scholarly journals Maternal Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Concerning Interpregnancy Interval

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 86-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn R. Ahlers-Schmidt ◽  
Nikki Keene Woods ◽  
Danielle Bradshaw ◽  
Anna Rempel ◽  
Matt Engel ◽  
...  

Introduction. Few studies have examined maternal intentions andpractices related to interpregnancy interval (IPI). IPI less than 18months has been linked to increased preterm birth and infant mortality.This manuscript reports on a cross-sectional survey of mothersconducted to understand maternal knowledge, attitudes, and practiceof IPI in Sedgwick County, Kansas. Methods. New and expectant mothers and mothers of neonatalinfant care unit (NICU) graduates (n = 125) were surveyed regardingthe issues surrounding IPI. Front desk staff handed out self-administeredsurveys, which were returned to a nurse upon completion.NICU participants were emailed a link to the survey hosted on SurveyMonkey®. Results. Fewer than 30% of mothers reported previously receivinginformation about IPI from any source. When asked about risks associatedwith IPI, women frequently (n = 58, 45%) identified increasedrisk for birth outcomes with no known association with short IPI.Findings regarding maternal attitudes surrounding optimal IPI weremixed with many mothers defining ideal IPI as less than 18 months(n = 52, 42%), while broadly reporting they believed that a woman’sbody needs time to heal between pregnancies. Respondents from theNICU sample generally reported shorter optimal IPI values than theother participants. When IPI was estimated from participants’ pastpregnancies, half of IPIs were less than 18 months. Mothers reportedthey favored healthcare providers as a source for IPI education. Faceto-face discussions or printed materials were the preferred modes ofeducation. Conclusions. Women were aware of the need for spacing betweenpregnancies, however, that knowledge was unassociated with pastbehavior. These findings should be taken into consideration whenformulating future interventions. Kans J Med 2018;11(4):86-90.

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
pp. 730-736 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Hubber ◽  
A Person ◽  
L Jecha ◽  
D Flodin-Hursh ◽  
J Stiffler ◽  
...  

Abstract Coccidioidomycosis is an emerging infection in Washington State. The epidemiology of the disease in Washington is poorly understood at present; underrecognition and underreporting of coccidioidomycosis is suspected based on reports of only severe disease. We sought to characterize healthcare provider knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding coccidioidomycosis awareness, diagnosis, and treatment in south-central Washington. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of actively practicing healthcare providers in four counties in south-central Washington, an area recently described as endemic for Coccidioides. Survey results were used to assess awareness of reporting requirements, confidence in ability to diagnose and treat, confidence that knowledge is current, calculated knowledge score, and consideration of risk in patient population. The majority of respondents were unaware of the reporting requirement for coccidioidomycosis in Washington and further unaware that the disease had been reported in the state. Less than a third of survey respondents reported confidence in their ability to diagnose coccidioidomycosis and confidence that their knowledge is current. The majority of respondents never or rarely consider a diagnosis of coccidioidomycosis, and <25% of respondents indicated a working knowledge of serologic tests for the infection. The average knowledge score for respondents was 65%. Previous education, training, or practice regarding coccidioidomycosis was the only identified predictor of confidence and consideration of risk. These data indicate the substantial need for education and training among healthcare providers in south-central Washington and support the concern that a small proportion of existing cases of coccidioidomycosis are reported to the health department.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emine Sen Tunc ◽  
Emre Aksoy ◽  
Hatice Nilden Arslan ◽  
Zeynep Kaya

Abstract Background Self-medication refers to taking medicine without consultation with a doctor or dentist, and it is an important health issue, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are no data about parents’ SM practices for their children’s dental problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. The present study aims to evaluate parents’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding self-medication for their children’s dental problems during the COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Turkey. Methods A cross-sectional survey was carried out in the pediatric dental clinic at Ondokuz Mayis University, Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, immediately after the COVID-19 lockdown ended. A total of 389 parents who agreed to participate in the study completed the questionnaire from July 1 to October 1. A questionnaire with 18 items was designed to collect information on the parents’ knowledge and attitudes regarding when, why, and how to use drugs and on their practices on medicating their children. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics (chi-square test). Results The majority of parents (n = 273; 70.2%) practiced self-medication for their children's dental problems. Self-medication with a previously prescribed medications was usually preferred by parents (n = 179; 62.2%). Analgesics (98%) were the most commonly used medicines by parents in their self-medication for their children's dental problems. Conclusion Prevalence of self-medication practices for children's dental problems is high in Turkey during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, new healthcare services, such as teledentistry, may be useful to overcome problems related to the self-medication of children during times when the ability to reach healthcare providers is limited, such as during pandemics.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Winnie Thembisile Maphumulo ◽  
Busisiwe Bhengu

The National Department of Health in South Africa has introduced the National Core Standards (NCS) tool to improve the quality of healthcare delivery in all public healthcare institutions. Knowledge of the NCS tool is essential among healthcare providers. This study investigated the level of knowledge on NCS and how the NCS tool was communicated among professional nurses. This was a cross-sectional survey study. Purposive sampling technique was used to select hospitals that only offered tertiary services in KwaZulu-Natal. Six strata of departments were selected using simple stratified sampling. The population of professional nurses in the selected hospitals was 3 050. Systematic random sampling was used to recruit 543 participants. The collected data were analysed using SPSS version 25. The study showed that only 16 (3.7%) respondents had knowledge about NCS, using McDonald’s standard of learning outcome measured criteria regarding the NCS tool. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the communication and knowledge was r = 0.055. The results revealed that although the communication scores for the respondents were high their knowledge scores remained low. This study concluded that there is a lack of knowledge regarding the NCS tool and therefore healthcare institutions need to commit themselves to the training of professional nurses regarding the NCS tool. The findings suggest that healthcare institutions implement the allocation of incentives for nurses that attend the workshops for NCS.


Author(s):  
Yousif Elmosaad ◽  
Ahmed Al Rajeh ◽  
Asif khan ◽  
Elfatih Malik ◽  
Ilias Mahmud

This study assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) in malaria prevention using insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) among mothers of children under five years of age in White Nile State, Sudan. Multistage cluster sampling was used to select 761 mothers for this cross-sectional survey. There were gaps in the KAP in malaria prevention. Only 46.3% of the mothers stated personal protective measures (PPMs) as the best malaria prevention strategy; 54.9% considered ITNs as an effective means; and only 18.7% reported sleeping under an ITN every day. Older mothers were less likely to have good knowledge (OR=0.96), attitudes (OR=0.98) and practices (OR=0.98). Having a Government employee as the head of the household was positively associated with knowledge (OR=2.16) and attitudes (OR=1.96). The mother having a formal education was also positively associated with good knowledge (OR=1.55) and positive attitudes (OR=1.69). Mothers with a monthly household income of <491 Sudanese Pound were more likely to have good knowledge (OR=1.43). Mothers who had good knowledge (OR=4.99) and positive attitudes towards PPMs (OR=2.60) in malaria prevention were found to be more likely to practice preventive measures. Therefore, we recommend focusing on raising mothers’ awareness of the different preventive activities to protect them and their family from malaria.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 105
Author(s):  
Kranthi Swaroop Koonisetty ◽  
Ubydul Haque ◽  
Rajesh Nandy ◽  
Nasrin Aghamohammadi ◽  
Tamanna Urmi ◽  
...  

Dengue fever is one of the most important viral infections transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes and a major cause of morbidity and mortality globally. Accurate identification of cases and treatment of dengue patients at the early stages can reduce medical complications and dengue mortality rate. This survey aims to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) among physicians in dengue diagnosis and treatment. This study was conducted among physicians in Turkey as one nonendemic country and Bangladesh, India, and Malaysia as three dengue-endemic countries. The dosing frequencies, maximum doses, and contraindications in dengue fever were examined. The results found that physicians from Bangladesh, India, and Malaysia have higher KAP scores in dengue diagnosis and treatment compared to physicians in Turkey. This may be due to a lack of physician’s exposure to a dengue patient as Turkey is considered a nonendemic country. This assessment may help establish a guideline for intervention strategies among physicians to have successful treatment outcomes and reduce dengue mortality.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 215013272110287
Author(s):  
Robert L. Cooper ◽  
Mohammad Tabatabai ◽  
Paul D. Juarez ◽  
Aramandla Ramesh ◽  
Matthew C. Morris ◽  
...  

Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) has been shown to be an effective method of HIV prevention for men who have sex with-men (MSM) and -transgender women (MSTGWs), serodiscordant couples, and injection drug users; however fewer than 50 000 individuals currently take this regimen. Knowledge of PrEP is low among healthcare providers and much of this lack of knowledge stems from the lack or exposure to PrEP in medical school. We conducted a cross sectional survey of medical schools in the United States to assess the degree to which PrEP for HIV prevention is taught. The survey consisted Likert scale questions assessing how well the students were prepared to perform each skill associated with PrEP delivery, as well as how PrEP education was delivered to students. We contacted 141 medical schools and 71 responded to the survey (50.4%). PrEP education was only reported to be offered at 38% of schools, and only 15.4% reported specific training for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) patients. The most common delivery methods of PrEP content were didactic sessions with 11 schools reporting this method followed by problem-based learning, direct patient contact, workshops, and small group discussions. Students were more prepared to provide PrEP to MSM compared to other high-risk patients. Few medical schools are preparing their students to prescribe PrEP upon graduation. Further, there is a need to increase the number of direct patient contacts or simulations for students to be better prepared.


2020 ◽  
Vol 186 (11) ◽  
pp. 349-349
Author(s):  
Lauren Landfried ◽  
Patrick Pithua ◽  
Roger D Lewis ◽  
Steven Rigdon ◽  
Jonathan Jacoby ◽  
...  

BackgroundIn a previous study, we found that rates of antibiotic residues in goat carcasses in Missouri were three times the published national average, warranting further research in this area.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional survey of goat veterinarians to determine attitudes and practices regarding antibiotics, recruiting 725 veterinarians listed on the American Association of Small Ruminant Practitioners (AASRP) website and 64 Missouri Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA) veterinarians.ResultsWe collected 189 responses (26.1%) from AASRP members (170 valid) and 8 (12.5%) from MVMA veterinarians totalling 178 responses. While the vast majority of all veterinarians indicated that they prescribed antibiotics less than half of the time, Missouri veterinarians indicated that they spent more time treating goats for overt disease like intestinal parasites and less time on proactive practices such as reproductive herd health management comparatively. While veterinarians agreed that antibiotic resistance was a growing concern, veterinarians outside of Missouri seemed more confident that their own prescription practices was not a contributor. Although nationally most veterinarians felt that attending continuing education classes was beneficial, 73.4% in other states attended classes on antibiotic use compared to only four of the nine Missouri veterinarians.ConclusionMissouri veterinarians had less veterinary experience than veterinarians in other states, and this, in conjunction with low continuing education requirements in Missouri relative to most other states, may hinder development of more proactive and effective client–veterinary relationships.


Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 772
Author(s):  
Yi-Man Teng ◽  
Kun-Shan Wu ◽  
Wen-Cheng Wang ◽  
Dan Xu

During the pandemic, quarantine hotel workers face a higher risk of infection while they host quarantine guests from overseas. This study’s aim is to gain an understanding of the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of quarantine hotel workers in China. A total of 170 participants took part in a cross-sectional survey to assess the KAP of quarantine hotel workers in China, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The chi-square test, independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), descriptive analysis, and binary logistic regression were used to examine the sociodemographic factors associated with KAP levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results show that 62.41% have good knowledge, 94.7% have a positive attitude towards COVID-19, but only 78.2% have good practices. Most quarantine hotel workers (95.3%) are confident that COVID-19 will be successfully controlled and that China is handling the COVID-19 crisis well (98.8%). Most quarantine hotel workers are also taking personal precautions, such as avoiding crowds (80.6%) and wearing facemasks (97.6%). The results evidence that quarantine hotel workers in China have acquired the necessary knowledge, positive attitudes and proactive practices in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this study can provide a reference for quarantine hotel workers and their targeted education and intervention.


2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 387-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances R. Nedjat-Haiem ◽  
Tamara J. Cadet ◽  
Anup Amatya ◽  
Shiraz I. Mishra

Background: Advance care planning for end-of-life care emerged in the mid-1970’s to address the need for tools, such as the advance directive (AD) legal document, to guide medical decision-making among seriously ill patients, their families, and healthcare providers. Objective: Study aims examine providers’ perspectives on AD education that involve examining (1) a range of attitudes about educating patients, (2) whether prior knowledge was associated with practice behaviors in educating patients, and (3) specific factors among healthcare providers such as characteristics of work setting, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors that may influence AD education and documentation. Design: To examine providers’ views, we conducted a cross-sectional, online survey questionnaire of healthcare providers using social media outreach methods for recruitment. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional survey design to examine the proposed aims. Healthcare providers, recruited through a broad approach using snowball methods, were invited to participate in an online survey. Logistic regression analyses were used to examine providers’ views toward AD education. Results: Of 520 participants, findings indicate that most healthcare providers said that they were knowledgeable about AD education. They also viewed providing education as beneficial to their practice. These findings suggest that having a positive attitude toward AD education and experiencing less organizational barriers indicate a higher likelihood that providers will educate patients regarding ADs. Conclusion: Various disciplines are represented in this study, which indicates that attitudes and knowledge influence AD discussions. The importance of AD discussions initiated by healthcare providers is critical to providing optimal patient-centered care.


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