Browsing by Author "Bali, Theodora A. L."

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    Analyzing gender difference in leadership styles and behaviour of heads of schools in Tanzania
    (IISTE, 2014) Dady, Ntide P.; Bali, Theodora A. L.
    This study made a comparative analysis of leadership styles and behavior of male and female heads of primary schools in Kasulu District, Tanzania. One hundred and ninety participants were sampled purposively and randomly from 22 public primary schools. A multi-method data collection strategy including interviews, questionnaire and documentary analysis, was deployed. The data collected were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The descriptive statistics used included frequency tables, charts, mean scores, and t-test. Overall, results revealed that, participative, democratic, team management and authoritative leadership styles were deployed by both male and female heads of schools in running primary schools. Similarities and differences were observed in terms of frequency and manner in which those leadership styles were used by male and female school heads. Moreover, both male and female heads of schools were found with the same amount of task-oriented leadership behavior. However, female heads of schools showed more task-oriented leadership behavior than male heads. The study thus recommends addressing the situation of gender imbalance in schools' leadership so as to utilize the revealed leadership talents and skills of female heads of schools as it has been done for male school heads.
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    Community perspectives: an exploration of potential barriers to men’s involvement in maternity care in a central Tanzanian community
    (PLOS, 2020) Gibore, Nyasiro S.; Bali, Theodora A. L.
    Male involvement in maternal health has been linked to positive health outcomes for women and children, as they control household resources and make significant decisions, which influence maternal health. Despite of the important role they have in maternal health care, their actual involvement remains low. The objective of this study was to explore community perspectives on potential barriers to men’s involvement in maternity care in central Tanzania. Qualitative research methods were used in data collection. We conducted 32 focus group discussions (16 FGDs with men and 16 FGDs with women) and 34 in-depth interviews with community leaders, village health workers and health care providers. Interview guides were used to guide the focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. The interviews and discussions were audio recorded, transcribed and translated into English and imported into QSR NVivo 9 software for thematic analysis. Three themes emerged from the data; men’s maternity care involvement indicators, benefits of men’s involvement in maternity health care services and barriers to men’s involvement in maternity health care services. Both men and women participants acknowledged the importance of men’s involvement in maternity health care services, even though few men actually got involved. Identified benefits of men’s involvement in maternity health care services include: Learning any risk factors directly from the health care providers and getting prepared in addressing them; and reinforcing adherence to instruction received from the health care provider as family protectors and guardians. Barriers to men’s involvement in maternity health care services are systemic; starting from the family, health care and culture-specific gender norms for maternity related behaviour as well as healthcare facilities structural constrains inhibiting implementation of couple-friendly maternity health care services. Men’s involvement in maternity care is influenced by culture-specific maternity-related gender norms. This situation is compounded by the conditions of deprivation that deny women access to resources with which they could find alternative support during pregnancy. Moreover, structures meant for maternal health care services lack privacy, thus inhibiting male partners’ presence in the delivery room. Intervention to increase men’s involvement in maternity care should address individual and systemic barriers to men’s involvement.
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    Factors influencing men’s involvement in antenatal care services: a cross-sectional study in a low resource setting, Central Tanzania
    (Springer Nature, 2019) Gibore, Nyasiro S.; Bali, Theodora A. L.; Kibusi, Stephen M.
    Background: Men’s involvement can impact the delays in the decision to seek health care and in reaching a health facility, which are contributing causes for increased maternal mortality. Despite of the call to involve men in antenatal care, their participation is not well understood. This study aimed to determine the level of men’s involvement in antenatal care and the factors influencing their involvement in these services. Methods:A cross sectional study of 966 randomly selected men aged 18 years or older was conducted in Dodoma Region, from June 2014 to November 2015. Face to face interviews were conducted using a pretested structured questionnaire. The outcome variable was men’s involvement and was constructed from four dichotomized items which were scored zero to two for low involvement and three to four for high involvement. A multiple logistic model was used to measure the factors influencing men’s involvement in antenatal care services. Results: The level of men’s involvement in antenatal care was high (53.9%). Majority 89% of respondents made joint decisions on seeking antenatal care. More than half (63.4%) of respondents accompanied their partners to the antenatal clinic at least once. Less than a quarter (23.5%) of men was able to discuss issues related to pregnancy with their partner’s health care providers. About 77.3% of respondents provided physical support to their partners during the antenatal period. Factors influencing men’s involvement in antenatal care were occupation (AOR = 0.692, 95% CI = 0.511–0.936),ethnicity (AOR = 1.495, 95% CI = 1.066–2.097), religion (AOR = 1.826, 95% CI = 1.245–2.677), waiting time (AOR = 1.444, 95%CI = 1.094–1.906), information regarding men’s involvement in antenatal care (AOR = 3.077, 95% CI = 2.076–4.562) and men’s perception about the attitude of health care providers (AOR = 1.548, 95%CI = 1.090–2.199). Conclusion: Overall, more than half of respondents reported high involvement in antenatal care services. Access to information on men’s involvement, religion, occupation, ethnicity, waiting time and men’s perception about the attitude of care providers were significant factors influencing men’s involvement in antenatal care services in this study. Health promotion is needed to empower men with essential information for meaningful involvement in antenatal care services
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    Writing difficulties in primary schools in Tanzania: A focus on standard two children’s experiences in Dodoma city
    (The University of Dodoma, 2019) Pembe, Alphoncina; Bali, Theodora A. L.
    This paper assessed the situation of writing difficulties among primary school children in Tanzania. Specifically, the study aimed at identifying children with susceptible writing difficulties (CSWD) and exploring specific mistakes they made in writing skills. Besides, it aimed at assessing the ways used by the teachers in supporting CSWD. It involved 280 standard two pupils and three (3) subject-specific teachers from two public primary schools in Dodoma City. The primary schools were randomly selected, while standard two children and teachers were purposively selected. Data were collected through administering reading and writing tests, interview and classroom observation. A reading test was first administered to all children to screen those with severe reading problems. The results indicated that 78 (27.9%) out of 280 children were low achievers in reading test, while 53 (26.2%) out of the remaining 202 were identified as CSWD. It was also found that CSWD made different mistakes when writing both words and sentences. Data regarding writing mistakes suggest that majority of the CSWD faced problems in letter formation, word/letter spacing and spelling. Moreover, it was found that teachers supported CSWD to improve their writing ability through retention in the same classes and through remedial sessions. This study recommends that appropriate and effective measures are required to enable CSWD to benefit from classroom teaching and complete the primary education level with the required writing skills.