Mean Years Of Experience Research Articles

Physical environmental and occupational factors inducing work-related neck and shoulder pains among self-employed tailors of informal sectors in Ethiopia, 2019: results from a community based cross-sectional study

BackgroundMusculoskeletal disorders (MSD) caused by occupational-related factors continue to place huge burdens on global workforces. Significant numbers of workers report potential adverse health outcomes related to the condition, such as physical injury, disability, and decline in quality of life. Occupational-related MSD also poses additional burdens to healthcare services and diminishes productivity at work. The condition usually worsens in informal sectors where the work environments are often poorly designed. This paper explored occupational and physical environmental factors that induce work-related neck and/or shoulder pains among self-employed tailors in Gondar city, Northwest Ethiopia.MethodsWe conducted across-sectional survey from April to May 2019 on 422 tailors selected with systematic random sampling technique. Nordic Musculoskeletal questionnaire was used to measure pains in neck and/or shoulder, and the questionnaire was pretested and administered by interviewers. Work-related factors such as working posture, rest break, training in safety and health, and the availability of adjustable chairs at workplaces were assessed. The significance of associations was set at a < 0.05 p-value and adjusted odds ratios (AOR) with a confidence interval (CI) of 95% were used to determine strength of associations.ResultsA total of 419 tailors participated with a response rate of 99.3%. The mean age and mean years of experience were 29.23 (SD ± 7.03) and 1.48 (SD ± 0.50) years, respectively. The study found that the prevalence of pain in either neck or shoulder or both sites in the last 12 months was 66.6% (N = 279) [95% CI (62.1, 71.1)]. Pains in shoulder and neck were observed in 72.1% (N = 302)[95% CI (67.8, 76.4)] and 68.3% (N = 286) [95% CI (64.0, 72.6)] of the interviewees, respectively. The majority, 78.1% (n = 218) of those with pains indicated they were prevented from doing normal daily activities. Work experience (AOR = 1.81), rest break (AOR = 2.13), awkward working posture (AOR = 2.60), prolonged sitting (AOR = 2.00) and inadequate light (AOR = 5.02) were significantly associated factors of neck and/ or shoulder pains.ConclusionWork-related neck and/or shoulder pain induced by physical factors of the work environment among self-employed tailors is pervasive in Ethiopia. Efforts to curb the condition, therefore, need to impalement diverse approaches addressing the physical environment and occupational factors. We also promote the integration of schemes for the effective use of rest breaks into health and safety programs in the workplace.

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF STRUCTUTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF POULTRY EGG MARKETING IN KANO METROPOLIS, KANO STATE, NIGERIA

This study analyzed the structural characteristics of poultry egg marketing in five selected markets in Kano metropolis. Data were collected with the aid of questionnaires and were analyzed using descriptive statistics and gini coefficient. The study revealed that all marketers were males with an average age of 38 years and 27 years for wholesalers and retailers respectively. For wholesalers, the average household size is 8 and 5 for the retailers. According to the result, the wholesalers had 15 years as mean years of experience in poultry-egg marketing and retailers have 7 years. The result showed that the average duration of stay of the wholesalers is 15 years and 7 years for retailers. The study showed that 79.5% of the wholesalers were married and 20.5% are single while for the retailers 65.9% are married and 34.04% are single. The result indicated that about 66.7% of the wholesalers and 87.2% are literates. Result of the Gini coefficient analysis showed a high level concentration of 0.48 and 0.54 for wholesalers and retailers. The result shows that 100% of both wholesalers and retailers have free entry and exit in to the egg market, majority of the wholesalers (79.5%) do not belong to any cooperative society, while the remaining (20.5%) belong to one or more cooperative societies while 100% of the retailers do not belong to any cooperative group. It is recommended that good roads and storage facilities should be provided for the people in order to reduce the rate .

Perceived Effects of Adoption of Recommended Practices among Rural Farmers of Nigeria

The study assessed the perceived effects of recommended practices on levels of hygienic practices,health-care Expenditure, and productive time for Agricultural Activities and children school attendances among the rural farmers in Mokwa Local Government area of Niger State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 311 of rural populace. Data were collected using structured questionnaire as well as interview schedule and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The mean age of the respondents was 46 years while the mean household size was 9 persons. Also, the mean years of experience was 20.8 years while 41.4% of the respondents had primary education. The mean household income was Nigerian Naira N175,500.00. The serious constraints to adoption of recommended practices were bad attitude and lack of credit facilities It is recommended that environmental health workers should be empowered to enforce sanctions on noncompliance with adoption of recommended practices and efforts should be made by stakeholders to sustain this channel of sensitization.

The perceptions and attitudes of medical doctors towards family medicine in Duhok City-Iraq

Background and objectives: Family physicians have an important role in the management of personal and family-associated health conditions. The aim of this study was to explore the attitudes of medical specialists’ doctors towards family medicine and family practice as a discipline. Methods: A total of 150 doctors working in Duhok governorate were asked to present their opinions on professional characteristics and factors influencing the doctors’ opinions about family medicine and practice. Results: The mean age of medical doctors was 39.21 (SD: 6.22 years) with mean years of experience were 14.13 years. Majority of the participants were males (86.7%), and most of them working in both public and private sectors (84.7%). About two-third of participants (64.7%) agreed that the family medicine had a high level of scientific prestige equivalent to other specialties (61.3%) and that family practice is an interesting specialty from a research perspective (74.0%). A lower percentage (42.0%) reported that the specialty has a high status within the medical fields. However, a small percentage reported that can obtain a high salary (20%) if they were family physician. The most important factor that had an impact on the doctor’s opinion for family medicine selection was their experiences during the study (67%). The agreement of the doctors with different specialties towards the high salary of family medicine compared to other medical specialties was not significantly different. Conclusions: Most of the doctors in various disciplines emphasized that family medicine has an essential role in the management of a wide range of medical conditions with a critic on low salary.

Community Pharmacist’s Knowledge, Practice and Barrier towards Reporting of Adverse Drug Reactions in Dammam, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Survey Based Study

: Objectives: The current study aims to assess community pharmacist’s knowledge, practice and barriers towards ADR reporting systems in the Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 1st August 2019 to 31st October 2019 among the Community pharmacies in the Dammam, Saudi Arabia. 101 easily approachable community pharmacists participated in study. Results: The survey was sent to the 150 community pharmacists (CP), while only 101 surveys were received completely filled, the response rate of survey was 67.33%. The mean age of the survey respondents were 35.2±6.66 years. Among all the respondents 73(72.27%) were male and 28(27.73%) were female. Mean years of experience was 7.5±3.37. Overall, 90 (89.1%) respondents familiar with the term Pharmacovigilance (p<0.05). 40 (39.60%) community pharmacists agreed upon that they have sufficient knowledge and training on how to report ADRs (p<0.05). 67(66.34%) respondents never reported new ADR (not mentioned in drug leaflet) for any drug (p=0.001). 55(54.45%) respondents prevent different kind of serious ADRs during their practice (p=0.370). Conclusion: Community pharmacist working in Dammam were found to be unsatisfactory knowledge and practice on ADR reporting. The study also identified factors contribute in under reporting of ADR by community pharmacist. Drug regulatory agency and pharmacovigilance centres should take necessary steps to increase the awareness on ADR reporting among community pharmacist.Key words: ADR (Adverse Drug Reaction), Community pharmacist, Dammam, Knowledge, Saudi Arabia.

Effect of Intervention Training on Pharmacists’ Knowledge and Attitude to Antibacterial Counselling

The effectiveness of counselling patients on antibacterial rational use by pharmacists depends on their knowledge and attitude to counselling.This study evaluated the effect of intervention training on pharmacists’ antibacterial therapy knowledge and attitude to counselling.&#x0D; It was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study among all the pharmacists (n=45) responsible for patients’ antibacterial counselling in seventeen government secondary health care institutions in Ogun state of Nigeria between November 2017 and May 2018. Identified deficits were addressed through intervention and re-assessment was carried out after a month.&#x0D; Twenty four (53.3%) were females. Twenty one (46.7%) had hospital pharmacy experience of over 10 years and mean year of experience was 10.7±6.7. Sixteen (35.6%) and 36 (80.0%) believed that antibacterial resistance may be prevented by taking antibacterial medication at regular intervals at the baseline and post intervention phases respectively. Thirty three (73.3%) and 44 (97.8%) had the opinion that pharmacists and patients are active participants in effective antibacterial counselling at the two phases respectively. Twenty eight (62.2%) and 44 (97.8%) had scores ≥ 70.0% signifying good knowledge pre and post intervention respectively.&#x0D; Disclosure of antibacterial identity to patients was believed to be necessary by thirty six (80.0%) and 43 (95.6%) while 27 (60.0%) and 43 (95.6%) exhibited positive attitude to antibacterial counselling at the two phases respectively. There was significant improvement in antibacterial knowledge and attitude to counselling (p &lt; 0.001) post intervention. Regular antibacterial therapy and counselling training is hereby recommended for pharmacists.

What Matters Most to Patients and Rheumatologists? A Discrete Choice Experiment in Rheumatoid Arthritis.

IntroductionTo determine patient and rheumatologist preferences for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment attributes in Spain and to evaluate their attitude towards shared decision-making (SDM).MethodsObservational, descriptive, exploratory and cross-sectional study based on a discrete choice experiment (DCE). To identify the attributes and their levels, a literature review and two focus groups (patients [P] = 5; rheumatologists [R] = 4) were undertaken. Seven attributes with 2–4 levels were presented in eight scenarios. Attribute utility and relative importance (RI) were assessed using a conditional logit model. Patient preferences for SDM were assessed using an ad hoc questionnaire.ResultsNinety rheumatologists [52.2% women; mean years of experience 18.1 (SD: 9.0); seeing an average of 24.4 RA patients/week (SD: 15.3)] and 137 RA patients [mean age: 47.5 years (SD: 10.7); 84.0% women; mean time since diagnosis of RA: 14.2 years (SD: 11.8) and time in treatment: 13.2 years (SD: 11.2), mean HAQ score 1.2 (SD: 0.7)] participated in the study. In terms of RI, rheumatologists and RA patients viewed: time with optimal QoL: R: 23.41%/P: 35.05%; substantial symptom improvement: R: 13.15%/P: 3.62%; time to onset of treatment action: R: 16.24%/P: 13.56%; severe adverse events: R: 10.89%/P: 11.20%; mild adverse events: R: 4.16%/P: 0.91%; mode of administration: R: 25.23%/P: 25.00%; and added cost: R: 6.93%/P: 10.66%. Nearly 73% of RA patients were involved in treatment decision-making to a greater or lesser extent; however, 27.4% did not participate at all.ConclusionBoth for rheumatologists and patients, the top three decision-making drivers are time with optimal quality, treatment mode of administration and time to onset of action, although in different ranking order. Patients were willing to be more involved in the treatment decision-making process.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s12325-020-01258-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

PARTICIPATION OF RURAL WOMEN IN EXPLOITATION OF NON-TIMBER FOREST PRODUCTS AS A MEANS OF SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

The study examined the participation of rural women in exploitation of non-timber forest products (NTFPs), as a means of sustainable livelihood in Southwestern Nigeria. A number of 320 respondents were interviewed through pre-tested structured interview schedule in the four purposively selected forest reserves using a multistage sampling procedure. Data collected were presented using appropriate descriptive and inferential statistics. The mean age and mean year of experience in NTFPs exploitation were 40.9 ± 11.5 years and16.4±3.4 years, respectively. NTFPs participated by the respondents in the study area were palm fruits, vegetables, snails and fire wood among others. Actor categories identify in the NTFPs business chain were collectors, processors, traders among others. In addition, majority of the respondents show willingness to continue in NTFPs exploitation irrespective of alternative livelihood. The findings revealed that age (t=2.39), number of hours of collection per week (t=3.48), years of experience of NTFPs exploitation (t= -3.88) and external orientation (t=2.20) of respondents significantly contributed to their participation in NTFPs exploitation. The study concludes that participation in NTFPs exploitation by the respondents was moderate. It was recommended that more enlightenment programmes should be organized by relevant stakeholders for the rural women to create awareness on the income generation opportunities that abound in the NTFPs activities.

Migraine burden and clinical inertia: what can we do?

To study the compliance of neurologists and headache specialists to chronic headache and chronic migraine (CM) diagnosis and treatment guidelines. The survey included 634 neurologists from all regions of the Russian Federation. Mean age of respondents was 40.7±8.5 years, mean years of experience 14.2±7.8 years. Most doctors work in outpatient or hospital settings (49% and 24%, respectively), 7% were headache specialists. Tension-type headache (TTH) was diagnosed in 30% and CM in 17% of patients while 44% of patients were presumed to have a mixed headache disorder (TTH+CM). Only 10% of physicians do not use instrumental diagnostic methods in chronic headache. This study has shown sufficient attention to comorbid conditions and frequent prescription of headache preventative treatment. Botox prescription data is equivocal: 35% of physicians recommend such treatment, 27% do not, while other doctors prescribe it for off-label indications. To overcome clinical inertia, further education in chronic headaches and their optimal treatment is warranted.

Barriers and facilitators in implementing an exercise-based injury prevention program for string players.

Musicians are at risk of developing playing-related injuries/musculoskeletal problems - to the extent that several injury-prevention strategies have been employed by them. In order to ensure compliance and improve implementation strategies, this study explores the opinions of musicians and music tutors on the barriers and facilitators in implementing an injury prevention program for string players, and the perceptions of the first mentioned as to the practicality of such an exercise-based injury prevention program. This study employed a qualitative method (focus group discussion) to explore the opinions of musicians on exercise-based injury-prevention programs for string players and their implementation strategies. Content thematic analysis was used to analyze and interpret the data. Two music schools, with 11 musicians, participated in the study. The mean age and the mean years of experience of the participants were 28.2±6 years and 12.4±3.8 years respectively. The results of this study showed willingness in the musicians to adopt an exercise-based injury prevention program. However, the major challenge proved to be the time constraint of including an exercise program in the participants' normal practice and teaching routines. There is a willingness to explore possible exercise-based intervention programs to mitigate or prevent instrument-playing-related health problems. However, time constraints proved to be the major barrier to implementation. It was further concluded that consideration should be given to the duration of the intervention program and the mode to adopt in the implementation of the exercise program.

Validated Intraoperative Bleeding Scale (Vibe Scale): Relevance and Utility in Gynecological Surgery

Study Objective This study investigates the reliability and repeatability of using a Validated Intraoperative Bleeding Scale (VIBe SCALE) to assess intraoperative bleeding by gynecological surgeons. This scale describes bleeding using rate and nature of blood loss, which are thought to improve blood loss estimates. Design Through an online platform, surgeons self-trained on the VIBe SCALE and then graded 15 videos with known rates of blood loss. A Kendall's W was calculated for inter-observer agreement (reproducibility) using ten unique videos within the video set and intra-observer agreement (repeatability) using five duplicate videos within the video set. Setting N/A Patients or Participants Eight surgeons board certified in obstetrics/gynecology and eight board certified in gynecological oncology participated. Mean years of experience was 16.1 years (range 4-30, N=16), and majority reported using hemostatic agents in practice (15/16, 94%). Interventions N/A Measurements and Main Results Inter- and intra-observer agreement was “excellent” with values of 0.92 and 0.99, respectively. Majority of surgeons accurately graded blood loss in 5 of 10 unique videos; accuracy improved when a video was repeated, with majority correctly grading blood loss in 4 of 5 duplicate videos. Of the four domains within the scale, visual presentation was the most used (16/16, 100%) and considered most relevant (12/16, 75%). Rate of blood loss was the second most used (13/16, 81%) and considered the second most relevant (3/16, 19%). Conclusion Surgeons can grade bleeding using the VIBe SCALE with excellent reliability, and their accuracy improved with use. This supports that surgeons can more accurately assess blood loss by considering the rate and nature of blood loss rather than volume. Use of the VIBe SCALE may also improve early recognition of bleeding, increase communication within the operating room about bleeding and expedite the treatment of bleeding.

Knowledge, attitude and practice among private medical professionals enrolled in public private partnership program for prevention of mother to child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus in three districts of Karnataka

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), is one of the world’s most serious public health challenges. Nearly all young children newly infected with HIV are infected through mother-to-child transmission. Only about half of the HIV infected mothers received ART and quarter of the babies born through HIV infected mothers receive ARV prophylaxis. This low coverage due to a high proportion of women delivering in private health facilities. Lack of policy for the private sector, inadequate knowledge and fear of occupational exposure are some barriers.Methods: A cross sectional study conducted among private practitioners enrolled in parent to child transmission (PPTCT) program in three districts of Karnataka. 175 obstetricians and pediatricians engaged in giving care to HIV infected mother and children were selected randomly and were interviewed using a pre tested semi structured questionnaire and the scores were graded.Results: Mean age of the participants was 38.95 years with SD of 9.12 years. The mean years of experience was found to be 14.36 years with SD of 6.45 years. The knowledge was average scoring 66.56%. The attitude and practice were 69.21% and 64.21% respectively. The mean score for KAP was 28.89 (9.56) out of 43 questions. There was significant association between age of the participants, specialization and years of experience with scoring.Conclusions: The knowledge, attitude and practice among private practitioners were average. To enhance the coverage of PMTCT, there is a need for strengthening private sector with strong political will thus reducing morbidity and mortality of the disease.

Assessment of Nurses’ Performance Regarding Care of Children Undergoing Hemodialysis Therapy

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is the major health problem worldwide. Hemodialysis is the most common method used to treat the advanced and permanent kidney failure. The pediatric nurse plays an important role in management of child undergoing hemodialysis therapy. Aim of the study: 1) Assessment of nurses' knowledge regarding care of children undergoing hemodialysis therapy. 2) Assessment of nurses' practice regarding care of children undergoing hemodialysis therapy. 3) Assessment of nurses' attitude regarding care of children undergoing hemodialysis therapy. Research design: A descriptive design was utilized. Methods: All available nurses (50) working in hemodialysis units affiliated to both Cairo University (Abu El-Rish Child Hospital) and Ain Shams University Hospitals. Tools: Data were collected through three main tools; Self-administered questionnaire sheet, observational checklists and attitude rating scale to assess nurses’ performance regarding care of children undergoing hemodialysis therapy. Results: The main results of study demonstrated that the mean age of the studied nurses was 30 ± 8.357 years and the mean years of experience were 9.1 ± 6.36 years, the majority of them had satisfactory level of knowledge, incompetent level of practice and had negative attitude regarding care of children undergoing hemodialysis therapy. Conclusion: Nurses had satisfactory level of knowledge, incompetent level of practice, and negative attitude regarding care of children undergoing hemodialysis therapy. There was no a statistically significance relation between total scores of nurses’ performance (knowledge, practice and attitude). Recommendations: Periodic assessment of knowledge, practice and attitude for all nurses dealing or providing care to children undergoing hemodialysis therapy and procedure book should be available in hemodialysis units as a reference for all nurses.

Analysis of Climate Change Perception on Poultry Production in Imo State, Nigeria

This study aims at analyzing climate change perception of poultry production in Imo State, Nigeria. Data used for the study were obtained using a structured questionnaire from eighty-four (84) respondents who were randomly selected from twelve villages in the study area. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, multiple regression models and Likert scale. Findings revealed that the mean age of the respondents was 45 years, mean household size was 6 persons, 60% were male, mean years of experience was 9.1years, majority of them attended tertiary education. The multiple regression analysis showed that ambient temperature, humidity, rainfall distribution, mortality and feed unavailability were statistically significant at 10% level of probability and were the key determinants of the effect of climate change. The coefficient of multiple determination R2 was 0.725544 which implies that 72.55% variation in poultry output was accounted for by the regressors variables while the remaining 27.5% was due to random disturbance. From the distribution of poultry farmers according to the perception of climate change, the result showed that 89% and 74% of the poultry farmers were aware that climate change has an effect on egg and meat production, and also feed grain availability respectively. About 90% of them were aware that high sunshine harms egg production, also, 74% and 71% of them were aware that high temperature and low rainfall leads to low egg quality. The study, therefore, recommended that relevant and up-to-date information on climate change should be made available to poultry farmers.

General Anesthesia-Related Neurotoxicity in the Developing Brain and Current Knowledge and Practice of Physicians at Guilan Academic Hospitals.

BackgroundRecent articles about the topic of the anesthetic agents-related neurotoxicity have currently attracted the attention to the issue in the anesthesiology community. However, specialists in other fields should also be aware of this potential risk.ObjectivesThis study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and practice of physicians at Guilan academic hospitals regarding general anesthesia-related neurotoxicity.MethodsFirstly, the responsible anesthesia resident explained the purpose of this work to Guilan faculty and residents and if they agreed to participate a questionnaire containing 12 items was filled via a face to face interview.ResultsA response rate of 100% was achieved (271 responders from 271 eligible study responders). Also, 89 (33.1%) responders were attending, 180 (66.9%) were residents, 112 (41.6%) were female, and 157 (58.4%) were male. The mean years of experience was 8.8 ± 4.82 (2 - 28 years). According to the achieved data, the majority of the precipitants did not believe in GA toxicity.ConclusionsThis paper revealed that the current curriculum does not sufficiently address the anesthesia-related neurotoxicity problem. Indeed, the need for training and communication with non-anesthesia medical colleagues was highlighted.

Analysis of the profitability and credit accessibility among Garri processors in Epe, Lagos State, Nigeria

This study examined profitability and credit accessibility among garri processors in Epe, Lagos State. Nigeria. It examined the profitability of garri processing enterprise and determined factors militating against credit access by garri processors in Epe. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the study area, first stage was the purposive selection of Epe, second stage was the random selection of two communities from each of the three zones in Epe LGA while the third stage involved random selection of 20garri processors from each community, totalling 120 processors. Ten (10) improperly filled question naires reduced the total to 110 Respondents sampled. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics, profitability analysis and Logit model. The study revealed that more females (89.1%) than male (10.9%) were garri processors, as many as 68.2% married and 4.5% unmarried Respondents, and average household size of 6.The mean year of experience in garri processing is16. The average weekly total cost incurred by the Respondents was ₦33,531.39 while total revenue was ₦51,211.82. The Rate of Return on Investment (RRI) of 53% showed an earning of 53% profit on every naira invested. About 68.2% of Respondents did not belong to cooperative society. There was a low probability of credit acquisition to increase the production level of garri in the study area. The problems militating against credit accessibility in the study area include high interest rate, low income, no savings, non-membership in cooperative groups, and lack of information on credit availability. It is recommended that government should subsidize the cost of inputs for garri processors. The local government through Extension agents should embark on enlightenment programmes to educate the processors on modalities for credit accessibility and modern processing methods. There is also need for financial institutions to look into the conditions for obtaining credit by processors. Key words: Garri, Garri processors, Credit access, Profitability

Long-term training-dependent representation of individual finger movements in the primary motor cortex

We investigated the effects of long-term training on the neural representation of individual finger movements in the primary sensorimotor cortex. One group of participants (trained group) included subjects trained in playing the piano (mean years of experience = 17.9; range = 9–26; n = 20). The other group of participants (novice group) had no prior experience (n = 20). All participants performed finger-tapping movements using either of the four digits of the hand (index, middle, ring, and little fingers). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to analyze the spatial activation patterns elicited by individual finger movements. Subsequently, we tried to classify the finger that was being moved using a multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA). Our results showed significantly higher-than-chance classification accuracies in both primary motor cortex (M1) and somatosensory cortex (S1) contralateral to the hand. We also found significantly lower classification accuracies for both hands in the trained group compared with the novice group in M1, without significant differences in the average signal changes and the number of activated voxels for individual fingers or overlap between digits. Representational similarity analysis (RSA) also demonstrated the differences in similarity patterns of activations between the trained and novice groups in M1. Our results indicate the modulation of neural representations of individual finger movements of M1 due to long-term training.

Rheumatologists' insight into medication adherence in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A qualitative study.

Medication non-adherence is prevalent among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Rheumatologists are specialists in medication prescribing and counselling for RA, but their insights regarding medication adherence have not been studied. To explore rheumatologists' insights into medication adherence in patients with RA. A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with 10 rheumatologists in Iran was undertaken. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify how rheumatologists assess medication adherence and their perceived determinants of adherence. The identified determinants of adherence were mapped according to the Andersen's Behavioral Model of Health Service Use. Six participants were male, and the mean age was 47years. The mean years of experience as a rheumatologist was 8.6 (SD=7.1) years. Rheumatologists did not use a validated tool for medication adherence assessment. They assessed medication adherence either by asking their patients simple questions or using laboratory test results. The identified determinants of adherence were divided into 3 groups: patient-, rheumatologist- and healthcare organization-related determinants. The proposed suggestions to improve adherence were: (a) to understand a patient's financial situation before prescribing more expensive medications; (b) to employ a dose-reducing strategy; (c) to give hope to patients regarding remission; and (d) to arrange a session with the nurse educator. The findings of this study provide insight into rheumatologists' perspectives on medication adherence of patients with RA. The identified determinants of adherence could be considered when developing initiatives to improve medication adherence in this group of patients.

PSS8 CLINICIAN INPUT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PATIENT-REPORTED OUTCOMES: HOW MANY INTERVIEWS ARE ENOUGH?

Development of patient-reported outcome (PRO) questionnaires relies on qualitative research to demonstrate content validity, which can be supported by clinician input. However, limited information is available to help guide sample size decisions for clinician interviews to support PRO questionnaire development. This research evaluates how many clinician interviews are needed to elicit key disease-related signs/symptoms documenting concept saturation (whether new, relevant data would emerge in additional interviews), a technique used to evaluate adequacy of patient sample sizes. Nine qualitative studies conducted between 2013-2018 with clinician interviews across nine dermatological conditions were retrospectively analyzed. Saturation analysis was conducted for each study by comparing new concepts reported by clinicians in the final interview set (quartile or tertile depending on sample size) to concepts reported in earlier interviews. The emergence of fewer concepts in the final interview set suggests that little to no new relevant data may be elicited from further interviews. Forty-five clinicians (mean=5/study [SD=2.1, range=3–10]) working in private/academic clinical research and practice settings with 21.9 mean years of experience were interviewed. Clinicians reported seeing a median of 25 patients/week and reported 14 mean signs/symptoms per condition. Most studies (n=5, 55.6%) included five clinicians, three studies (33.3%) included 3-4 clinicians, and one study (11.1%) included 10 clinicians. In 77.8% of studies (n=7) including 3-10 clinicians, 100.0% of concepts were elicited before the final set of interviews. In the remaining two studies (both n=5 clinicians), 81.8% and 92.3% of concepts were elicited before the final interviews (1-2 new concepts elicited/study). Results indicate that a sample of approximately five clinicians may be sufficient to elicit relevant disease-related signs/symptoms to inform PRO questionnaire development in dermatological conditions. Clinicians can report on the experiences of numerous individuals they see; therefore, fewer clinicians may be needed compared to patient interview studies.

Profitability of Cassava Processing: A Case Study of Otukpo Lga, Benue State, Nigeria

The study investigated the economics of cassava processing in Otukpo Local Government Area, Benue State, Nigeria. Data were collected using well-structured questionnaire administered to 60 cassava processors. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Profit function, independent sample t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Results showed that majority of the processors were within the age group of 31–40 years with mean year of experience of 34 years. They were mostly women with an average of 8 persons per household. Traditional technologies mostly were employed by the cassava processors. The profitability analysis showed that cassava processing into garri (fried cassava granules), chips and fufu/akpu (cassava dough) are profitable, (t =23.55, 11.95, 12.37: P≤ 0.01). Moreover, the result of the ANOVA showed that there was a significant difference (F=44.48:P≤0.01) in the profit level of cassava processed into garri, chips and fufu/akpu. The result of the post-hoc of ANOVA shows that among the three cassava products studied, garri had the highest profit. The cassava processors encountered many set-backs like poor equipment, high cost of transportation, inadequate capital and poor road network even though processing is a viable and profitable venture. Modern processing technologies should be developed and disseminated to processors while adequate infrastructural facilities and credits should also be provided.