Journal of Community Health最新文献

This study aimed to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) related to snakebite first aid among residents of the Northern Border regoin and identify gaps for targeted interventions. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1236 adults using a structured, self-administered questionnaire covering demographics, knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and sources of information. Data were analyzed descriptively and interpreted through the Health Belief Model (HBM) and COM-B framework to identify behavioral determinants and inform public health recommendations. Participants demonstrated moderate knowledge, with 43.2% aware of correct first aid steps and 39.8% recognizing limb immobilization as the first action. Misconceptions such as venom suction, tourniquet application, and incision were endorsed by 41.7%. While 68.0% acknowledged the importance of first aid, only 43.7% felt confident in responding, and 25.2% had formal training. Social media (32.5%) and educational institutions (23.8%) were the main information sources. HBM analysis revealed moderate perceived severity, limited perceived susceptibility, low self-efficacy, and significant barriers due to misinformation and lack of training. COM-B analysis highlighted gaps in capability, opportunity, and motivation. To conclude, Despite moderate awareness, substantial misconceptions and low confidence persist among the Northern Border population population. Structured, culturally tailored interventions, including social media campaigns, practical workshops, school curricula integration, and system-level preparedness, are urgently needed to improve community readiness and reduce snakebite morbidity.

Cashew processing is a labor-intensive work, which requires physical demand exposing workers to various occupational health problems. This study aims to identify the occupational health issues faced by cashew workers, evaluate their working environment and assess their quality of life. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 280 cashew factory workers in South Kerala. Data was collected using a semi structured questionnaire which includes sociodemographic characteristics, working environment, and system related health issues. The WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire was used to assess Quality of life among workers. The collected data was entered and coded into Microsoft Excel (Version 2016) and analyzed via SPSS Version16.0. Prevalence of musculoskeletal pain (96.8%) was high, followed by central nervous system-related symptoms (68.2%) and dermatological issues (58.5%).Of the ten factories surveyed, one-third (33.3%) did not have a proper system for fumes and dust extraction, provision of personal protective equipment, appointment of welfare officers and accessible washing facilities. Participants above 45 yrs of age were found to have 1.7 times higher odds of experiencing occupational health issues compared to those aged less than 45 years, as per multivariate analysis(p < 0.05). With respect to Quality of life, workers had higher social health mean score of 65.11 ± 15.02 and lower psychological health mean score of 46.93 ± 10.61. Musculoskeletal pain was the most prevalent health issue among cashew workers. The working environment among cashew workers is generally poor, which, along with occupational hazards, contributes to compromised quality of life in multiple domains.

This scoping review synthesizes evidence on the physical health, mental well-being, health behaviors, and overall quality of life of middle-aged adults living alone, highlighting its significance from a community health perspective. Recognizing the rapid growth of this demographic, this review evaluates the current research landscape, identifies critical gaps, and explores opportunities for targeted interventions. Following the JBI Scoping Review Guidelines, comprehensive searches were conducted in Ovid-Medline, Ovid-EMBASE, APA PsycInfo, and CINAHL Complete for studies published between 2000 and 2024 on middle-aged adults (45-64 years) living alone. Randomized and non-randomized trials and quantitative and qualitative studies were considered. Two reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts before performing full-text reviews of the articles. Data on study characteristics, participant profiles, and health-related outcomes were extracted. Of the 19,519 studies initially identified, 44 were included. The studies were categorized based on design, population characteristics, and health outcomes. The results indicate that middle-aged adults living alone experience poorer physical and mental health and engage in less favorable health behaviors than their counterparts in multi-person households. Key determinants, such as socioeconomic status, geographic location, and healthcare access, contribute to these disparities. These findings underscore the urgent need for community-based strategies to reduce social isolation, improve healthcare accessibility, and promote healthier lifestyles, thereby addressing the critical public health gaps faced by this vulnerable population.

Despite the availability of effective preventive measures, women in rural and underserved communities of Louisiana face health disparities regarding human papillomavirus infections. This study explores how perceived risk and socioeconomic factors, such as income, influence HPV vaccine awareness and attitudes toward HPV risk. A cross-sectional study was conducted among women in rural and underserved areas of Louisiana from November 2022 to December 2023. Participants were eligible to be included in the study if they were adult females aged 25 to 64 with no history of hysterectomy and no history of cervical cancer. We used convenience sampling through a mobile health unit that travels to rural and underserved areas of north and central Louisiana, offering cervical cancer screening. A total of 141 women participated in the study. Findings revealed significant gaps in HPV awareness and vaccination knowledge. Only 10.6% of participants considered themselves at risk for HPV. Higher HPV knowledge scores were positively associated with perceived HPV risk, increasing by approximately 20% per correct response. Approximately 40% of the participants were unaware of the existence of the HPV vaccine, 96.5% had never received the HPV vaccine, and 91.4% had never been offered it. Only 42% indicated that they would consider vaccination if offered. Addressing health disparities in rural Louisiana requires targeted interventions to improve healthcare access, education, and community engagement. Efforts to enhance education and awareness and foster community engagement should be prioritized.

This study aimed to determine diet, physical activities, and the frequency and risk factors for body weight problems in children aged between 5 and 13 who attend public primary schools in Constantine, Algeria. A total of 811 children (403 girls and 408 boys) enrolled in three random primary schools in Constantine took anthropometric measurements to calculate body mass index (BMI = weight/size). A questionnaire was created to collect information about the children's lifestyles, which was completed online by their parents. Obesity and overweight were determined according to the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO). A statistical analysis was conducted to identify risk factors for overweight and obesity. The results showed that overweight affects 1.726% of children (57.15% boys and 42.85% girls). The results also showed a 0.616% prevalence of obesity (60% boys, 40% girls). In addition to that, the results of this study revealed that 72.133% of the children are underweight (51.96% boys, 48.04% girls), and 25.524% of them have normal weight (44.92% boys, 55.08% girls). In risk factor analysis, the results show that body weight problems are associated with different factors like sex, age group (8-10 years old), number and composition of meals, and lack of physical activity. Body weight problems are a severe condition that deserves significant healthcare expenses, and for that, urgent protective measures are required. The promotion of a healthy diet and regular physical activity is a top priority in body weight problem prevention, especially for children.

Suicide prevention is a top priority for the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and suicide is often associated with adverse social factors (e.g., financial, legal, and housing problems). The VA provides social services integrated with healthcare services, which may increase the opportunities to detect and document suicide attempt in EHR records. Using VA administrative data, we examined three cohorts of all patients from 2014 to 2018 who had housing instability (n = 659,987), justice involvement (n = 200,487), and unemployment (n = 346,556). Administrative records were used to determine ordinal indicators of receipt of VA social services (no services, low, or high). The outcome was suicide attempt noted in the healthcare record (i.e., documented suicide attempt) in the 1-6 months following the incident adverse social factor. We conducted logistic regressions utilizing a discrete-time survival framework with person-month as the unit of analysis, which facilitated accounting for covariates while isolating the independent association of social service utilization. After adjusting for covariates, high receipt of housing services (vs. no services) was significantly associated with documented suicide attempt during the 6-month observation period (aOR = 1.14, 95%CI = 1.06-1.22). A similar association was observed for high vs. no use of justice programs (aOR 1.24; 95% CI:1.12-1.37). There was no significant association between employment services utilization and documented suicide attempt during the 6-month observation period. Our finding that utilization of social services as positively associated with documented suicide attempt likely reflects increased suicide attempt surveillance and documentation with social service involvement. Future research should explore operationalizing patient-level distress in administrative data.

People who use opioids (PWUO) face a higher risk of overdose, often resulting in significant morbidity and mortality within this population. Understanding the factors that contribute to non-fatal overdose among PWUO is essential for developing effective prevention strategies. Thus, the present study aimed to report on the history of and factors associated with non-fatal opioid overdose among PWUO. From April to June 2024, 199 adults with a recent history of opioid use were enrolled in a cross-sectional study to evaluate past experiences of non-fatal overdose. Participants self-reported their socio-demographic characteristics, experiences with overall overdose, history of opioid use, alcohol consumption, and mental health symptoms. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the correlations between the outcome variables. The mean age of participants was 44.2 years (SD = 10.2). Approximately 49.2% of participants had experienced an opioid overdose at some point. Opioid dependence, alcohol use disorder, and depressive symptoms were reported by 83.9%, 65.8%, and 58.3% of participants, respectively. Older participants were less likely to experience an overdose (aOR: 0.9, 95% CI: 0.9-0.9). On the other hand, participants who were opioid-dependent (aOR: 4.4, 95% CI: 1.7-11.7) and those experiencing suicidal ideation (aOR: 1.8, 95% CI: 1.0-3.5) were more likely to have ever experienced an opioid overdose. Our study demonstrated high rates of non-fatal opioid overdose among PWUO. This finding highlights the need for targeted harm reduction interventions and cross-sector collaboration to address opioid dependency and suicidal ideation, aiming to prevent overdoses in this population.

The current study used a convergent mixed-methods design and identified Arkansas school professionals' perceptions about (1) their schools' tobacco use prevention needs and (2) the implementation of tobacco prevention programming at their schools. Differences in perceptions based on school-related factors and personal tobacco use history were examined. Surveys were collected from teachers, administrators, and school staff from K-12 schools in Arkansas (QUANT; N = 325) and in-depth interviews were conducted with a separate sample of school administrators (QUAL; N = 20). Logistic regressions identified the associations between dependent variables, school-related factors (school type, school position, years of education work experience, and school rurality), and school professionals' tobacco use histories. The tobacco prevention components perceived as most important were parent education, school tobacco-free policies, and up-to-date teacher training. Yet, parent education and up-to-date teacher training were perceived as being poorly integrated into schools. Quantitative and qualitative findings emphasized the importance of integrating parents into tobacco prevention. There were differences in school professionals' perceptions about important tobacco prevention components based on school level, personal tobacco use history, and work experience. There were also differences in perceptions about how well tobacco prevention was integrated into schools between teachers vs. administrators and related to school rurality, school level, and work experience. School professionals in Arkansas, a state with tobacco disparities, identified that: (1) student tobacco use is a top health priority; (2) key strategies include parent education, tobacco-free policies, and teacher training; and (3) barriers exist, particularly in implementing parent education and teacher training.

This study assesses the livelihoods of waste pickers and the potential health challenges they face, with the primary goal of informing policy development and interventions in Lagos State, Nigeria. A total of 1,274 waste pickers across 20 local governments in Lagos State were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with SPSS for Windows. Results indicated that most waste pickers were male (69%) and aged between 18 and 40. Common hazards faced by waste pickers included harassment (19%), injuries (13%), accidents (11%), and burns (7%). Despite these hazards, 50% of waste pickers earned between ₦30,001 and ₦50,001 (approximately $23-38.5) per month, with only a few earning above ₦50,000. Additionally, 70% of respondents reported having savings. Respondents highlighted several measures to improve their livelihoods, including recognition, security, financial support, empowerment, and job opportunities. As a result, 71% of waste pickers expressed willingness to leave their jobs if empowered. The major hazards encountered by waste pickers include harassment (19%), injuries (13%), accidents (11%), and burns (7%).

Ending the HIV epidemic in the United States will require increasing the uptake of HIV biomedical prevention strategies, such as injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). One avenue to potentially increase injectable PrEP prescriptions is to educate the next generation of healthcare providers. The purpose of this study was to examine injectable PrEP knowledge, awareness, and willingness to perform injectable PrEP-related clinical activities among medical and pharmacy students. From November 2022-January 2023, we conducted a web-based, cross-sectional observational study among 395 medical and pharmacy students from one public university in New York State. The survey assessed injectable PrEP awareness, knowledge, familiarity with injectable PrEP prescribing guidelines, comfort performing injectable PrEP-related clinical activities, and willingness to perform injectable PrEP-related activities. Overall, participants reported low injectable PrEP awareness, knowledge, and familiarity with prescribing guidelines. Despite this, participants reported relatively high levels of comfort with performing injectable PrEP-related tasks. While there were no statistically significant differences in domains of interest, pharmacy students reported greater awareness, knowledge, familiarity with prescribing guidelines, and comfort performing injectable PrEP-related tasks. Linear regression models illustrated that pharmacy students were statistically significantly less willing to initiate a conversation about injectable PrEP with eligible patients compared to medical students. Future healthcare providers will play a pivotal role in implementing new biomedical prevention strategies for HIV, including injectable PrEP. Results illustrate the need for additional educational programs to increase injectable PrEP knowledge among health professional students.