Hostel Residents' Knowledge on Feminine Hygiene—Effect of Information Booklet

Purpose of the Study Adolescence is the transformational period of life from childhood to adulthood. Pubertal changes influence the functioning of the reproductory tract of adolescent girls. At this stage, adequate knowledge of feminine hygiene becomes vital in the prevention of urinary tract infection; if not treated, it may cause various complications in the future. Hence, every adolescent girl needs to be educated on the importance of maintaining femininity. Methods A quantitative research methodology was adopted, with a one-group pre- and posttest design. A random sampling procedure was used to find 100 samples that met the inclusion criteria. A structured knowledge questionnaire was used to get the essential data. Following the pretest, an information brochure on feminine hygiene was distributed. After 7 days, a posttest was conducted. Results The acquired data were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics. Around 72% of the participants were under the age of 18. Thirty percent of them did not receive any feminine hygiene information. The mean posttest knowledge score of 16.54 is higher than the pretest knowledge score of 14.31, indicating that understanding of feminine hygiene has improved. Conclusion In the pretest, 39% of hostel residents had poor awareness of feminine hygiene, indicating a need for instruction. The difference in knowledge score between pre- and posttest knowledge demonstrates the usefulness of the information booklet in enhancing feminine hygiene knowledge.

Using a 3 stage process to create a consumer research contact list in a paediatric health setting: the PARTICIPATE project

The impact of child health research can be far reaching; affecting children’s immediate health, their adult health, the health of future generations and the economic wellbeing of countries. Consumer and community involvement is increasingly recognised as key to successful research recruitment. Systematic approaches to research recruitment include research registries or research contact lists. Objective Develop a process of creating a consumer research contact list for participating in future research opportunities at a children’s health service. Methods A healthcare improvement approach using a 3 stage framework; 1) evidence review and consultation 2) co-production of a research communications plan with stakeholders (including consumers), including a draft research information brochure 3) prototyping involved iteratively testing the brochure, surveying parents or carers who attended outpatient clinics or the hospital Emergency Department, and conducting follow up telephone calls. Results There was overall support for the creation of a research contact list, but some unknowns remain. 367 parents or carers completed the survey and 36 participated in a follow up telephone call. Over half would be willing to join a research contact list and more than 90% of the children of parents or carers surveyed were not currently participating in research. Several potential barriers identified by health service staff were dispelled. Research communications and a future contact list should be available in electronic form. Conclusions There was strong support for creating a research contact list. The approach will inform our future directions including creation of an electronic research contact list easily accessible by consumers of the children’s health service. Plain English Summary Recruiting enough children to participate in research studies can be challenging. Establishing a registry or list of young people willing to be contacted to participate in research is one way of addressing this problem. At our children’s health service, we wanted to explore the idea of developing a research contact list and we were particularly keen to involve consumers and community members in this process, which involved: 1.Reviewing other examples of research contact lists and consulting with a range of people, including consumers and community members, 2. Co-producing a research communications plan with parents, young people, health service staff and research staff, including a draft research information brochure for families, and 3. Testing the acceptability of the brochure by surveying parents or carers who attended outpatient clinics or the hospital Emergency Department, and conducting follow up telephone calls with them. 367 parents or carers completed a survey and 36 participated in a follow up telephone call. Over half were willing to join a research contact list and more than 90% of the children of parents or carers surveyed were not currently participating in research. Several potential barriers raised by consumers and health professionals in the first stage of the project were not found to be a concern for the parents or carers surveyed. Responses showed research communications and a future contact list should be available in electronic form. These findings will inform the future creation of an electronic research contact list, easily accessible by consumers of the children’s health service.

An information leaflet for patients receiving treatment by intravitreal drug injections. Recommendations of the Expert Council on retinal and optic nerve diseases of the Association of Ophthalmologists, an All-Russian public organization

The widespread introduction of intravitreal drug injections into clinical practice has highlighted a number of issues to be solved, including the risk of serious complications, the treatment burden on patients and the patient’s insufficient adherence to treatment, as well as a significant effect on the healthcare cost and effort. One of the ways to resolve the issues is to increase the patients’ awareness concerning the therapy they are about to receive, which contributes to the patients’ understanding of the details of treatment and enables them to make correct decisions. The best option of presenting such information to the patient is to provide them with a written document. The Expert Council on Retinal and Optic Nerve Diseases of the All-Russian Association of Ophthalmologists has developed, approved and tested an information brochure for patients who receive intravitreal injections. It offers brief information on what the procedure is, contraindications, details of preparation, and symptoms, both common ones and those requiring emergency assistance. The paper outlines the results of the study and presents a layout of an information leaflet for patients recommended for use in the Russian Federation.

Consumer Purchase Behaviour towards Leafy Greens in a Specialized Retail Store

The research study intended to explore the consumer purchase behaviour of leafy greens at a specialized retail store in Coimbatore. The study broadly focused on three aspects viz. factors that influenced the purchase of greens in the store, awareness about ready to cook and value-added products of greens and problems faced by consumers while purchasing them. The information was collected from 50 respondents by adopting the purposive sampling procedure. Percentage analysis was used to analyze the awareness of ready to cook and value-added products of greens. It was concluded that the store information brochure was the major source of influence in purchase of greens. It was also inferred that among all attributes, product freshness was the primary reason for purchase of greens and non-availability of variety, poor packaging materials were the major problems faced by the sample consumers.

Availability, Affect, and Decisions to Seek Information about Cancer Risks

How do people decide which risks they want to get informed about? The present study examines the role of the availability and affect heuristics on these decisions. Participants ( N = 100, aged 19–72 years) selected for which of 23 cancers they would like to receive an information brochure, reported the number of occurrences of each type of cancer in their social circle (availability), and rated their dread reaction to each type of cancer (affect); they also made relative judgments about which of 2 cancers was more common in Germany (judged risk). Participants tended to choose information brochures for those cancers for which they indicated a higher availability within their social networks as well as for cancers they dreaded. Mediation analyses suggested that the influence of availability and affect on information choice was only partly mediated by judged risk. The results demonstrate the operation of 2 key judgment heuristics (availability and affect), previously studied in risk perception, also in decisions about information choice. We discuss how our findings can be used to identify which risks are likely to fall from people’s radar.

Ten recommendations to foster mental health in children - Systematic development of information materials for parents and pediatricians

Introduction Many mental disorders develop during childhood, with an estimated 10-20% of children affected, and they often persist into adulthood. As mental disorders are often recognized delayed or not at all, mental health promotion and the early detection of mental illness in childhood are relevant public health tasks. Pediatric practices are a particularly suitable setting for such efforts are as they do have regular and direct contact with most children. This project therefore aimed to develop materials to raise parents' awareness of children's mental health and provide specific suggestions for mental health promotion and screening for mental health problems. Methods A systematic literature review in the field of mental health promotion, clinical psychology and positive psychology on life skills and resilience revealed several effective concepts. In a participatory process with psychiatrists and pediatricians, ten concepts were selected: self-esteem, self-efficacy, problem solving skills, optimism, emotion regulation, recreation, family climate, nature, offline-activities, and peer support. In a preliminary evaluation of parents' perspective on a parent-brochure, 74 parents of 6-12-year-old kids filled in two online-questionnaires on the perceived relevance and usefulness of the ten concepts and the respective behavioral suggestions; one right after learning about the recommendations and one four weeks later. Results First analysis show that parents perceive the recommendations as highly relevant and useful at both measurement time points and that they integrated many of them in their everyday family life. Conclusions Resource-oriented suggestions on the promotion of mental health in children seem to offer a non-stigmatizing way to address mental health topics in the pediatric practice. In a next step, we plan to field-test the evaluation and uptake of the accompanying information brochure by pediatricians.

Interest in telephone nightmare counselling in patients with sleep-related breathing disorders

Background and objective Nightmares are typically underdiagnosed and undertreated, even though frequent nightmares are quite common in patients with sleep-related breathing disorders. Based on a previous study, we investigated whether patients would respond if they were specifically asked whether they would be interested in telephone counselling about nightmares and nightmare treatment. Materials and methods The present study included 537 patients with sleep-related breathing disorders who completed a nightmare questionnaire and—if interested—provided their contact data for a telephone counselling session. Results Of the total patients, 5.40% were interested in the telephone counselling. Most of these patients had never sought help for their nightmare condition before. This percentage is much lower than in a previous study, possibly due to the higher time expenditure related to the new consent procedure. Conclusion The findings indicate that patients with nightmare problems can be reached with this approach even though they have never sought professional help before. In order to minimize the threshold, it would be desirable to have clinical in-house nightmare counselling, which would not require a detailed study information brochure and informed consent.

Supporting Drivers of Partially Automated Cars through an Adaptive Digital In-Car Tutor

Drivers struggle to understand how, and when, to safely use their cars’ complex automated functions. Training is necessary but costly and time consuming. A Digital In-Car Tutor (DIT) is proposed to support drivers in learning about, and trying out, their car automation during regular drives. During this driving simulator study, we investigated the effects of a DIT prototype on appropriate automation use and take-over quality. The study had three sessions, each containing multiple driving scenarios. Participants needed to use the automation when they thought that it was safe, and turn it off if it was not. The control group read an information brochure before driving, while the experiment group received the DIT during the first driving session. DIT users showed more correct automation use and a better take-over quality during the first driving session. The DIT especially reduced inappropriate reliance behaviour throughout all sessions. Users of the DIT did show some under-trust during the last driving session. Overall, the concept of a DIT shows potential as a low-cost and time-saving solution for safe guided learning in partially automated cars.