Sociology Department http://digitalrepository.fccollege.edu.pk/handle/123456789/472 2026-06-23T20:33:21Z 2026-06-23T20:33:21Z Jafree, Dr. Sara Rizvi http://digitalrepository.fccollege.edu.pk/handle/123456789/2775 2025-10-24T11:07:16Z 2025-05-21T00:00:00Z

Title: Predicting high risk pregnancies in Pakistan- a demographic assessment using predictive machine learning Authors: Jafree, Dr. Sara Rizvi Abstract: Pakistan is unable to meet its maternal and child health targets. Predictive machine learn- ing has the potential to predict high risk pregnancies based on data from women who have had a miscarriage or stillbirth. This would help advise better healthcare plans at primary and tertiary level and help achieve Sustainable Development Goal targets in the country. The aim of this study was to evaluate several machine learning models to measure their ability to detect high risk pregnancies. The Pakistan Demographic Health Survey (2018) has been used which includes data from 15,068 women across Pakistan. Fourteen machine learning classifiers have been employed to predict high risk pregnancies, with the follow- ing evaluation metrics reported: precision, recall, false positive rate (FPR), accuracy, and F1-score. We find that five models have the highest overall performance: (i) Deep Neural Network, (ii) SELU Network, (iii) Multilayer Perceptron, (iv) Gradient Boosting, and (v) AdaBoost, exhibiting near good precision (73.0-76.0%), effective recall (83.0-86.0%), ro- bust accuracy (89.0-90.0%), and decent F1-Scores (79.0-80.0%). This study recommends the integration of low-cost online models to predict high risk pregnancies as a critical tool to help achieve maternal health targets in the country.

2025-05-21T00:00:00Z Jafree, Dr. Sara Rizvi http://digitalrepository.fccollege.edu.pk/handle/123456789/2774 2025-10-24T10:09:44Z 2025-06-08T00:00:00Z

Title: Empowered by survival: women street vendors in Pakistan’s informal patriarchal economy Authors: Jafree, Dr. Sara Rizvi Abstract: Street vending in Pakistan serves as a vital survival enterprise for many women marginalised by the formal education sector and employment structures, driven by poverty and the urgent need to support their households. Operating within the informal economy, these women lack social security and institutional protection. This study aimed to highlight their challenges and inform protective policy measures. Purposive in-depth interviews were conducted with 17 women street vendors from Lahore and Gujranwala, two major cities in Central Punjab. Findings reveal 16 key challenges grouped into five core areas: (1) financial instability, (2) work environment challenges, (3) safety and harassment issues, (4) work-family problems, and (5) health concerns. The study underscores the need for targeted interventions by the state, private sector, and civil society actors, including subsidisation, rent caps, increased surveillance and prompt accountability measures, deployment of women security personnel, and childcare support. These recommendations have broader implications, extending beyond women street vendors to benefit the wider informal workforce in Pakistan and other developing regions.

2025-06-08T00:00:00Z Jafree, Dr. Sara Rizvi http://digitalrepository.fccollege.edu.pk/handle/123456789/2773 2025-10-24T09:46:22Z 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Predictors of health-seeking behavior in patients with chronic liver disease and a comparison of health-seeking based on patient-type Authors: Jafree, Dr. Sara Rizvi Abstract: Background Pakistan has one of the highest rates of chronic liver disease (CLD) burden in the world. Poor and underserved patients of CLD in the country may suffer from limited health-seeking behaviors, but there is not much research in this area. The aim of this study is to better plan support for CLD patients by identifying: (i) Health-seeking behaviors (HSB) according to patient-type; and (ii) the relationship of HSB with patient socio-demographic variables and independent study domains. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study. Data was collected over a four-month period from May 2022 to August 2022. A total of 850 patients visiting the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Centre were part of the study. We used correlation tests and multivariate logistic regression to investigate the relationship between the health-seeking behavior and the independent study domains (economic stability, health literacy, social support, experiencing grief, mental health, healthcare service quality, and coping strategies). Results Main results suggest that patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, non-viral liver disease, and cirrhosis have less HSB, compared to patient with chronic viral hepatitis. Multivariate logistic regression results reveal that the following groups have lower odds for health-seeking behavior: (i) illiterate people; (ii) those living in rented homes; (iii) those belonging to nuclear families; and (iv) those with low monthly household income. The following study domains also show lower odds for HSB: (i) health illiteracy; (ii) low health service quality; (iii) low ability to use coping strategies; (iv) grief; (v) lack of social support; (vi) mental health challenges; and (vii) economic instability. Conclusions Our study highlights that the majority of CLD patients are poor, illiterate, or semi-literate and in urgent need of holistic care with respect to health literacy, mental health counseling, financial help, and improved support from provider and families. This is only possible through the integration of social policy officers and social workers in the tertiary health sector of the country.

2025-01-01T00:00:00Z Jafree, Dr. Sara Rizvi http://digitalrepository.fccollege.edu.pk/handle/123456789/2772 2025-10-24T08:00:31Z 2025-04-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Christian Religious Minorities of Pakistan and their Satisfaction with Higher Education and Mental Wellbeing Authors: Jafree, Dr. Sara Rizvi Abstract: The persecution of the Christian religious minorities in Pakistan has implications on exclusion faced in higher educational institutes and mental wellbeing, which ultimately may prevent Christian youth agency. This is one of the first studies in the country that aimed to investigate the relationship between satisfaction with higher education and mental health of Christian students (N = 100) from a large urban city. Mean comparisons suggest that females, those attending public sector institutes, and unemployed Christian students have lower satisfaction with higher education institutes and lower mental wellbeing. Multiple linear regression reveals that mental health is predicted by two domains of satisfaction with higher education- (i) teaching and learning (t = 1.62, p = 0.049); and (ii) student management and guidance by administration. Our study concludes that Christian minorities with intersectional disadvantages who are dissatisfied with higher education face more mental health issues and need targeted interventions to improve educational inequalities and mental wellbeing.

2025-04-01T00:00:00Z