Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of adolescents’ perceptions of food insecurity and diet quality, and the impact that these factors have on mental health. Design/methodology/approach – This study used a community-based research approach. It gathered qualitative data from 11 in-depth interviews conducted with adolescents aged 13-19. Participants were recruited through various programmes they attended at a community organization in Toronto. Findings – Overall, results indicate that respondents clearly identified a linkage between food insecurity and mental health. They also identified several effects of poor diet quality on mental health. Respondents understood food insecurity and poor diet quality to exist on a continuum. However, they also identified other reasons for making poor dietary choices such as peer pressure. Mental health effects of food insecurity and poor diet quality included sadness, stress, worry, anger, shame, impaired concentration, and fatigue. Practical implications – This research will help to inform future research design in the field of social determinants of mental health. As well, the findings will help guide the development of interventions targeted towards this vulnerable age group. Originality/value – This is the first qualitative study to explore food insecurity and poor diet quality, as existing on a continuum, from the perspective of adolescents. The authors are also the first to explore the impact of these factors on the mental health of adolescents, based on their own understanding. What is more, the authors focused on a culturally diverse population living in an underprivileged neighbourhood in Toronto. The authors chose this population because they are at higher risk of both food insecurity and poor diet quality.
In this article I examine the legal framework for addressing violence against women in post war Guatemala. Since the signing of the Peace Accords in 1996, judicial reform in Guatemala has included the passing of laws in the area of women‘s human rights, aimed at eliminating discrimination and violence against women. These laws constitute a response to and have occurred concurrently to an increase in violent crime against women, particularly in the form of mass rapes and murders. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Guatemala‘s Metropolitan Area, this paper juxtaposes the laws for addressing violence against women to Guatemalan women‘s complex, multilayered and multi-dimensional life experiences. The latter expose the limitations of strictly legal understandings of the phenomenon of gender-based violence, and highlight the need for broad social justice approaches that take into account the different structures of violence, inequality, and injustice present in women‘s lives.
ResúmenEste artículo analiza el fenómeno social del feminicidio, el asesinato de mujeres por su género, el cual ha crecido en Guatemala en los años siguientes al fin de la guerra. Basado en mi investigación etnográfica de un año en Guatemala, analizo las diferentes perspectivas que discuten el tema, tales como la académica, la oficial del gobierno, la del los medios de comunicación, y la de las organizaciones no gubernamentales. Además, contrasto los discursos “oficiales” sobre el feminicidio con las experiencias de una familia que actualmente sufre las consecuencias de la pérdida de un familiar, lo cual desenmascara las brechas entre las respuestas institucionales a la violencia y la vida diaria de los guatemaltecos. Finalmente, argumento que para entender mejor la profundidad y las consecuencias de largo plazo de la violencia feminicida, es necesario enfocar la discusión en las voces y experiencias de las mujeres, así como en las redes sociales.
From 1960 to 1996 Guatemala was ravaged by civil war and massacres. Despite the signing of peace agreements in 1996, however, the country remains haunted by the suffering and violence of the past. This essay focuses on the psychological consequences of the war and examines the various obstacles to achieving mental health in post-war Guatemala. It examines the climate of fear, reprisal, and intimidation still present as the residues of political violence, and argues that it poses great limitations on the possible outcomes of mental health work in the country. This essay also examines the structural violence that pervades Guatemala and demonstrates that the effects of political violence are exacerbated by the effects of ongoing structural violence, making the goal of achieving mental health more distant. Additionally, this essay considers how social problems resulting from the intersection of political and structural violence in Guatemala, such as tile high levels of crime, insecurity and everyday violence, may become embodied by individuals.
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