Study of rural leadership and implications for community participation and development in the health and family planning programs in Bangladesh

The vast majority of Bangladesh are poor and are unable even to provide for the most basic human needs. These are the landless and marginal farmers of Bangladesh. They constitute 70% of the rural population, which in turn constitute about 90% of the country's population.^ Effective development of Bangladesh would largely mean the development of the landless and marginal farmers. Past efforts of development in this section of the population, including that of the government, have not succeeded. One of the development goals of the government of Bangladesh is to improve the quality of life of the rural population through health and population control measures. Overpopulation, malnutrition and diarrhea are the major impediments to socioeconomic development in Bangladesh.^ The current study was designed to identify whether there is effective opinion leadership among the marginal and landless peasants affecting decisions on acceptance or nonacceptance of family planning methods and oral rehydration therapy (ORT) in the selected rural areas of Bangladesh. The study was conducted in eight randomly selected villages with funding from the Ministry of Health and Family Planning, government of Bangladesh. One hundred twenty-five opinion leaders were interviewed after they were identified by 408 rural couples owning land less than 2 acres and wives' age below 50. The study was conducted in two phases; couples' interview preceded that of the leaders.^ Findings of the study reveal that the opinion leaders influencing adoption of health and family planning among the landless and marginal farmers belong to the same class. Theses opinion leaders own land much less than the rich farmers and the formal leaders in the rural areas. Majority of these of opinion leaders are friends, neighbors and relatives, some are other persons who are businessmen and professionals like doctors, while the rest few are the field workers of health and family planning. Source of influence as a factor contribute most in differentiating use and non-use of family planning and ORT among both couples and leaders. The most frequent sources of influence referred by the couples and the leaders are the field workers of health and family planning, followed by the peer opinion leaders (friends, neighbors, relatives) and spouse.^ The opinion leaders do not differ much from the poor couples on land holding, a strong indicator of economic status, they however differ considerably on social factors such as family planning practice, education, and exposure to mass media.^ The study suggests that future development efforts in Bangladesh have to ensure community participation by the landless and marginal farmers and opinion leaders belonging to their class. ^

Human relations : a guide for leadership training in the public schools : summary report on a project with the Syracuse, New York, school system.

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United Nations Asia and the Far East Seminar on Training for Community Development and Social work, Lahore, West Pakistan, 9-20 December 1957.

"21 July 1958."

Leadership training and parliamentary procedures for FFA /

Mode of access: Internet.

Group leadership in the present emergency; a study document addressed to board and committee members, executives, supervisors, group leaders, and other persons actively related to agencies engaged in recreation and informal education,

Mode of access: Internet.

A plan for a leadership training and development program for officers and employees of the State of Hawaii

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Community center-based resistance training for the maintenance of glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes

OBJECTIVE - The purpose of this study was to determine whether beneficial effects on glycemic control of an initial laboratory-supervised resistance training program could be sustained through a community center-based maintenance program. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS - We studied 57 overweight (BMI >= 27 kg/m(2)) sedentary men and women aged 40-80 years with established (> 6 months) type 2 diabetes. initially, all participants attended a twice-weekly 2-month supervised resistance training program conducted in the exercise laboratory. Thereafter, participants undertook a resistance training maintenance program (2 times/week) for 12 months and were randomly assigned to carry this out either in a community fitness and recreation center (center) or in their domestic environment (home). Glycemic control (HbA(1c) [A1C]) was assessed at 0, 2, and 14 months. RESULTS - Pooling data from the two groups for the 2-month supervised resistance training program showed that compared with baseline, mean A1C fell by -0.4% [95% CI -0.6 to -0.2]. Within-group comparisons showed that A I C remained lower than baseline values at 14 months in the center group (- 0.4% [-0.7 to -0.03]) but not in the home group (-0.1% [-0.4 to 0.3]). However, no between-group differences were observed at each time point. Changes in AIC during the maintenance period were positively associated with exercise adherence in the center group only. CONCLUSIONS - Center-based but not home-based resistance training was associated with the maintenance of modestly improved glycemic control from baseline, which was proportional to program adherence. Our findings emphasize the need to develop and test behavioral methods to promote healthy lifestyles including increased physical activity in adults with type 2 diabetes.