مجله آموزش و سلامت جامعه
سال نهم شماره 2 (Jun 2022)

This cross-sectional study aimed to identify factors influencing the acceptance of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) booster dose in Malaysia based on the health belief model during 2022.

Malaysians aged 18 and above were enrolled in a cross-sectional online survey. The convenient sampling method was used for data collection, and Google form was employed as an online questionnaire, which was distributed through social media by the authors. The sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents were assessed and summarized by performing descriptive and frequency analyses. Multivariate analysis was applied to measure the associations of factors influencing the acceptance of COVID-19 booster dose among respondents in Malaysia.

A total of 467 responses were analyzed in this study. Participants with neutral perceptions who think that it is easy for them to get the COVID-19 vaccine if they wanted to were 0.042 times less likely to accept COVID-19 booster dose compared to others (95% CI of 0.003- 0.556 which was significant with P<0.05 (P=0.016). Moreover, the participants were 0.012 times more likely to be females by neutral on that it is easy for you to get the COVID-19 vaccine if you wanted to with a 95% CI of 2.166-461.040, which is significant.

The need for continued access to research and learning has never been more important, especially when it comes to a constantly mutating coronavirus. We also continue to work directly with agencies to support their work.

Sleep quality and quantity disorders are among the most important problems in old age. Healthy sleep behaviors are among the best ways to deal with sleep disorders among the elderly. This study aimed to determine the socio-cognitive determinants predicting healthy sleep behaviors among the elderly who had been referred to the retirement centers in Hamadan, Iran.

This cross-sectional study was performed among 288 elderly people who had been referred to the retirement centers in Hamadan, Iran in 2020, and were selected through stratified random sampling. Data were collected online using a self-administered questionnaire with items on demographic characteristics and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) constructs. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 16) using Pearson correlation, independent t test, one-way ANOVA, and linear regression tests at the significance level of 0.05.

The mean (±standard deviation) age of respondents in this study was 67.2 (±6.3) years. Perceived behavior control (β=0.409), attitude (β=0.251), and subjective norms (β=0.205) were stronger predictors of healthy sleep behavior intention among the elderly, respectively; collectively, they accounted for 28.5% of the variation in sleep health behavior intention. Behavioral intention (β=0.429) and perceived behavioral control (β=0.167) were also predictors of healthy sleep behaviors among the elderly. There was a statistically significant relationship between the educational level and healthy sleep behaviors (P<0.05).

It seems that the development and implementation of educational programs based on the TPB for the improvement of attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control can play an effective role in promoting healthy sleep behaviors and sleep quality among the elderly.

Dietary behavior applying theory-based approaches is seldom documented in the general adult population. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the eating behavior of Malaysian adults and the demographic factors that were associated with positive eating habits.

In this cross-sectional survey, the convenience sampling technique was used to sample Malaysian adults aged 18 or older. The questionnaire was based on constructs from Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), which has six scales or constructs, including self-efficacy, intentions, situation, social support, behavioral strategies, and outcome expectations and expectancies. All the six constructs demonstrated adequate model fit using confirmatory analysis fit by the developers and good internal reliability using Cronbach’s alpha in this study. The data were descriptively analyzed, and subsequently, logistic regressions were performed, assessing demographic factors associated with healthy eating habits. The variables achieving a P value<0.05 were considered statistically significant.

A total of 461 respondents completed the questionnaire. Good social support (83.30%), outcome expectations (90.24%) and expectancies (92.41%), and the situation in relation to healthy eating (88.94%) were frequently observed among the respondents. The sentence has been revised to express the idea more clearly. “However, the observations in these dimensions were not necessarily translated into good self-efficacy (33.41%), intentions (39.91%), and behavioral strategies relating to healthy eating (53.15%). Additionally, demographic variables such as ethnicity, age, and region were significantly associated with the positive attitude observed on the questionnaire constructs.

In summary, the findings of the study revealed that many Malaysians have poor self-efficacy, intentions, and behavioral strategies when it came to eating healthy. The demographic factors significantly associated with dietary behaviors should be targeted in future interventional studies and awareness programs.

Aging is considered a biological, natural, and inevitable phenomenon that is associated with common problems of sleep quality and falls. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between sleep quality and falls among the elders of Amirkola.

In this case-control study, 250 elders, who were exposed to the falling, and 500 people without the previous falling were randomly selected during 2016-2017. The data were collected according to demographic and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaires.

There was a significant relationship between sleep quality and falling, while no significant relationship was found between demographic characteristics (e.g., gender, marital situation, age, educational level, occupation, and satisfaction of income) and falling. The mean of chronic diseases was 3.65±2.29 and 4.38±2.75 in control and case groups, respectively (P=0.0001). A significant difference was found between the two groups regarding the number of falls during the last 12 months (P=0.0001). There was a significant positive correlation between the score of poor sleep quality and the number of chronic diseases (P=0.001, r=0.352), the number of falls during the last 12 months (P=0.001, r=0.137), and the number of falling during the last 12 months with the number of chronic diseases (P=0.001, r=0.208). There was a significant negative correlation between poor quality sleep with the score of physical activity (P=0.001, r=-0.166) and the number of chronic diseases with the physical activity score (P=0.001, r=-0.259). After adjusting the other variables, the number of chronic diseases (P=0.002, OR=1.114) and history of smoking (P=0.018, OR=1.678) were the most effective factors of falling. Finally, a direct positive correlation was observed between the total scores of sleep quality and falling in terms of gender in the older woman of Amirkola (P=0.001, OR=2.080).

Awareness of the factors of falls can help develop prevention strategies and appropriate health services.

Intravenous (IV) drug use and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are closely related and are both among the major public health dilemmas worldwide. A considerable number of IV drug users are infected with HIV; this further adds to the risk of the occurrence of psychological disorders in them. This study aimed to assess the mental health status of IV drug users with and without HIV infection.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 270 IV drug users in Hamadan, including 90 HIV-positive and 180 HIV-negative subjects. The data were collected using general health questionnaire-28 items (GHQ-28) and then analyzed by SPSS, version 19.

Based on the results, HIV-negative IV drug users had a better mental health status than HIVpositive IV drug users, but this difference was not statistically significant (P=0.072). The assessment of GHQ-28 subscales revealed that the score of the social dysfunction subscale was significantly higher in HIV-positive compared to HIV-negative subjects (P=0.004).

It appears that the mental health status of IV drug users is suboptimal, and HIV infection can compromise the quality of life of addicts, particularly in terms of social function. Thus, designing strategies to improve the mental health status of IV drug users and their compliance with hygienic measures can promote public health.

Diabetes is an increasingly important public health concern. Self-care behaviors should be improved to help diabetic patients better control the disease, highlighting the importance of understanding the factors that affect a diabetic patient’s self-care behaviors. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to determine factors related to self-care behaviors in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) using the protection motivation theory (PMT).

In general, 160 type 2 diabetic patients referring to Yazd Diabetes Research Center were randomly selected and included in this analytical cross-sectional study. The data were gathered by a reliable and valid questionnaire, which is a summary of a multi-question questionnaire. It included PMT constructs and demographic information through interviewing the patients. Finally, data were analyzed using t test, ANOVA, linear regression, and Pearson correlation tests.

The mean age of the patients and the mean self-care behaviors were 55.87±9.62 years and 37.56±12.94, respectively. In the regression model, perceived susceptibility (β=0.294, P<0.001) and protection motivation (β=0.247, P=0.003) were significant predictors of diabetes self-care behaviors. This model was able to explain 20% of the variance of these behaviors.

PMT is effective in recognizing the determinants of diabetes self-care behaviors; therefore, to increase patients’ motivation to adopt diabetes self-care behaviors, a framework similar to this theory can be used to design educational programs. It is suggested that other studies in the field of self-care be conducted with other educational models in different populations of patients, and their results be compared accordingly.

Mental health status of university students is a critical issue due to its essential role in students’ academic performance. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the mental health status of firstyear students at Hamadan University of Medical Sciences in 2020.

All first-year students of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences entered this cross-sectional study through census sampling. Two Questionnaires, the Goldberg’s General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) as a screening instrument, and a researcher-made questionnaire were used to collect demographic information. After data collection, the chi-square test and logistic regression coefficient were applied to analyze the data at a significance level of 0.05.

The results showed that out of 875 students, 170 cases (19.4%) suffered from mental disorders, including depressed mood (93.5%) and anxiety attack (22%) as the most and least common disorders, respectively. Fitting the logistic regression model revealed that the highest educational degree (P<0.001, medical residency), admission quotas other than the free quota (P=0.03), high (P=0.04) and low (P=0.01) financial status, and fathers’ unemployment (P=0.04) increased the chance of mental health disorders.

Due to the high rate and negative consequences of mental health problems in university students, it is recommended that university counseling centers provide services for students with a focus on coping with more frequent mental disorders. Finally, it is suggested they have yearly follow-up surveys to recognize the effects of the university environment and different conducted programs on the students’ mental status.

The identification of the causes of risky behaviors is necessary to prevent the occurrence of injuries and reduce its costs. The present study aimed to translate and evaluate the validity and reliability of the Falls Behavioral (FaB) Scale in Iranian seniors.

This methodological study was conducted on 300 seniors aged 60 years and older referring to retirement centers. After permission, the recommended forward-backward procedure was adopted to translate the original English version of the questionnaire. Thereafter, the content, face validity, and construct validity of the scale were determined and taken into consideration. In addition, the known-groups comparison (seniors with and without a history of falls), as well as convergent and divergent validity, was used to evaluate construct validity. Finally, internal consistency and the test-retest analysis were performed to assess the reliability of the FaB scale.

The results of the known-groups comparison demonstrated that the mean score of the FaB scale was higher in the seniors with a history of falls as compared to that in their counterparts without such an experience. The obtained scores on FaB scale, Activities-Specific Balance Confidence (ABC) scale (r=-0.214, P<0.01), and Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) (r=0.256, P<0.01) represented a significant correlation, confirming the construct validity of the scale. The Cronbach’s alpha of the total scale and test-retest reliability within one week were obtained as 0.71 and 0.91, respectively.

As evidenced by the results of this study, the Persian version of the FaB scale is a valid and reliable instrument; therefore, it can be used to assess the behavioral fall risk factors, as well as fall prevention interventions in older people. It is suggested that in future studies, researchers focus on the assessment of more psychometric properties of this scale, especially sensitivity and specificity.