"For me, it is for longevity and making sure I am fit and around for my children": exploring motivations and barriers for weight management among minoritised communities in Medway, England.

BACKGROUND: Migration-related changes in dietary patterns and other structural and individual factors affect weight-related health practices of individuals migrating from low-and-middle-income to high-income countries. Thus, individuals of ethnically diverse backgrounds may be disproportionately affected by poorer health outcomes, including weight-related health issues. Understanding how this community could be supported to adopt weight-related healthy practices such as optimum dietary and exercise behaviour is an important issue for public health research. Against this backdrop, we explored structural and individual factors that facilitate and constrain the uptake of weight management services among members of minority ethnic communities in Medway, England. METHODS: Data were collected from audio-recorded interviews with 12 adult community members from minoritised ethnic communities using a semi-structured interview guide. Participants were recruited through a purposive and convenient sampling technique. Generated data were transcribed, coded into NVivo and analysed using the reflexive thematic analytical technique. RESULTS: Results showed that social support and health benefits of weight management were the main motivating factors for weight management among the study participants. Conversely, systemic barriers, family commitment and caring responsibilities, changes in dietary patterns post-migration and cultural norms were major factors constraining participants from adopting weight management behaviours. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that structural and person-level factors serve as both facilitators and barriers to weight management among ethnically diverse communities in Medway, England. While our study is exploratory and opens doors for more studies among the population, we conclude that these minoritised communities could benefit from more equitable, tailored weight management programmes to support them in adopting weight-related practices.

Factors associated with low contraceptive use amongst vulnerable mothers in South West State, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Young mothers tend to be more prone to high maternal and perinatal risks and are thus deemed vulnerable to adverse sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) in terms of their right to choose contraceptives of their choice to enhance their maternal well-being and childbirth spacing should be well discussed. Achieving sufficient SRHR may be averted if the use of family planning by disadvantaged groups is not given required attention. AIM: This study aimed to identify and analyse the factors associated with the low use of contraceptives amongst vulnerable women in the South West region in Nigeria. SETTING: The study area was purposively chosen to capture contraceptive use amongst vulnerable women in Osun State, Nigeria. METHODS: A primary data collection was done in three senatorial districts of Osun State, Nigeria, with 140 respondents each to give a total of 420 respondents. Collected data were analysed using univariate, bivariate and multivariate measures. RESULTS: The result showed a magnitude of association and relationship at both levels of analyses. Living arrangements and family types were 89% and 88.3%, respectively, associated with family planning use. In the same vein, living arrangement and family types were also statistically significant at p 0.05with an odds ratio of 0.23 (95% CI: 0.1184-0.4583) and an odds ratio of 0.35 (95% CI: 0.1756-0.6970) with family planning use, respectively. CONCLUSION: We concluded that policies and interventions to accelerate and encourage contraceptives use amongst vulnerable mothers in South West, Nigeria should be targeted at those whose husbands lived elsewhere and those whose husbands have more than one wife.