scholarly journals Patients’ Perspectives about Lifestyle Behaviors and Health in the Context of Family Medicine: A Cross-Sectional Study in Portugal

Author(s):  
Rosália Páscoa ◽  
Andreia Teixeira ◽  
Micaela Gregório ◽  
Rosa Carvalho ◽  
Carlos Martins

Lifestyle interventions are recognized as essential in the prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases. Previous studies have shown that Portuguese patients tend to give more importance to diagnostic and laboratory tests than to lifestyle measures, and seem unaware that behavioral risks are the main modifiable risk factors. The study aimed to analyze patients’ perspectives about lifestyle behaviors and health in the context of family medicine in Portugal. A population-based cross-sectional study was carried out in Portugal (the mainland). A total of 900 Portuguese patients aged ≥20 years, representative of the population, were surveyed using face-to-face questionnaires. Participants were selected by the random route method. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests were performed to evaluate differences between the personal beliefs and the personal behavior self-assessment, as well as between the level of importance given to the family doctor to address health behaviors and the reported approach implemented by the family doctor, and its association with bio-demographic variables. The results indicate that the vast majority of this Portuguese cohort has informed beliefs regarding lifestyle behaviors, tends to overestimate their own behavior self-assessment, and strongly agrees that it is important that their family doctor asks/advises on these lifestyle behaviors, although the proportion of those who totally agree that their family doctor usually does this is significantly lower. Differences concerning bio-demographic variables were found. Future research directions should focus on the politics, economics, and policy aspects that may have an impact in this area. It will also be important to understand more broadly the relationships between lifestyle behaviors and clinical, physical, and sociodemographic variables.

Objective: Primary care physicians are the first means of access to further healthcare services and act as a doorkeeper for different specialties at the secondary and tertiary levels; thus, communication skills are one of the most vital skills to be taught to residents in the family medicine specialty. This study aimed to evaluate the communication skills of family medicine residents in Oman from the perspective of their patients. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed at the Family and Community Medicine Clinic of Sultan Qaboos University Hospital as well as various Ministry of Health training health centers in Muscat, Oman. An Arabic version of the validated 14-item Communication Assessment Tool (CAT) was used to evaluate patients’ perceptions regarding the communication skills of family medicine residents at the end of their consultation. Data were collected between September 2020 and May 2021 from 602 patients who received care or interacted with 60 residents from the Oman Medical Specialty Board (OMSB) Family Medicine Residency Program at different residency levels. Results: The mean percentage of CAT items rated as excellent was 73.8%. The item “Treated me with respect” was most commonly rated as excellent (84.2%), whilst the item "Involved me in decisions as much as I wanted" was least frequently rated as excellent (62.0%). Various factors were found to significantly affect CAT rating, including residency level, type of clinic, number of times seeing the same resident, and the patient's education level. In contrast, other factors such as time of consultation, the gender of either the resident or the patient, and the nationality of the patient did not affect CAT rating. Conclusion: Some areas of weakness especially with the item "encouraged me to ask questions" and involved me in decisions as much as I wanted" identified in the communication skills of OMSB family medicine residents. These findings are comparable with those reported by similar studies worldwide.


Author(s):  
Ruth D Neill ◽  
Carolyn Blair ◽  
Paul Best ◽  
Emily McGlinchey ◽  
Cherie Armour

Abstract Aim As individuals adjust to new ‘norms’ and ways of living during the COVID-19 lockdown, there is a continuing need for up-to-date information and guidance. Evidence suggests that frequent media exposure is related to a higher prevalence of mental health problems, especially anxiety and depression. The aim of this study was to determine whether COVID-19 related media consumption is associated with changes in mental health outcomes. Methods This paper presents baseline data from the COVID-19 Psychological Wellbeing Study. The cross-sectional study data was collected using an online survey following the Generalised Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), with some other basic information collected. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the influence of socio-demographic and media specific factors on anxiety and depression. Results The study suggested that media usage is statistically significantly associated with anxiety and depression on the GAD-7 and PHQ-9 scales with excessive media exposure related to higher anxiety and depression scores. Conclusion This study indicated that higher media consumption was associated with higher levels of anxiety and depression. Worldwide it should be acknowledged that excessive media consumption, particularly social media relating to COVID-19, can have an effect on mental health. However, as this was a cross-sectional study we cannot infer any directionality as we cannot infer cause and effect; therefore, future research involving longitudinal data collection and analyses of variables over time is warranted.


2016 ◽  
Vol 83 (5) ◽  
pp. AB264
Author(s):  
Michael A. Scaffidi ◽  
Samir C. Grover ◽  
Heather Carnahan ◽  
Simon Ling ◽  
Jennifer Amadio ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Sima Rafiei ◽  
Rafat Mohebbifar ◽  
Mohammad Ranjbar ◽  
Fatemeh Akbarirad

Background: One of the most important methods for improving the fair access of people to health services is the family physician program, which is facing many challenges. One of these challenges is the lack of policymakers' understanding of physicians' preferences regarding the provisions of the family physician contract. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate general practitioners' preferences regarding the type of family doctor contract in one of the underprivileged regions of Iran. Methods: An analytical-cross-sectional study was conducted among 150 general practitioners (GPs) who registered in Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MoHME) family physician plan and were working in the health network of deprived regions in Iran. A discrete choice experiment (DCE) questionnaire was developed by the researchers and then distributed to GPs. Results were analyzed using Ordered Logistic Regression. Data were collected using a questionnaire designed by orthogonal method in SPSS 20. Data analysis was performed using logistic regression model in Stata 13 software. Results: Findings revealed that “type of employer” had the most significant effect on GPs’ preferences (OR = 2.5), followed by “allocating quota for admission to medical specialty courses after 5 years” (OR = 2.25), being allowed to give medical services to population without geographical restriction (OR = 2.8), being allowed to provide services out of the defined service packet (OR =   1.4), and “decreased length of contract” (OR  =  0.93). Conclusion: The amendment of the provisions of the family physician contract in accordance with physicians' preferences increases the probability of their participation in and compliance with the family physician program. However, the compliance of the provisions of this contract with relevant international standards and upstream laws of the country should be maintained as much as possible.  


2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 157-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi Bjørge ◽  
Kari Kvaal ◽  
Milada Cvancarova Småstuen ◽  
Ingun Ulstein

This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the relationship between caregivers and care receivers, defined as home-dwelling family members with dementia. We used a self-rating questionnaire, the Felt Expressed Emotion Rating Scale (FEERS; 6 simple questions), to measure caregiver perceptions of the care receiver’s criticisms (CCs) and emotional overinvolvement (EOI) toward the caregiver. We performed factor analyses to rank single items on the FEERS pertaining to CC and EOI. We included 208 caregiver/care receiver pairs. Logistic regression analyses tested associations between FEERS items and caregiver and care receiver variables. The main contributors to caregiver perceptions of CC were the caregiver’s own distress and the amount of time spent with the care receiver. Socially distressed caregivers perceived the care receiver as emotionally overinvolved. When offering a psychosocial intervention, a tailored program should target the caregiver’s perceived relationship with the family member and the caregiver’s distress. The program should also endeavor to give the caretaker more opportunities for leisure time.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (30) ◽  
pp. 2763-2767
Author(s):  
Pratibharani Reddy ◽  
Ramesh K ◽  
Anju Mariam Jacob ◽  
Gangadhara Goud T

BACKGROUND India is doubly burdened with communicable and non-communicable diseases (NCD). Knowledge regarding morbidity profile is important for timely intervention so as to improve the quality of life. For effective health strategies, it is important to know the disease burden of a community. As for the effective preventive strategies, it’s important to know the information regarding disease burden and changing trends of diseases in the locality. Hence this study was done to find the morbidity pattern of urban population in Bellary district, Karnataka. METHODS A cross sectional study was carried out in Millerpet, urban health training centre (UHTC), Bellary, Karnataka. The respective UHTC covers 69195 populations, which has eight wards. Simple random sampling technique was adopted to select the ward. The study was carried out in the selected ward and the study duration was for a period of 3 months. Based on the estimated sample size, 416 houses were selected using random number method. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software version 26 was used for analysing data. Descriptive statistics were used to describe socio demographic and morbidity conditions. RESULTS The most common morbidity among 416 houses were found to be diabetes (22.8 %) followed by hypertension (20 %) and musculoskeletal problems (9 %). Majority of the houses were of nuclear type and the most common age group was 31 - 60 (91.8 %) years followed by 13 - 30 years (80.8 %). 167 (40.1 %) houses had at least one morbidity and 451 (41.4) subjects had at least one morbidity. Socio-demographic variables like age group, family size, monthly income, occupation of head of the family and type of the family were found to be statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS The study revealed that non communicable are the most common diseases present and there is a need to further evaluate the factors responsible so that preventive measures can be taken at the earliest so as to improve the quality of life. KEYWORDS Morbidity Pattern, Urban, Bellary


2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitch J Duncan ◽  
Christopher E Kline ◽  
Amanda L Rebar ◽  
Corneel Vandelanotte ◽  
Camille E Short

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