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The Lira University Institutional Repository is a digital platform for collecting, preserving, and disseminating the intellectual and scholarly output of the University.

It provides access to theses, dissertations, journal articles, conference papers, learning materials, reports, university publications, and other research outputs produced by the Lira University community.

Through this repository, Lira University strengthens visibility, knowledge sharing, long-term preservation, and worldwide access to its academic contributions.

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Multidimensional analysis of stigma among female sex workers in Northern Uganda: Principal component and factor analyses.
(Sage, 2025) Kabunga, Amir; Bongomin, Felix; Ayugi, Vella; Kigongo, Eustes
Background: Female sex workers (FSWs) face significant stigma, which hinders their access to healthcare, social support, and fundamental human rights. Stigma is often compounded by criminalization, violence, and discriminatory attitudes, particularly in low-income regions like Northern Uganda. Objectives: This study aims to analyze the underlying dimensions of stigma among FSWs in Gulu City, Northern Uganda, to provide insights for targeted interventions. Design: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from February to March 2023 in Gulu City, Northern Uganda. Methods: A total of 314 FSWs aged 18–49 years participated in the study, yielding a response rate of 83.9%. Participants were recruited using consecutive sampling from hotspots such as bars, brothels, streets, and community health centers. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics summarized sociodemographic and economic characteristics. Principal component analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation was applied to identify the primary components of stigma. Factor retention was guided by eigenvalues >1.0, scree plot analysis, and factor loadings ⩾0.35. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. Multivariate analysis examined the association between stigma and demographic variables. Results: The mean age of participants was 28.8 years (standard deviation = 6.4), with most having completed primary education (46.2%). A majority resided in urban areas (93.3%), and 70.7% reported experiencing violence from clients. PCA identified three key dimensions of stigma: social stigma, healthcare-related stigma, and self-stigma. Social stigma encompassed community rejection and discrimination, while healthcare-related stigma involved negative attitudes and experiences within health settings. Self-stigma reflected internalized shame and reduced self-worth among participants. The cumulative variance explained by the three components was 67.2%, with strong internal reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.88). Factors significantly associated with stigma included age, education level, and experience of violence (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The multidimensional nature of stigma among FSWs in Gulu City highlights the urgent need for holistic interventions. Addressing community stigma, improving healthcare provider attitudes, and offering psychosocial support to reduce self-stigma are critical for improving health outcomes and quality of life.
Multidimensional analysis of stigma among female sex workers in Northern Uganda: Principal component and factor analyses.
(Sage, 2025) Kabunga, Amir; Bongomin, Felix; Ayugi, Vella
Background: Female sex workers (FSWs) face significant stigma, which hinders their access to healthcare, social support, and fundamental human rights. Stigma is often compounded by criminalization, violence, and discriminatory attitudes, particularly in low-income regions like Northern Uganda. Objectives: This study aims to analyze the underlying dimensions of stigma among FSWs in Gulu City, Northern Uganda, to provide insights for targeted interventions. Design: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from February to March 2023 in Gulu City, Northern Uganda. Methods: A total of 314 FSWs aged 18–49 years participated in the study, yielding a response rate of 83.9%. Participants were recruited using consecutive sampling from hotspots such as bars, brothels, streets, and community health centers. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics summarized sociodemographic and economic characteristics. Principal component analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation was applied to identify the primary components of stigma. Factor retention was guided by eigenvalues >1.0, scree plot analysis, and factor loadings ⩾0.35. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. Multivariate analysis examined the association between stigma and demographic variables. Results: The mean age of participants was 28.8 years (standard deviation = 6.4), with most having completed primary education (46.2%). A majority resided in urban areas (93.3%), and 70.7% reported experiencing violence from clients. PCA identified three key dimensions of stigma: social stigma, healthcare-related stigma, and self-stigma. Social stigma encompassed community rejection and discrimination, while healthcare-related stigma involved negative attitudes and experiences within health settings. Self-stigma reflected internalized shame and reduced self-worth among participants. The cumulative variance explained by the three components was 67.2%, with strong internal reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.88). Factors significantly associated with stigma included age, education level, and experience of violence (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The multidimensional nature of stigma among FSWs in Gulu City highlights the urgent need for holistic interventions. Addressing community stigma, improving healthcare provider attitudes, and offering psychosocial support to reduce self-stigma are critical for improving health outcomes and quality of life.
AI-Enabled Applications for Disaster Management: Revisiting the Social Construction of Gender Norms in Disasters
(KMAN Publication Inc., 2025) Acanga, Alfred; Arlikatti, Sudha; Murale, Venugopalan
Feminist scholarship links vulnerability to natural hazards becoming disasters that disproportionately affect women. Recent research regarding global Disaster Risk Reduction strategies appear to disregard social norms that promote male involvement in risky disaster-related activities, increasing disaster losses. Recent technological advances, particularly in Artificial Intelligence (AI), have garnered academic attention due to their disruptive nature. This study's transformative lens of AI examines its ability to improve women's civic engagement in Disaster Risk Management (DRM) to reduce vulnerability and change restrictive social norms that predispose men to disaster risk. This study uses mixed approaches. VOS software was used for a bibliometric analysis of 18,692 Scopus articles along with adoption of the socio-ecological model to improve a previous framework to answer two study questions. The findings reveal that bidirectional processes at micro, meso, and macro levels contribute to disaster outcomes like vulnerability, and shape disaster related activities. These dynamics limit women's civic engagement, while social norms push men to engage in risky disaster roles. The findings indicate that there is a missing direct thematic link between gender and vulnerability across the analyzed data. Despite its limits in disaster study, AI is vital for vulnerability assessment, social vulnerability analysis, GIS, and emergency management. This research highlights the influence of community gender dynamics on DRMt. AI-enabled technologies, like blockchain, can potentially improve women's civic engagement and shift obstructive norms through RAN-based educational initiatives aimed at men. The study utilizes findings to propose future policy and research directions.
Gender perspectives in disaster response: An evidence-based review
(Elsevier, 2025) Acanga, Alfred; Matovu, Baker; Murale, Venugopalan; Arlikatti, Sudha
An in-depth understanding of diverse gender perspectives, pathways, and frameworks is pivotal for innovative and successful disaster response and resilience strategies across geographies. However, in most regions, gender perspectives in driving disaster resilience are either less operationalized, explored in research, or fragmented, creating unsustainable futures. The ramifications of these inequalities were foregrounded by the COVID-19 pandemic where the disproportionate vulnerability of individuals/genders became unavoidable. This reifies the need to create safety nets within disaster-resilient landscapes based on a gender-inclusive lens. In this study, 80 documents were systematically reviewed to explore the current and emerging gender perspectives (individual and institutional) towards disaster response and resilience mechanisms across geographies and over time. Findings highlight theoretical and conceptual deficits in the definition of gender and disaster response in the discourses. Additionally, disasters and disaster-induced impacts vary over time across genders and regions. They also reveal disproportionate disaster vulnerability among gender minorities and historically marginalized social groups. Furthermore, socioeconomic gender inequalities limit collective agency in disaster response while socio- cultural and patriarchal norms lead to uneven disaster response that are further reinforced by gender inequalities that lead to structural violence. Increased vulnerability to disasters increases fear and mistrust of existing institutional disaster management strategies. Response to Normative disaster management frameworks that entrench masculine dominance in disaster response through, emerging frameworks that draw from a critical feminist lens unfortunately feminize vulnerability and adversely limit gender-inclusive futures. It is acknowledged that place and social capital shape people’s willingness to engage in disaster response across genders and regions. Therefore, collective social agency, social networks, and gender inclusion are catalytic towards the efficacy of disaster response and community resilience. Risk Communication for effective disaster response should leverage community institutions like schools, digital media platforms, and indigenous knowledge carriers to generate, mediate, and disseminate appropriate risk information. Five key strategies could drive gender- inclusive perspectives in disaster response and resilience, including (i) conducting context-based studies and research, (ii) use of novel research approaches, such as reflexive social learning, (iii) prioritizing incorporation of collective agency in policy and institutional frameworks, (iv) a research shift and focus towards uncovering the histories of vulnerability, and (v) development of transparent and feasible knowledge dissemination mechanisms. Increased participatory evidence-based research is needed, and policy frameworks must emphasize key pillars of disaster response and integrate them with emerging perspectives on gender empowerment, (e.g., in social, economic, psychological, scientific/technological, institutional, and environmental) arenas.
Non-Financial Reward Management and Teachers’ Performance among Government-Aided Primary Schools in Alebtong District, Northern Uganda
(East African nature & science organisation, 2026) Opok, James Bond; Obici, Isaac Gilbert; Mwesigwa, David
This study sought to investigate the effect of non-financial reward management practices on job performance among government-aided primary school teachers in Alebtong district, Northern Uganda. A cross sectional design was adopted to collect data, and a structured questionnaire, with a Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.88, was administered to a sample of 102 teachers randomly selected from 10 government-aided primary schools in the district. Data were obtained using both quantitative and qualitative methods, and the findings revealed that teachers were not satisfied with financial rewards. Teachers’ Performance had a significant and positive but fair correlation with non-financial rewards (r = 0.457, p-value <0.001). Teachers’ performance had a weak correlation with financial rewards (r=0.197, p=0.047). Multiple Regression revealed that the non-financial reward management appeared to be a significant predictor of teachers’ performance (p-value <0.001, β = 0.398). It was thus concluded that non-financial reward management has a significant effect on performance. Accordingly, we recommended that politicians should play their part objectively and avoid pointing blaming teachers and head teachers since this demoralises them; more classrooms should be built to meet the required standard of 50 students, parents should motivate teachers by attending school open days and visitation days, whereby they can appreciate teachers with financial rewards. And the concerned stakeholders should improve conditions of service for teachers by providing good accommodation, the community should understand the need for rewarding teachers, the government should increase teachers’ salaries, and finally, teachers need to be retooled with new methods of delivering knowledge to learners.