Journal of Public Health-Heidelberg最新文献

Aim: US federal, state, and local governments implemented numerous COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders (lockdowns) starting in March 2020 to ensure social distancing regulations and help stop the spread of COVID-19. It is important to know how these lockdowns affected businesses, such as restaurants, in regions that vary in terms of poverty status and geography. In this paper, we analyze the differential changes in rural and urban restaurant visits by the restaurants' NAICS codes following the COVID-19 lockdowns. Our analysis contributes to the public policy literature and helps operational planning for food distribution during a pandemic.

Methods: Since urban and rural consumer behavior and food resources are significantly different, it is crucial to conduct a comparative analysis. Our study applies a difference-in-differences model to capture the differential effects lockdowns have on urban and rural restaurants.

Results: We find that restaurant visits declined significantly in both rural and urban counties after shelter-at-home orders. The decrease in total restaurant visits was almost twice as high in urban counties as in rural counties. We also find that visits to fast-food restaurants increased in rural counties during shelter-at-home orders.

Conclusions: These results contribute to previous studies on the dearth of healthy food in rural and poorer regions, and inform important public policy response in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aim: This study aimed to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) toward COVID-19 among youth in Bangladesh.

Subject and methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from 5 May to 25 May 2020. People aged between 18 and 35 years were approached via social media to complete an online questionnaire that consisted of socio-demographic information and KAP toward COVID-19. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and logistic regression analyses were conducted.

Results: Out of 707 survey participants, 57.1% were male, the majority were students (60.3%), aged 24-29 years (61.5%), having a bachelor's degree (57%), having family income 25,000-50,000 BDT (40.5%) and living in urban areas (64.4%). Participants gathered information on COVID-19 mostly through social media (70.4%). Overall, 61.2% had adequate knowledge with 78.9% having a positive attitudes toward COVID-19 and only 51.6% had good practices. Most (86.8%) of the participants were confident that COVID-19 will be successfully controlled and Bangladesh was handling the COVID-19 health crisis well (84.2%). Only 75.2% of participants always washed their hands with soap or hand-sanitizer, and 70.6% wore a mask when going outside the home. Factors associated with adequate knowledge were being female, having a master's degree and above, and living in an urban area (p < 0.05). Participants having adequate knowledge of COVID-19 had higher likelihood of positive attitudes (OR: 6.41, 95% CI = 2.34-25.56, p < 0.001) and good practices (OR: 8.93, 95% CI = 3.92-38.42, p < 0.001).

Conclusion: The findings highlight the need for tailored education programs for COVID-19 which incorporates consideration of associated factors to improve the level of public knowledge, attitudes, and practices.

Aim: Extensive COVID-19 information can generate information overload and confusion. Denmark and Sweden adopted different COVID-19 management strategies.

Aim: This study aimed to compare search strategies, perceptions and effects of COVID-19 information, in general and specifically in social media, in residents in Denmark and Sweden.

Subject and methods: Quantitative data from a sample of respondents (n = 616) from Denmark and Sweden on an international web-based survey was analysed using descriptive and analytical statistics.

Results: The results showed similarities between the countries regarding preferred and trusted information sources, use of (social) media, and psychosocial and behavioural effects of such information. Traditional media and social media were frequently used for COVID-19 information. Especially health authorities and researchers were trusted sources, representing the dominant medico-political discourse. There were no differences in negative effect and social behaviour. Residents in Denmark experienced significantly more positive effects than residents in Sweden.

Conclusion: Summarily, the study showed similarities and small differences among residents in both countries related to usage patterns, perceptions and effects of COVID-19 information from (social) media, despite diverging strategies.

Aim: To use a Delphi-panel-based assessment of the effectiveness of different non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) in order to retrospectively approximate and to prospectively predict the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic progression via a SEIR model (susceptible, exposed, infectious, removed).

Methods: We applied an evidence-educated Delphi-panel approach to elicit the impact of NPIs on the SARS-CoV-2 transmission rate R₀ in Germany. Effectiveness was defined as the product of efficacy and compliance. A discrete, deterministic SEIR model with time step of 1 day, a latency period of 1.8 days, duration of infectiousness of 5 days, and a share of the total population of 15% assumed to be protected by immunity was developed in order to estimate the impact of selected NPI measures on the course of the pandemic. The model was populated with the Delphi-panel results and varied in sensitivity analyses.

Results: Efficacy and compliance estimates for the three most effective NPIs were as follows: test and isolate 49% (efficacy)/78% (compliance), keeping distance 42%/74%, personal protection masks (cloth masks or other face masks) 33%/79%. Applying all NPI effectiveness estimates to the SEIR model resulted in a valid replication of reported occurrence of the German SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. A combination of four NPIs at consented compliance rates might curb the CoViD-19 pandemic.

Conclusion: Employing an evidence-educated Delphi-panel approach can support SARS-CoV-2 modelling. Future curbing scenarios require a combination of NPIs. A Delphi-panel-based NPI assessment and modelling might support public health policy decision making by informing sequence and number of needed public health measures.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10389-021-01566-2.

Objectives: COVID-19 disease has progressed to the level of a global pandemic. This study aimed to investigate people's psychological and behavioural responses to the COVID-19 epidemic and explore the predictors for social distancing and panic buying.

Methods: A 17-item questionnaire was developed and distributed randomly to people using social media. Descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA were used to assess people's psychological and behavioural responses. Hierarchical regression was conducted to investigate the predictive effects of psychological and behavioural variables on reports of social distancing and panic buying respectively.

Results: Respondents reported a low degree of risk perception and risk beliefs with regard to being outside, and had moderate psychological stress and positive safeguarding behaviours for being outside. Respondents reported high concern regarding COVID-19 and tended to keep social distancing during the epidemic. They would panic-purchase food and supplies. In addition, psychological stress emerged as a very strong predictor for reporting COVID-19 concerns and panic buying. Furthermore, reported concerns about COVID-19 information sharing had a significant predictive influence on panic buying of food. Safeguarding behaviours for being outside had a significant predictive effect on respondents reported social distancing of cancelling outings. Reported concerns about COVID-19 were stronger predictors for reported social distancing.

Conclusion: It is important to relieve people's psychological stress and manage information sharing to control panic buying. In addition, we should promote adoption of safeguarding behaviours for being outside and emphasise the concerns with regard to COVID-19 to encourage people keep social distancing. Measures should be implemented according to the characteristics of the population.

Objective: This study investigates the current situation and influencing factors of the nursing practice environment in Shenzhen, China, and provides suggestions for improving it.

Background: Nursing shortage is an urgent global problem and also of concern in China. Studies have shown that better work environments are related to high job satisfaction and better patient outcomes.

Methods: The 37-item Practice Environment Scale was used to assess the nursing practice environment. Respondents were 1116 nurses from five general tertiary hospitals in Shenzhen.

Results: The mean satisfaction score for the nursing practice environment was 3.63 ± 0.72 (where 5 is the highest possible score). Position, being a specialist nurse, choice of nursing major, educational attainment, and night shifts significantly affected nurses' working environment satisfaction.

Conclusion: The practice environment of nurses was satisfactory. We recommend reducing the workload and encouraging nurses to complete specialist training, and supporting nurses to expand their roles in hospitals and society to improve the nursing practice environment.

Aims: Gastroenteritis is a digestive disorder among children with symptoms of abdominal cramps, diarrhoea, and vomiting. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of gastroenteritis in children in the Bannu district in 2019, and also contributed for adopting preventive measures to reduce mortality in children.

Subject and methods: A retrospective study was conducted to determine the prevalence of gastroenteritis in children in Bannu. The data were collected from official registers of admission maintained in the children wards in the Women and Children Hospital, Bannu. Patients with symptoms of gastroenteritis at the outpatient department were admitted to one of the children wards.

Results: Overall, 1456 children-897 (61.4%) males and 559 (38.6%) females-suffered from gastroenteritis during the study period. The age group ≤6 months demonstrated the highest share (37.8%), followed by >6 m ≤ 1y (35.5%), >1y ≤ 2y (15.8%), >2y ≤ 5y (7.3%), >5 ≤ 10y (3.2%), and > 10y ≤ 15y (0.4%). Overall, 89.1% of cases were from children ≤2 years old and 96.4% of cases were attributed to children ≤ 5 years of age. April demonstrated the highest percentage of prevalence of 17.7, followed by May (13.5%), November (13%), June (11.7%), September (10.4%), October (9.8%), July (9.5%), August (8.4%), March (3.4%), and February (2.6%). The age group ≤6 m was the dominant group during February through May and was replaced by the age group >6 m ≤ 1y during August through November.

Conclusion: Gastroenteritis showed a reduced prevalence when shifted from lower to higher age groups. Being male and age group ≤6 m showed the highest prevalence of gastroenteritis with the peak of disease in April. Further research is needed to determine the cause-based prevalence of different gastroenteritis cases in the study area.

Aim: This study aimed at exploring the perception and experiences with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic among Bangladeshi urban young adults.

Subject and methods: Using a mixed-method approach, an online cross-sectional survey among 315 participants and in-depth interviews (IDI) among 20 young adults were conducted from May 1 to May 25, 2020. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were performed for quantitative data, along with the thematic analysis for qualitative data.

Results: The mean (± SD) age of the participants was 26.54 (± 3.05), and the majority were male (54.9%). About 81.6% of the participants reported COVID-19 as a viral disease, transmitted through droplets of sneezing and coughing, and close contact with another person (90.8%). Nearly 40% of participants reported news channels as a reliable source of information for COVID-19. Participants who were male were less likely to be aware than females in terms of mode of transmission of COVID-19 such as going outside of the home (82.7% male vs 90.8% female; p < 0.05). Male participants thought they were perfectly healthy and more reluctant to agree with maintaining social distance compared to female participants (72.8% male vs 90.1% female; p < 0.001). Participant's satisfaction level with services provided by the government was also significantly different and higher among females than male participants (39.9% male vs 53.5% female; p < 0.05). The majority of the participants reported suffering due to financial uncertainty, psychological distress, and inadequate health facilities. Dissatisfaction was reported with the existing health services as creating several misconceptions, lacking testing facilities, and debasement by the health professionals.

Conclusion: This study found a better perception regarding COVID-19 among the young adults, but they had poor preventive practices. Health education intervention with the rapid response should be implemented targeting this vulnerable group to improve their preventive practices.

Background and objectives: The World Health Organization (WHO) announced the appearance of a new coronavirus disease in Hubei province, China, to be a public health emergency of international concern. The objectives of this study can be highlighted through classifying the information sources for identifying protective practices, death probability, gender-death associations probability and education level.

Methodology: This is a descriptive design study conducted among the Kurdistan Region/Iraq population via an online application between 1 March and 1 May 2020. Three hundred twenty people participated in this questionnaire study. The data were collected through an online form, relying upon a self-report questionnaire. The questionnaire had three main parts. The first part is related to the socio-demographic characteristics of the sample, including gender, age, family status, address status and education level. The second part involves the items related to precautionary measures using none, sometimes, and always. The last part contains items related to death probability owing to other causes and this includes five categories: extremely low, low, intermediate, high and extremely high. The validity and reliability of this questionnaire were revised by the panel of experts before the data collection.

Results: The outcomes of the study revealed that the majority, ca. 73%, of the Kurdistan Region/Iraq population depended on TV to obtain information about COVID-19. Also, this investigation showed that there is a substantial association between participants with infection prevention and control practices relevant to COVID-19. Moreover, according to this study, there is a significant relationship between the death probability and COVID-19. Concurrently, there is not any significant association between other causes, namely cancer, heart diseases, diabetes and road traffic accidents, and the death probability.

Conclusion: This study showed that for the majority of the Kurdistan Region/Iraq population the most reliable source of information for any COVID-19 related updates is the TV broadcast. This study also indicated that there is strong association for the majority of individuals regarding their practices for prevention from COVID-19 and death probability with COVID-19. However, there is not any substantial association between the epidemic and the other deadly calamities and the death probability.