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The role of household socio‐economic factors towards achieving enduring poverty interventions especially among urban households of Nigeria cannot be overemphasized. Household socio‐economic factors, among others, have been identified by development practitioners in developing countries as variables which can easily be manipulated through policy levers to improve welfare of the poor. The purpose of this paper is to examine poverty situations among urban households in Ekiti State, Nigeria with emphasis on household socioeconomic characteristics and their associated influence on poverty.

A multistage sampling approach was used to select 80 households who were interviewed using a well structured questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed through Poverty index and Tobit regression model.

The study found that 41.0 percent of the households covered by the study were poor and would have to mobilize financial resources up to 45.0 percent of 1 US Dollar (N130) per day (for each household member) to be able to escape poverty. The incidence and depth of were higher among female headed households with values 0.26 and 0.43, respectively. The same pattern was also found among households with larger number of dependants with values ranging from 0.74 to 1.00 for incidence of poverty and from 0.70 to 0.77 for depth of poverty. Dependency ratio, household assets and educational status of household head, among others, are socio‐economic factors influencing the poverty.

The study recommends, among others, implementation of the new minimum wage scheme, encouragement of the universal basic education and adult education programmes, employment generations, family planning measures, and a well focused gender specific interventions for poverty reduction.

Sheltered housing schemes for older people took a new turn in the UK with the community care policy of the early 1990s giving care provision for people living in such schemes. There is relatively little research on what sheltered housing schemes provide and what makes them work well. Data was gathered in relation to sheltered housing provision for older people in the north Antrim area of Northern Ireland through 10 focus groups with tenants and 16 questionnaires administered with managers of schemes. Tenants valued the independence and choice of sheltered housing in comparison with institutional care. They also highly valued the social interaction with other tenants, fostered by activities such as coffee mornings, regular lunches and social events. Tenants often helped each other with transport and when sick. Tenants of schemes in small towns were generally satisfied, because of access to shops, churches and other services. Transport was an issue for many, particularly in more rural areas and in relation to attending hospital appointments. Scheme managers were often available to tenants for long and anti‐social hours. The home care arrangements were generally regarded as satisfactory although there were criticisms of the limited hours for tasks and the skills of some care workers. Some scheme managers thought that the publicly‐funded homecare service would be more efficient if the staff were managed from the housing scheme. Appropriate social activities and effective care arrangements are an important aspect of supported housing, as well as the independence it offers. Consideration needs to be given to access to services in locating new schemes.

The purpose of this paper is to explore keyworkers’ experience and perceptions working with people experiencing homelessness and the use of psychologically informed approaches in an Irish context.

In this paper a qualitative descriptive methodology was employed and face-to-face in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted. Data collected were analysed using a thematic framework and transcribed by the researcher.

It was the view of the keyworkers psychological approaches allowed them greater understanding of psychological trauma and its effects promotes safe physical and emotional environments builds rapport between staff and clients and enables keyworkers to work more effectively with people with complex needs. There was also convincing evidence staff are quite receptive to training.

Given there is no research exploring the use of psychologically informed approaches in homelessness service settings, this study researched an area that has not yet been explored in Ireland. This qualitative descriptive research provides a platform from which further research can be conducted. It is hoped that highlighting the psychological issues of homeless people, the data obtained will help improve Irish homeless services, and the findings extracted beneficial in terms of future service developments, professional training and education.

The objectives of this paper are to examine national police suicide rates, to compare police suicides with fire‐fighters and military personnel, and to examine suicide in women and minority officers.

The National Occupational Mortality Surveillance (NOMS) (1984‐1998) was used as a data source. Descriptive statistics and proportionate mortality ratios (PMRs) were calculated.

Overall, the police suicide rate was four times that of fire‐fighters. Minority officers had 4.5 times and policewomen 12 times the number of suicides than did fire‐fighters. Police suicides outnumbered homicides by 2.36 times. Police had significantly higher than expected PMRs for suicide.

NOMS data are presently available up to 1998, and data in the study are descriptive only. Although suggestive of risk, statistically significantly elevated PMRs cannot be interpreted directly as indicating a causal relationship between police work and suicide. Confounders are not recorded in NOMS and may lend considerable weight to suicide.

The paper reflects the need to look deeper into police suicides and their root causes. Police organizations are advised to initiate suicide awareness training and psychological assistance to officers.

The paper is among the first nationally to compare suicide among similar hazardous occupations, suggesting the need for prevention.

This paper aims to explore the concept of Winnicott's intermediate space as a method of understanding the role of learning spaces in the development of technology‐enhanced educational organisations.

The approach takes the form of a comparative analysis of interaction within face‐to‐face and online learning environments. Data were collected from two cohorts of students, audio recordings of face‐to‐face seminars were made, and all of the discussion boards were analysed. The paper explores whether online discussion groups can be said, in Winncottian terms, to provide a “good enough” environment. The analysis focuses on introductory discussions and uses Sacks's concept of false‐firsts to describe the ways in which preliminary issues are dealt with in face‐to‐face seminars, and proceeds to examine how these occur in online environments.

The findings suggest a pedagogical basis to consider the learner's personal need for connection between experiences, imaginations and the real world. From the analysis, online discussion environments can be said to encourage learning in an intermediate space where students can, independently of the tutor, engage in the educational experience at hand.

The concept of intermediate space has value as a method of conceptualising more open educational environments, both virtual and physical. Furthermore, it has the potential to provide a framework within which emerging issues of space, place, and the learner can be considered.

This paper aims to shed light on gender inequality in Nigeria exploring new available data. It makes a case for attention to women empowerment and likely economic outcomes. The general objective of the research work is to ascertain the direction of gender inequality and show the pattern of inequality. Also, sectoral trends are obtained by analyzing and examining income inequality in Nigeria.

The paper obtained data from the Living Standard Measurement Survey Wave 3, published 2017 with emphasis on the earnings that accrued to both male and female. The study employed the ordinary least square (OLS) method to show the relationship between the mean income and other parameters such as the sector of employment, marital status and education level. Theil’s entropy index was used to measure the within and between inequality that exist in the economy and across regions and sectors while adopting the overcrowding theory.

The result shows that gender inequality is more pronounced across the region, location and in some sectors of employment than the others. Geographical area has a higher effect on earnings disparity but is more pronounced among females. Also, the result showed that gender within inequality was high in the regions, education, location, and marital status while a higher level of education contributes to high wages for women. However, married women are more deprived.

This study has further revealed the need to bridge the gap gender inequality has caused in Nigeria, especially related to income, education and geographical location, with a focus on both opportunities and outcomes.