Cancer is associated with physical, social, spiritual, and psychological changes in patients and their caregivers. However, in sub-Saharan Africa, there is lack of evidence on the impact of gender, social norms, and relationship dynamics in the face of terminal illness. The aim of this paper is to explore how gender identity, social norms, and power relations are impacted when a person is living in Uganda with advanced cancer.

Focus groups with adult men and women living with advanced cancer in Uganda were conducted. Interviews explored the social effects of cancer and common challenges, including how both disease and treatment affect the patient and marital relationships within their families. Participants’ recommendations were sought to improve the social well-being of patients and their families. Data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis.

Men and women experienced negative changes in their roles and identities, often feeling unable to fulfill their marital duties in terms of intimacy, their social roles and responsibilities based on societal expectations. Men expressed loss of a “masculine” identity when unable to provide economically for the household. This led to tension in the familial power dynamics, contributing to relationship breakdown and gender-based violence (GBV) against spouses. Women noted challenges with parenting, relationship breakdowns, and increased GBV.

Gender impacts the patient and the family dynamic throughout the life course, including during advanced cancer. Patients and caregivers experience a change in their roles and identities while coping with existential distress and end-of-life tasks. Given these results, gender considerations and dynamics should be incorporated into overall palliative care provision. In addition, there is a need to integrate GBV screening and support in cancer services to address social health and safety needs in the context of serious illness.

This study examined drivers and barriers to iron and folic acid supplementation and consumption of iron- and vitamin A-rich foods among women of reproductive age and adolescent girls in Niger.

This was an exploratory qualitative study using focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews.

This study was conducted in the rural areas of three districts in Maradi and Zinder regions of southern Niger.

The study included a purposive sample of 56 WRA (15–49 years), 34 non-pregnant adolescent girls (10–14 years), 105 family members and community leaders, 32 health workers and 12 national and regional level stakeholders.

Respondents demonstrated widespread knowledge of recommendations for iron and folic acid during pregnancy and had positive attitudes towards supplements. However, supply barriers were significant, and adherence was limited by side effects, among other constraints. Despite knowledge about and positive attitudes towards micronutrient-source foods, respondents reported that limited food access was an overriding constraint to increasing consumption. Women of reproductive age were seen as nutritionally vulnerable; however, husbands were often not able to provide sufficient nutritious food, and there was a cultural expectation that wives serve themselves food last. Adolescent girls were not seen as nutritionally vulnerable, and there was little family support for their consumption of nutritious foods.

Projects should work with local actors to develop multi-pronged solutions that address supply and access barriers for iron and folic acid and micronutrient-rich foods and to improve social support for nutrition.

Gender norms embedded in communities may restrict opportunities and harm the mental health of older adults, yet this phenomenon has received little attention. This study investigates the connection between older adults’ perceptions of community gender norms and mental health and suicide-related outcomes.

Cross-sectional.

This study analyzed data from the 2019 wave of the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study.

In total, 25,937 participants aged 65 years or older in 61 municipalities.

Perceptions of community gender norms were assessed by the respondents’ perceptions of the gender-differentiating language used by those around them such as “You should/should not do XXX, because you are a man/woman.”

The prevalence of all mental health outcomes was higher among both men and women who perceived community gender norms as restrictive. These associations remained in fully adjusted multivariable analyses. Prevalence ratios for men were 1.36 [95% confidence interval: 1.13, 1.65] for psychological resistance to obtaining help, 1.85 [1.54, 2.23] for depressive symptoms, 1.99 [1.34, 2.96] for suicidal ideation, and 2.15 [1.21, 3.80] for suicide attempts. The corresponding figures for women were 1.39 [1.17, 1.65], 1.80 [1.55, 2.10], 2.13 [1.65, 2.74], 2.62 [1.78, 3.87]. There was a more pronounced association between perceiving community gender norms as restrictive and depressive symptoms and suicidal behaviors among those with nonconventional gender role attitudes compared to those with conventional attitudes.

Considering the effects of community gender norms, in addition to individual gender role attitudes, may be critical in designing effective public health interventions for improving mental health.

Evidence suggests adolescent self-esteem is influenced by beliefs of how individuals in their reference group perceive them. However, few studies examine how gender- and violence-related social norms affect self-esteem among refugee populations. This paper explores relationships between gender inequitable and victim-blaming social norms, personal attitudes, and self-esteem among adolescent girls participating in a life skills program in three Ethiopian refugee camps.

Ordinary least squares multivariable regression analysis was used to assess the associations between attitudes and social norms, and self-esteem. Key independent variables of interest included a scale measuring personal attitudes toward gender inequitable norms, a measure of perceived injunctive norms capturing how a girl believed her family and community would react if she was raped, and a peer-group measure of collective descriptive norms surrounding gender inequity. The key outcome variable, self-esteem, was measured using the Rosenberg self-esteem scale.

Girl's personal attitudes toward gender inequitable norms were not significantly predictive of self-esteem at endline, when adjusting for other covariates. Collective peer norms surrounding the same gender inequitable statements were significantly predictive of self-esteem at endline (ß = −0.130; p  =  0.024). Additionally, perceived injunctive norms surrounding family and community-based sanctions for victims of forced sex were associated with a decline in self-esteem at endline (ß = −0.103; p  =  0.014). Significant findings for collective descriptive norms and injunctive norms remained when controlling for all three constructs simultaneously.

Findings suggest shifting collective norms around gender inequity, particularly at the community and peer levels, may sustainably support the safety and well-being of adolescent girls in refugee settings.

Girls at early stages of adolescence are vulnerable to violence victimization in humanitarian contexts, but few studies examine factors that affect girls’ hope in these settings. We assessed attitudes toward traditional gender norms as an effect modifier of the relationship between violence exposure and future orientation in displaced girls.

Secondary analysis, using multivariable regression of cross-sectional data from girls ages 10–14 in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Key variables of interest were attitudes toward intimate partner violence (IPV), Children's Hope Scale (CHS) score, and exposure to physical, emotional, and sexual violence within the last 12 months. Additional covariates included age, educational status, and territory.

The interaction of exposure to violence and attitudes toward IPV magnified the association between violence exposure and lower CHS score for physical violence (β = −0.09, p = 0.040) and unwanted sexual touching (β = −0.20, p = 0.003) among girls age 10–14, when adjusting for other covariates. The interaction of exposure to violence and attitudes toward IPV magnified the association between violence exposure and lower CHS score for forced sex (β = −0.22, p = 0.016) among girls age 13–14, when adjusting for covariates. Findings for emotional violence, any form of sexual violence, and coerced sex trended toward lower CHS scores for girls who reported higher acceptance of IPV, but did not reach significance.

Findings support the utility of gender norms-transformative programming in increasing resilience of girls who have experienced sexual violence in humanitarian contexts.