Journal of Public Health Research (PAGEPress Publications)
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Levels of stress and coping strategies in family caregivers who treat schizophrenic patients with risk of violent behavior
Full text linkBackground: Violent behavior is one of the most common symptoms of people who have schizophrenia. Caring for family members who have schizophrenia can be a stressor for other family members. The stressors can be stressful for the caregiver. Family caregivers require coping strategies to overcome the stressors. This study aims to determine the relationship between stress levels and coping strategies of family caregivers who treat schizophrenic patients with a risk of violent behavior.Design and Methods: The research design engaged cross-sectional with the purposive sampling technique by involving 87 caregiver families who who treat schizophrenic patients. The data was collected by using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Ways of Coping (WOC) questionnaires. This study was analyzed by employing the Chi-Square test to determine the relationship between stress levels and coping strategies in the caregiver family.Results: This study shows that stress levels are not significantly associated with coping strategies in family caregivers.Conclusion: Good supports from health and social service professionals are required to help family caregivers cope with their stressors well
Effect of Moringa oleifera supplementation during pregnancy on the prevention of stunted growth in children between the ages of 36 to 42 months
Full text linkBackground: The government has made provisions to improve the nutrition of stunted children under the age of five nationally by providing iron folic acid (IFA) tablet since conception. However, these drugs were not able to reduce the incidence of stunted growth. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of moringa intervention during pregnancy on the incidence of stunted growth in children between the ages of 36 to 42 months.Design and Methods: This study is a follow-up to an experimental RCT-DB study during pregnancy. The interventions given were PG (Moringa Flour), EG (Moringa Extract) and IG (IFA) which was used as control.Results: The highest number of children that had stunted growth after taking the PG by IG and EG extracts were 66 (41.5%), 53 (33.3%) and 40 (25.2%), respectively. The stunted risk factor analysis did not show a significant relationship to the stunted incidence. Furthermore, the consumption and dietary patterns of children were based on only fat consumption which was associated with stunted incidence (p<0.05). The results of multivariate analysis showed that the EG extract was effective in reducing the incidence of stunted growth (p<0.005) and as a protective factor of 0.431 times the incidence of stunted growth (LL-UL=0.246-0.754).Conclusions: The administration of Moringa oleifera extract during pregnancy prevents the incidence of stunted growth in children
The obstacles to combat against COVID-19 pandemic and the remedies: Bangladesh scenario
Full text linkBackground: Bangladesh has been going through the austerity of the unique COVID-19 for more than a year like several other nations in the world in spite of concerted efforts taken by the government along with other concerned authorities who have advocated compulsory guidelines involving social distancing procedures accompanied by lockdown to have control over the pandemic. In this paper, the barriers faced by the government to protect people from the COVID-19 pandemic have been investigated. Also, the number of daily infected people against the number of daily tests has been underlined to comprehend the overall pandemic picture in Bangladesh.
Design and Methods: A descriptive study has been carried out to investigate the obstacles to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic for this country. The intensity of the outbreaks of the pandemic in this country is stated from March 8, 2020, to February 12, 2021. Secondary data have been employed from different sources to serve the goals of the study.
Results: The poor management in the health sector of Bangladesh has been an issue of major concern during the early stage of COVID-19 which incorporates deficiency of medical equipment, lack of facilities for testing COVID-19, poor patient management, and uncertainty in the medication system. Finally, some recommendations have been proposed for the concerned organizations to tackle the current pandemic and as well in the future.
Conclusions: To control this COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to find the difficulties and discover the remedies which have been done in this paper for the Bangladesh perspective
Adaptive staff scheduling at Outpatient Department of Ntaja Health Center in Malawi - A queuing theory application
Full text linkAccurate staff scheduling is crucial in overcoming the problem of mismatch between staffing ratios and demand for health services which can impede smooth patient flow. Patient flow is an important process towards provision of improved quality of service and also improved utilization of hospital resources. However, extensive waiting times remains a key source of dissatisfaction with the quality of health care service among patients. With rarely scheduled hospital visits, the in-balance between hospital staffing and health service demand remains a constant challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa. Accurate workload predictions help anticipate financial needs and also aids in strategic planning for the health facility. Using a local health facility for a case study, we investigate problems faced by hospital management in staff scheduling. We apply queuing theory techniques to assess and evaluate the relationship between staffing ratios and waiting times at the facility. Specifically, using patient flow data for a rural clinic in Malawi, we model queue parameters and also approximate recommended staffing ratios to achieve steady state leading to reduced waiting times and consequently, improved service delivery at the clinic
Progression of COVID-19 under the highly restrictive measures imposed in Argentina
Full text linkThe variety and extent of non-pharmaceutical measures implemented by the government to control COVID-19 in Argentina were exceptional, making this country the best example to analyze the evolution of COVID-19 under the most stringent and longer-lasting restrictive policies- which included 119 days of strict nation-wide lock-down, 304 days of less restrictive lock-downs, and 35 days of curfews. Two of the three peaks of infection correlated with the germicidal solar flux received in Argentina, suggesting a seasonal component and a role for the virus persisting in the environment. A massive public gathering crowding the presidential square in Buenos Aires, during which nearly half of those present were without face masks, did not alter the infection curve in that city. Comparative epidemiological data (standardized per million inhabitants) shows that COVID-19 in Uruguay, a neighboring country whose capital is at a similar latitude than Buenos Aires and who did not mandate lock-downs or curfews, progressed much slower (until vaccination started) than in Argentina. The number of yearly deaths caused by respiratory diseases and influenza in Argentina before the pandemic was similar to the total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 cumulated on April 25, 2021, more than a year after the pandemic started. The failure to detect any benefit on ameliorating COVID-19 by the long and strict nation-wide lock-downs in Argentina should raise world-wide concerns about mandating costly and ineffective restrictive measures during ongoing or future pandemics
Studying the effect of particulate matter as SARS-CoV-2 transmitters
Full text linkBackground: Studies of risk factors are especially valuable at this difficult time in the midst of a pandemic. High levels of particulate matter (PM) represent a serious risk factor on health. While this is a direct impact on health, indirect effects are worth considering too.Design and Methods: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of PM in the transmission of viruses, especially SARS-CoV-2. Also, we sought to understand dynamics of PM in still air at high and low altitudes. Historic AQI and physical PM measurements were collected between August and September 2020 using air quality detector. Potential correlations between the number of total confirmed COVID-19 cases and average air quality index (AQI) from varied geographic locations were also assessed.Results: Airborne PM levels were weakly associated with COVID-19 cases after analysing 77 territories. PM remained longer in the air at high altitudes compared to measurements made at sea level. This suggests that the link between PM and COVID-19 transmission could be aggravated in areas of high altitude.Conclusions: This article highlights that particulate matter can be involved in SARS-CoV-2 transmission. However, confounding factors may have impacted the association between the two variables. These findings can serve as a foundation for future studies on the effect of air pollutants and fine particulate matter on viral transmission
Non-compliance to social distancing during COVID-19 pandemic: A comparative cross-sectional study between the developed and developing countries
Full text linkBackground: Despite mass vaccination campaigns, the world has seen a steady rise in the number of SARS-CoV-2 cases, with 178,765,626 cases and 3,869,994 COVID-19 related deaths by June 19th, 2021. Therefore, it is important to enforce social distancing to control its spread. With the variation observed in the severity of the pandemic in different countries, it is also imperative to study the social distancing behaviors amongst the population in developed and developing countries.Design and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 384 participants from 14 different countries were surveyed via an online REDCap form.Results: In this study, it was highlighted that despite adequate knowledge, the overall compliance to COVID-19 related preventive measures remains poor, the lowest being in the senior age group (≥ 65 years), and the highest being in adults aged between 25-64 years (p-value =0.003). Population from the developing countries were more compliant to all preventative measures against COVID-19 spread, except for handwashing, where the difference between the two populations remained insignificant (p-value = 0.038, <0.001, 0.016). Socioeconomic status, prior history of COVID-19 infection, or presence of comorbidities did not significantly affect compliance rates, however, participants with no prior history of this infection were found to be more compliant to donning a mask in public as compared to those with a positive history (p-value = 0.044). Conclusions: Since compliance remains subpar in both the developing and the developed countries, mass campaigns about COVID-19 related preventive measures remain essential in controlling the disease spread
Nurses' efforts to maintain competence: a qualitative study
Full text linkBackground: The clinical competence of nurses should be maintained to ensure patient safety. Competence is the integration of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Nurse competency also improves the quality of nursing care and reduces the incidence of missed nursing care. This study aimed to explore the experiences of nurses maintaining a nurse competence system in hospitals through continuing education.Design and Methods: The research method used was qualitative phenomenological research, and the data was collected through an in-depth interview which was consist of six participants.Results: The results of the research were 1). continuing professional development to maintain the competence, 2) credentialing system in the career ladder system, 3). missed care still occurred in the implementation of nursing services 4). Nurses had hopes that managers supported the efforts to maintain competence through continuing professional development.Conclusion: Nurse managers are expected to improve the supervision program to maintain clinical competence and decrease missed care
Response of Indonesian universities to the COVID-19 pandemic – between strategy and implementation
Full text linkEscalated by mid-January 2020, the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is having a profound effect on all aspects of society, including the education activities in higher education. Colleges and universities globally are taking various actions to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. These efforts are mainly to secure the well-being of their students and staff, as well as members of their communities. Due to the increasing number of infections has prompted a number of universities in Indonesia to participate in the fight against the virus outbreak. This article provides an overview of the role played by Indonesian universities dealing with COVID-19 pandemic and how Indonesian universities serving the public good for COVID-19 breakthroughs. The research problem of this study focuses on how the strategies developed by the university in responding to COVID-19 and their implementation to reduce the potential consequences of the pandemic impacts. Subsequently, this paper presented the responses of universities in Indonesia in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. The forms of responses presented in this paper are academic responses, research and development responses and social community services responses. Furthermore, a conceived information of the issues and challenging of involving of universities in collaborating on solutions to crises of the coronavirus pandemic in Indonesian context were portrayed. In conclusion, this paper summarizes the contribution of Indonesian universities and its impacts in fighting deadly virus disease COVID-19
Dutch youth’s smoking behaviour during a partial covid-19 lockdown
Full text linkPrevious research found that adult smokers increased their smoking in response to the Covid-19 lockdown in spring 2020. This study explored changes in youth’s smoking during, compared to before, the partial lockdown in the Netherlands in a cross-sectional sample of 287 adolescents. Smoking prevalence increased from 4.5% to 5.2%. Cigarette consumption remained the same on school days and increased with +1.9 cigarettes per weekend day. The largest increase in cigarette consumption on weekend days was observed for adolescents who 1) did not consider smoking a risk factor for contracting Covid-19 (+4.5), 2) had smoking siblings (+4.1), and 3) had smoking friends (+2.4). Youth without smoking friends (-0.8) and who considered smoking a risk factor for Covid-19 (-0.2) decreased their cigarette consumption