The role of productive activities in the lives of adolescents: Photovoice evidence from Malawi

Abstract

Adolescence is an important transitional period, separate from both childhood and adulthood. Critical physical and mental development occurs during adolescence, including emotional skills, physical, and mental abilities. Behaviors adopted during this lifecourse period have critical implications for adolescents’ future health and well-being. The main research question of the present study is: what is the role of productive activities in the lives and development of adolescents in rural Malawi? As part of this study, selected adolescents from poor rural households were asked to take photographs of their daily (productive) activities. These photographs served as a starting point for focus group discussions. In addition to including adolescents, we conducted qualitative interviews with caregivers and teachers to triangulate and obtain a more holistic understanding of adolescent engagement in productive activities. The main themes that emerged were that 1) the work that is conducted by adolescent boys and girls inside and outside the household is not only perceived by adolescents as a product of poverty, but as a point of pride, as well as a potential means of providing for one’s future, 2) there is a tension between the needs of the family and schooling, and 3) adolescent productive activities are associated with minor although not negligible hazards and injuries. We discuss that these qualitative findings help to better understand how social protection interventions, such as Malawi’s Social Cash Transfer Program, may affect adolescent engagement in work and adolescent wellbeing more generally.

How Adolescents Today Imagine Adulthood And Their Future: Research Review

“…This is shown in a meta-analysis by Low et al (2005), which also clarifies that it is only at 18-19 years of age that a genuine professional interest is formed, which persists until middle adulthood. Zietz et al (2018) show that inclusion in real productive labor for adolescents from poor regions is a source of pride and a guarantor of future well-being in more degree, rather than education, which is consistent with the conclusions of I. Illich, & P. McLaren and other representatives of critical pedagogy. Volodina and Nagy (2016), Volodina et al (2015) also note that early vocational training has a positive effect on the early career of young people.…”

‘Pneumonia has gone’: exploring perceptions of health in a cookstove intervention trial in rural Malawi

“…22 The methodology was initially designed to explore perceptions of health [23][24][25] and has been used in many contexts; examples in Malawi include a study of well-being of palliative care patients 26 and adolescent well-being. 27 There has, however, been limited use of the methodology in relation to cookstove interventions, exceptions being the pilot work for this study 28 and a study with potential users of portable gas cookstoves in Cameroon. 29 Qualitative methods and the participatory methodology Photovoice were therefore combined in this study with the overall aim of gaining a deeper understanding of the sociocultural context of cookstove use within CAPS, and the implications of this for future implementation of clean cooking initiatives.…”

Improvement of serum cortisol levels in obese female college students after moderate-intensity acute exercise

“…Early adolescence provides an opportunity to develop and encourage positive health and behavioral practices, yet it is an understudied age group with limited information to guide and inform appropriate interventions (Drysdale et al, 2023). Adolescence is a critical transitional period of critical physical and mental development that occurs in adolescence, including emotional skills, physical abilities, and mental (Zietz et al, 2018). Adolescence is a critical transition period from child to adult health care, but readiness for this transition has been described as low in the general adolescent population (Mulkey et al, 2023).…”