Asian Social Work Journal

Understanding The Coping Strategies Among Women with Gynecologic Long-Term Cancer: Importance of Finding the Positive and Maintaining Optimism

Du Jiayuan — 2026-09-01

Gynecologic long-term cancer patients have to navigate various challenges in many aspects of their lives after recovering from the disease. Empirical research indicates that identifying benefits and maintaining an optimistic outlook are highly helpful in reconstructing the meaning of life for gynecologic long-term cancer patients. This qualitative study aimed to explore the impact of searching for positive meaning and an optimistic mindset on the life changes experienced by women with gynecologic long-term cancer in Chongqing, China. Interviews were conducted with 12 women with gynecologic long-term cancer to understand their views on and use of coping strategies and optimism. These strategies would strengthen individuals’ coping and positive thinking, support their development across personal growth, interpersonal relationships, and emotional well-being, and further strengthen their overall positive cognitive framework. Accordingly, policymakers and relevant stakeholders should implement targeted intervention strategies to encourage gynecologic long-term cancer survivors to fully embrace an optimistic mindset during their post-cancer journey, thereby enhancing their ability to adapt to various life challenges.

Leading Beyond Leadership Stereotypes: Adaptive and Inclusive Leadership Among Women Leaders in Malaysian Research Universities

Latifah Abdul Latif — 2026-09-01

Despite the increasing participation of women in the academic workforce, they remain underrepresented in senior leadership positions within higher education. Existing research has largely focused on gender inequality, barriers to career advancement, and women's representation in leadership, while comparatively little attention has been given to how women leaders are perceived by their subordinates. This study explores how academic and administrative personnel perceive the leadership practices of women leaders in Malaysian research universities and examines how these practices contribute to organisational effectiveness. Guided by Leadership Styles Theory and the Capability Approach, the study adopted an interpretive qualitative design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 academic and administrative personnel who had direct experience working under women leaders in senior academic and administrative positions. The interview data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis supported by NVivo software. The findings revealed that women leaders adopted multiple leadership styles rather than relying on a single dominant approach. Transformational and democratic leadership emerged as the most prominent styles, characterised by mentoring, collaboration, empowerment, participation, and open communication. Transactional, autocratic-directive, and laissez-faire leadership behaviours were employed selectively in response to organisational accountability, crisis management, and professional autonomy. Overall, the findings demonstrate that women leaders practise adaptive and inclusive leadership by balancing relational and strategic leadership behaviours to foster employee development, trust, engagement, and organisational commitment. The study extends current understanding of women's leadership by showing that leadership effectiveness is context-dependent rather than inherently gendered and by highlighting the importance of subordinate perspectives in explaining adaptive leadership within Malaysian research universities.

Women’s Leadership in Malaysian Research Universities: An Integrated Review of Leadership Styles, Gender and Capability Development

Latifah Abdul Latif — 2026-09-01

Women remain underrepresented in senior leadership positions in higher education despite their growing participation in academic and professional roles. This conceptual paper examines women’s leadership in Malaysian research universities by integrating leadership-style theories, gender and leadership scholarship and the Capability Approach. The discussion considers transformational, democratic, transactional, directive and laissez-faire leadership and evaluates their relevance to the complex institutional demands of higher education. The review indicates that effective women’s leadership should not be reduced to a single or inherently feminine style. Transformational and democratic practices can strengthen participation, trust, professional development and shared governance, while transactional and directive practices remain important for accountability, performance management and crisis response. Selective use of laissez-faire leadership may also support professional autonomy among experienced academic and administrative staff. The Capability Approach extends the assessment of leadership beyond institutional performance by emphasising agency, opportunity, participation and human development. The paper argues that leadership effectiveness in Malaysian research universities depends on the adaptive integration of these approaches in response to organisational circumstances. It highlights the need for mentoring, inclusive decision-making, professional networks, leadership development and gender-equitable institutional structures that enable women leaders and their staff to develop their capabilities and contribute meaningfully to institutional goals.

Attitudes Toward HIV/Aids and Sustainable Health-Seeking Behaviour

Sani Ahmadu Sule Omaku — 2026-09-01

Studying people’s attitudes regarding HIV/AIDS and their sustainable health-seeking behavior has the potential to contribute greatly to the development of effective measures for preventing HIV/AIDS. This study conducted a thorough assessment of the attitudes towards HIV/AIDS and sustainable health-seeking behavior among the population of Lafia in North-Central Nigeria. A survey was conducted using a cross-sectional methodology, involving 260 individuals. Data was collected using the Attitudes Toward HIV/AIDS Scale and the Health-Seeking Behavior Scale. The results indicated a strong unfavorable attitude towards HIV/AIDS (χ² = −82.41; p< .001), and these attitudes were found to strongly predict sustained health-seeking behavior, R = .24, R² = .059, F(1, 195) = 12.26,p < .001;among the population of Lafia in North-Central Nigeria. Individuals with negative attitudes towards HIV/AIDS showed significantly lower levels of sustainability in their health-seeking behavior compared to those with positive attitudes (β = −.243, t = −3.502; p < .01). There were gender inequalities in the sustainability of health-seeking behavior, as evidenced by statistical analysis, t (257) = 3.41, p < .05. Male residents (M = 124.89; SD = 61.67) had significantly higher scores in health-seeking behavior sustainability compared to their female counterparts (M = 120.33; SD = 59.56). To promote a healthier and more knowledgeable community, the study suggests implementing targeted awareness efforts in Lafia to reduce the discrimination and stigmatization of persons, particularly girls and women, who are living with HIV/AIDS. This prejudice worsens their condition.

Personality Types as Determinants of Quality of Life Among Patients Receiving Antiretroviral Treatment

Sani Ahmadu Sule Omaku — 2026-09-01

The study investigated personality types as determinants of quality of life among HIV/AIDS patients receiving antiretroviral treatment at National Hospital FCT - Abuja. The study adopted a cross sectional survey design and also adopted a purposive sampling technique to recruit participants in the study. 177 participants (Male - 59, 33.3 %; Female 118, 66.7 %) were purposively sampled from the population of HIV/AIDS patients receiving treatment in National Hospital, Abuja via an online sample size calculator. Two hypotheses were tested at .05 significant levels. The result of the first hypothesis revealed that Conscientiousness (F= 5.761; df=7; p < .05), Neuroticism (F= 6.257; df=8; p < .05), Openness to experience (F= 13.402; df=8p < .05), Extraversion (F= .340; df=7; P < .05), and Agreeableness (F= 5.885; df=6; p < .05) had a significant influence on quality of life. Further analysis indicated that personality traits significantly influence quality of life of HIV/AIDS patients (F= 4.915; R²= .788; p < .05). The result of hypothesis two indicated that male participants significantly differ than female participants (t= 3.256; df=177; p < .05) on quality of life among HIV/AIDS patients. The study concluded that Personality traits and sex (gender) significantly influence quality of life of HIV/AIDS patients. Based on the findings, it is recommended that patients with HIV infection should be given proper psycho-education and psychological intervention. also community based intervention should employ quality of health as one of its principles in service delivery so as to promote wellbeing at the grassroots level and better HIV/AIDS healthcare delivery; HIV/AIDS healthcare providers (Antiretroviral Clinics) should be continually intimated and retrained on the benefits of quality of health promotion; and more quality of health surveys should be carried out here in Nigeria so as to keep tract of patients’ functional states since it has the potential to improve care by monitoring and evaluating the impact of HIV/AIDS treatment outcomes.