Allied Health Sciences Research Articles

Effect of educational interventions addressing blood groups and donation aspects on the knowledge and attitude of allied health sciences students

Objective: To determine the effect of educational interventions on knowledge and approach of Allied Health Sciences Students regarding blood groups and blood donation. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study conducted at the department of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine, University of Child Health Sciences, The Children’s Hospital, Lahore from October 2022-January 2023. A self-designed questionnaire was used to assess the baseline knowledge of students followed by educational interventions in the form of small group discussions, video lectures and practical demonstrations. Post-interventions assessment was done using the same questionnaire 30 days later. Data obtained was analyzed using SPSS-23 software. A p-Value <0.05 was considered significant. The reliability of the questionnaire was checked after the pilot study by using the SPSS-23 software and calculated Cronbach’s Alpha was 0.82. Results: Of the 99 participants, there were 13 males and 86 females with mean age of 21.41±1.478 years. Pre-interventions, majority participants had moderate knowledge (81.8%). Medical Lab technologists showed better baseline knowledge than the rest. Post-interventions, the level of knowledge among students increased to 94.9%. Pre-interventions, knowledge about blood groups and donation ranged from 14.1-79% and 25.5-77.8% correct responses respectively while post-interventions it went up to 92-100% for both aspects. The willingness to donate blood in future raised from 46.4% to 92.9%. Conclusions: Educational interventions were effective in improving the knowledge of Allied Health Sciences students about blood groups and blood donation. The enlightenment strategies positively influenced students towards the active participation in blood donation campaigns. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.40.10.8803 How to cite this: Saqlain N, Habib H, Riaz S, Hareem S. Effect of educational interventions addressing blood groups and donation aspects on the knowledge and attitude of allied health sciences students . Pak J Med Sci. 2024;40(10):2261-2266. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.40.10.8803 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Assessment of Knowledge and Attitude of Allied Health Sciences Students Regarding Depression Among Patients

ABSTRACT: A prevalent and dangerous medical condition that hurts a person's feelings, thoughts, and behavior is depression. As stated by WHO, “A typical symptom of depression is a loss of interest in activities that one usually enjoys and a persistent sadness that lasts for at least two weeks, making it difficult to carry out daily activities”. Additional symptoms include low energy, altered appetite, increased or decreased sleep, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, difficulty making decisions, restlessness, feelings of guilt, hopelessness, or unworthiness, and suicidal thoughts. In 2015, it was projected that there were over 300 million cases of depression worldwide or 4.3% of the world's population. As per the 2015-2016 National Mental Health Survey (NMHS), one in every 20 Indians has depression, and approximately 15% of adult Indians require active care for one or more mental health conditions. According to statistics, depression accounts for 7.5% of all years survived with an infirmity in 2015, making it the leading cause of disability worldwide. When depression reaches its worst, it can result in suicide, which claims the lives of over 800,000 individuals annually. For those aged 15 to 29, it is the second most common cause of death1. Allied Health Sciences Students as primary health care workers/professionals will play an important part in identifying the symptoms of depression if any in a patient even when they come for a different health issue.

Stressors and coping mechanism among university students

Background: Stress is a global public health challenge that affects all ages especially students, it is responsible for major psychological breakdown and considered to be a silent killer. This study aimed at investigating the factors influencing stress among students with emphasis on socio-demographic profile, stressors, the effects and coping mechanism. Methods: Cross-sectional study design was utilized, with 230 subjects from different colleges at the Virgen Milagrosa University Foundation (VMUF), Pangasinan, Philippines; Data was retrieved using semi structured questionnaire and analyzed using the frequency distribution table, percentage, average mean, the weighted mean and the Pearson correlation coefficient (r). Result: The result showed that most respondents were 17-19 years old (38.3%), males (63.0%), Roman Catholic (64.3%), in the Allied Health Sciences (53.0%), 2nd year level (39.6%) whose parents were married (88.3%), mostly working in the private section (mothers: 33.0%) and (fathers; 51.3%), earning more than Php10,000.00 (48.7%) per month. Students are moderately stressed by various stressors as evident by the symptoms though developed various coping strategies however, these stressors could be physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral in nature. A relationship exists between age, sex, program of study, parent’s occupation and stressors, while the effects of stress is positively related to age, sex, religion, year level, marital status and parents occupation. Nevertheless there was a positive relationship with various coping mechanism. Conclusion: In conclusions, stress is an inevitable aspect of life with various effects on students, it is important to develop policies to evaluate the impact among students to avoid its consequences.

Perceptions and Patterns of Self-Medication Among Undergraduate Medical, Allied Health Sciences and Non-Medical Students in Peshawar, Pakistan

Perceptions and Patterns of Self-Medication Among Undergraduate Medical, Allied Health Sciences and Non-Medical Students in Peshawar, Pakistan

Learning environment and its relationship with quality of life and burn-out among undergraduate medical students in Pakistan: a cross-sectional study

ObjectiveThis study was conducted to determine the association between the learning environment, quality of life (QoL), and burn-out among students from selected public-sector and private-sector medical colleges in Lahore, Pakistan.DesignThis...

Trends and Predictors of Students’ Academic Performances by Levels of Study in University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ghana: A Longitudinal Surveillance Study Among a Cohort of 2020 Graduating Class of Undergraduates at the School of Allied Health Sciences in Ho North Campus

Background: Ascertainment of trends and predictors of academic performances among Allied Health students is critical to United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals 3, 4 and 8. This article assesses the dynamics and academic risk factors associated with students’ performances at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Ghana. Method: This is a longitudinal cohort study, designed to evaluate retrospectively, the academic records of 180 students of the 2020 graduating class of undergraduates in the School of Allied Health Sciences. The published grades of each student from levels 100 to 400 were collated using a data extraction log that was quality controlled, double-entered and statistically analysed using Microsoft Visual Basic and STATA platforms respectively. The trends and predictors of academic performances by levels were determined using the Cochrane-Armitage test for trends and the Cochran-Martin-Haenszel test for association respectively. Results: The mean rates of scoring grades ‘A’, ‘B+’, ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘D’ and ‘E/F’ among this cohort were 22.2%, 21.2%, 23.3%, 25.8%, 7.9% and 0.5% respectively. The inter-variations in a proportion of grades within the levels were statistically significant (p<0.01). However, the intra-variations in proportional distribution of grades trended insignificantly across the levels (p>0.05). Although, the Spearman’s coefficient depicted a strong negative correlation between grade ‘A’ and levels (r= -0.9); the associations were only between grade ‘A’ and level 200s (OR=1.9; CI: 1.05-1. 33, p<0.001) and between grade ‘A’ and level 300 (OR=1.4;(CI: 1.25-1.59), p<0.001). Conclusion: The cumulative proportion of 43.4% students scoring grade ‘A’ and ‘B +’ reflected above average performances in SAHS. However the distribution of grades on Gaussian curve deviates the Central Limit Theorem. In addition, the observed negative correlation between trends of grade ‘A’ from lower (100) to high (400) levels of studies deviates Bloom’s and SOLO Taxonomies, and Trans-Theoretical Model (TTM) of assessing students’ learning progression. These phenomena have Quality Assurance, Academic Policy and Research implications. Therefore, the use of modify (hybrid) grading System is strongly recommended in SAHS. Also, we strongly recommend an extended study to determine factors that affect the poor performances of levels 100 and 400 students in SAHS.

Preface

5th International Conference on Civil Engineering Trends and Challenges for Sustainability (CTCS-2023) (Under the Aegis of ICETE 2023 Multi-Conference Platform) 19th & 20th December 2023 Organized by Department of Civil Engineering About NITTE (Deemed to be University) Nitte (Deemed-to-be University) has its roots in a group of Institutions established by the Nitte Education Trust. The Trust was established in 1979 by one of India’s respected Statesman, Late Justice KS Hegde, Supreme Court Judge and Speaker of Lok Sabha, with the mission of empowering rural youth through quality education and healthcare. The Trust has established 36 institutions spread in three campuses at Nitte, Mangalore and Bangalore. It offers education in diverse areas of learning including health professions education, engineering, management, humanities, general education, vocational training, and school/pre-university education. The University offers a total of 98 programs in the disciplines of engineering, medicine, allied health sciences, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, physiotherapy, speech and audiology, biological sciences, media & communication, commerce, science, management, and Architecture. It has 10,000+ students, over 875 faculty members and over 2475 support staff on roll. The University campuses are spread over 52 acres in Deralakatte-Paneer areas of Mangalore and 110 acres in Nitte. The University received A+ Grading in NAAC accreditation in 2021. It has been consistently placed in the Top 65-80 rank band in NIRF. The University is placed in the 401 to 450 Rank Band in the QS Rankings for Asia Region. It has received Diamond rating in the QS I-Gauge India Ratings. The Constituent colleges of the university have good standing in their disciplines in the NIRF rankings. In 2023, Nitte University has obtained 65th Rank, the dental college ranked 5th and pharmacy colleges ranked 46th in NIRF. The BPharm program of the University is accredited by NBA. The teaching hospital is accredited by both NABH and NABL. About the Institute Nitte Mahalinga Adyantaya Memorial Institute of Technology(NMAMIT), Nitte, established in 1986 and recognized by the All India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi, has been a constituent college of Nitte (Deemed to be University), Mangaluru, since June 2022. Rank band 101-150 in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2023 by Ministry of Education, Government of India, the College has been placed under ‘Platinum’ category for having high industry linkages by the AICTE-CII Survey of Industry-Linked Technical Institutes 2020. NMAMIT, the off-campus centre of Nitte DU located at Nitte village, has active collaborations with several international universities and organizations for faculty and student exchanges, research, internships and placements. The Institute offers UG engineering program in eleven disciplines; Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning (AI&ML), Artificial Intelligence & Data Science (AI&DS), Biotechnology (BT), Civil Engineering(CIV), Computer & Communication Engineering (CCE), Computer Science & Engineering(CS), Electrical & Electronics Engineering (E&E), Electronics & Communication Engineering (E&C), Information Science & Engineering (IS), Mechanical Engineering(MECH) and Robotics & Artificial Intelligence (R&AI ). Out of these programs, seven UG programs i.e., BT, CIV, CS, E&E, E&C, IS and MECH are accredited by NBA, New Delhi under Tier - I category till 30 June 2025. The institute also offers PG program M.Tech. in seven disciplines namely Construction Technology, Computer Science & Engineering, Cyber Security, Electric Vehicle Technology, Machine Design, Structural Engineering and VLSI Design & Embedded Systems as well as MCA program. All the departments have qualified research guides for students interested in taking up research work leading to Ph.D. List of About the Organizing Department, About the Conference, Keynote Speakers, Theme of the Conference, Thrust Areas, Publication Partner, Paper Submission, Accommodation, Conference Location and Contact Us are available in this Pdf.

Perceptions of Allied Health Students about lecture and peer‐assisted learning

Background. Students’ perceptions of the educational methodology are valuable for improving the quality of the educational environment. However, there is limited literature on students’ perceptions of lectures and peer-assisted learning (PAL) within the School of Biomedical and Allied Health Sciences. Objectives. To determine the perceptions of allied health students across different study levels regarding the effectiveness of lectures and PAL as educational strategies. Methods. This cross-sectional study involved 213 Allied Health students from levels 200 to 400 at the University of Ghana. Data were collected using an adopted perceptions questionnaire. Perceptions of lectures and PAL were analysed using means and mean percentages. A one-way ANOVA test was performed to compare differences in perceptions among students at various study levels, while the independent sample t-test was used to compare differences in perceptions between male and female students. Results. PAL had the highest mean scores, with a global rating of 4.1 (standard deviation (SD) 0.8) compared with 3.5 (SD 0.8) for lectures (p<0.00). There were no differences in perceptions about lectures and PAL among levels 200 to 400 students. Female students had a more positive perception of PAL, while both male and female students had the same positive perceptions about lectures. Conclusions. Students generally had positive perceptions about lectures and PAL; however, PAL was acknowledged as an alternative that provides students with active educational experiences. PAL may be incorporated into the standard curriculum alongside lectures.

Awareness about Modified Adenosine among Allied Health Science Students

Awareness about Modified Adenosine among Allied Health Science Students

Awareness about N6- Carbamoylmethyladenine among Allied Health Science Students

Awareness about N6- Carbamoylmethyladenine among Allied Health Science Students

Awareness about Chromosomal Theory of Inheritance among Allied Health Science Students

Awareness about Chromosomal Theory of Inheritance among Allied Health Science Students

Awareness of Complete Dominance Relationships among Allied Health Science Students

Awareness of Complete Dominance Relationships among Allied Health Science Students

Depression, Anxiety, and Stress among Allied Health Sciences undergraduates: A Cross-Sectional Study at a Defence University in Sri Lanka

The mental health of university undergraduates is a critical concern globally, with challenges faced by students in unique academic environments. This study was conducted at General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University to assess the prevalence of mental health issues and identify associations with participant characteristics. A descriptive cross-sectional study involving 640 allied health sciences undergraduates was performed. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 Items (DASS-21) was utilized for evaluation. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS 23.0, and associations were explored using Spearman's correlation and Pearson's chi-square tests. Ethical approval was obtained, ensuring participant confidentiality and informed consent. The study revealed mild to extremely severe symptoms of depression (35.1%), anxiety (40.5%), and stress (27.7%) among the participants. Strong positive relationships were identified between depression and anxiety (r=0.707, p=.000), depression and stress (r=0.722, p=.000), and anxiety and stress (r=0.658, p=.000). Significant associations were found between mental health levels and participants currently receiving medical treatments and those with a history of psychological treatments. While one-third of the participants exhibited concerning levels of mental health symptoms, our study indicated comparatively lower rates than did previous research in Sri Lanka. The findings highlight the need to enhance mental health support and accessibility of services for university undergraduates. The study contributes valuable insights for future research and interventions, emphasizing the unique challenges faced by students in a defence university setting.

Awareness about Nitrous Oxide among Allied Health Science Students

Awareness about Nitrous Oxide among Allied Health Science Students

Awareness of Pericardial Effusion among Allied Health Sciences Students

Awareness of Pericardial Effusion among Allied Health Sciences Students

Awareness about Desflurane among Allied Health Science Students

Awareness about Desflurane among Allied Health Science Students

Awareness about Methoxyflurane among Allied Health Science Students

Awareness about Methoxyflurane among Allied Health Science Students

Awareness of Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) Among Allied Health Science Students

Awareness of Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) Among Allied Health Science Students

Awareness about Cardiomyopathy among Allied Health Science Students

Awareness about Cardiomyopathy among Allied Health Science Students

Development of Competency Profile for Doctoral Candidates in Diagnostic Healthcare Fields: A Scoping Review

Background: Competency frameworks play a crucial role in guiding the education and training of doctoral candidates in diagnostic healthcare Fields. This scoping review aims to systematically map the existing literature on the development of competency frameworks and competency profiles tailored for doctoral-level education in diagnostic healthcare professions, particularly Pathology. Methodology: The Arksey and O’Malley framework was applied to undertake this scoping review. A comprehensive search strategy was developed using a combination of medical subject headings (MeSH) terms and keywords related to competency frameworks, clinical competence, professional competence, diagnostic healthcare profession, doctoral education, and synonyms. Electronic databases such as PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science were searched, along with targeted searches of grey literature sources like Google scholar. We screened studies for inclusion by title and abstract, and we included studies of any type that described the development of a competency profile/framework for doctoral candidates in a Diagnostic healthcare profession. Data compilation was qualitative. Results: The total records identified from the databases were n=204,351. Out of these the records removed before screening were Duplicate records removed (n =137,300). Records marked as ineligible by automation tools (n =51030), Records removed for other reasons (n =12,521). Records screened were n=3500. Based on the exclusion criteria n=3253 records were excluded. Reports which could not be retrieved were n=122. Finally, n=135 reports were assessing for eligibility and out of these n=71 were excluded from Allied Health Sciences and n=64 were excluded because they focused primarily on competencies of Nursing students. Finally, n=21 studies were included in the scoping review and the findings were charted. Conclusion: We observed significant variation within the conduct and reporting of the competency framework development process. While some variation can be expected given the differences across and within medical professions, our results suggest there is some difficulty in determining whether methods were fit-for-purpose, and therefore in making determinations regarding the appropriateness of the development process. This uncertainty may unwillingly create and legitimize uncertain or artificial outcomes. There is a need for improved guidance in the process for developing and reporting competency frameworks.