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The study aims to examine the impact of social assistance schemes introduced by the Indian government on poverty alleviation in urban slums.

To accomplish the study's objectives, primary data were collected from 585 beneficiaries of government schemes operating in India's northwestern state using a multistage sampling technique (Punjab). The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) technique reduced the total dataset to its minimum factors. Then, using second-order confirmatory factor analysis, the data's validity and reliability were determined. The data were analyzed using statistical techniques such as one-way ANOVA, t-test and structural equation modeling (SEM).

The study's findings indicate that social assistance provided by the Government of India has a direct and substantial influence on poverty alleviation in urban slums. The study demonstrates how access to basic credit financial services through social assistance programmes has improved the lives of urban poor households living in slums and assisted them in escaping poverty.

The investigation was undertaken among a few limitations. First, the in-depth investigation of the study is restricted to only the northwestern state of India solely because of limited resources and time availability. Second, the study focuses primarily on the perspectives of beneficiaries of the social assistance schemes in India. Still, it might be expanded in the future to include additional stakeholders such as bank executives, business colleagues and municipal town panchayats.

Due to policymakers' increased emphasis on poor households living in urban slums, this topic is critical for studying many issues.

The research explores gaps in social welfare schemes to direct policymakers and government authorities to take appropriate steps to aid the urban poor people in sliding out of poverty.

By examining the influence of the Indian government's social welfare schemes on poverty reduction in slums, this study contributes to the literature on public assistance schemes and poverty alleviation. This article can assist policymakers in developing nations in increasing financial capability among disadvantaged urban families on a national and international level.

This study aims to identify the street-level approaches of professional workers in complex public social service organisations when attending to social assistance claimants.

The study employed a multifaceted approach comprising documentary analysis, semi-structured individual interviews (17) and focus group discussions (8) with qualified frontline social workers from primary care social services in Tarragona.

Social workers embodied three specific sets of cognitive, normative and emotional dispositions when attending to people with low incomes. First, the compassionate approach conceives clients as defensive regarding social services and emotionally vulnerable because of deprivation. Second, the instructional approach frames clients as being baffled by a new, precarious, institutional and economic context. They also lack information, abilities and the proper mindset to conceive of and attain available welfare and occupational resources. Third, the enforcement approach tends to define clients as suspicious, trying to obtain an excessive and unfair advantage of the welfare system that would eventually hamper their social opportunities.

Research thus far has tended to define public social assistance programmes in Southern welfare state contexts as mostly inefficient and hardly relevant residual social policies. The street-level approach shows that social workers try to resist the mere administrative processing of benefits, which is a professionally troubling and organisationally unsustainable way to proceed. They attempt to help clients by providing inclusive content in order to implement their benefits.

This paper aims to study the elements of social protection, namely, the labour market policy (working conditions), social insurance and social assistance from the law and policy standpoints to safeguard the rights and welfare of the frontline health-care workers (HCWs).

This study applies both doctrinal and non-doctrinal research methods with the legal and authoritative approaches by integrating the three elements of social protections, which are working conditions, insurance protection and social assistance for the protection of HCWs.

A pragmatic approach to the social protection system by integrating these elements can safeguard the rights and welfare of the frontline HCWs amid the pandemic. This approach should be made effective for the sustainability of the HCW and health industry in Malaysia.

This paper highlights the significance of initiating and empowering ad hoc approaches through the social protection system for the practical and effective protection of frontline HCWs who are the backbone of the nation, in the event of pandemic COVID-19. These practical needs and approaches are pivotal in response to HCWs demands in workplace.

While social protection commonly aims to address disadvantaged groups and to combat poverty, this research adopts the social protection approach with the aims to safeguard the rights and welfare of frontline HCWs amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Extant literature in supply chain management tends to address a portion of the product flow to make food accessible to clients in need. The authors present a broader view of food insecurity and present nuances relevant to appreciate the complexities of dealing with this social problem.

The authors conducted an inductive study to reveal the deep meaning of the context as managers of nonprofit organizations (NPO) define and address food insecurity. The focus was on a delimited geographic area for capturing interactions among NPOs which have not been described previously.

This study describes the role of supply chains collaborating in unexpected ways in the not-for-profit context, leading to interesting insights for the conceptual development of service ecosystems. This is relevant because the solution for the food insecure stems from the orchestration of assistance provided by the many supply chains for social assistance.

The authors introduce two concepts: customer sharing and customer release. Customer sharing enables these supply chains behave like an ecosystem with no focal organization. Customer release is the opposite to customer retention, when the food insecure stops needing assistance.

The authors describe the use of customer-centric measures of success such improved health measured. The solution to food insecurity for an individual is likely to be the result of the orchestration of assistance provided by several supply chains.

The authors started asking who the client is and how the NPOs define food insecurity, leading to discussing contrasts between food access and utilization, between hunger relief and nourishment, between assistance and solution of the problem, and between supply chains and ecosystems.

The purpose of this scoping review is to analyse comparative studies on social-policy measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic in Global North welfare states. The authors also consider the potential influence of the regimes on the responses.

The authors conducted a scoping review of six databases including peer-reviewed comparative studies. In an iterative process with exact inclusion criteria, the authors screened 699 titles/abstracts/articles and found 16 comparative research articles to be included in the review and analysis. The review summarises the main themes of the comparative articles and the articles' typical features.

The results show that social-policy measures were directed specifically at working-age people to minimise income loss and to save jobs. The pandemic also increased care-related responsibilities, necessitating the expansion of current policies and the implementation of new instruments. Despite the differences in responses between universalistic and residual welfare states, the influence of welfare regimes on COVID-19 social-policy measures remains unclear. The emergency responses in the different regimes varied widely in terms of coverage.

The results of this review provide a basis on which to conduct future studies, identify new research topics and knowledge gaps and inspire new research questions and hypotheses. Given the accumulation of scientific knowledge in the area of social-policy measures, the need for systematic reviews will grow in the future.

The authors identified three main themes: changes in employment protection, changes in care-related income protection and the potential influence of welfare-state regimes on COVID-19-related measures.

The purpose of this study is to examine if public policy satisfaction is related with perceived financial security. The public policy examined is an emergency income policy in Brazil.

The authors used a questionnaire to interview a random sample of 235 single-parent women who received Emergency Aid (EA) resources in Brazil during the pandemic. The questionnaire included measures of financial security, financial anxiety, financial resilience and profile aspects. The authors applied a multiple regression approach to identify the determinants of financial security during the pandemic.

Our findings show that factors such as satisfaction with the emerging income policy and financial resilience are positively related to perceived financial security. Financial anxiety, financial fragility and job loss in the pandemic are negatively related with perceived financial security.

While our results correspond to a random probabilistic sample of women residing in southern Brazil, they may not be generalizable to Brazil as a whole.

This study provides evidence of the financial situation in the pandemic for the lives of economically vulnerable women. The research encourages government and financial institutions to understand the unique challenges faced by vulnerable populations during the pandemic and analyzes the direct results of EA. The study contributes to the establishment of policies to support vulnerable populations, encouraging security and financial resilience.

This research is innovative in its analysis of women’s financial situations during the pandemic, taking into consideration both behavioral aspects and profiles. Our focus on a specific case of emergency income policy adds to the understanding of the relation of such policies on vulnerable populations.

This research paper aimed to study the legal structure of top-performing health governance systems and compare them with the Indonesian health social security system to identify the main differences and provide recommendations for Indonesian and other developing countries’ health policymakers and administrators.

Using formative research with a conceptual approach and statute approach as method in this study. Data was gathered using the document study technique, which studies various documents, especially legal documents related to health law, linked to legal purpose theories. Moreover, the World Health Organization ranking was considered to choose the two countries (France and Singapore) with a high social health security system for comparative analysis. All data collected has been analyzed using a qualitative and theoretical basis. Content analysis was performed by analyzing the legal documents, and the regulatory framework of all three countries was deeply analyzed to draw conclusions and recommendations.

Indonesia has specific laws to implement a social security system in the health sector. However, the lack of the best medical facilities and infrastructure and weak implementation of existing laws were identified as major reasons behind the poor health security system compared to comparative countries. Also, as a developing nation Indonesian Government face budgetary pressures and huge population challenges to meet required standards. Thus, the financing approaches used by Singapore and France may help developing countries meet these challenges effectively. Therefore, there is a dire need to strengthen the social health security system all over the country with amendments to laws and ensure the implementation of prevailing laws and regulations.

Providing understanding related to the social security health system in Indonesia along with a detailed description of the sound social health security system in France and Singapore will further provide an avenue for the researchers to critically analyze this line of study to devise some valuable suggestions further and to draw loopholes in the system.

A comparative approach for legal studies in the health sector is rare. So, this research advanced the social security health system-related literature and legal studies on the health sector by using this comparative approach to develop policy insights and future research directions, which will further help the field to grow.

The purpose of this paper is to share the learning concerning how services and the paid carers working in them can support people living with dementia (PLWD) and their unpaid carers to overcome social isolation. This learning comes from the key findings from a Social Return on Investment (SROI) evaluation of a Shared Lives (SL) Day support service, known as TRIO.

SROI is a form of cost-benefit analysis that captures and monetises stakeholder outcomes. The SROI evaluation included a rapid evidence review, an interview study and a questionnaire study. The learning shared is drawn from the interview and questionnaire data that explored the reported outcomes relating to social connection, which included data related to participating in meaningful activities, confidence and independence.

PLWD who accessed the SL Day support service experienced better social connection, a sense of control over their activities (including their social activities) and community presence. A key foundation of these outcomes was the meaningful relationship that developed between the PLWD, their unpaid carer and the paid carer.

This evaluation was a pilot study with a small, albeit representative sample size.

The learning suggests feasible and effective ways for paid carers to support the social connection of PLWD and their unpaid carers with their wider community.

There has been little exploration of how community-based short breaks (like SL Day support) can enhance social connection. The authors drew on a social relational model lens to illustrate how this service type had supported successful outcomes of community and social inclusion for PLWD.

Poor mental health in men and women is attributable to disparities in physical traits, social roles, power and health-seeking behaviours. This study aims to examine the gender differences in mental health among Pakistan and German university students and focuses on their right to seek mental health care.

Data on depression, anxiety and stress symptoms, as well as positive mental health (PMH), resilience, social support and life satisfaction, were gathered from Pakistani and German students.

In contrast to the Pakistani group, where no such gender differences were seen, women in Germany reported higher degrees of stress, anxiety and depression, as well as a lower level of overall good mental health. In comparison to German men and women, Pakistani women scored equally high on resilience. While gender had no bearing on life happiness in either Pakistan or Germany, women in both countries perceived more social support than men did.

The study’s strengths include its large sample size and battery of mental health measures. The results of partial weak measurement Invariance (MI) on the stress subscale underlined the importance of using MI in cross-cultural studies. The validity of a direct comparisons on sum score between different language versions or country samples shall be cautious. Still, there are limitations. Firstly, the authors did not differentiate gender and biological sex, and there was no group of non-binary gender. Pakistani (N = 1,840) and German (N = 7,890) students were in unequal numbers. Again, only university students were sampled, so the results cannot be generalised to older (probably less educated) populations. Self-reported data that mainly obtained via online survey were the third limitation. This design is cost-effective and easy to administer for cross-cultural survey research. However, social desirability and memory bias are common in self-report inventories. Fourthly, although English is an official language in Pakistan and the medium of instruction in education, the authors recommend future study to use questionnaires that have been translated and validated into Urdu (Pakistan’s national language) and investigate gender differences in a general population. Fifthly, this is a cross-sectional survey; the authors were not able to explore the causality or risk factors that contribute to the poor mental well-being in Pakistan students in general or the relatively worse mental health in German women. Future studies may investigate the mechanism behind the phenomena observed in this study with longitudinal or experimental design. Last but not least, Germany and Pakistan differ in so many different aspects from culture, religions and history to social structure and economic status, which make it hard to claim whether the observed differences were due to national differences, cultural differences, economic differences, gender inequality differences or other effects. It would be helpful for future studies to include more country samples with clear definitions of different “culture” aspects for a better understanding of gender differences in other countries and in different mental well-being constructs.

The current study is the first attempt to compare the gender difference patterns in positive and negative mental health between European and South Asian counties and focuses on gender-specific approaches. Although Pakistani university students reported in general worse mental well-being, the differences between the two genders in mental health (e.g. depression, anxiety, general PMH) were not as pronounced as in the German student sample. Gender comparisons in these mental health constructs would help to improve protective factors against mental illness and to develop appropriate management programmes based on cultural differences. The results suggest that the gender differences found in western countries cannot always be directly translated into the South Asian cultural framework. Our results also highlight the importance of improving the general situation of Pakistan (students) instead of focusing on one gender. At the same time, in Germany, prevention and intervention plans are more warranted for women. It could be that once the general situation in Pakistan is improved, the gender-related differences in mental health will be clearly observed.

These findings imply the significance of cultural context when inferring gender variations in mental health. Moreover, it supports the advancement of comprehensive policies to reduce gender-related mental health inequalities and focuses on the equal rights of men and women to get mental health care.

This paper aims to refine the concept of community/ethnic resources for migrant communities by focusing on the way ethnic migrant entrepreneurs (EMEs) use co-ethnic-based (CEB) resources in their entrepreneurial activities, taking into account their migration contexts. Migrants are usually considered as disadvantaged individuals given their restricted opportunities in the labor market and in the business arena; thus, they rely on ethnic resources for survival in the host country.

Through Bourdieu’s (1986) forms of capital model, the authors compare the experiences of EMEs from three migrant communities in Malaysia (specifically, the Indonesian, Pakistani and South Korean communities) with regard to their ethnic resources. The authors used a qualitative approach in analyzing our data, which includes interview narratives with 41 individuals consisting of EMEs, community leaders, embassy representatives and trade experts.

This study’s findings indicate that migration contexts influence the differences in the way ethnic resources are used by EMEs. The findings are synthesized into a framework of ethnic resources within the context of ethnic migrant entrepreneurship.

Adopting a qualitative approach was useful in studying the subject, but the findings are still limited within the context of the study. As such, future research is encouraged to test the proposed framework and examine the underexplored aspects of migration in influencing the utilization of ethnic resources for entrepreneurial migrant communities.

A practical implication of this paper lies in the illustration of migrants’ usage of alternative routes for resources through co-ethnic networks, which is useful for policymakers and businesses focusing on migration and trade.

This framework contributes to the discourse of ethnic migrant entrepreneurship through further clarifying aspects shaping the utilization of community ethnic resources.