Journal of Health Scope
Volume:10 Issue: 4, Nov 2021

Cervical cancer is the leading cause of women’s death in developing countries. The change in the epidemiological trends has been attributed to mass screening with the help of a Pap smear.

This study aimed to determine the knowledge level and practice regarding a Pap smear and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among female medical students in Karachi, Pakistan.

In this cross-sectional study, 147 participants were selected through multistage stratified random sampling. The knowledge level was categorized as adequate if the participants answered 60% of the items. Questionnaire validity was determined through Cronbach’s alpha value (α = 0.69). Binary logistic regression was applied to determine the factors associated with the knowledge level among the students. A confidence interval (CI) of 95% was considered with a margin of error of 5% and a P-value of 0.05 as statistically significant.

Most students (60.5%) had adequate knowledge regarding a Pap smear and HPV vaccination. Only 3.4% of the students underwent a Pap smear test. The most common factors contributing to the knowledge level were marriage (OR = 2.98; 95% CI: 1.23 - 11.09; P = 0.003), first academic year of students (OR = 10.78; 95% CI: 1.03 - 12.01; P = 0.046), family history of cancer (OR = 2.76; 95% CI: 1.34 - 7.90; P = 0.004), and family income less than < 100000 Pakistani Rupee (OR = 5.45; 95% CI: 2.09 - 9.06; P = 0.005).

Being medical students studying in the first academic year, family history of cancer, and family income less than 100000 Pakistani Rupee had significant effect on knowledge gap about a Pap smear and HPV vaccination. There is a need for an increased level of knowledge in this regard by addressing the risk factors contributing to the knowledge level.

Identifying the potential risk factors of the length of stay in hospital (LOSH) in COVID-19 patients could help the health system meet future demand for hospital beds.

This study aimed to determine the factors affecting the length of stay in hospital in COVID-19 patients in Hamadan, the west of Iran.

This cross-sectional study recruited 512 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Hamadan city. Demographic, clinical, and medical laboratory characteristics of the patients and their survival status were assessed by a checklist. Univariate and multiple negative binomial regressions were used by Stata 12.

The median hospitalization length for COVID-19 patients was five days (range: 0 to 47). In the discharged patients, the adjusted incidence rate ratios (95% CI) of LOSH for females, rural residents, patients with a history of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, SPO2 less than 88%, prothrombin time higher than 13 s, platelet count lower than 130 × 1000 µL, blood sugar higher than 105 mg/dL, and intensive care unit experience were 1.16 (1.03, 1.44), 1.22 (1.03, 1.44), 1.43 (1.07, 1.92), 1.41 (1.23, 1.61), 0.82 (0.71, 0.93), 1.32 (1.11, 1.56), 1.18 (1.03, 1.36), and 1.85 (1.59, 2.17) compared to their references, respectively.

Our study added new insight into LOSH determining factors that could be used for future planning in combating the need for hospital beds. The present study revealed that some demographic, social, and clinical variables could increase the IRR of a more extended hospital stay.

Chronic diseases have significant impacts on health systems worldwide and are a leading cause of death. Early diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases are the best ways to reduce mortality and morbidity.

The aim of this study was to evaluate public access to preventive services for chronic diseases in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

A survey of university hospital visitors was conducted in 2019. Participants were randomly selected and asked to fill a 16-question survey, including demographics, health care utilization, and type of preventive services. The chi-square test (SPSS) was used to identify any significant association between age and gender using the variable of preventive screening or counseling.

The majority of individuals who completed the survey (250 participants) were young, married, and male bachelor’s degree holders. About 71% of the participants received counseling services for either smoking, physical activity, weight, diet, or sleeping. More than half (58%) had undergone screening services, including breast cancer, colon cancer, diabetes, hypertension, or weight management. Chi-square analysis showed that females had a significant (P < 0.01) positive statistical relationship with the utilization of diabetes and breast cancer screening services, while males were more associated (P < 0.01) with smoking and weight-related counseling than females.

The study demonstrated an insufficient use of preventive services and that sociodemographic differences (such as age and gender) could influence the utilization of various preventive services. Females were significantly positively associated with breast cancer and diabetes-related preventive services as these diseases are highly prevalent among females. Public education and awareness campaigns are needed to broadcast the importance of preventive services and promote better understanding and management of chronic diseases.

The financial burden of blood wastage in operating rooms of hospitals indicates the importance of managing blood consumption.

To determine the most influential factors affecting blood utilization management in operating rooms.

This cross-sectional study was conducted in the operating rooms of the largest tertiary referral hospital in Southern Iran from September to November 2019. A researcher-made questionnaire was designed, validated, and completed by 185 related stakeholders. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted.

Model fit indices had acceptable values (P = 0.032). In the suggested model, resource allocation (coefficient = 0.81) and control (coefficient = 0.77) were determined as the two most impressive managerial dimensions of blood utilization management. In the resource allocation dimension, the most effective factors were found to be using trained and oriented personnel to inventory management principles and blood bag handling, storage, and transportation rules and providing in-hospital safe and standard blood transportation equipment. In the control dimension, the most influencing subject was evaluating and reporting the reasons for the date expiry of blood products.

Implementing a stepwise evidence-based blood consumption program based on the most prioritized suggested initiatives can be highly cost-effective and presented as a practical guide for policymakers, especially in low socio-economic countries. Based on our results, focusing on using trained blood bank staff in all related parts and providing standard blood transportation equipment as well as attempting to minimize the number of discarded blood units in operating rooms can be highly effective in the reduction of blood wastage and improvement of blood consumption status.

In the third millennium, which is called the information era, despite the technological growth and industrialization, lack of hopefulness is seen in the general population, especially among the youth. Therefore, hope is one of the critical issues that should be promoted among the youth.

This study was aimed at evaluating a hopefulness questionnaire among the youth.

This cross-sectional study with an exploratory approach was carried out among the Iranian youth population in 2020. All students of Shahed University in Tehran (estimated as 5000 people) were considered the study population, 600 of whom were selected as the study sample by the simple random sampling method. For data collection, a researcher-made questionnaire was utilized. Data analysis was performed by SPSS v. 21 and LISREL v. 8.80. Alpha Cronbach coefficient was used to investigate the reliability of the questionnaire.

The results showed the adequate reliability of the hopefulness questionnaire. Also, the findings showed that three latent variables in the questionnaire had significantly larger values than the other factors. Therefore, with three latent factors, the hopefulness questionnaire was significantly saturated. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the 33 items of the questionnaire was 0.80.

It was found that the questionnaire constructs are useful in predicting hopefulness intention. The scale consisted of three factors that did not completely replicate the factors found in previous studies. The use of this tool is recommended for all age groups.

A workplace has an important role in staff health. Besides, it is a suitable place for performing interventions to reduce the risk of suffering from health problems associated with physical inactivity and overweight, and to reduce risks of cardiovascular and non-communicable diseases.

This study aims to investigate the effects of health promotion educational interventions on self-care behaviors of nutrition and physical activity among the selected university staff in Zahedan during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The present quasi-experimental research was conducted in 2020-2021 in Zahedan, southeastern Iran. The control and intervention groups included a random selectionof 110 and 144 non-academic staff members of Zahedan University of Medical Sciences (ZAUMS) as well as Sistan and Baluchestan University (SBU), respectively. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, an online researcher-made questionnaire (Porsline, https://survey.porsline.ir) (CVR: 92%; CVI: 90%; reliability: 85%) was uploaded, which had been already approved. Besides, educational booklets were provided to the intervention group via WhatsApp and Soroush messengers, through which the participants were allowed to ask their questions after every session. One month after the intervention, the online questionnaires were re-uploaded on Porsline and recompleted by the participants. The results were analyzed using SPSS V21.0.

The results indicated that the self-care behaviors of nutrition and physical activity increased significantly in terms of awareness, attitude, and performance among the intervention group participants after conducting the educational intervention (P-value < 0.05). Accordingly, the educational intervention resulted in an increase in the level of awareness, attitude, and performance of nutrition and physical activity among the university staff of the intervention group. Besides, the performance of physical activity was significantly affected not only by the intervention (P < 0.001) but also by work experience (P < 0.001). In addition, nutrition behavior was significantly better in female staff than male staff (P = 0.048), but there was no significant correlation between gender and the intervention (P = 0.266).

The educational program executed in the present study was shown to be effective in promoting self-care behaviors of nutrition and physical activity among the university staff. Thus, health programmers and policymakers can have a significant role in promoting staff health by executing interventional educational programs. Accordingly, the efficiency of the whole system will improve by adopting these strategies and programs.

Social citizenship means creating a situation in which everyone can develop their full potential.

This study aimed to determine the social citizenship index with its various dimensions in selected countries.

This study used a mixed-methods approach consisting of two phases. In the first phase, social citizenship items were extracted based on a systematic review of previous studies and interviews with experts using direct content analysis. In the second phase, the standardized index was assessed by performing the validity and reliability tests. To combine the dimensions, their values were standardized using the Z score. To analyze the data, factor analysis and normality tests were used.

The social citizenship index was categorized into four main dimensions, including health and education, livelihood, economic-political prosperity, and open society. In this study, 125 countries were categorized based on the Social Citizenship Index. The selected countries were classified into three categories based on the opinions of the research group and the cutting point of statistical quartiles: high (32 countries), medium (62 countries), and low (31 countries).

It can be concluded that the social citizenship index with four main dimensions and 26 variables is a new tool that allows countries to be compared in the areas of providing welfare services to their citizens.

The visit length is considered one of the indicators for assessing patients’ satisfaction. Factors such as waiting time for getting a visit affects the desirability of the visit.

This study aimed to investigate the visit length and waiting time of patients in public and private clinics in Tabriz.

This is a descriptive-analytic study conducted in five clinics in 2018. A questionnaire-based survey was used to collect data from 386 participants recruited through simple random sampling. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were applied to analyze the data using SPSS version 22.0.

Overall, the mean visit length was 25.5 and 25.4 min in public and private centers, respectively, while the mean waiting time was 141.2 and 156.4 min in public and private centers, respectively. There was no significant difference between public and private centers regarding the visit length (P > 0.05); however, there was a significant difference between public and private centers in terms of waiting time (P < 0.05).

The waiting time was too much, especially in private clinics, which can negatively affect patient satisfaction. Therefore, suggested interventions may consist of using internet and telephone admission, scheduling a waiting list, and requiring physicians to be present on time.

Hypertension is one of the key risk factors for several diseases.

The aim of this study was to determine the determinants of hypertension self-management behaviors (HSBs) based on intervention mapping approach.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 800 hypertensive patients in southwestern Iran in 2018. A structured questionnaire was applied for data collection. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16.

The mean age of respondents was 58.25 years (SD: 12.10; age range: 30 - 74 years). The best predictors for HSBs were perceived barriers, outcome expectations, and self-efficacy.

Our findings have implications for the evidence-based design of HSBs promotion interventions.

Adoption of protective health behaviors is extremely important to prevent the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.

This study aimed to evaluate the influencing factors on adopting preventive behaviors during COVID-19 using health belief model (HBM) among the urban population in Maragheh, a city from North West of Iran.

We investigated 383 people via an online questionnaire from December 5 to 11, 2020. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed with an experts' panel of 10 health professionals, and its reliability was 0.74 through Cronbach’s alpha. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to analyze data.

The self-efficacy (17.1 ± 2.5) and perceived benefits (5.7 ± 0.5) were evaluated at a high level. The health behavior was also appraised with a high mean score (21.2 ± 3.2). Among the components of the health belief model, perceived risk, self-efficacy, perceived benefits, and perceived barriers, and among demographic variables, gender and marital status were the predictors of protective behaviors against COVID-19.

Self-efficacy, perceived benefits, and perceived risk increased the incidence of protective behavior by 69% and 30%, respectively, and perceived barriers decreased it by 0.07%. Strengthening the ability to adopt protective behaviors and improving the public’s perception of the effectiveness of these behaviors can be useful.