scholarly journals Primary care-based screening and management of depression amongst heavy drinking patients: Interim secondary outcomes of a three-country quasi-experimental study in Latin America

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e0255594
Author(s):  
Amy O’Donnell ◽  
Bernd Schulte ◽  
Jakob Manthey ◽  
Christiane Sybille Schmidt ◽  
Marina Piazza ◽  
...  

Introduction Implementation of evidence-based care for heavy drinking and depression remains low in global health systems. We tested the impact of providing community support, training, and clinical packages of varied intensity on depression screening and management for heavy drinking patients in Latin American primary healthcare. Materials and methods Quasi-experimental study involving 58 primary healthcare units in Colombia, Mexico and Peru randomized to receive: (1) usual care (control); (2) training using a brief clinical package; (3) community support plus training using a brief clinical package; (4) community support plus training using a standard clinical package. Outcomes were proportion of: (1) heavy drinking patients screened for depression; (2) screen-positive patients receiving appropriate support; (3) all consulting patients screened for depression, irrespective of drinking status. Results 550/615 identified heavy drinkers were screened for depression (89.4%). 147/230 patients screening positive for depression received appropriate support (64%). Amongst identified heavy drinkers, adjusting for country, sex, age and provider profession, provision of community support and training had no impact on depression activity rates. Intensity of clinical package also did not affect delivery rates, with comparable performance for brief and standard versions. However, amongst all consulting patients, training providers resulted in significantly higher rates of alcohol measurement and in turn higher depression screening rates; 2.7 times higher compared to those not trained. Conclusions Training using a brief clinical package increased depression screening rates in Latin American primary healthcare. It is not possible to determine the effectiveness of community support on depression activity rates due to the impact of COVID-19.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Jane LLopis ◽  
Peter Anderson ◽  
Marina Piazza ◽  
Amy O'Donnell ◽  
Antoni Gual ◽  
...  

Abstract Background : While primary health care-based prevention and management of heavy drinking is clinically effective and cost-effective, it remains poorly implemented in routine practice. Systematic reviews and multi-country studies have demonstrated the ability of training and support programmes for healthcare professionals to increase primary health care-based measurement and brief advice activity to reduce heavy drinking. However, gains have been only modest and short term at best. WHO studies have concluded that a more effective uptake could be achieved by embedding primary health care activity within broader municipal-based support. Methods : A quasi-experimental study will compare primary health care-based prevention and management of heavy drinking in three intervention municipal areas from Colombia, Mexico and Peru with three comparator municipal areas from the same countries. In the implementation municipal areas, primary health care units will receive training embedded within ongoing supportive municipal action over an 18-month implementation test period. In the comparator municipal areas, half the units will receive training, and the other half will continue with practice as usual. The primary outcome is the proportion of the adult population (aged 18+ years) registered with the unit that has their alcohol consumption measured. Return-on-investment analyses and full process evaluation will be undertaken, coupled with an analysis of potential contextual, financial and political-economy influencing factors. Discussion : This multi-country study will test the extent to which embedding primary health care-based prevention and management of heavy drinking within supportive municipal action leads to improved scale-up of more patients having their alcohol consumption measured, and subsequently receiving appropriate advice and treatment.


Author(s):  
Hua Wu ◽  
Wichai Eungpinichpong ◽  
Hui Ruan ◽  
Xinding Zhang ◽  
Sansan Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Preschooler inactivity and insufficient motor development have serious long-term consequences. The Chinese Ministry of Education launched a nationwide football-focused pilot project aimed at kindergartens in 2019 and issued the policy “Notice on the Establishment of National Football Kindergartens” in 2020. However, the impact of fundamental movement skills (FMS) interventions on other aspects of child development is unclear. Aim: This study will evaluate the effects of ball skills physical education projects on the development of Chinese preschoolers’ physical, motor, cognitive, and social competencies and examine the influencing factors. Method: This is a quasi-experimental study evaluating how well the “Hello Sunshine” curriculum project promotes children’s development over 10 weeks. The trial will be conducted from September 2021 to November 2021 in 12 classes from 3 kindergartens with a total of 249 children aged 4 to 6 years in Haikou, China. Pre- and posttest analyses will include tests on participants’ physical fitness, FMS, cognitive self-regulation, and emotional competence. Participants’ background information will be collected through questionnaires answered by parents and teachers. The intervention will focus on game-based basic ball skills. Findings: If this intervention provides evidence that these skills improve children’s multidimensional development, it will support the promotion of similar programs in China. We will also outline the social-ecological factors affecting the intervention’s results, providing further information for improving pedagogical methods related to preschool ball skills.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (12) ◽  
pp. 731-734
Author(s):  
Santhosh Kumar Kraleti . ◽  
Swapna Lingaldinna . ◽  
Sravani Kalvala . ◽  
Sadiqua Anjum . ◽  
Himabindu Singh .

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela dos Santos de Jesus ◽  
Julia Moreira Pescarini ◽  
Andréa Silva ◽  
Ana Wieczorek Torrens ◽  
Elzo Pereira Pinto Júnior ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Francisco D. Guillén-Gámez ◽  
Iván García-Magariño ◽  
Sonia J. Romero

Currently, there is a demand within distance education of control mechanisms for verifying the identity of students when conducting activities within virtual classrooms. Biometric authentication is one of the tools to meet this demand and prevent fraud. In this line of research, the present work is aimed at analyzing the perceptions of a group of distance students on the impact on the teaching-learning process of a technology of biometric authentication called Smowl. To meet this objective the authors design a quasi-experimental study with two groups of 50 students, one using Smowl technology and the other not. The results show a comparison of the perceptions of both groups, finding that students who have used Smowl are more favorable towards the use of such tools, except in matters relating to the impact on academic performance and ethical aspects of its use, in which no significant differences were found.


Sleep Health ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 437-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith A. Owens ◽  
Tracy Dearth-Wesley ◽  
Allison N. Herman ◽  
J. Michael Oakes ◽  
Robert C. Whitaker

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Anne Hogan ◽  
Bertrand Ebunji ◽  
Nancy Watz ◽  
Kristopher Kapphahn ◽  
Joseph Rigdon ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Clinical justification for rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) in Gram-negative rod (GNR) bacteremia is compelling; however, evidence supporting its value is sparse. We investigated the impact of rapid AST on clinical and antimicrobial stewardship outcomes in real-world practice. We performed a before-and-after quasi-experimental study from February 2018 to July 2019 at a tertiary hospital of the 24-h/day, 7-day/week implementation of the direct Vitek 2 AST method from positive blood culture broth for GNR bacteremia with electronic isolate-specific de-escalation comments and daytime antibiotic stewardship program (ASP) intervention. The primary outcome was time to appropriate antibiotic escalation or de-escalation, and secondary outcomes included time to oral antibiotic stepdown, hospital length of stay (LOS), all-cause 30-day mortality, 7-day incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI), and 30-day incidence of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI). A total of 671 GNR isolates were included from 643 adult patients. Among patients for whom antibiotic change occurred after rapid AST result, rapid AST was associated with a trend in decreased time to escalation or de-escalation (hazard ratio, 1.22; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.99 to 1.51; P = 0.06), with median times of 52.3 versus 42.2 h. Secondary outcomes were similar in both groups and include median time to oral antibiotic stepdown, LOS, all-cause mortality, and incidence of AKI and CDI. Rapid AST led to improved stewardship measures but did not impact clinical patient outcomes. These results highlight that multiple variables in addition to the timing of the AST result contribute to clinical outcome and that further intervention may be required to clinically justify rapid AST implementation.


Author(s):  
Natércia Almeida ◽  
Andreia Teixeira ◽  
José Garcia ◽  
Natália Martins ◽  
Carla Ramalho

Background and objectives: Sex education is a necessity and a right of young people in Angola. However, this education is deficient or even absent in various subsystems and, therefore, the impact of an educational intervention on human biology and sexuality was addressed. Materials and methods: This quasi-experimental study employed a non-equivalent control group, pre-test post-test design. It was conducted with students from three secondary schools (6th to 12th grade, two public and one private) in Huambo (Angola), between June and December 2017. First, a questionnaire was distributed to assess the students’ knowledge on aspects related to sexual maturation, psychological development, gynecological organs’ anatomy, human fertilization, contraception, and risks of unprotected sexuality. Then, an educational program was developed by the principal investigator along with the school’s moral and civic education and biology teachers selected for a group of students (experimental group, EG); the others constituted the control group (CG). Classes were held on non-working days, on Saturday mornings (8:00 to 10:00 a.m.), so as not to interfere with the school calendar. The initial questionnaire was redistributed two months later to assess the impact of the intervention. Results: Of the 589 individuals included (mean age of 16.8 ± 2.5 years), 56.7% were males. EG (n = 241) consisted of students from the public school and CG (n = 348) by students from public and private schools. The last part of the questionnaire consisted of 30 questions to assess students’ knowledge, and in 23 of these questions, both groups showed no differences at baseline. After the intervention, the EG showed significant improvements (p < 0.05), while the CG revealed only slight improvements. Conclusions: Students from Huambo province have a significant lack of knowledge on human biology and sexuality. Rigorous development and evaluation of interventions addressing multiple individual and environmental level factors is needed, notably for effective education in human biology and sexuality.


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