A qualitative perspective of working women care providers and care receivers on eldercare: a study from India.

BACKGROUND: The paper aims to explore the elderly caregiving process in India from the perspective of both elderly as well as working women care providers, along with the challenges faced and the coping strategies adopted by them during the process. METHODS: In-depth interviews with 48 participants (care providers and care receivers) from 25 multi-generational households were conducted in the slums of Mumbai and analysed using QSR-NVivo-10. RESULTS: Working women care providers supported the needs of the dependent elderly along with performing household chores and paid work. However, the way the care was perceived and demanded, was not often same as delivered by the care providers. Care provider suffered silently with poor social, physical and emotional welling in absence of support system and lack of time. Sometimes, physically exhausted care providers unknowingly resorted to elderly abuse and neglect. At the same time, a bidirectional flow of support from elderly also existed in the form of childcare, household chores and financial support. Though caregiving overstrained the care providers, strong family ties, acknowledgement of the contributions of the elderly during their young days, and the desire to set a precedent for the young generation did not let them step back from their duties. The main coping mechanism for both care receivers and providers was largely centred around the notion of acceptance of their situation. CONCLUSION: Conversations between generations can help in enhancing family ties and reduce conflicts. The support of family and community can also ease the burden of caregiving.

Physical intimate partner violence in India: how much does childhood socialisation matter?

While a large number of studies assumed gendered socialisation leads to partner abuse, little evidence exists for India. We bridge this crucial gap by exploring the pathways between childhood socialisation and intimate partner violence, using data 'Youth in India: Situation and Need Study (2006-2007)' for 5573 young married men (15-29 years). Nearly 17 per cent of men inflicted physical IPV in the past 12 months. Seventy-seven per cent recognized the experience of gender discrimination in their family and reported exposure to violence in two ways-one-third witnessed fathers abusing their mothers and 48 per cent were beaten by their parents. Adverse childhood experiences were associated with IPV perpetration. The structural equation model indicated significant pathways between IPV and childhood socialisation in the forms of experienced violence and gender discrimination. Findings underscore the importance of a violence-free, gender-neutral family environment for young generations and call for a comprehensive policy to ameliorate the impacts of IPV.

Use of traditional contraceptive methods in India & its socio-demographic determinants.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: The high use of traditional contraceptive methods may have health repercussions on both partners. High failure rate, lack of protection from sexually transmitted diseases are some of the examples of these repercussions. The aim of this study was to understand the level, trends, pattern, volume and socio-demographic determinants of using traditional contraceptive methods in the Indian context. METHODS: Percentages, per cent distribution, cross-tabulation and multinomial logistic regression analyses were carried out. The data from the three rounds of National Family Health survey (NFHS) were used. The unit level District Level Household Survey (2007-2008) were mainly used to carry out the analysis in this paper. Marriage rates for States and Union Territories (UTs) were projected for the period of 2001-2011 to estimate the volume of traditional contraceptive users. These rates are required to get the number of eligible couples as on 2011 in the respective State/UT. RESULTS: The latest round of the District Level Household Survey (2007-2008) revealed that 6.7 per cent currently married women were using traditional contraceptive methods in India. More than half of the currently married women (56%) have ever used these methods. In terms of socio-demographic determinants, the odds ratios of using these methods were significantly higher for women aged 35 years and above, rural, Hindu, other than Scheduled Castes/Tribes (SCs/STs), secondary and above educated, non-poor, having two plus living children, and at least one surviving son in most of the states as well as at the national level. The northeastern region showed higher odds ratios (5 times) of women using traditional contraceptive methods than the southern region. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS: A large number of currently married women have ever used the traditional contraceptive methods in India. On the basis of the findings from this study, the total size of those women who were using traditional methods and those who were having unmet need, and are required to use modern spacing methods of family planning in achieving the reproductive goals, is around 53 million. Women from a set of specific socio-demographic backgrounds are more likely to use these methods. A regional pattern has also emerged in use of tradition contraceptive methods in India.