Beyond behaviour as individual choice: A call to expand understandings around social science in health research.

The focus of behavioural sciences in shaping behaviour of individuals and populations is well documented. Research and practice insights from behavioural sciences improve our understanding of how people make choices that in turn determine their health, and in turn the health of the population. However, we argue that an isolated focus on behaviour - which is one link in a chain from macro to the micro interventions - is not in sync with the public health approach which per force includes a multi-level interest.

Disability, mental health, sexual orientation and gender identity: understanding health inequity through experience and difference.

Background: This paper focuses on inequities in health in the context of disability, mental health, sexual orientation and gender identity (The authors' location outside of these identities is acknowledged as a serious limitation in discussing experience as a framework to understand health inequity in the dimensions of disability, mental health, sexual orientation and gender identity). These are dimensions that lead to health inequity primarily through the pathways of stigma and discrimination. The aim here is to distinguish the unique characteristics of these groups and thereby try and articulate a new understanding of health and health equity with identity and difference in the foreground.

Determinants of Micronutrient Fortified Blended Food (Balbhog) Consumption among Children 6-35 Months of Age Provided through the Integrated Child Development Services Program in Gujarat, India.

Context: The state of Gujarat had introduced Extruded Fortified Blended Food, Balbhog, as take-home ration for children 6-35 months of age. The study aimed to understand awareness, availability, and consumption pattern of Balbhog and gain insights on factors influencing its regular use.

Aims: This study aims to understand coverage and feeding practices of micronutrient fortified blended food (Balbhog) and determine factors for its regular use.

Barriers to higher education: commonalities and contrasts in the experiences of Hindu and Muslim young women in urban Bengaluru.

Gender inequalities in educational attainment have attracted considerable attention and this article aims to contribute to our understanding of young women's access to higher education. The article is based on our in-depth interviews with 26 Hindu and Muslim young women attending colleges in urban Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), south India, and explores the barriers they confronted in fulfilling their aspirations. We highlight the similarities amongst the young women, as well as the distinctive experiences of the Hindu and Muslim interviewees.

Contextualizing Women's Agency in Marital Negotiations: Muslim and Hindu Women in Karnataka, India.

We use 36 in-depth interviews, with 18 Muslim and 18 Hindu women in Karnataka, India, to explore the relationships between women's educational attainments and women's exercise of agency in spousal selection and the timing of marriage. We have outlined three kinds of agency, namely, convinced, resistance, and complicit, and the contexts in which they were deployed by our participants during their marriage negotiations. Our examination of the role of education across this spectrum of agential capacities during marriage negotiations suggests that the linkages between education and agency are not straightforward.

Capacity of frontline ICDS functionaries to support caregivers on infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices in Gujarat, India.

Improved infant and young child feeding practices have the potential to improve child growth and development outcomes in India. Anganwadi Workers, the frontline government functionaries of the national nutrition supplementation programme in India, play a vital role in promoting infant and young child feeding practices in the community. The present study assessed the Anganwadi Workers' knowledge of infant and young child feeding practices, and their ability to counsel and influence caregivers regarding these practices.

Qualitative research in applied situations: strategies to ensure rigor and validity.

Traditionally, qualitative studies are founded on interpretative and constructive epistemology. The process of data collection in these studies is longer and intensive. This helps to build a strong rapport with the community, hence enabling to capture the field as naturally as possible.