Journal of Public Health Research (PAGEPress Publications)
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Rethinking developed nations’ health systems through a social sustainability perspective in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. A viewpoint
Get PDFThis viewpoint paper argues for the need for more socially sustainable care systems that can better contribute to equitable utilization of health care in a post-pandemic era. Health care systems in developed nations need to rethink their role, particularly with regard to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3) as well as becoming more sustainable societies. Socially sustainable care systems will recognize that systemic factors and processes (social, economic, environmental, cultural) need to be addressed simultaneously in order to achieve health equity. Moreover, these systems are likely to be of paramount importance for post-COVID-19, because of the potential increase in demand for health care due to forgone health care and the increased burden of chronic diseases as spillover effects related to COVID-19 mitigation interventions
School bag weight and the occurrence of back pain among elementary school children
Get PDFBackground: Children in primary schools use school bags to carry study material, although the heavy bags are often associated with musculoskeletal problems, especially back pain. This practice requires strength, which significantly changes the body posture and walking pattern, subsequently leading to the incidence of back pain as a side effect. The aim of this study, therefore, is to analyze the differences in bag loads between elementary school children in urban and suburban area, and also analyze the relationship with the occurrence of back pain. Design and methods: This was a cross sectional study, which used stratified random sampling to choose 2 elementary schools each representing the urban and suburban areas. Furthermore, a total sample of 164 students were selected, whose school bag weight were measured for 5 consecutive days, particularly in the morning on respondents arrival at school. Moreover, the occurrence of back pain was evaluated using a modified Nordic map, and data analysis required the use of independent sample analysis t test and χ2 test.Results: The results showed the presence of highly significant differences in the school bags weight of respondents in the urban and suburban areas, as well as between schools using the 2013 curriculum and otherwise. Conclusions: In conclusion, there is a correlation between the weight measured and the occurrence of back pain, hence the 2013 curriculum is recommended to be adopted by all elementary schools. Also, the use of lockers to store items used at school repeatedly by children is also highly encouraged
COVID-19: Impact on undergraduate nursing education in Sri Lanka
Get PDF“Novel Corona Virus” (COVID-19) is a new infectious disease spreading all around the world that has a globally significant morbidity and mortality at present. Nurses as frontline care providers in hospitals and community are exposed to a major risk. This brief report aims at providing an overview of COVID-19 impacts on Sri Lanka and to highlight educational implications from the perspective of nursing degree programs. The major impacts of COVID-19 on nursing education were unequal access to online distance learning, disruption of academic calendars, cancellation of clinical placements, teaching and learning gap, lack of facilities for online learning, disruption towards professional development, and inability to conduct proper clinical assessments and standard operationalization procedures. It suggests that higher education institutions should take actions to provide material support for students from low-income households to close the gap between teaching and learning and training academics on different online teaching and learning strategies and assessments
Long-term work outcomes and the efficacy of multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs on labor force participation in cancer patients - a protocol for a longitudinal prospective cohort study
Get PDFBackground. Many cancer survivors experience late effects of cancer treatment and therefore struggle to return to work. Norway provides rehabilitation programs to increase labor force participation for cancer survivors after treatment. However, the extent to which such programs affect labor force participation has not been appropriately assessed. This study aims to investigate i) labor force participation, sick leave and disability rates among cancer survivors up to 10 years after being diagnosed with cancer and identify comorbidities contributing to long-term sick leave or disability pensioning; ii) how type of cancer, treatment modalities, employment sectors and financial- and sociodemographic factors may influence labor force participation; ii) how participation in rehabilitation programs among cancer survivor affect the long-term labor force participation, the number of rehospitalizations and incidence of comorbidities. Design and methods. Information from four medical, welfare and occupational registries in Norway will be linked to information from 163,279 cancer cases (15.68 years old) registered in the Norwegian Cancer Registry from 2004 to 2016. The registries provide detailed information on disease characteristics, comorbidities, medical and surgical treatments, occupation, national insurance benefits and demographics over a 10-year period following a diagnosis of cancer. Expected impact of the study for Public Health. The study will provide important information on how treatment, rehabilitation and sociodemographic factors influence labor force participation among cancer survivors. Greater understanding of work-related risk factors and the influence of rehabilitation on work-participation may encourage informed decisions among cancer patients, healthcare and work professionals and service planners. 
Attitudes and perceptions among Iraqi young adults towards organs donation and transplantation: A call for action
Get PDFBackground: Organs transplantation is the only treatment for end-stage organ failure. However, the disparity between organs availability and the number of patients in the waiting lists is widening globally, especially in Iraq for many reasons. This study aims to assess the level of attitudes and perceptions among Iraqi young adults towards organs donation and transplantation as the first study to be conducted in Iraq for such purpose.Methods: This observational study was conducted among 912 Iraqi young adults through a structured questionnaire which was disseminated among social media platforms. Participants consented before filling the questionnaire and their responses were analyzed to test the hypothesis of the study.Results: Most of the participants were females, Muslims and in their undergraduate level. Overall, 84.2% of the participants were willing to donate their organs after death and (97.9%) of them actually agreed to sign for organs donation. Most of those who were not willing to donate have no idea whether their religion approves it or not. There was no statistically significant difference in willingness to donate between different socioeconomic classes or residency areas.Conclusions: Most of the participants are convinced with donating their organs after death and are willing to sign for organ donation programs, advocating for initiating an official governmental transplant agency with multiple local committees distributed among health directorates all over the country managing it. The hesitancy to donate organs was attributed mostly to religious and associated with lack of knowledge issues, thus education might be the key to positive attitudes
Adolescents’ face mask usage and contact transmission in novel Coronavirus
Get PDFThe global outbreak of coronavirus has become an international public health threat. Prevention is of paramount importance to contain its spread. This study observes face mask wearing behavior and contact transmission problems in Taiwan. Teachers track student status in class. In addition to measuring body temperature and regular disinfection, classrooms require ventilation wear mask, provide alcohol spray and avoid sharing the microphone. Both questionnaire surveys and experimental were utilized. A total of 160 adults residing in Taiwan participated in the survey. The dye simulated the possible virus area on the mask surface during usage. Subjects were required to complete a questionnaire and simulate the spread of contact transmission when using a computer. Eighty-one % of respondents reported consistent use of surgical masks several times a day. They reported taking their masks off in relatively safe areas. Most people reported using one mask per day and storing the masks in their pockets. As a result, masks surface become a contamination source. In the contact experiment, ten adults were requested to don and doff a surgical mask while doing a word processing task. The extended contamination areas were recorded and identified by image analysis. The results show an average contamination area of the workspace is significant 530 cm2. When the hand touches the surface of the mask, it may spread the virus to the subsequent contact area
Public attitudes towards e-cigarette regulations and policies in Taiwan
Get PDFBackground: There are various approaches to e-cigarette regulation globally. In Taiwan, the term “e-cigarette” is not found in existing regulations, but health authorities apply explanatory notes derived from standing laws to e-cigarette. Taiwan health authority is in the process of regulative reform to include “e-cigarette” in standing tobacco law. Our objective was to investigate the public’s attitudes towards potential policy options for e-cigarette regulations in Taiwan.Design and Methods: We conduct an anonymous online survey in the general public. A questionnaire in Mandarin was posted on the website Stop-tabac.ch between July and November 2017.Results: Participants (n=236) were mostly male, young, highly educated, employed, and smoked or had smoked cigarettes in the past. Half were e-cigarette users. Four measures banning e-cigarettes, labelling content and nicotine level and establishing a maximum-allowable nicotine level were supported by more than 70% of participants. Vaping status was strongly associated with support for most measures after controlling for other factors in multivariate models.Conclusion: We documented attitudes of a self-selected sample of the general public in Taiwan regarding e-cigarette regulations and policies. These results may be useful to design studies in more representative samples and to inform e-cigarette regulations, policies and education campaigns
Difference in the association of food security and dietary diversity with and without imposed ten grams minimum consumption
Get PDFBackground: Dietary diversity measurement is one of the simple tools to assess the quality of food consumed in population-level and endorse by many international agencies. However, there is a growing concern that the current dietary diversity measures were lacking in the sensitivity due to the omission of minimum food consumed to be considered as consuming certain food groups in the calculation of dietary diversity score. The purpose of this study is to find the difference in DDS measurement between two methods by applying a 10-grams minimum intake for all food groups and the other one, without. Design: A cross-sectional studies involving 55 samples from two villages with different geographical characteristics. Methods: One village represents the agricultural area; other was fishpond/coastal area. Dietary diversity was analyzed using Individual Dietary Diversity Score (IDDS) with 9 food categorizations. Dietary diversity measurement calculated based on the food recall with consideration of 10 grams minimum of food weight consumption. Mann Whitney Test used to analyze the difference between calculation of dietary diversity score with and without minimum 10-grams. Results: There is no difference of children’s dietary diversity between agriculture and fishpond family group when the dietary diversity was omitting 10 grams minimum intake (p-value=0.184), while, using 10 grams minimums intake (p=0.024), there is a difference. Conclusions: Using 10 grams minimum had shown to strengthened the relationship between dietary diversity and adequacy. Further research is needed to find other minimum requirement in different kind of population to find differences among them
Prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and environmental health hazards among tea pluckers of Maddekanda tea estate in Balangoda Pradeshiya Saba Division, Sri Lanka
Get PDFBackground: Tea pluckers in Sri Lanka play a prominent role in supplying tea for the local and foreign demand. Long standing, bearing weight on back, repetitive hand movements, slip and falls due to walking on uneven grounds lead to various health problems among them. Thus, this study was aimed to assess the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and environmental health hazards among tea pluckers of Maddekanda tea estate in Balangoda area, Sri Lanka. Design and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among 378 tea pluckers, recruited using simple random sampling method. Data were collected by validated, pre-tested interviewer administered questionnaire and descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed by using SPSS v20.Results: The prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in any region of the body was 68.5% (95% CI 63.6-73.2) among all participants and prevalence of lower back pain 43.4% (95% CI 38.3-48.8) was high compared to other site of pain. Nearly 98.4% had experienced of leech biting during their work as a main health hazard. Participants who had experienced stress (OR=2.12, 95% CI: 1.119-3.764), and worked for more than 20 years (OR=2.28, 95% CI: 1.37- 3.81) were nearly 2 times more likely to have musculoskeletal pain when compared to their counterparts.Conclusions: Prevalence of musculoskeletal pain were high among tea pluckers and lower back region was the common site of pain. Leech bite was the other dominant health problem faced by them. Stress, duration of work and age were associated with musculoskeletal pain
Psychometric properties of sleep hygiene index in Indonesian adolescents
Get PDFBackground: Sleep is associated with some behavioral factors such as maladaptive, which tend to disrupt its normal mechanism, therefore, a tool is needed to measure maladaptive sleep hygiene. This study aims to assess the psychometric properties of sleep hygiene index (SHI), translation, factor structure, validity, and reliability. Design and Methods: Data were collected from 101 Indonesia adolescents in junior high school, with SHI-Indonesia translated based on WHO guideline. The obtained data were analyzed using varimax rotation, while the convergent validity was evaluated by calculating the correlation between the item and total score. In addition, the Cronbach’s alpha was computed to investigate internal consistency, and two-week interval test-retest was conducted to assess reliability. Results: SHI is a unidimensional factor structure with an excellent test-retest reliability of P<0.001 at 0.618, and a positive convergent validity correlation between each item and the total score. Conclusions: The SHI Bahasa translation is a reliable and valid tool to assess maladaptive sleep hygiene among Indonesia Adolescents