Background: Enabling children’s survival and activity functioning after brain injury remains a challenge to caregivers and health professionals in Uganda. In response, an occupation-focused framework (OFF) was developed during a doctoral study aimed at co-creating a culturally relevant programme to enable participation for these children. Objectives: This study describes the OFF and how it enables children’s survival and activity functioning after brain injury in Uganda. Method: Using a participatory action research design, this study sampled three doctors, five nurses, three therapists and three caregivers as general participant group members, and eight children with brain injury as primary participants. Participants were selected from two therapy settings in Kampala-Wakiso, Uganda. The general participants’ interactions with the children were video-recorded, and group interviews and reflections audio recorded. Data were analysed thematically. Results: This study revealed that bridging basic needs and enablement is central to the OFF and is mediated by an ‘occupation scale’ that reflects child activity fitness in context. Three core sub-themes were generated: assessing child enablement contexts, supporting caregivers to attain psychological health and engaging the child in daily life activities. Conclusion: This study supports the use of an occupation scale as a foundational principle for enabling children’s survival and activity functioning after brain injury across contexts such as home, school and hospital with relevant resources. Contribution: The study contributes to the rehabilitation field by introducing a scale that fosters collaborative assessment and interventions, furthering the potential to enable children’s activity functioning and survival after brain injury in resource-scarce environments like Uganda.
Background: Malawi’s education policy endorses inclusive education. However, there is limited empirical evidence on how stakeholder knowledge, attitudes and structural conditions interact to shape inclusive education in rural school settings. Objectives: This study explored how stakeholder knowledge, attitudes and contextual factors influence the implementation of inclusive education for learners with disabilities in a rural government primary school in Kasungu District, Malawi. Method: A qualitative case study design was employed. Data were generated through interviews and a focus group discussion involving teachers, school leaders, parents and community stakeholders. Data were analysed thematically, informed by the social model of disability and the Knowledge–Attitudes–Practices framework. Results: Inclusive education was constrained by limited policy awareness, inadequate teacher preparation, shortages of specialist support, inaccessible infrastructure and disability-related stigma. Although stakeholders generally supported inclusion, their confidence in supporting learners with complex disabilities was shaped by structural constraints. Teacher commitment, supportive leadership and community engagement facilitated inclusive practices but were insufficient to overcome systemic barriers. Conclusion: The findings demonstrate that inclusive education in rural Malawi is shaped by the interaction between stakeholder agency and structural conditions. Strengthening inclusive education therefore requires coordinated investment in teacher development, institutional support, accessible learning environments and intersectoral collaboration. Contribution: This study provides context-specific evidence on how knowledge, attitudes and systemic factors jointly influence inclusive education in rural Malawi, extending understanding of the complex relationship between stakeholder agency and structural constraints in low-resource settings.
Background: Persons with disabilities experience significant economic exclusion in South Africa. While vocational training has often been viewed through a narrow economic lens, its broader social contributions remained under-researched. Objectives: This study examined the social contributions of skills training for persons with disabilities, with specific attention to empowerment, inclusion and well-being. Method: A qualitative multiple-case study design was employed. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews, photovoice, document analysis and field notes with eight participants across three South African provinces. Results: Training contributed to psychological empowerment, increased independence and improved quality of life. Participants reported enhanced self-worth and a stronger sense of purpose. However, persistent structural and attitudinal barriers continued to constrain full social and economic participation. Conclusion: Skills training functioned as a catalyst for personal transformation and social belonging. Nevertheless, translating acquired skills into sustained participation required addressing broader environmental constraints and gaps in policy implementation. Contribution: This study extended disability scholarship by foregrounding the holistic, non-economic value of training interventions in fostering dignity, agency and social inclusion among persons with disabilities.
Background: People with disabilities remain under-represented in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), despite global and regional policies promoting their inclusion. Objectives: This study examined the barriers and facilitators to the inclusion of youth with disabilities in Zimbabwe’s TVET programmes. Methods: Situated in a critical qualitative paradigm, we utilised an institutional ethnographic (IE) design to explore how youth with disabilities experienced inclusive TVET. Data were generated through observations and semi-structured interviews with 11 youth with disabilities and two principals at inclusive centres. We used IE and the Listening Guide to map how institutional policies, practices and social norms coordinate learners’ participation and lived experiences. Results: Participation in TVET was influenced by intersecting institutional and social factors. Facilitators encompassed positive instructor conduct, inclusive pedagogy, robust family and community support, favourable societal attitudes and accessible infrastructure. Conversely, participation was hindered by limited government support, caregiver fatigue, families’ low socioeconomic status, disability type, literacy requirements, inaccessible infrastructure, long distances and conflicts between social norms and institutional rules. Conclusion: Achieving inclusive TVET in Zimbabwe requires aligning instructor capacity, accessible foundational education and sustainable government funding to mitigate families’ weak socioeconomic status. Contribution: Beyond identifying barriers and facilitators, this study offers a novel methodological contribution, unravelling the invisible, text-mediated forces that coordinate learners with disabilities’ experiences across pre-enrolment, training and post-training work transitions. It provides practitioners and policymakers in low-resource settings with a user-focused mapping of how institutional mechanisms can be reconfigured to foster authentic inclusion.
