Plagiarism in academic writing has emerged as one of the most persistent and complex challenges confronting educational institutions in the twenty-first century. As digital technologies have democratised access to information, they have simultaneously lowered barriers to academic dishonesty, creating environments in which the boundaries between legitimate knowledge synthesis and intellectual theft are increasingly contested. This qualitative study sought to explore the nature, perceived consequences, and prevention strategies of plagiarism among undergraduate and postgraduate students at a Ugandan university. Employing a phenomenological research design, the study conducted in-depth interviews with twenty-four participants including students, academic staff, and institutional administrators. Findings revealed that plagiarism is understood through multiple, often competing frameworks: as a moral failing, as a survival strategy in resource-constrained academic environments, as a product of inadequate academic writing instruction, and as an institutional culture problem rather than an individual deficiency. Participants described plagiarism's consequences along academic, psychological, professional, and relational dimensions, while prevention discourses centred on detection technology, academic integrity education, and pedagogical reform. The study concludes that effective plagiarism prevention requires systemic, culturally situated interventions that address the structural conditions enabling dishonest practices rather than focusing exclusively on punitive enforcement. Implications for curriculum design, academic policy, and institutional culture are discussed.

This study examined the relationship between public health awareness and community engagement in Kassanda District, Uganda. Community engagement is central to the success of public health programmes, and public health awareness is widely regarded as a key driver of such engagement, yet the relationship remains under-examined in rural Ugandan districts. The study investigated how health education, communication channels, community participation, and health workers' outreach relate to community engagement in health. A cross-sectional survey design with a mixed-methods approach was adopted, and data were collected from 185 respondents comprising community members, village health team members, health workers, and local leaders using structured questionnaires and interviews. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, Pearson correlation, and structural (path) analysis were used. Factor analysis confirmed the construct validity of the awareness dimensions, which loaded onto coherent factors and explained 68.2% of the variance. The results revealed a strong positive and significant relationship between public health awareness and community engagement (r = 0.67, p < 0.01), with the dimensions jointly explaining 65.0% of the variance in community engagement (R² = 0.650). Community participation (β = 0.32) and health education (β = 0.30) emerged as the strongest path predictors. The study concludes that public health awareness significantly enhances community engagement and recommends strengthening community participation, health education, and outreach.

This study examined the relationship between risk management strategies and the project performance of selected non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Karenga Sub-County, Karenga District, Uganda. NGOs implement development and humanitarian projects in challenging environments, and effective risk management is widely regarded as essential to project success, yet its contribution among Ugandan NGOs remains under-examined. The study investigated how risk identification, risk assessment, risk mitigation, and risk monitoring relate to project performance. A cross-sectional survey design with a mixed-methods approach was adopted, and data were collected from 170 respondents comprising NGO project managers, project staff, and beneficiaries using structured questionnaires and interviews. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, Pearson correlation, and structural (path) analysis were used. Factor analysis confirmed the construct validity of the risk management dimensions, which loaded onto coherent factors and explained 68.7% of the variance. The results revealed a strong positive and significant relationship between risk management strategies and project performance (r = 0.68, p < 0.01), with the strategies jointly explaining 66.0% of the variance in project performance (R² = 0.660). Risk mitigation (β = 0.32) and risk monitoring (β = 0.30) emerged as the strongest path predictors. The study concludes that risk management significantly enhances project performance and recommends strengthening risk mitigation, monitoring, and identification.

This study examines the profound philosophical and empirical question of knowledge fragility-the vulnerability of human cognitive representations to error, distortion, revision, and falsification from integrated cognitive psychological and neurobiological perspectives. Drawing on phenomenological qualitative methodology, the study conducted in- depth interviews with twenty-six participants including academic researchers, clinical psychologists, philosophers of science, and individuals who had experienced significant 'knowledge ruptures' moments of discovering that longstanding beliefs or certainties were false. The study documents how participants understand, experience, and respond to the fragility of their own knowledge, exploring the cognitive mechanisms underlying false knowledge, the neurobiological substrates that both enable and constrain learning and unlearning, and the psychological and social consequences of recognising knowledge's contingency. Findings reveal that knowledge fragility is experienced as simultaneously threatening and generative: threatening to individual identity, professional authority, and social cohesion, but generative of intellectual humility, epistemological flexibility, and creative innovation. The study identifies 'epistemic resilience'-the capacity to hold knowledge lightly, recognise its contingency, and revise it in response to evidence as a developable cognitive disposition with significant educational, clinical, and scientific implications. Recommendations address epistemic education, scientific communication practices, and psychological support for individuals experiencing worldview-disrupting knowledge revisions.

This study examined the impact of microloans on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Lubaga Division, Kampala, Uganda. Microfinance, and microloans in particular, are widely promoted as a means of supporting the growth of small enterprises that lack access to conventional finance, yet their impact among Ugandan SMEs remains contested and under-examined. The study investigated how loan accessibility, loan size adequacy, interest and repayment terms, and business training support relate to SME growth. A cross-sectional survey design with a mixed-methods approach was adopted, and data were collected from 180 respondents comprising SME owners and managers who had accessed microloans, together with microfinance staff, using structured questionnaires and interviews. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, Pearson correlation, and structural (path) analysis were used. Factor analysis confirmed the construct validity of the microloan dimensions, which loaded onto coherent factors and explained 68.3% of the variance. The results revealed a strong positive and significant relationship between microloans and SME growth (r = 0.67, p < 0.01), with the microloan dimensions jointly explaining 65.0% of the variance in SME growth (R² = 0.650). Loan accessibility (β = 0.32) and loan size adequacy (β = 0.30) emerged as the strongest path predictors. The study concludes that microloans significantly support SME growth and recommends improving loan accessibility, loan size adequacy, and accompanying business training.

This study examined the influence of business strategy on the performance of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in Wakiso District, Uganda. Business strategy is widely regarded as a key determinant of enterprise performance, yet its contribution among Ugandan SMEs remains under-examined. The study investigated how cost leadership strategy, differentiation strategy, market focus strategy, and innovation strategy relate to SME performance. A cross-sectional survey design with a mixed-methods approach was adopted, and data were collected from 180 respondents comprising SME owners, managers, and employees using structured questionnaires and interviews. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, Pearson correlation, and structural (path) analysis were used. Factor analysis confirmed the construct validity of the business strategy dimensions, which loaded onto coherent factors and explained 68.6% of the variance. The results revealed a strong positive and significant relationship between business strategy and SME performance (r = 0.68, p < 0.01), with the strategy dimensions jointly explaining 66.0% of the variance in SME performance (R² = 0.660). Differentiation strategy (β = 0.32) and innovation strategy (β = 0.30) emerged as the strongest path predictors. The study concludes that business strategy significantly enhances SME performance and recommends strengthening differentiation and innovation strategies and building strategic management capacity.

This study examined the influence of domestic violence on child education in primary schools in Nsangi, Wakiso District, Uganda. Domestic violence in the home has profound consequences for children, and a growing body of evidence links children's exposure to violence with impaired educational outcomes. The study investigated how physical violence exposure, psychological and emotional abuse, household instability, and economic deprivation associated with domestic violence relate to children's education outcomes. A cross-sectional survey design with a mixed-methods approach was adopted, and data were collected from 190 respondents comprising teachers, parents and guardians, school counsellors, and community leaders using structured questionnaires and interviews. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and structural (path) analysis were used. The results revealed a strong negative and significant relationship between domestic violence and children's education outcomes (r = −0.66, p < 0.01), with the dimensions jointly explaining 64.0% of the variance in education outcomes (R² = 0.640). Psychological and emotional abuse (β = −0.31) and physical violence exposure (β = −0.28) emerged as the strongest path predictors. The study concludes that domestic violence significantly impairs child education and recommends child-protection interventions, psychosocial support, and school–community collaboration. This study addresses a sensitive topic in an academic manner, with attention to the wellbeing and protection of children.

This study examined the influence of government subsidies and price support on agricultural productivity in Balawoli Sub-County, Kamuli District, Uganda. Governments intervene in agriculture through subsidies and price support to raise productivity, incomes, and food security, yet the effectiveness of these interventions among Ugandan smallholder farmers remains under-examined. The study investigated how input subsidies, price support, access to credit, and extension linkage relate to agricultural productivity. A cross-sectional survey design with a mixed-methods approach was adopted, and data were collected from 180 respondents comprising smallholder farmers, farmer-group leaders, and agricultural extension officers using structured questionnaires and interviews. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, Pearson correlation, and structural (path) analysis were used. Factor analysis confirmed the construct validity of the intervention dimensions, which loaded onto coherent factors and explained 68.4% of the variance. The results revealed a strong positive and significant relationship between government support and agricultural productivity (r = 0.68, p < 0.01), with the interventions jointly explaining 66.0% of the variance in productivity (R² = 0.660). Input subsidies (β = 0.33) and price support (β = 0.30) emerged as the strongest path predictors. The study concludes that government subsidies and price support significantly enhance agricultural productivity and recommends strengthening input subsidies, price support, and complementary credit and extension services.

This study examined the influence of internal auditing practices on financial accountability in Wakiso District Local Government, Uganda. Internal auditing is widely regarded as a key mechanism for promoting financial accountability in public institutions, yet its contribution in Ugandan local governments remains under-examined. The study investigated how audit independence, audit planning and scope, internal control review, and audit reporting and follow-up relate to financial accountability. A cross-sectional survey design with a mixed-methods approach was adopted, and data were collected from 175 respondents comprising internal auditors, finance and accounting staff, and management using structured questionnaires and interviews. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, Pearson correlation, and structural (path) analysis were used. Factor analysis confirmed the construct validity of the internal auditing dimensions, which loaded onto coherent factors and explained 68.5% of the variance. The results revealed a strong positive and significant relationship between internal auditing practices and financial accountability (r = 0.68, p < 0.01), with the practices jointly explaining 66.0% of the variance in financial accountability (R² = 0.660). Audit reporting and follow-up (β = 0.32) and audit independence (β = 0.30) emerged as the strongest path predictors. The study concludes that internal auditing significantly enhances financial accountability and recommends strengthening audit reporting and follow-up, audit independence, and internal control review.

School holidays in Uganda represent a critical but neglected period in children's developmental trajectories, during which the institutional structures of schooling give way to home environments characterized by highly variable parental engagement, supervision quality, and learning continuity. This qualitative study explored how parents understand and enact their roles during school holiday periods, and how these understandings and enactments are shaped by socioeconomic context, gender, occupational demands, and cultural norms around parenting. Employing grounded theory methodology, the study conducted in-depth interviews with thirty-six parents across urban, peri- urban, and rural settings in Uganda, supplemented by focus group discussions and observational data from four household case studies. Findings revealed that parents conceptualize the holiday period through multiple, often competing frameworks: as a rest period for both children and parents, as a learning continuation opportunity, as a period of heightened child vulnerability requiring increased supervision, and as a period of productive labour contribution in agricultural households. The study documents substantial disparities in holiday parenting quality along socioeconomic lines, with wealthier urban parents structuring holidays through extracurricular programming while low-income rural parents face competing demands between agricultural productivity and child supervision. Critically, many parents experience what the study terms 'parental term anxiety'-the pressure to compensate academically for perceived school inadequacies during holidays-a dynamic that reflects broader distrust of Uganda's public school system. Recommendations address policy support for parent education, holiday learning programme accessibility, and child protection infrastructure during school breaks.