Browsing by Author "Bahati, Ronald"

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An Exploration of the Lived Experiences of Maltreated Children and Caregivers in Southwestern Uganda
(Scientific Research Publishing, 2023-11) Mpairwe, Anthony; Bahati, Ronald; Ainomugisha, Andrew; Ainamani, Herbert Elvis
Background: Child maltreatment poses a great danger to the lives of child ren. This is because its impacts do not only stop in their childhood but also later into adulthood. Child maltreatment has been generally known to refer to physical, emotional, child neglect, and sexual abuse. In many contexts, child ren are taken to be minors and considered not to be aware of the various maltreatments they may be exposed to by their caregivers and strangers. This study therefore sought to explore the lived experiences of maltreated children in Sheema District and Mbarara City in South Western Uganda. Methods: We conducted 8 key informant interviews with government civil servants and 6 with officials of civil society organizations carrying out child protection work. Again, 6 Focus group discussions were conducted with children. The study participants were purposively selected because of the knowledge they had about the study topic. They were interviewed through audio recordings and their views were transcribed verbatim where thematic analysis was used. Results: The results hinged on four themes namely child neglect (expressed in terms of absentee parents/fathers), emotional abuse (reflected in terms of abusive language and words that shame or harm children) and physical abuse (expressed through corporal punishments and sexual abuse). Conclusions: Maltreated children go through a lot of emotional torture, physical harm, sexual abuse and neglect. We recommend interventions geared towards mitigating child maltreatment and its effects be propagated for wholistic and complete healthy child development
Social Capital and Quality of Life among the Refugees residing in Mbarara City Southwestern Ugand
(Research square, 2023) Kakai, Brenda; Bahati, Ronald; Otwine, Anne; Nzamuhiki, Steven; Ainamani, Herbert
Introduction: Globally, social capital is considered a significant resource in improving quality of life among human beings. In this study, we aimed at assessing the proportions of forms of social capital and their association with the quality of life among the refugees living in Mbarara City southwestern Uganda. Methods This cross-sectional study used consecutive sampling method to select 344 refugees that were living in Mbarara city at the time of data collection. Refugees were assessed on their social capital using the World bank Social Capital Integrated Questionnaire. Quality of life was assessed using the World Health Organization questionnaire of quality of life. Data were analyzed using STATA. Descriptive statistics determined the occurrence of social capital while linear regression model determined the association between social capital and quality of life. Results Almost all participants endorsed one form of social capital, with majority of the participants [251(73%)] endorsing sociability, followed by trust and solidarity 186(54%), groups and networks were the least endorsed [170(49%)] within our sample. Our findings further showed that having high levels of trust and solidarity, positively correlated with quality of life (b = 0.80; 95% CI, 0.09 to 1.51; p = 0.027). Conclusions High social capital is likely to be associated with quality of life among refugees. Interventions aimed at building strong social capital are encouraged.