Introduction: Digital technology platforms offer unparalleled opportunities to reach vulnerable adolescents at scale and overcome many barriers that exist around conventional service provision. This paper describes the design and development of POD Adventures , a blended problem-solving game-based intervention for adolescents with or at risk of anxiety, depression and conduct difficulties in India. This intervention was developed as part of the PRemIum for ADolEscents (PRIDE) research programme, which aims to establish a suite of transdiagnostic psychological interventions organized around a stepped care system in Indian secondary schools. Methods and Materials: Intervention development followed a person-centered approach consisting of four iterative activities: (i) review of recent context-specific evidence on mental health needs and preferences for the target population of school-going Indian adolescents, including a multiple stakeholder analysis of school counseling priorities and pilot studies of a brief problem-solving intervention; (ii) new focus group discussions with N = 46 student participants and N = 8 service providers; (iii) co-design workshops with N = 22 student participants and N = 8 service providers; and (iv) user-testing with N = 50 student participants. Participants were aged 12–17 years and recruited from local schools in New Delhi and Goa, including a subgroup with self-identified mental health needs ( N = 6). Results: Formative data from existing primary sources, new focus groups and co-design workshops supported a blended format for delivering a brief problem-solving intervention, with counselors supporting use of a game-based app on “offline” smartphones. User-testing with prototypes identified a need for simplification of language, use of concrete examples of concepts and practice elements to enhance engagement. There were also indications that participants most valued relatability and interactivity within real-world stories with judicious support from an in-app guide. The final prototype comprised a set of interactive and gamified vignettes and a structured set of problem-solving questions to consolidate and generalize learning while encouraging real-world application. Discussion: Findings shaped the design of POD Adventures and its delivery as an open-access blended intervention for secondary school students with a felt need for psychological support, consistent with an early intervention paradigm. A randomized controlled trial is planned to evaluate processes and impacts of POD Adventures when delivered for help-seeking students in low-resource school settings.
The extant review studies on the Base/bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) have paid inadequate attention to the producer and entrepreneur roles of the poor. This review article exclusively focused on BoP producers and subsistence entrepreneurs provides an overview of the current state of research on BoP producers and subsistence entrepreneurs. It encompasses 130 articles from 67 peer-reviewed academic journals and develops an organizing framework for classifying these articles. The conceptual model of entrepreneurship in poverty contexts presented in this article illustrates the drivers, barriers, facilitators and consequences of subsistence entrepreneurship. The conceptual model helps to highlight the relevance of contextually informed public support and advocates adopting a collaborative approach for addressing various challenges faced by BoP producers. We also discuss the implications of our article and provide directions for future research.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the effect of television viewing duration of a household on its annual category-level conspicuous consumption and also the enhanced level of this relationship for the bottom of the pyramid (BoP) households. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses formulation was guided by cultivation theory and the concept of compensatory consumption. The hypotheses were later examined by using ordinary least square (OLS) regression on the data from the large nationally representative India Human Development Survey, 2011 (IHDS-II) database. Findings Television viewing duration of the household exerts a positive effect on its annual category-level conspicuous consumption expenditure. The nature of this relationship is enhanced for the BoP households. The annual category-level conspicuous consumption for the BoP households increases by close to four percent for every hour increase in their television viewing duration while such increase for other households is close to one and a half percent only. Research limitations/implications Findings can be further strengthened by using time-lagged dependent variable taken at monthly intervals, as well as survey data linking household television viewing duration with desirability of conspicuous goods. Practical implications Managers can rely on television for reaching BoP consumers while being cognizant of the negative effects of promoting conspicuous consumption among them. They need to adopt a responsible marketing approach. Besides regulating television, policymakers need to work toward increased provisioning of educational and financial services for BoP households. They can leverage television for promoting beneficial behavior in BoP households. Originality/value The study empirically establishes the external validity of cultivation theory at the household level in an emerging economy by using a large nationally representative database. It also establishes the higher vulnerability of BoP households to increase category-level conspicuous consumption in response to television viewing. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to empirically examine the effect of television viewing duration of household on its annual category level conspicuous consumption.
PurposeDespite various consequences for different stakeholders in the mustard ecosystem, India prohibited blending in mustard oil to achieve self-reliance in edible oils and promote consumer health. This paper uncovers the implications of this policy on mustard production, consumption and prices.Design/methodology/approachThis paper deploys system dynamics (SD) to model the mustard ecosystem. SD uses simulation modeling to comprehend the nonlinear behavior of complex systems over time utilizing causal-loop and stock-flow diagrams.FindingsWhile the mustard price does not vary in the short run, it diverges toward a higher side in the long run due to the changed policy mandate. Surprisingly, due to the predominance of market prices, the policy administered minimum support price (MSP) was found to have a limited influence on mustard prices. Hence, the focus should be on supply augmentation through non-price-based measures like disseminating information to enhance the yield rate of seed production and promoting the adoption of efficient technologies with higher oil conversion efficiency.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper allows policymakers to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of policy interventions to mitigate the adverse impacts of policy mandate. It presents a reliable roadmap for policymakers to roll out effective policies.Originality/valueThe paper uncovers the system-level impact of policy on stakeholders and examines the effectiveness of MSP.
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