scholarly journals Impact of a Web Program to Support the Mental Wellbeing of High School Students: A Quasi Experimental Feasibility Study

Author(s):  
Minna Anttila ◽  
Ruthaychonnee Sittichai ◽  
Jouko Katajisto ◽  
Maritta Välimäki

Little effort has been made to investigate the potential of web programs aimed to support the mental wellbeing of adolescents in school environments in middle-income countries. A quasi-experimental feasibility study was conducted in Thailand with adolescents (N = 180) in three conveniently sampled high schools and with teachers (N = 12) who acted as program tutors. The web program was used in small groups, independently, or it was not used at all. No statistically significant changes were found between the groups regarding depression, stress, or satisfaction. Differences between program users (n = 61) and non-users (n = 48) were not significant. Acceptance was higher among adolescents who used the program independently (n = 40, 73% vs. n = 21, 39%; p = 0.001). Usability feedback did not differ between the groups. Support should be provided in order for programs to be potentially used. More information is needed regarding factors associated with the use of web programs.

Author(s):  
Martin Samohyl ◽  
Jana Babjakova ◽  
Diana Vondrova ◽  
Jana Jurkovicova ◽  
Juraj Stofko ◽  
...  

This study aimed to determine the factors associated with the avoidance of dental preventive care in high school students and their parents in the framework of The Youth and Parents Risk Factor Behavior Survey in Slovakia, the ongoing cross-sectional school-based survey of students and their parents or legal representatives. The data were collected using two separate standardized questionnaires: (i) the questionnaire for students (n = 515) and (ii) the questionnaire for parents (n = 681). The study group included 57 high school students (54.4% males) who did not visit the dentist for preventive care in the previous year. The control group included 458 students (35.8% males) who visited a dentist for preventive care at least once in the previous year. A significantly higher number of males (54.4%), older adolescents, and young adults (21.8%; 20.0%) were not visiting dental preventive care regularly. Incomplete family (56.1%), stressful situations at home (17.5%), and feeling unwell were the factors contributing to the avoidance of dental preventive care. More than 34.5% of adolescents and young adults were not visiting either dental preventive care or pediatric preventive care (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 5.14; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.40, 10.99). Children of divorced mothers and mothers with household income lower than EUR 900 had significantly higher dental care avoidance in bivariate analysis. A significantly higher percentage of fathers from the exposed group were not visiting dental preventive care regularly (47.8%, p < 0.05). The results of the study can be used as an educational intervention step focusing on the parental influence on adolescent and young adults’ behavior and as a challenge for the improvement of dental preventive care in older adolescents and young adults.


Author(s):  
Ridhwan Fauzi ◽  
Chitlada Areesantichai

AbstractObjectivesThe study aimed to examine factors associated with past 30 days waterpipe use among high school students in Jakarta, Indonesia.MethodsWe surveyed a multistage cluster random sample of 1,318 students of grade 10th and 11th from 14 schools in Jakarta. Multiple logistic regressions were employed to examine the association between past 30 days waterpipe use with sociodemographic characteristics, cigarettes smoking status, parental and peer use, availability and affordability.ResultsOf 1,318 participants, 3.3% of female and 8.4% of male currently smoked waterpipe. Multivariate analysis revealed that current waterpipe use was significantly associated with family use (AOR: 4.844, 95% CI: 1.225–19.151), friend use (AOR: 2.554, 95% CI: 1.424–4.582), and availability (AOR: 2.143, 95% CI: 1.127–4.076). Being current smokers were six times more likely (AOR: 6.055, 95% CI: 3.123–11.739) to use waterpipe in the past 30 days.ConclusionsThe finding suggests that smoking by a family member, friends, use of conventional cigarettes, and availability are significantly associated with increased probability of current waterpipe used among adolescents.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adeniyi Francis Fagbamigbe ◽  
A. Olalekan Uthman ◽  
Latifat Ibisomi

AbstractSeveral studies have documented the burden and risk factors associated with diarrhoea in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). To the best of our knowledge, the contextual and compositional factors associated with diarrhoea across LMIC were poorly operationalized, explored and understood in these studies. We investigated multilevel risk factors associated with diarrhoea among under-five children in LMIC. We analysed diarrhoea-related information of 796,150 under-five children (Level 1) nested within 63,378 neighbourhoods (Level 2) from 57 LMIC (Level 3) using the latest data from cross-sectional and nationally representative Demographic Health Survey conducted between 2010 and 2018. We used multivariable hierarchical Bayesian logistic regression models for data analysis. The overall prevalence of diarrhoea was 14.4% (95% confidence interval 14.2–14.7) ranging from 3.8% in Armenia to 31.4% in Yemen. The odds of diarrhoea was highest among male children, infants, having small birth weights, households in poorer wealth quintiles, children whose mothers had only primary education, and children who had no access to media. Children from neighbourhoods with high illiteracy [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.07, 95% credible interval (CrI) 1.04–1.10] rates were more likely to have diarrhoea. At the country-level, the odds of diarrhoea nearly doubled (aOR = 1.88, 95% CrI 1.23–2.83) and tripled (aOR = 2.66, 95% CrI 1.65–3.89) among children from countries with middle and lowest human development index respectively. Diarrhoea remains a major health challenge among under-five children in most LMIC. We identified diverse individual-level, community-level and national-level factors associated with the development of diarrhoea among under-five children in these countries and disentangled the associated contextual risk factors from the compositional risk factors. Our findings underscore the need to revitalize existing policies on child and maternal health and implement interventions to prevent diarrhoea at the individual-, community- and societal-levels. The current study showed how the drive to the attainment of SDGs 1, 2, 4, 6 and 10 will enhance the attainment of SDG 3.


2020 ◽  
pp. 004723792098177
Author(s):  
Mallie J. Paschall ◽  
Joel W. Grube ◽  
Ted R. Miller ◽  
Christopher L. Ringwalt ◽  
Deborah A. Fisher ◽  
...  

We report the results of a quasi-experimental evaluation of a mystery shopper intervention in Zacatecas and Guadalupe, Mexico. Underage youth attempted to purchase beer at 50 Modelorama stores and 32 Oxxo stores (intervention groups), and at 19 comparison convenience stores in March, July, and August 2018. After each attempt, intervention store operators were informed if a sale was made. Modelorama operators also received training and were warned that repeated sales to minors could jeopardize their franchise. Average sales rates to minors were 63.8% at Modeloramas, 86.5% at Oxxo stores, and 98.2% at comparison stores. The findings suggest that mystery shopper interventions with training, feedback to store operators, and sanctions after repeated sales to underage youth may reduce sales to minors in low- and middle-income countries.


Author(s):  
Yoko Iwaki ◽  
Santosh Kumar Rauniyar ◽  
Shuhei Nomura ◽  
Michael C. Huang

Tuberculosis (TB) has still remained a serious global health threat in low- and middle-income countries in recent years. As of 2021, Nepal is one of the high TB burden countries, with an increasing prevalence of cases. This study evaluates factors associated with TB awareness in Nepal. This study uses data from the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey, a cross-sectional survey carried out from June 2016 to January 2017. Multilevel logistic regression is performed to examine the association of demographic and socioeconomic factors with TB awareness. Our findings show a high level of TB awareness in all seven provinces of Nepal. Province 5 has the highest level of awareness (98.1%) among all provinces, followed by provinces 3 and 4, while province 6 has the lowest awareness level (93.2%) compared to others. Socioeconomic factors such as wealth, education and owning a mobile phone are significantly associated with TB awareness. Socioeconomic determinants are influential factors associated with TB awareness in Nepal. The wide variation in the proportion of awareness at a regional level emphasizes the importance of formulating tailored strategies to increase TB awareness. For instance, the use of mobile phones could be an effective strategy to promote TB awareness at a regional level. This study provides valuable evidence to support further research on the contribution of information and communication technology (ICT) usage to improving TB awareness in Nepal.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdallah Mohammad Salem Almahasneh ◽  
Samsiah Abdul-Hamid

Peer assessment training has appeared as potential new tools for enhancing Arab English as foreign language (EFL) high school students on writing performance. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of using peer assessment training on writing performance among Arab EFL high school students. One hundred and twenty students aged fifteen and sixteen years old participated in this study with an equal number of male and female students. The students were from two Arab high schools in Malaysia. This study employed a quasi-experimental research design. Data was collected using Analytical Marking Scale (Alderson, et al., 1995) to assess student’s writing performance in the pretest and posttest. The result of this study shows that there is a significant difference in the writing performances between the experimental and control groups at P &lt; 0.001. The findings suggests that students who have been exposed to peer assessment training write a better draft compared with those students who were only given conventional training in writing an essay, and without the benefit of peer feedback.


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