The self-management abilities test (SMAT): a tool to identify the self-management abilities of adults with bronchiectasis

Bronchiectasis is an increasingly common chronic respiratory disease which requires a high level of patient engagement in self-management. Whilst the need for self-management has been recognised, the knowledge and skills needed to do so— and the extent to which patients possess these—has not been well-specified. On one hand, understanding the gaps in people’s knowledge and skills can enable better targeting of self-management supports. On the other, clarity about what they do know can increase patients’ confidence to self-manage. This study aims to develop an assessment of patients’ ability to self-manage effectively, through a consensus-building process with patients, clinicians and policymakers. The study employs a modified, online three-round Delphi to solicit the opinions of patients, clinicians, and policymakers (N = 30) with experience of bronchiectasis. The first round seeks consensus on the content domains for an assessment of bronchiectasis self-management ability. Subsequent rounds propose and refine multiple-choice assessment items to address the agreed domains. A group of ten clinicians, ten patients and ten policymakers provide both qualitative and quantitative feedback. Consensus is determined using content validity ratios. Qualitative feedback is analysed using the summative content analysis method. Overarching domains are General Health Knowledge, Bronchiectasis-Specific Knowledge, Symptom Management, Communication, and Addressing Deterioration, each with two sub-domains. A final assessment tool of 20 items contains two items addressing each sub-domain. This study establishes that there is broad consensus about the knowledge and skills required to self-manage bronchiectasis effectively, across stakeholder groups. The output of the study is an assessment tool that can be used by patients and their healthcare providers to guide the provision of self-management education, opportunities, and support.

Oral Hygiene Practices and Knowledge among Adolescents Aged between 15 and 17 Years Old during Fixed Orthodontic Treatment: Multicentre Study Conducted in France

The aims of this study were to assess oral health knowledge, attitudes, and practices among orthodontic patients between the ages of 15 and 17 years old compared to adolescents without orthodontic treatment. This cross-sectional study included 392 adolescents drawn from various French teaching hospitals. A closed-ended questionnaire was used to collect data. Adolescents undergoing orthodontic treatment had a higher knowledge of oral health than adolescents without orthodontic treatment. The majority of adolescents for both groups (69%) claimed to brush their teeth twice a day. Regarding complimentary dental material, 81.9% of adolescents without orthodontic treatment never used an interdental brush and 78.8% never used dental floss. For those undergoing orthodontic treatment, 48.5% never used interdental brush. Only 4% of adolescents without and 3% of adolescents with orthodontic treatment never consumed fizzy drinks, 4.9% and 3% never consumed sweets, 4% and 8.4% never ate fast-food. Adolescents without treatment consumed more sodas (p=0.04) and more fast food (p=0.03). Adolescents had insufficient knowledge of oral health. Health education programmes should be implemented to improve adolescents' knowledge and individual oral prophylaxis with interdental brushes.

Relationship of Knowledge and Attitude of Parents with The Provision of Basic Immunization in Baby in Puskesmas Alalak Selatan Kota Banjarmasin

The immunization program is carried out so that the baby gets all five types of immunizations in full, so that the baby is protected from diseases that can endanger the baby's health. Knowledge about immunization is very important for mothers, especially mothers who have just given birth to their babies. Immunization is giving vaccines to toddlers so that the immunity of the toddler's body can be increased and immune to disease. The research objective to be achieved based on the above problem formulation is to determine the relationship of knowledge and attitudes of parents with basic immunization for infants at the Alalak Selatan Health Center in Banjarmasin City in 2018. The research design used in this study is descriptive analytic research. using an accidental sampling technique approach by taking respondents who came to the South Alalak Health Center. The sample used in this study were 79 respondents, with data analysis using the Chi Square test. The results showed the relationship between knowledge and immunization based on chi square test data regarding the relationship of knowledge with basic immunization, obtained a significance of 0.004 < 0.05, this concludes that there is a relationship between knowledge and basic immunization. the relationship between parental attitudes with basic immunization based on the chi square test output data obtained significant by 0,000 < 0.05 meaning that there is a relationship between parental attitudes and basic immunization. Alalak Selatan Community Health Center should increase socialization on the importance of basic immunization for children through electronic media as well as health center staff and health networks under its auspices.

When the Messenger is More Important than the Message: An Experimental Study of Evidence Use in Francophone Africa

Background: Epistemic injustices are increasingly decried in global health. This study aims to investigate whether the source of knowledge influences the perception of that knowledge and the willingness to use it in francophone African health policy-making context. Methods: The study followed a randomized experimental design in which participants were randomly assigned to one of seven policy briefs that were designed with the same scientific content but with different organizations presented as authors. Each organization was representative of financial, scientific, or moral authority. For each type of authority, two organizations were proposed: one North American or European, and the other African. Results: The initial models show that there was no significative association between the type of authority and the location of the authoring organization and the two outcomes (perceived quality and reported instrumental use). Stratified analyses highlighted that policy briefs signed by the North American/European donor organization were perceived to be of lower quality than policy briefs signed by the African donor organization. For both perceived quality and reported instrumental use, these analyses found that policy briefs signed by the North American/European university were associated with higher scores than policy briefs signed by the African university whereas policy briefs signed by the North American/European regional office or international organization were associated with lower score than those signed by the African regional office of the international organization. Conclusion: The results confirm the significant influence of sources on perceived global health knowledge and the intersectionality of sources of influence. This analysis allows us to learn more about organizations in global health leadership, and to reflect on the implications for knowledge translation practices.

Clinical Practice of Cataract Special Care Standards in Nonophthalmic Wards

Cataract is a lens metabolism disease, which is caused by various factors, and leads to metamorphic lens proteins turbidity. Cataract commonly occurs in elderly patients, and majority of these patients have clinical manifestations of blurred vision and other symptoms. In this study, we explored the clinical practice and observations of cataract care criteria in nonophthalmic wards. To realize this, a total of one hundred and twenty (120) cataract patients, admitted to the East Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital, particularly from April 2019-2020, were divided into the control and observation groups, where 60 cases were added to each group. The control group received routine nursing, and observation group was treated with cataract care criteria based on the control group. The complication rate, health cognition, and patient’s satisfaction were compared with existing approaches. The incidence of corneal edema, anterior chamber hemorrhage, endophthalmitis, and incision infection, specifically in the observation group, was lower than that in the control group ( P < 0.05 ). Likewise, the number of hospitalization days and expenses, specifically in the observation group, were lower than those in the control group ( P < 0.05 ). Health knowledge and satisfaction scores of the observation group were higher than the control group ( P < 0.05 ). Active service, service attitude, psychological support, caring patients, and health education dissatisfaction rate of the observation group were lower than the control group ( P < 0.05 ). Finally, the standard of cataract care in nonophthalmic wards reduces the incidence of complications, improve health awareness of patients, and help to improve satisfaction of patients with nurses. Furthermore, it is worthy of promotion and application particularly in traditional hospitals.

High prevalence and low awareness of hyperuricemia in hypertensive patients among adults aged 50–79 years in Southwest China

Introduction This study was aimed to assess the prevalence of hyperuricemia and its associated risk factors among hypertensive patients in Southwest China. Methods From September 2013 to March 2014, a multistage, stratified sampling was conducted on 3505 hypertensive people aged 50–79 years who lived in urban communities within Chengdu and Chongqing, using a questionnaire and performing physical and biochemical measurements. Results In the study population, approximately 18.2% of all hypertensive participants had hyperuricemia (638/3505), with a prevalence rate of 21.5% in men and 16.2% in women (p < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that aging, without spouse, current drinking, preferring hotpot, hypertriglyceridemia, BMI ≥ 25 kg/ m2, and central obesity were all positively correlated with hyperuricemia, whereas female gender was negatively correlated with hyperuricemia. The prevalence of hyperuricemia among hypertensive patients in urban adults aged 50–79 years in southwestern China was high, while levels of awareness were extremely low. Discussion Improved hyperuricemia health knowledge should be delivered to improve public awareness of the disease and it may need aggressive strategies aiming at the prevention and treatment of hyperuricemia. It is may necessary to encourage people to check blood uric acid levels when they first time to be diagnosed with hypertension, especially in the elderly.

Prevalence and associated factors of sexually transmitted infections among methamphetamine users in Eastern China: a cross-sectional study

Background The reported incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in China has been increasing over the last decades, especially among drug users, which has become one of the main burdens of public health in China. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence and associated factors of STIs among non-injecting methamphetamine (MA) users in Eastern China. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 632 MA users in Eastern China in 2017. Demographic characteristics, sexual behaviors, behaviors of MA use and sexual health knowledge were collected through questionnaire. First pass urine specimens were collected and detected for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) and Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) with Nucleic Acid Amplification Technology (NAAT), while blood specimens were collected and detected for antibodies of Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Herpes simplex virus type-2 (HSV-2), and syphilis with enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA). Results Among the 632 MA users, 464 (73.42%) were males, 60.92% were < 35 years of age, 546 (86.39%) were Shandong residents. 317 (50.16%, 95% CI 46.26–54.06%) participants were tested positive for at least one kind of STIs, including 242 (38.29%, 95% CI 34.50–42.08%) for HSV-2, 107 (16.93%, 95% CI 14.01–19.85%) for active syphilis, 46 (7.28%, 95% CI 5.25–9.31%) for treated syphilis, 40 (6.33%, 95% CI 4.43–8.23%) for CT, 6 (0.95%, 95% CI 0.19–1.71%) for HIV, and 3 (0.47%, 95% CI 0.06–1.00%) for NG infection. 99 (15.66%, 95% CI 12.83–18.49%) participants were co-infected with two kinds of STIs, including 91 (14.40%, 95% CI 11.66–17.14%) participants were co-infected with HSV-2 and syphilis. 14 (2.22%, 95% CI 1.07–3.37%) participants were co-infected with three kinds of STIs, and 4 HIV positive participants were co-infected with both syphilis and HSV-2. In the multiple logistic regression analysis, the results showed that females (adjusted OR [AOR] = 7.30, 95% CI 4.34–12.30) and individuals ≥ 35 years of age (AOR = 2.97, 95% CI 2.04–4.32) were more likely to test positive for STIs among MA users, whereas participants who acquired sexual health knowledge primarily from the Internet (AOR = 0.57, 95% CI 0.40–0.82) and those whose regular partners did not use drugs (AOR = 0.59, 95% CI 0.37–0.94) were less likely. Conclusions This study found that the prevalence of HSV-2 and syphilis are alarming high among non-injecting MA users in Shandong Province in Eastern China. The prevention and control intervention of STIs among MA users in Shandong were needed, especially on females and MA users ≥ 35 years of age.

Development and Validation of Oral Health Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior Questionnaire among Indian Adults

Background and objectives: The Indian population faces numerous challenges to attain better oral hygiene due to a lack of oral health literacy. For the past 10 years, the prevalence of dental-related conditions in India has become a considerable problem in every state of India. A health-education-based oral health promotion strategy will be an ideal choice for the Indian population instead of endorsing conventional oral health promotion. The use of unsuitable tools to measure may lead to misleading and vague findings that might result in a flawed plan for cessation programs and deceitful effectiveness. Therefore, the research aimed to develop and validate an instrument that can assess the oral health knowledge, attitude and behavior (KAB) of adults in India. Materials and Methods: This study was carried among adults in India, who live in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. A questionnaire was fabricated and then validated using content, face, as well as construct. The knowledge domain was validated using item response theory analysis (IRT), whereas exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to validate the behavior domain and attitude. Results: Four principal sections, i.e., knowledge, attitude, demography and behavior, were used to fabricate a questionnaire following validation. Following analysis of item response theory on the knowledge domain, all analyzed items in the domain were within the ideal range of difficulty and discrimination. The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure of sampling adequacy was 0.65 for the attitude and 0.66 for the behavior domain. A Bartlett’s test of sphericity was conducted and demonstrated that outcomes for both domains were highly significant (p < 0.001). The factor analysis resulted in three factors with a total of eight items in the attitude domain and three factors with a total of seven items in the behavior domain depicting satisfactory factor loading (>0.3). Across the three factors, i.e., knowledge, attitude and behavior, internal consistency reliability was tested using Cronbach’s alpha, and the values obtained were 0.67, 0.87, 0.67, and 0.88, respectively. Conclusions: The findings of this study that assessed validity and reliability showed that the developed questionnaire had an acceptable psychometric property for measuring oral health KAB among adults in India.

Exploring the Effects of Product Knowledge, Trust, and Distrust in the Health Belief Model to Predict Attitude Toward Dietary Supplements

Although the health belief model (HBM) has been widely applied in health behavior research, it cannot fully account for dietary supplement (DS) consumption. This study proposed a second-stage moderation model to empirically examine the mediating role of product knowledge and the moderating effects of trust and distrust in the HBM. Surveys were conducted both online and offline in first-tier Chinese cities; 768 effective samples were collected. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypotheses. The findings indicated that perceived susceptibility was a better predictor of attitude toward DS products. Second, perceived susceptibility’s effect on product attitude occurred through product knowledge. Third, trust in manufacturers positively affected product knowledge’s effect on product attitude. Based on these findings, to promote DS consumption, marketers can leverage consumers’ perceived susceptibility to illness, associate the benefits and efficacy of DSs with consumers’ health knowledge, and emphasize their production of high-quality DSs.