such as income or food security was not assessed. The SES scale provides preliminary evidence of contextual relevance and internal consistency, offering a multidimensional alternative to conventional asset-based indices. Nonetheless, its modest factor stability and absence of external validation indicate that it should be regarded as a preliminary research instrument. Further refinement and validation are required before application in policy or programmatic contexts.

وضعیت اجتماعی‌اقتصادی (SES) یکی از عوامل کلیدی تعیین‌کننده پیامدهای معیشتی در میان زنان کشاورز روستایی است، اما سنجه‌های موجود اغلب قادر به انعکاس ماهیت چندبعدی و بومی معیشت‌های روستایی در آفریقای زیرصحرایی نیستند. شاخص‌های متعارف SES عمدتاً بر درآمد یا مالکیت دارایی‌ها تکیه دارند و اغلب آموزش، ظرفیت تولیدی و منابع غیررسمی خانوار را نادیده می‌گیرند. این پژوهش به تدوین و اعتبارسنجی یک مقیاس SES متناسب با فرهنگ برای زنان کشاورز روستایی در جنوب‌غرب نیجریه پرداخت. یک مطالعه مقطعی در ایالت‌های Ogun و Ondo با نمونه اعتبارسنجی شامل ۳۳۰ زن کشاورز روستایی انجام شد. گویه‌ها از طریق مرور متون، مشاوره با خبرگان و بحث‌های گروهی متمرکز استخراج، از طریق آزمون مقدماتی اصلاح و با تحلیل عاملی اکتشافی و ارزیابی پایایی بررسی شدند. تحلیل عاملی اکتشافی ساختاری چهارعاملی شامل دارایی‌های مادی، امکانات مدرن، جمعیت‌شناسی و فناوری اطلاعات و ارتباطات، و زیرساخت‌ها و منابع را آشکار ساخت که ۴۱/۵٪ از واریانس کل را تبیین می‌کرد. پس از کاهش تدریجی گویه‌ها، مقیاس نهایی ۳۹ گویه‌ای به دست آمد که همه گویه‌های باقی‌مانده دارای بار عاملی ≥ ۰/۵۰ بودند. انسجام درونی قابل قبول بود (مقادیر آلفای کرونباخ برای عوامل از ۰/۷۵ تا ۰/۹۲ و آلفای کل ۰/۸۷ متغیر بود). روایی اولیه گروه‌های شناخته‌شده با تفاوت معنادار در سطح تحصیلات بین گروه‌های SES تأیید شد، به‌طوری که پاسخ‌دهندگان در چارک‌های بالاتر SES سطوح تحصیلی بالاتری داشتند. با این حال، کفایت نمونه‌گیری متوسط بود (KMO = ۰/۶۱۲) و روایی همگرا/افتراقی در برابر پیامدهای بیرونی مانند درآمد یا امنیت غذایی ارزیابی نشد. این مقیاس SES شواهد اولیه‌ای از تناسب بومی و انسجام درونی ارائه می‌دهد و جایگزینی چندبعدی برای شاخص‌های متعارف مبتنی بر دارایی فراهم می‌کند. با این وجود، ثبات عاملی متوسط و فقدان اعتبارسنجی بیرونی نشان می‌دهد که این ابزار باید به عنوان ابزاری مقدماتی پژوهشی تلقی شود. اصلاح و اعتبارسنجی بیشتر پیش از کاربرد در سیاست‌گذاری یا برنامه‌ریزی ضروری است.