Browsing by Author "Vaghri, Ziba"

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    Exploring children’s experiences in the digital environment: A narrative inquiry based on an interdisciplinary approach to child rights
    (University of New Brunswick, 2024-06) Joudaki, Shiva; Vaghri, Ziba; Downes, Daniel
    The research explores young people’s experiences in the digital environment, emphasizing their perception of children’s digital rights. Children participated as advisors and interview subjects to share their online communication narratives. A Child Advisory Board, consisting of 14 local children, collaborated with this research and collectively discussed their digital rights. Next, five members voluntarily participated in one-on-one interviews. Implementing narrative inquiry, the research identifies risk and protective factors in children’s digital experiences and potential interventions to improve them. Balanced risk exposure, mitigated by protective factors like parental or peer guidance, can build online resilience. The study reveals that resilient children are better equipped to handle challenges than those who are overly protected. Understanding children’s experiences is a prerequisite for planning any interventions to safeguard them and uphold their rights. Interdisciplinary collaboration among politicians, digital platform industries, and child rights experts is crucial for promoting online safety without compromising children’s rights.
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    New Brunswick’s mental health action plan: A quantitative exploration of program efficacy in children and youth using the Canadian Community Health Survey
    (Public Library of Science, 2024-06-07) Yang, Yuzhi (Stanford); Law, Moira; Vaghri, Ziba
    In 2011, the New Brunswick government released the New Brunswick Mental Health Action Plan 2011–2018 (Action Plan). Following the release of the Action Plan in 2011, two progress reports were released in 2013 and 2015, highlighting the implementation status of the Action Plan. While vague in their language, these reports indicated considerable progress in implementing the Action Plan, as various initiatives were undertaken to raise awareness and provide additional resources to facilitate early prevention and intervention in children and youth. However, whether these initiatives have yielded measurable improvements in population-level mental health outcomes in children and youth remains unclear. The current study explored the impact of the Action Plan by visualizing the trend in psychosocial outcomes and service utilization of vulnerable populations in New Brunswick before and after the implementation of the Action Plan using multiple datasets from the Canadian Community Health Survey. Survey-weighted ordinary least square regression analyses were performed to investigate measurable improvements in available mental health outcomes. The result revealed a declining trend in the mental wellness of vulnerable youth despite them consistently reporting higher frequencies of mental health service use. This study highlights the need for a concerted effort in providing effective mental health services to New Brunswick youth and, more broadly, Canadian youth, as well as ensuring rigorous routine outcome monitoring and evaluation plans are consistently implemented for future mental health strategies at the time of their initiation.
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    Understanding newcomers’ experience in accessing healthcare services for their children upon arriving in Canada.
    (University of New Brunswick, 2024-08) Igogo, Faith; Vaghri, Ziba; Gander, Sarah
    Access to healthcare services is a core human rights of children under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The CRC obligates governments to fulfill all articulated rights for all children including newcomers to Canada. This qualitative study recruited newcomer mothers to New Brunswick, Canada and used semi-structured interviews to understand their experience in accessing healthcare services for their children. Results were categorized into 5 themes with several subthemes; 1. Access to Healthcare; 2. Health Status and Experiences; 3. Comparison and Gaps in the Healthcare system; 4. Support Services and Policy Changes and 5. Miscellaneous Mentions. Analysis of the collected data reveals that the current healthcare systems of the province may benefit from some adjustments based on the needs of its newcomers. Such improvements will not only meet the varied health needs of the newcomer families, but they will also safeguard their development and wellbeing.