Suchergebnisse

Although Tunisia is regarded as a pioneer in the Middle East and North Africa in terms of women's status and rights, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, evidence points to a number of persisting challenges. This article uses the Health Rights of Women Assessment Instrument (HeRWAI) to analyze Tunisia's reproductive health policy between 1994 and 2014. It explores the extent to which reproductive rights have been incorporated into the country's reproductive health policy, the gaps in the implementation of this policy, and the influence of this policy on gender empowerment. Our results reveal that progress has been slow in terms of incorporating reproductive rights into the national reproductive health policy. Furthermore, the implementation of this policy has fallen short, as demonstrated by regional inequities in the accessibility and availability of reproductive health services, the low quality of maternal health care services, and discriminatory practices. Finally, the government's lack of meaningful engagement in advancing gender empowerment stands in the way as the main challenge to gender equality in Tunisia.

Purpose: The study's purpose was to improve the psychometric properties of the Youth Asset Survey (YAS). Design: Longitudinal cohort study with youth and parents recruited via door-to-door canvassing to participate in a 5-wave, 4-year study that assessed prospective associations among youth assets and youth health-related behaviors. Additional test items were added in the last 2 waves of a study to improve the YAS. Setting: Households in randomly selected census tracts located in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. Participants: Youth and their parents (N = 1111 parent/child dyads). Youth demographic characteristics at wave 4 were mean age = 17.3 (standard deviation = 1.62) years; 53% female, 41% white, 28% Hispanic, 24% African American, and 6% other. Measures: Sixty-eight items assessing 17 youth asset constructs and 8 single items assessing youth risk behaviors. Analysis: Confirmatory factor analysis and generalized linear models were conducted to assess construct reliability and predictive validity, respectively. Results: Cronbach α for the revised asset constructs ranged from .72 to .82, predictive validity was strong, and all revised asset constructs were assessed via 4 items. Conclusions: Researchers and practitioners have an improved 68-item YAS-Revised, freely available for their use, which measures 17 youth assets with good reliability, validity, and functionality.