This paper is a qualitative study of women’s well-being and reproductive health status among married women in mining communities in India. An exploratory qualitative research design was conducted using purposive sampling among 40 selected married women in a rural Indian mining community. Ethical permission was obtained from Goa University. A semi-structured indepth interview guide was used to gather women’s experiences and perceptions regarding well-being and reproductive health in 2010. These interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, verified, coded and then analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Early marriage, increased fertility, less birth intervals, son preference and lack of decision-making regarding reproductive health choices were found to affect women’s reproductive health. Domestic violence, gender preference, husbands drinking behaviors, and low spousal communication were common experiences considered by women as factors leading to poor quality of marital relationship. Four main themes in confronting women’s well-being are poor literacy and mobility, low employment and income generating opportunities, poor reproductive health choices and preferences and poor quality of martial relationships and communication. These determinants of physical, psychological and cultural well-being should be an essential part of nursing assessment in the primary care settings for informed actions. Nursing interventions should be directed towards participatory approach, informed decision making and empowering women towards better health and well-being in the mining community.

BackgroundWomen facing social and economic disadvantage in stressed communities of developing countries are at greater risk due to health problems. This paper investigates the relationships between structural, health and psychosocial predictors among women in mining and agricultural communities. This paper is a report of a study of the predictors of the health-related quality of life among Indian women in mining and agricultural communities.MethodsA descriptive cross-sectional research design was used. The instruments used are SF-36 Health Survey and Coping Strategy Checklist. ANOVA, MANOVA and GLM were used in the analysis. The study was conducted between January-September 2008 with randomly selected women in a mining (145) and an agricultural community (133) in India.ResultsWomen in the agricultural community had significantly increased Physical Health, Mental Health and SF36 scores compared with those in the mining community. Years of stay, education and employment were significant predictors among women in the agricultural community. 39% (33%) and 40% (26%) of the variance in Physical and Mental health respectively among women in agricultural and mining communities are predicted by the structural, health and psychosocial variables.ConclusionPerceived health status should be recognised as an important assessment of Physical and Mental Health among women in rural stressed communities. Cognitive, emotional and behavioural coping strategies are significant predictors of health related quality of life. Implications. Nurses should use the SF-36 as a diagnostic tool for assessing health related quality of life among women and discuss coping strategies, so that these can target women’s adaptive behaviour. This should be an essential part of the nursing process for facilitating adaptive process for improved health related quality of life.

The findings suggest that physical, psychological, sexual, family, socio-economic, energy level and cognitive domains of reproductive health and quality of life need to be assessed and are influenced by important determinants among women. These domains reflected in the theory of goal attainment should be an essential part of nursing process for providing women's reproductive health care in the mining community.

This article is a critique of the project modernity from the vantage point of an indigenous occupational community of Goa which for centuries has been pursuing sustainable livelihood practices. It revolves around the traditional occupation of fishing in the context of modernist threat it faces. Informed by the theoretical insights provided by Frank’s theory of development of underdevelopment, this article argues that our understanding of environmental change as a social process is inextricably linked with the expansion and contradiction of the world economic system. While delineating Frank’s theory of underdevelopment as theoretical support, it captures the indigenous knowledge systems of the fishing community of Goa, highlighting its ecological sensitivity. It then addresses the changes that have affected this community in the wake of enforced modernisation and development. It specifically focuses on the social movements carried out by the traditional fishermen of Goa in an attempt to protect their traditional fishing practices.

Before the exodus of many people and the political leadership from the territory of Tibet, both the macro-governmental and micro everyday sociocultural existence were dominated by Buddhist religion and religious personalities. The wealth of the nation was decided and measured by the ever-increasing number of grand monasteries and religious personalities. This article argues that after more than six decades of democratic internal governance in exile, the earlier dominance of religion and religious personalities has now taken a hegemonic turn in this democracy without territory. Despite the Fourteenth Dalai Lama’s unprecedented decision to relinquish his formal governmental authority in exile, the continued dominance of religion in the polity and everyday life of Tibetans is notable and is critically examined in this article.