Journal articles on the topic 'Information literacy – Ghana'

Abstract This study examined personal information creation and storage practices in digital and print media by faculty in selected universities in Ghana. A sample survey research design guided the research and quantitative data were collected from 235 faculty members of six universities in Ghana. Qualitative data was also collected from 18 willing faculty members, and was guided by an interview schedule. Faculty reported that they created their information in an organized manner and that they created information mainly in digital formats compared with manual. The task at hand determined the information facility created and search words that are semantically related to the item are used in finding/re-finding electronic information. Faculty reported that they acquired their information literacy personally, and information literacy explained re-finding of digital information but not non-digital information. The demographic variables in the study did not explain finding/re-finding of stored information: gender (β = −0.113, p = 0.280) and age (β = 0.038, p = 0.545). This study establishes clearly the pattern of information literacy activities for faculty in the universities in Ghana.

The study assesses the financial literacy level among tertiary students in Sub-Saharan Africa country, Ghana. The study uses primary data through self-administered questionnaires, and employs purposive sampling to select four hundred and eighty (480) students across tertiary institutions in Ghana for data analysis. The study reaffirms that on the average, students lack financial knowledge especially on insurance (mean = 40.54 percent). However, students portray the highest level of financial literacy in savings and borrowing (mean = 52.88 percent). Also, information technology positively influences 95 percent of student’s financial literacy. We recommend that tertiary institutions should inculcate educational program on financial literacy to broaden understanding of financial issues among students. Policy makers should redesign curriculum to include financial literacy courses especially for non-business students. Finally, financial seminars and talks should be focused on teaching relevant financial concepts and the youth should be educated and encouraged to utilize digital or technological platforms to enable them gain more knowledge in finance.

Background: This cross-sectional survey aimed to ascertain the knowledge of malaria patients in determining the nature and extent of health information needed; accessing the needed health information effectively and efficiently; evaluating such health information and its sources critically in order to use the information. Methods/Results: A self-reported questionnaire was given to 155 participants in selected “drug stores” in Ho in the Volta Region of Ghana. Positive relationships were found between respondents whose decision to purchase malaria drugs was based on laboratory tests and high health information literacy skills. Low knowledge of libraries among the respondents was recorded even though there was no significant difference between the health information literacy of those who see the library as a source of health information and those who do not. Conclusion: There is a need to involve libraries in the health delivery system in order to help extend literacy training/skills to the citizenry.

This study examined students’ perception on the integration of Information Technology (IT) in Ghanaian distance Education, and provided a comparative analysis of the levels of integration among public universities in Ghana. The research was conducted at the distance learning centres of the 4 major public universities, namely: University of Ghana (UG), University of Cape Coast (UCC), University of Education, Winneba (UEW) and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). Questionnaires were used to collect data from a sample of 297 students, using a cluster sampling technique and the data were analysed using One-Way ANOVA and chi-square statistics. The study showed that although computer literacy among distance learners was high, technology integration was low and varied among the institutions. Smart phones were the major internet access devices. The online learning tools for self-efficacy were vital to IT integration. Based on the gathered results, recommendations such as implementing a robust national IT infrastructure, among others, were provided for reflection by higher education institutions offering distance education in Ghana.

Purpose It is evident that human existence is highly dependent on information. Information is considered to be an essential right of every single individual to sustain life and enjoy it as well. The benefits of looking into the information behaviour of people can, therefore, not be overemphasised. However, there is a yawning gap in research conducted into the information behaviour of marginalised groups such as beggars. This study aims to investigate the information seeking behaviour of beggars in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach Through a case study design, the study used a qualitative approach and interpretivist paradigm to look into this phenomenon. In total, ten beggars were sampled from the beggar population in Accra through the use of convenient and snowball sampling techniques. A semi-structured interview schedule was used as data collection tool to solicit responses from the participants. Findings The study revealed that beggars in Accra lacked understanding of their information needs, although they were heavily dependent on information for their tasks and survival. Again, the findings of the study showed that beggars were faced with information seeking barriers such as illiteracy, lack of information literacy skills and financial resources. The study recommends the need for stakeholders to look into the social welfare and literacy needs of beggars. Originality/value The authors consider the study original both in conceptualisation and design. The main question being interrogated stems from identified gaps in the literature and the study intends to fill these knowledge gaps. The study’s originality also stems from the fact that there is a paucity of information on the subject of study in the context of Ghana.

Purpose It has been a decade, as the collaboration between the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) and the Ghana Library Authority (GhLA) to extend information and communication technology (ICT) and library services to rural deprived, unserved and underserved communities in Ghana dubbed the library connectivity project. This paper aims to evaluate this initiative from the perspective of relevant key stakeholders and through the lens of the digital inclusion model. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted a qualitative approach to evaluate the library connectivity project offered to deprived communities in the Upper East Region of Ghana. Interviews were conducted with the head librarians, ICT teachers and school librarians. Focus group discussions were held with pupils from four beneficiary schools of the project. The researchers also witnessed four of the outreach programmes and training sessions and observed the mode of instruction. Findings The study brought to fore the enormous benefits of the library connectivity project as it aided school pupils to acquire practical ICT skills, which were found to be useful towards their final exam. Despite the enormous benefit of the project, it was bereft with a lot of challenges such as inadequate logistics and personnel thereby restricting the project to very few schools. Low staff motivation and unmotorable roads were also found to be a challenge, which could all be as a result of lack of funds. Research limitations/implications The paper underscores the importance of computer and information literacy and reveals how the GhLA is using innovative mobile library services to bridge the digital divide through the library connectivity project. Originality/value This paper makes a further contribution to the paucity of literature on the role of mobile libraries in the promotion of computer and information literacy.

Abstract This comparative cultural study examines differences in digital citizenship between undergraduate information literacy students at two different, but similar, universities across the globe from each other. Under the notion that the internet and prevalence of mobile devices allow students to participate online as digital citizens in ways that were impossible before, we use mixed methods to compare the attitudes and experiences of undergraduate students at a university in the midwestern United States (U.S.), with a university on the southwestern coast of Ghana. We also examine the policies related to technology use at these schools. The findings indicate that Ghanaian students had higher levels of digital citizenship. Other findings suggest that network issues are a problem for students in both schools, especially for Ghana, and ethical aspects of internet use, like cyberbullying, hacking, and fake news, deter students from participating online as much as they would like.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to explore the extent to which individual factors such as academic tasks, preference for print sources and information skills influence distance learners’ use of digital libraries in a teacher distance education programme at the University of Education, Winneba in Ghana. The population of the study consisted of 1,834 distance students and from a sample size of 641 distance learners spread across three distance study centers, namely, Winneba (247), Kumasi (276) and Asante-Mampong (118). A total of 453 (70.67 percent) distance learners, selected randomly, completed a 31-item questionnaire. In addition, 30 distance education tutors, four coordinators and four librarians were purposively selected to participate in the study. The findings showed that academic tasks of distance learners did not require them to use digital library resources, which resulted in low or no academic use of digital libraries. The findings also pointed to a high preference for print resources among distance learners which resulted in the low use of digital library resources. Finally, it was noted that even though most of the distance learners possessed basic ICT skills, this did not result in their of use of digital library resources. To improve digital library use in distance education, it is recommended that academic librarians seek and foster collaboration in teaching information literacy and library instruction in distance education, an approach which must be backed by a policy that mandates the use of (digital) library scholarly resources in teaching and learning in distance education. It is also recommended that the Centre for Distance Education and the University Library collaborate to offer training programmes in specific digital resources and general information literacy courses for all distance education stakeholders in the university to boost digital library use.

The study investigated the use of electronic resources/information by research scientists in Ghana. Specifically, to investigate the awareness and level of use of electronic resources; perceived reliance, benefits and impact of use of electronic resources on the research activities. The research design for the study was a survey. Questionnaire schedule was used to collect data from 103 scientists from selected institutes at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ghana. The result revealed that majority of the scientists (92 %) used electronic resources. The most used type of resources were Electronic databases, electronic research reports and electronic journals. The purpose of use was mostly for research work (71 %). However only 34 per cent had had training in information literacy skills. Some of the impediments to accessing the electronic resources were poor ICT infrastructure (38 %) and lack of skills in accessing the resources (35 %). Generally, the use of electronic resources have improved research activities of research scientists It is recommended that continuous training (formal and informal) should be organised for research scientists to keep them abreast with new electronic applications and tools that will promote their level of competence and improvement in their research outputs. In Addition, ICT infrastructure should be improved in the various institutes for easy access to the electronic resources

Countries are investing in information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and educating their citizens for effective ICT utilization. The attainment of the anticipated benefits hinges on effective integration of ICT in various levels of education. Effective integration of ICT requires educators and teachers who possess the skills to harness the capabilities of ICT into their teaching and learning environments. This article assesses the extent of pre-university teachers' e-readiness to utilize ICT in teaching their various subjects by assessing their technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). Although the ICT literacy of teachers in the pre-university schools in Ghana is high, their ability to utilize ICT to design and deliver subject contents and improve the learning environments of their respective subjects is low. The article suggests a comprehensive retooling of teachers with capabilities to integrate ICT in teaching their subjects.

This paper discusses the factors which affect access to financial support by small and medium enterprise (SMEs) in Sekondi-Takoradi. Financial resources are crucial in the life of all businesses including SMEs. However, access to financial support comes with the problems of information asymmetry, moral hazard and adverse selection. The factors that influence access to financial support are investigated using a non-interventional cross-sectional study design. Quantitative data were collected from 303 randomly selected SMEs using interview schedules, while qualitative data, using an interview guide, were obtained from 21 institutions offering financial support to SMEs in Sekondi- Takoradi. With the use of interpretations of the qualitative data, and descriptive statistics including cross tabulations, the results showed that interest rates, collateral, guarantors and, business and financial information, and financial literacy play a role in the access of institutional financial support by SMEs.

ObjectiveAdherence to hypertension treatment is a major public health challenge for low and middle-income countries particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. One potential reason could be the discordance between lay and medical explanatory models of hypertension and its treatment. Understanding community perceptions and practices may contribute to improving hypertension control as they present insights into psychosocial and cultural factors that shape individual behaviour. We explore community perceptions regarding hypertension and its treatment in rural northern Ghana and how they differ from medical understanding.DesignThis was a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions to collect data, which were analysed using a thematic approach.SettingA multisite study conducted in four rural communities in two regions of northern Ghana.ParticipantsWe conducted 16 semi-structured interviews and eight focus group discussions with community leaders and members, respectively.ResultsThree major themes were identified: community perceptions, treatment options and community support for people with hypertension. Community perceptions about hypertension include hypertension perceived as excess blood in the body and associated with spiritual or witchcraft attacks. Traditional medicine is perceived to cure hypertension completely with concurrent use of biomedical and traditional medicines encouraged in rural communities. Community members did not consider themselves at risk of developing hypertension and reported having inadequate information on how to provide social support for hypertensive community members, which they attributed to low literacy and poverty.ConclusionThere is a substantial mismatch between communities’ perceptions and medical understanding of hypertension and its treatment. These perceptions partly result from structural factors and social norms shaped by collective processes and traditions that shape lay beliefs and influence individual health behaviour. Socioeconomic factors also thwart access to information and contribute to inadequate social support for persons with hypertension. These findings highlight the need for a public health approach to hypertension control targeting families and communities.

Background: Employability is often broadly defined as an individual’s ability to gain employment, to maintain employment or to replace an employment relationship by another. This study seeks to provide information on employability demands in the Ghanaian labour market. Method: The study is based on an in-depth analysis of job advertisements in the most widely read national daily, the Daily Graphic Newspaper. Analysis of the study was done using IBM-SPSS version 25. Results: More than half of all advertised jobs (54.3%) were for Professionals and Management Officials. About 22.8% of all advertised jobs were open to persons with no academic qualifications. Of the remaining 77.2% that required educational qualifications, almost half (47.3%) were open to university first degree holders. Job seekers who lack job-specific skills, computer literacy and communicative skills are not likely to succeed in the Ghanaian labour market. Also from the results, one may secure a job from age 25 and is most likely to secure a suitable job by age 35 with a minimum of 3 years of working experience. However, the likelihood of securing a job reduces as one approaches age 45. Conclusion: The study concludes that training and preparation for the job market should begin early enough for all prospective job seekers. Also, persons undertaking higher learning should take advantage of any small period of time in internship programs, voluntary works and industrial attachments to acquire the necessary work experiences needed to be competitive in the search for jobs in the Ghanaian labour market.

On 19 January 1482, a Portuguese fleet of ships under the command of Captain Don Diego d'Azambuja landed at Elmina (a small town on the Gold Coast, what is now Ghana). D'Azambuja immediately set up a meeting with the king of Elmina. King Kwamena Ansa, dressed in all of his finery, met with the Portuguese captain, and during this meeting d'Azambuja asked for permission to build a permanent settlement. At first, Ansa denied his request, stating that he should watch the waves of the sea. Just as they come to the shore, reach the shore, and go back, so too should he continue to come to Elmina, trade, and go back to Portugal. After persistent requests however, Ansa finally agreed and allowed the Portuguese to build a fort known today as Elmina Castle.I first heard this story from men and women in Elmina during field research there in 2001. When I asked people to tell me about the history of the town and gave them free rein to discuss any topic of their choosing, this was often the story that they chose to tell. Kwamena Ansa, it seems, is a local legend. His fame has extended beyond Elmina however, and into Western scholarship. In particular, David Henige has tracked the emergence of Ansa within Elmina's oral tradition. Henige argues that, while this historical figure can be traced through written sources reaching all the way back to the early sixteenth century, his recognition as a past king by local residents in Elmina has a much shorter history. Indeed, Ansa first emerged in kinglists dating back only to the 1920s and 1930s. During this time, Henige argues, local residents began reading European texts about Elmina's history in order to negotiate colonial courts. The inclusion of Ansa on kinglists represents, therefore, an example of feedback, which is the process of the integration of information from the written record into the oral tradition.

Abstract Objectives Nutrition education (NE) remains a popular intervention to improve maternal health literacy (MHL), with the promise of behavior change and improved maternal and child health outcomes. However, there continue to be gaps and barriers that impede the delivery of NE to women, and/or affect maternal compliance to NE guidelines. This is the first phase of a larger project that examines the role of NE on MHL and pregnancy outcomes. Specifically, this phase aimed to identify the gaps in, and barriers to current NE delivered at hospitals to women in Tamale, Ghana. Methods A series of focus group discussions were used to engage health providers and pregnant women. Field observations of the antenatal care (ANC) process and informal interviews with focal personnel were also employed. Data were thematized using recurrent themes from field notes and audio loggings. Results Preliminary analysis of discussions with 33 health providers and 13 pregnant women identified 3 thematic areas describing gaps and challenges to successful delivery and implementation of NE: 1) Sociocultural: Women's adherence to NE advice was affected by constrained autonomy resulting from patriarchal norms including spousal control, polygamy, coercion, and financial abuse. Food insecurity resulting from low socioeconomic status and a lack of social safety nets also impacted maternal ability to access and comply with NE 2) Communication: Midwives were cited as the most common sources of information for women at ANC sessions, yet owing to dissatisfaction with the hospital set up, some mothers preferred and continued to seek health information from traditional birth attendants. Also, more emphasis was placed on anemia prevention at ANC visits compared to other salient topics like weight gain during pregnancy. 3) Administrative: Lack of professional language translation, health professional workload and inadequate health worker retraining also affected the quality of NE. Conclusions Attention should be paid especially to the sociocultural factors plaguing vulnerable women in low-middle income settings like Tamale when designing NE interventions. The study investigators will continue to engage community members in exploring ways of incorporating these in the design of a NE intervention for pregnant women in the area. Funding Sources N/A.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is twofold: to determine the factors contributing to farm income in the Transitional and Savanna zones of Ghana and to ascertain variations between in the same and across the two locations; and to determine the impact of credit on farm income in each of the two zones and to ascertain the variation in impact of credit across the two locations.Design/methodology/approachIn order to address endogeneity and sample selection bias, the authors draw from the theory of impact evaluation in nonrandom experiment, employing the endogenous switching regression (ESR) while using the propensity score matching (PSM) to check for robustness of the results.FindingsThe results show significant mean differences between some characteristics of households that have access to credit and those that did not have access. Further, the results revealed farm size, labor; gender, age, literacy, wealth and group membership as the significant determinants of both credit access and income in the two zones. With the ESR, credit access increases households farm income by GH¢206.56/ha and GH¢39.74/ha in the Transitional and Savanna zones, respectively, but with the PSM, credit increases farm income by GH¢201.50 and GH¢45.69 and in the Transitional and Savanna, respectively.Research limitations/implicationsThe mean differences in characteristics of the households revealed the presence of selection bias in the distribution of household’s covariates in the two zones. The results further indicate the importance of productive resources, information and household characteristics in improved access to credit and farm income. Also, the results from both methods indicate that credit access leads to significant gains in farm income for households in both zones. However, differences exist in the results of PSM and that of the ESR results.Practical implicationsThe presence of selection bias in the samples suggests that the use of ESR and PSM techniques is appropriate. Further, the results suggesting that enhanced credit access and farm income could be attained through improved access to household resources and information. The results also suggest the need for establishing and expanding credit programs to cover more households in both zones. The differential impact of credit between the two methods employed in each zone revealed the weakness of each model. The low values from PSM could indicate the presence of selection bias resulting from unobservable factors whiles the high values from the ESR could stem from the restrictive assumption of the model. This reinforces the importance of combining mixed methods to check robustness of results and to explore the weakness of each method employed.Originality/valueThe novelty of this study lies in the use of a very extensive and unique data set to decompose the determinants of credit access and farm income and as well as the impacts of credit into zones.

Abstract The University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Tarkwa, Ghana has a Local Area Network (LAN) infrastructure whose primary purpose is to facilitate research; teaching and learning; and information dissemination. The LAN infrastructure spans a maximum distance of 1.39 square-kilometers with an upload and download speed of 115 Mb/s and interconnects the administration block, faculties, library and halls of residence with high-speed ethernet links operating over a dedicated fiber optic backbone. The LAN infrastructure with connectivity to the internet impact operations in various sections of the University, notably, the University Library. The main purpose of the library is to interact with different information networks to make available e-resource materials to students, academic and non-academic staff. This can only be achieved over a dedicated LAN infrastructure. The introduction of Library Management Systems (Koha), Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) and the UMaT Space has improved library services such as document delivery, circulation and borrowing, amongst others. However, there exist a major challenge associated with library e-resources accessibility. This paper sought to investigate the factors hindering library e-resource accessibility for the purposes of improving research. Questionnaire was administered to respondents to solicit primary information while secondary information was obtained from published literature. 537 out of 855 participants responded to the questionnaire administered. 351 (65.36%) represented undergraduate students, 73 (13.60%) represented postgraduate students, 87 (16.20%), 21 (3.91%), 5 (0.93%) represented teaching, non-teaching and library staff respectively. The responses were analysed using simple tables and pie charts. Results from the study showed inadequate access points to enable users access these e-resource materials and lack of knowledge about the existence of these resources. The investigation further revealed the need for the library to embark on an information literacy drive for both students and academic staff. Various ways of improving e-resource accessibility was suggested. Keywords: Local Area Network, ICT Infrastructure, Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC), E-Resources

This study examines the aesthetics of three Kasena traditional prayers performed in devotion to Kukula, a divinity revered by the Kasena of the Upper East Region of Ghana. These prayers are performed orally and have not received any literary study in Kasem; this study is therefore aimed at filling this gap by looking at the aesthetics in this prayers. Four different prayers were recorded and transcribed by the researcher; these prayers were collected from Kayᴐrᴐ, a village in the Kasena Nankana West District in the Upper East Region of Ghana. We define these prayer texts as being part of Kasem oral literature. The literary theory of structuralism is adopted for this study. The instruments I used in collecting the information for this study included, voice recorder, video recorder, while the researcher used active participatory method of observation and data elicitation in the data collection. The analysis reveals that the officiant in their performances of these prayers use native poetic devices such as; proverbs, rhetorical questions, metaphor, personification, oxymoron, synecdoche, symbolism, imagery and repetitions of varying degrees. They also use allusions, alliteration and assonance. The study of these prayers reveals that these performers have a mastery of many artistic devices native to Kasem. In conclusion the study clearly shows that even though the officiants of these traditional prayers are merely performing religious activities, they use literary language during their compositions, thus, making Kasena traditional prayer texts artistic compositions.

The focus of this research was to discover how the teaching of English pronunciation in the pre-service training institutions in Ghana could be improved. It was a study at Wesley College of Education, Kumasi, Ghana. The purposive sampling method was employed to select three tutors of English and twenty students for the study. Interviews and observations were done to gather information. As part of the findings; Pronunciation teaching must be included in course outlines of the colleges of Education. The Transforming Teacher Education and Learning (T-TEL) programme should factor in pronunciation when suggesting the review of the course outlines of the Colleges of Education (which are being transformed into University Colleges as of the preparation time of this paper). This will contribute to improving pronunciation teaching. Also, Pronunciation must be well taught at the basic level as the pupils grow with the knowledge and in-turn pass it on to other pupils/students in Ghana. This is because students of the Colleges of Education, complete their course only to go and teach the pupils in basic schools. It is obvious that when pronunciation is not well taught at the basic level, it goes a long way to affect individuals even unto adulthood. In addition, better methods of teaching pronunciation, if employed, will help improve it. Again, a campus FM should be established and utilized appropriately to educate and improve pronunciation. Teaching pronunciation through the media can be helpful if only it is carefully planned. In addition, the language laboratory stereotyped for only the French students, should be upgraded to a standard language laboratory where all other language teachers and student-teachers will benefit from. In sum, if all who may need to contribute to ensure the improvement of pronunciation teaching play their role well, its improvement will become a reality.

For those of us who were students or professors of African or African American literature in the late sixties or through the seventies, it is a thing of wonder to behold the various ways in which our specialties and the works we explicate and teach have moved, if not exactly from the margins to the center of the profession of literature, at least from defensive postures to a position of generally accepted validity. My own graduate students often greet with polite skepticism an anecdote I draw on in the introduction to my seminars. When I was a student at the University of Cambridge, Wole Soyinka, recently released from a two-year confinement in a Nigerian prison, was on campus to deliver a lecture series on African literature (collected and published by Cambridge in 1976 under the title Myth, Literature, and the African World). Soyinka had come to Cambridge in 1973 from Ghana, where he had been living in exile, ostensibly to assume a two-year lectureship in the faculty of English. To his astonishment, as he told me in our first supervision, the faculty of English apparently did not recognize African literature as a legitimate area of study within the “English” tripos, so he had been forced to accept an appointment in social anthropology, of all things! (Much later, the distinguished Nigerian literary scholar Emmanuel Obiechina related a similar tale when I asked him why he had taken his Cambridge doctorate in social anthropology.) Shortly after I heard Soyinka's story, I asked the tutor in English at Clare College, Cambridge, why Soyinka had been treated this way, explaining as politely as I could that I would very much like to write a doctoral thesis on “black literature.” To which the tutor replied with great disdain, “Tell me, sir, … what is black literature?” When I responded with a veritable bibliography of texts written by authors who were black, his evident irritation informed me that I had taken as a serious request for information what he had intended as a rhetorical question.

This study discusses the phraseological pattern It + V-link + ADJ + That Clause as a rhetorical feature of argumentation in Ghanaian scholars’ research articles (RAs) across the disciplines of Sociology, Economics and Law. It looks at the pattern’s occurrence with the adjectives possible, likely and clear in RAs by Ghanaian authors based in Ghana and in RAs by international scholars who are native speakers to determine potential divergent patterns of use between the two groups of scholars in the three disciplinary fields. Because RAs produced by non-native writers are often said to be characterized by overuse, underuse or misuse of rhetorical features (e.g., Martinéz, 2005, Englander, 2006), this study adopts a corpus-based approach to investigate the extent to which Ghanaian scholars’ use of the above collocational pattern involving possible, likely and clear differs from international scholars’ use of the pattern in terms of frequency information, levels of epistemic force, and intensification/mitigation styles. A close inspection of a million-word corpus of RAs, supported by robust statistical analyses, reveals considerable differences in the way the pattern is used between the two groups of scholars across the disciplines studied, which suggest that Ghanaian scholars do not fully apply the preferred stereotypical uses of the pattern found in reputable international RAs. The study has implications for how Ghanaian scholars have acquired rhetorical strategies of academic writing.

Health information literacy plays a critical role in self-management practices among patients living with chronic health conditions. However, there are limited studies on information needs among breast cancer patients in Ghana. This paper therefore investigated the information needs of women living with breast cancer in Ghana and how educational status influenced their information needs. The study was conducted in two health facilities in Accra, Ghana (37 Military Hospital and Sweden Ghana Medical Centre). A total of 75 breast cancer patients were conveniently selected from the two health facilities for the study. The instrument used to elicit relevant data for this study was a questionnaire using the survey design. Data was analysed descriptively. The findings of the study revealed that the information needs of the breast cancer patients investigated were centred mainly around treatment and management information and less around preventive information. The patients also ranked diagnostic information as their highest need, followed by physical care information, treatment information, psychosocial information and disease-specific information in that order. Patients with higher education reported higher information need on all the five domains compared to those with lower education. The study therefore recommended that management of health facilities make health information literacy an integral component of their treatment and management of breast cancer.

Abstract Background Patients’ competencies and resources to manage their own health, which is termed health literacy, is a necessity for better health outcomes. Thus, it is relevant to have a comprehensive health literacy measurement tool suitable for populations of interest. The Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) is a tool useful for health literacy assessment covering nine dimensions/scales of health literacy. The HLQ has been translated and validated in diverse contexts but has so far not been assessed in any country in sub-Saharan Africa. We sought to translate this tool into the most common language used in Ghana and assess its validity. Methods We carried out a cross-sectional study using the HLQ concurrently with an assessment of a malaria programme for caregivers with children under 5 years. The HLQ was translated using a systematic translation procedure. We analysed the psychometric properties of the HLQ based on data collected by face-to-face interview of 1234 caregivers. The analysis covered tests on difficulty level of scales, composite reliability, Cronbach’s alpha and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results Cognitive testing showed that some words were ambiguous, which led to minor rewording of the questionnaire. A nine-factor CFA model was fitted to the 44 question items with no cross-loadings or correlated residuals allowed. Given the very restricted nature of the model, the fit was quite satisfactory: χ2 DWLS (866 df) = 17,177.58, p < 0.000, CFI = 0.971, TLI = 0.969, RMSEA = 0.126 and SRMR = 0.107. Composite reliability and Cronbach’s alpha were > 0.65 for all scales except Cronbach’s alpha for scale 9, ‘Understanding health information well enough to know what to do’ (0.57). The mean differences between most demographic groups among health literacy scales were statistically significant. Conclusion The Akan-Twi version of HLQ proved relevant in our description of the health literacy levels among the caregivers in our study. This validated tool will be useful to conduct health literacy needs assessments to guide policies addressing such needs. Further work is needed to validate this tool for use in Ghana and similar contexts.

Over the years, there has been a lot of transformation in the way health care is delivered and how individuals access health. Rapid growth in technology has been attributed to the advancement. The internet has played a key role in the delivery of health care and serves currently as a huge source of health information to individuals regardless of their location, language or time.This cross sectional study was conducted in the Kwahu West Municipal to determine factors influencing online health information seeking behaviors among patients. Three hospitals in the municipality were purposively selected for the study. Outpatients attending these facilities were systematically selected. Data was collected using structured interviewer administered questionnaire.The study findings revealed that internet usage rate among patients was 85.8%. However, only 35.7% of patients ever used the internet to access health information. Sex, education and average monthly income were significant factors associated with online health information seeking. The study also showed that, computer and internet experience factors increased the probability of using internet for health information. After adjusting for confounding factors, being employed, earning higher income and owning computer were positive predictors of online health information seeking.It is important to explore other means of reducing the disparity in information access by improving skill and health literacy among the low social class who cannot afford internet ready devices. Health care providers should recognize that patients are using the internet for health information and should be prepared to assist and promote internet user skills among their patients.

The purpose of the study was to explore the extent to which digital library provision affects awareness and use of digital contents, digital reference services, and information literacy among stakeholders in distance education at a large multi-mode public teacher education university in Ghana. The study makes use of the concurrent mixed-method design. The population of the study was 1,834 distance students with a sample size of 641 distance learners reading programmes in Basic Education in three distance education Centres of the University of Education, Winneba namely Winneba (247), Kumasi (276) and Asante-Mampong (118). A total of 453 (70.67 percent) distance learners, selected randomly, completed a 31-item questionnaire. Also, the population consisted of four librarians from three Campuses in the vicinity of the Centres. A combination of probability and non-probability sampling methods were used for this study. The study found that awareness and use of digital library resources in the three distance education Centres were very low, if not non-existent. The findings revealed that for all the three main classes of digital library resources and services; digital contents, digital reference services and educative services, provision was very poor or non-existent for the distance learning community. This negatively impacted awareness and use of these resources. Among others, the study recommends a regular collaborative needs assessment of distance learners; establishment of dedicated library services for distance education; and the development of embedded library services which can appreciably raise the visibility of digital library resources in distance education. Keywords: Digital library provision; distance learning community; awareness; multi-mode; academic libraries in Ghana.

Background: Obesity and nutrition-related non-communicable diseases (NR-NCDs) are increasing throughout Africa, driven by urbanisation and changing food environments. Policy action has been limited - and influenced by high income countries. Socio-economic/political environments of African food systems must be considered in order to understand what policy might work to prevent NR-NCDs, for whom, and under what circumstances. Methods: A realist synthesis of five policy areas to support healthier food consumption in urban Africa: regulating trade/foreign investment; regulating health/nutrition claims/labels; setting composition standards for processed foods; restricting unhealthy food marketing; and school food policy. We drew upon Ghana and Kenya to contextualise the evidence base. Programme theories were generated by stakeholders in Ghana/Kenya. A two-stage search interrogated MEDLINE, Web of Science and Scopus. Programme theories were tested and refined to produce a synthesised model. Results: The five policies operate through complex, inter-connected pathways moderated by global-, national- and local contexts. Consumers and the food environment interact to enable/disable food accessibility, affordability and availability. Consumer relationships with each other and retailers are important contextual influences, along with political/ economic interests, stakeholder alliances and globalized trade. Coherent laws/regulatory frameworks and government capacities are fundamental across all policies. The increasing importance of convenience is shaped by demographic and sociocultural drivers. Awareness of healthy diets mediates food consumption through comprehension, education, literacy and beliefs. Contextualised data (especially food composition data) and inter-sectoral collaboration are critical to policy implementation. Conclusion: Evidence indicates that coherent action across the five policy areas could positively influence the healthiness of food environments and consumption in urban Africa. However, drivers of (un)healthy food environments and consumption reflect the complex interplay of socio-economic and political drivers acting at diverse geographical levels. Stakeholders at local, national, and global levels have important, yet differing, roles to play in ensuring healthy food environments and consumption in urban Africa.

This article explores how fat women protesting challenges norms of womanhood, the place of women in society, and who has the power to have their say in public spaces. We use the term fat as a political reclamation; Fat Studies scholars and fat activists prefer the term fat, over the normative term “overweight” and the pathologising term “obese/obesity” (Lee and Pausé para 3). Who is and who isn’t fat, we suggest, is best left to self-determination, although it is generally accepted by fat activists that the term is most appropriately adopted by individuals who are unable to buy clothes in any store they choose. Using a tweet from conservative commentator Ann Coulter as a leaping-off point, we examine the narratives around women in the public sphere and explore how fat bodies might transgress further the norms set by society. The public representations of women in politics and protest are then are set in the context of ‘activist wisdom’ (Maddison and Scalmer) from two sides of the globe. Activist wisdom gives preference to the lived knowledge and experience of activists as tools to understand social movements. It seeks to draw theoretical implications from the practical actions of those on the ground. In centring the experiences of ourselves and other activists, we hope to expand existing understandings of body politics, gender, and political power in this piece. It is important in researching social movements to look both at the representations of protest and protestors in all forms of media as this is the ‘public face’ of movements, but also to examine the reflections of the individuals who collectively put their weight behind bringing social change.A few days after the 45th President of the United States was elected, people around the world spilled into the streets and participated in protests; precursors to the Women’s March which would take place the following January. Pictures of such marches were shared via social media, demonstrating the worldwide protest against the racism, misogyny, and overall oppressiveness, of the newly elected leader. Not everyone was supportive of these protests though; one such conservative commentator, Ann Coulter, shared this tweet: Image1: A tweet from Ann Coulter; the tweet contains a picture of a group of protestors, holding signs protesting Trump, white supremacy, and for the rights of immigrants. In front of the group, holding a megaphone is a woman. Below the picture, the text reads, “Without fat girls, there would be no protests”.Coulter continued on with two more tweets, sharing pictures of other girls protesting and suggesting that the protestors needed a diet programme. Kivan Bay (“Without Fat Girls”) suggested that perhaps Coulter was implying that skinny girls do not have time to protest because they are too busy doing skinny girl things, like buying jackets or trying on sweaters. Or perhaps Coulter was arguing that fat girls are too visible, too loud, and too big, to be taken seriously in their protests. These tweets provide a point of illustration for how fat women protesting challenge norms of womanhood, the place of women in society, and who has the power to have their say in public spaces While Coulter’s tweet was most likely intended as a hostile personal attack on political grounds, we find it useful in its foregrounding of gender, bodies and protest which we consider in this article, beginning with a review of fat girls’ role in social justice movements.Across the world, we can point to fat women who engage in activism related to body politics and more. Australian fat filmmaker and activist Kelli Jean Drinkwater makes documentaries, such as Aquaporko! and Nothing to Lose, that queer fat embodiment and confronts body norms. Newly elected Ontario MPP Jill Andrew has been fighting for equal rights for queer people and fat people in Canada for decades. Nigerian Latasha Ngwube founded About That Curvy Life, Africa’s leading body positive and empowerment site, and has organised plus-size fashion show events at Heineken Lagos Fashion and Design Week in Nigeria in 2016 and the Glitz Africa Fashion Week in Ghana in 2017. Fat women have been putting their bodies on the line for the rights of others to live, work, and love. American Heather Heyer was protesting the hate that white nationalists represent and the danger they posed to her friends, family, and neighbours when she died at a rally in Charlottesville, North Carolina in late 2017 (Caron). When Heyer was killed by one of those white nationalists, they declared that she was fat, and therefore her body size was lauded loudly as justification for her death (Bay, “How Nazis Use”; Spangler).Fat women protesting is not new. For example, the Fat Underground was a group of “radical fat feminist women”, who split off from the more conservative NAAFA (National Association to Aid Fat Americans) in the 1970s (Simic 18). The group educated the public about weight science, harassed weight-loss companies, and disrupted academic seminars on obesity. The Fat Underground made their first public appearance at a Women’s Equality Day in Los Angeles, taking over the stage at the public event to accuse the medical profession of murdering Cass Elliot, the lead singer of the folk music group, The Mamas and the Papas (Dean and Buss). In 1973, the Fat Underground produced the Fat Liberation Manifesto. This Manifesto began by declaring that they believed “that fat people are full entitled to human respect and recognition” (Freespirit and Aldebaran 341).Women have long been disavowed, or discouraged, from participating in the public sphere (Ginzberg; van Acker) or seen as “intruders or outsiders to the tough world of politics” (van Acker 118). The feminist slogan the personal is political was intended to shed light on the role that women needed to play in the public spheres of education, employment, and government (Caha 22). Across the world, the acceptance of women within the public sphere has been varied due to cultural, political, and religious, preferences and restrictions (Agenda Feminist Media Collective). Limited acceptance of women in the public sphere has historically been granted by those ‘anointed’ by a male family member or patron (Fountaine 47).Anti-feminists are quick to disavow women being in public spaces, preferring to assign them the role as helpmeet to male political elite. As Schlafly (in Rowland 30) notes: “A Positive Woman cannot defeat a man in a wrestling or boxing match, but she can motivate him, inspire him, encourage him, teach him, restrain him, reward him, and have power over him that he can never achieve over her with all his muscle.” This idea of women working behind the scenes has been very strong in New Zealand where the ‘sternly worded’ letter is favoured over street protest. An acceptable route for women’s activism was working within existing political institutions (Grey), with activity being ‘hidden’ inside government offices such as the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (Schuster, 23). But women’s movement organisations that engage in even the mildest form of disruptive protest are decried (Grey; van Acker).One way women have been accepted into public space is as the moral guardians or change agents of the entire political realm (Bliss; Ginzberg; van Acker; Ledwith). From the early suffrage movements both political actors and media representations highlighted women were more principled and conciliatory than men, and in many cases had a moral compass based on restraint. Cartoons showed women in the suffrage movement ‘sweeping up’ and ‘cleaning house’ (Sheppard 123). Groups like the Women’s Christian Temperance Union were celebrated for protesting against the demon drink and anti-pornography campaigners like Patricia Bartlett were seen as acceptable voices of moral reason (Moynihan). And as Cunnison and Stageman (in Ledwith 193) note, women bring a “culture of femininity to trade unions … an alternative culture, derived from the particularity of their lives as women and experiences of caring and subordination”. This role of moral guardian often derived from women as ‘mothers’, responsible for the physical and moral well-being of the nation.The body itself has been a sight of protest for women including fights for bodily autonomy in their medical decisions, reproductive justice, and to live lives free from physical and sexual abuse, have long been met with criticisms of being unladylike or inappropriate. Early examples decried in NZ include the women’s clothing movement which formed part of the suffrage movement. In the second half of the 20th century it was the freedom trash can protests that started the myth of ‘women burning their bras’ which defied acceptable feminine norms (Sawer and Grey). Recent examples of women protesting for body rights include #MeToo and Time’s Up. Both movements protest the lack of bodily autonomy women can assert when men believe they are entitled to women’s bodies for their entertainment, enjoyment, and pleasure. And both movements have received considerable backlash by those who suggest it is a witch hunt that might ensnare otherwise innocent men, or those who are worried that the real victims are white men who are being left behind (see Garber; Haussegger). Women who advocate for bodily autonomy, including access to contraception and abortion, are often held up as morally irresponsible. As Archdeacon Bullock (cited in Smyth 55) asserted, “A woman should pay for her fun.”Many individuals believe that the stigma and discrimination fat people face are the consequences they sow from their own behaviours (Crandall 892); that fat people are fat because they have made poor decisions, being too indulgent with food and too lazy to exercise (Crandall 883). Therefore, fat people, like women, should have to pay for their fun. Fat women find themselves at this intersection, and are often judged more harshly for their weight than fat men (Tiggemann and Rothblum). Examining Coulter’s tweet with this perspective in mind, it can easily be read as an attempt to put fat girl protestors back into their place. It can also be read as a warning. Don’t go making too much noise or you may be labelled as fat. Presenting troublesome women as fat has a long history within political art and depictions. Marianne (the symbol of the French Republic) was depicted as fat and ugly; she also reinforced an anti-suffragist position (Chenut 441). These images are effective because of our societal views on fatness (Kyrölä). Fatness is undesirable, unworthy of love and attention, and a representation of poor character, lack of willpower, and an absence of discipline (Murray 14; Pausé, “Rebel Heart” para 1).Fat women who protest transgress rules around body size, gender norms, and the appropriate place for women in society. Take as an example the experiences of one of the authors of this piece, Sandra Grey, who was thrust in to political limelight nationally with the Campaign for MMP (Grey and Fitzsimmons) and when elected as the President of the New Zealand Tertiary Education Union in 2011. Sandra is a trade union activist who breaches too many norms set for the “good woman protestor,” as well as the norms for being a “good fat woman”. She looms large on a stage – literally – and holds enough power in public protest to make a crowd of 7,000 people “jump to left”, chant, sing, and march. In response, some perceive Sandra less as a tactical and strategic leader of the union movement, and more as the “jolly fat woman” who entertains, MCs, and leads public events. Though even in this role, she has been criticised for being too loud, too much, too big.These criticisms are loudest when Sandra is alongside other fat female bodies. When posting on social media photos with fellow trade union members the comments often note the need of the group to “go on a diet”. The collective fatness also brings comments about “not wanting to fuck any of that group of fat cows”. There is something politically and socially dangerous about fat women en masse. This was behind the responses to Sandra’s first public appearance as the President of TEU when one of the male union members remarked “Clearly you have to be a fat dyke to run this union.” The four top elected and appointed positions in the TEU have been women for eight years now and both their fatness and perceived sexuality present as a threat in a once male-dominated space. Even when not numerically dominant, unions are public spaces dominated by a “masculine culture … underpinned by the undervaluation of ‘women’s worth’ and notions of womanhood ‘defined in domesticity’” (Cockburn in Kirton 273-4). Sandra’s experiences in public space show that the derision and methods of putting fat girls back in their place varies dependent on whether the challenge to power is posed by a single fat body with positional power and a group of fat bodies with collective power.Fat Girls Are the FutureOn the other side of the world, Tara Vilhjálmsdóttir is protesting to change the law in Iceland. Tara believes that fat people should be protected against discrimination in public and private settings. Using social media such as Facebook and Instagram, Tara takes her message, and her activism, to her thousands of followers (Keller, 434; Pausé, “Rebel Heart”). And through mainstream media, she pushes back on fatphobia rhetoric and applies pressure on the government to classify weight as a protected status under the law.After a lifetime of living “under the oppression of diet culture,” Tara began her activism in 2010 (Vilhjálmsdóttir). She had suffered real harm from diet culture, developing an eating disorder as a teen and being told through her treatment for it that her fears as a fat woman – that she had no future, that fat people experienced discrimination and stigma – were unfounded. But Tara’s lived experiences demonstrated fat stigma and discrimination were real.In 2012, she co-founded the Icelandic Association for Body Respect, which promotes body positivity and fights weight stigma in Iceland. The group uses a mixture of real life and online tools; organising petitions, running campaigns against the Icelandic version of The Biggest Loser, and campaigning for weight to be a protected class in the Icelandic constitution. The Association has increased the visibility of the dangers of diet culture and the harm of fat stigma. They laid the groundwork that led to changing the human rights policy for the city of Reykjavík; fat people cannot be discriminated against in employment settings within government jobs. As the city is one of the largest employers in the country, this was a large step forward for fat rights.Tara does receive her fair share of hate messages; she’s shared that she’s amazed at the lengths people will go to misunderstand what she is saying (Vilhjálmsdóttir). “This isn’t about hurt feelings; I’m not insulted [by fat stigma]. It’s about [fat stigma] affecting the livelihood of fat people and the structural discrimination they face” (Vilhjálmsdóttir). She collects the hateful comments she receives online through screenshots and shares them in an album on her page. She believes it is important to keep a repository to demonstrate to others that the hatred towards fat people is real. But the hate she receives only fuels her work more. As does the encouragement she receives from people, both in Iceland and abroad. And she is not alone; fat activists across the world are using Web 2.0 tools to change the conversation around fatness and demand civil rights for fat people (Pausé, “Rebel Heart”; Pausé, “Live to Tell").Using Web 2.0 tools as a way to protest and engage in activism is an example of oppositional technologics; a “political praxis of resistance being woven into low-tech, amateur, hybrid, alternative subcultural feminist networks” (Garrison 151). Fat activists use social media to engage in anti-assimilationist activism and build communities of practice online in ways that would not be possible in real life (Pausé, “Express Yourself” 1). This is especially useful for those whose protests sit at the intersections of oppressions (Keller 435; Pausé, “Rebel Heart” para 19). Online protests have the ability to travel the globe quickly, providing opportunities for connections between protests and spreading protests across the globe, such as SlutWalks in 2011-2012 (Schuster 19). And online spaces open up unlimited venues for women to participate more freely in protest than other forms (Harris 479; Schuster 16; Garrison 162).Whether online or offline, women are represented as dangerous in the political sphere when they act without male champions breaching norms of femininity, when their involvement challenges the role of woman as moral guardians, and when they make the body the site of protest. Women must ‘do politics’ politely, with utmost control, and of course caringly; that is they must play their ‘designated roles’. Whether or not you fit the gendered norms of political life affects how your protest is perceived through the media (van Acker). Coulter’s tweet loudly proclaimed that the fat ‘girls’ protesting the election of the 45th President of the United States were unworthy, out of control, and not worthy of attention (ironic, then, as her tweet caused considerable conversation about protest, fatness, and the reasons not to like the President-Elect). What the Coulter tweet demonstrates is that fat women are perceived as doubly-problematic in public space, both as fat and as women. They do not do politics in a way that is befitting womanhood – they are too visible and loud; they are not moral guardians of conservative values; and, their bodies challenge masculine power.ReferencesAgenda Feminist Media Collective. “Women in Society: Public Debate.” Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity 10 (1991): 31-44.Bay, Kivan. “How Nazis Use Fat to Excuse Violence.” Medium, 7 Feb. 2018. 1 May 2018 <https://medium.com/@kivabay/how-nazis-use-fat-to-excuse-violence-b7da7d18fea8>.———. “Without Fat Girls, There Would Be No Protests.” Bullshit.ist, 13 Nov. 2016. 16 May 2018 <https://bullshit.ist/without-fat-girls-there-would-be-no-protests-e66690de539a>.Bliss, Katherine Elaine. Compromised Positions: Prostitution, Public Health, and Gender Politics in Revolutionary Mexico City. Penn State Press, 2010.Caha, Omer. Women and Civil Society in Turkey: Women’s Movements in a Muslim Society. London: Ashgate, 2013.Caron, Christina. “Heather Heyer, Charlottesville Victim, Is Recalled as ‘a Strong Woman’.” New York Times, 13 Aug. 2017. 1 May 2018 <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/13/us/heather-heyer-charlottesville-victim.html>.Chenut, Helen. “Anti-Feminist Caricature in France: Politics, Satire and Public Opinion, 1890-1914.” Modern & Contemporary France 20.4 (2012): 437-452.Crandall, Christian S. "Prejudice against Fat People: Ideology and Self-Interest." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 66.5 (1994): 882-894.Damousi, Joy. “Representations of the Body and Sexuality in Communist Iconography, 1920-1955.” Australian Feminist Studies 12.25 (1997): 59-75.Dean, Marge, and Shirl Buss. “Fat Underground.” YouTube, 11 Aug. 2016 [1975]. 1 May 2018 <https://youtu.be/UPYRZCXjoRo>.Fountaine, Susan. “Women, Politics and the Media: The 1999 New Zealand General Election.” PhD thesis. Palmerston North, NZ: Massey University, 2002.Freespirit, Judy, and Aldebaran. “Fat Liberation Manifesto November 1973.” The Fat Studies Reader. Eds. Esther Rothblum and Sondra Solovay. New York: NYU P, 2009. 341-342.Garber, Megan. “The Selective Empathy of #MeToo Backlash.” The Atlantic, 11 Feb 2018. 5 Apr. 2018 <https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/02/the-selective-empathy-of-metoo-backlash/553022/>.Garrison, Edith. “US Feminism – Grrrl Style! Youth (Sub)Cultures and the Technologics of the Third Wave.” Feminist Studies 26.1 (2000): 141-170.Garvey, Nicola. “Violence against Women: Beyond Gender Neutrality.” Looking Back, Moving Forward: The Janus Women’s Convention 2005. Ed. Dale Spender. Masterton: Janus Trust, 2005. 114-120.Ginzberg, Lori D. Women and the Work of Benevolence: Morality, Politics, and Class in the Nineteenth-Century United States. Yale UP, 1992.Grey, Sandra. “Women, Politics, and Protest: Rethinking Women's Liberation Activism in New Zealand.” Rethinking Women and Politics: New Zealand and Comparative Perspectives. Eds. John Leslie, Elizabeth McLeay, and Kate McMillan. Victoria UP, 2009. 34-61.———, and Matthew Fitzsimons. “Defending Democracy: ‘Keep MMP’ and the 2011 Electoral Referendum.” Kicking the Tyres: The New Zealand General Election and Electoral Referendum of 2011. Eds. Jon Johansson and Stephen Levine. Victoria UP, 2012. 285-304.———, and Marian Sawer, eds. Women’s Movements: Flourishing or in Abeyance? London: Routledge, 2008.Harris, Anita. “Mind the Gap: Attitudes and Emergent Feminist Politics since the Third Wave.” Australian Feminist Studies 25.66 (2010): 475-484.Haussegger, Virginia. “#MeToo: Beware the Brewing Whiff of Backlash.” Sydney Morning Herald, 7 Mar. 2018. 1 Apr. 2018 <https://www.smh.com.au/national/metoo-beware-the-brewing-whiff-of-backlash-20180306-p4z33s.html>.Keller, Jessalynn. “Virtual Feminisms.” Information, Communication and Society 15.3(2011): 429-447.Kirston, Gill. “From ‘a Woman’s Place Is in Her Union’ to ‘Strong Unions Need Women’: Changing Gender Discourses, Policies and Realities in the Union Movement.” Labour & Industry: A Journal of the Social and Economic Relations of Work 27.4 (2017): 270-283.Kyrölä, Katariina. The Weight of Images. London: Routledge, 2014.Ledwith, Sue. “Gender Politics in Trade Unions: The Representation of Women between Exclusion and Inclusion.” European Review of Labour and Research 18.2 (2012): 185-199.Lyndsey, Susan. Women, Politics, and the Media: The 1999 New Zealand General Election. Dissertation. Massey University, 2002.Maddison, Sarah, and Sean Scalmer. Activist Wisdom: Practical Knowledge and Creative Tension in Social Movements. Sydney: UNSW P, 2006. Moynihan, Carolyn. A Stand for Decency: Patricia Bartlett & the Society for Promotion of Community Standards, 1970-1995. Wellington: The Society, 1995.Murray, Samantha. "Pathologizing 'Fatness': Medical Authority and Popular Culture." Sociology of Sport Journal 25.1 (2008): 7-21.Pausé, Cat. “Live to Tell: Coming Out as Fat.” Somatechnics 21 (2012): 42-56.———. “Express Yourself: Fat Activism in the Web 2.0 Age.” The Politics of Size: Perspectives from the Fat-Acceptance Movement. Ed. Ragen Chastain. Praeger, 2015. 1-8.———. “Rebel Heart: Performing Fatness Wrong Online.” M/C Journal 18.3 (2015).Rowland, Robyn, ed. Women Who Do and Women Who Don’t Join the Women’s Movement. London: Routledge, 1984.Schuster, Julia. “Invisible Feminists? Social Media and Young Women’s Political Participation.” Political Science 65.1 (2013): 8-24.Sheppard, Alice. "Suffrage Art and Feminism." Hypatia 5.2 (1990): 122-136.Simic, Zora. “Fat as a Feminist Issue: A History.” Fat Sex: New Directions in Theory and Activism. Eds. Helen Hester and Caroline Walters. London: Ashgate, 2015. 15-36.Spangler, Todd. “White-Supremacist Site Daily Stormer Booted by Hosting Provider.” Variety, 13 Aug. 2017. 1 May 2018 <https://variety.com/2017/digital/news/daily-stormer-heather-heyer-white-supremacist-neo-nazi-hosting-provider-1202526544/>.Smyth, Helen. Rocking the Cradle: Contraception, Sex, and Politics in New Zealand. Steele Roberts, 2000.Tiggemann, Marika, and Esther D. Rothblum. "Gender Differences in Social Consequences of Perceived Overweight in the United States and Australia." Sex Roles 18.1-2 (1988): 75-86.Van Acker, Elizabeth. “Media Representations of Women Politicians in Australia and New Zealand: High Expectations, Hostility or Stardom.” Policy and Society 22.1 (2003): 116-136.Vilhjálmsdóttir, Tara. Personal interview. 1 June 2018.