Poor Level Research Articles

The interaction of nurses with patients and family when expressing difficult news: A study using video recordings

Objectives: To evaluate and explore nurses’ communication skills when providing difficult news to patients and their family members. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed. The study employed a combination of qualitative and quantitative observations to analyze 49 videos recorded nurses’ interaction with standardized patients in a communication training course from 2019 to 2021. A validated checklist named The Liverpool Communication Skills Assessment Scale was used to quantitatively evaluate the level of nurses’ communication skills, and qualitative comments provided by observers were explored to explain quantitative results found. Results: The “nonverbal behavior” component of nurses’ communication was at acceptable levels, however, other components including “introduction”, “respect and empathy”, “questioning” and “giving information” were at poor levels. Conclusion: Communication skills of “introduction”, “respect and empathy”, “questioning” and “giving information” of nurses in adverse situations need to be improved, and hospital’s leader board should have viable measures to raise nurses’ awareness about providing truth to the patients or family.

Prevalence and factors associated with limited hypertensive health literacy among Myanmar migrant workers in Northeastern Thailand

Background: Regarding hypertension, limited health literacy was considerably high worldwide. Although hypertensive health literacy in general population was explored by some studies, there was no study specific for it among Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand. Objectives: Aimed to explore the prevalence of limited hypertensive health literacy and identify the associated factors among Myanmar migrant workers in Northeastern Thailand. Method: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted among Myanmar migrant workers with the age between completed 18 years to 59 years old in Khon Kaen Province, Northeastern Thailand from June 2023 to August 2023. Multistage random sampling procedure was applied to select 406 sample. A validated and reliable structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression were used. The association between limited hypertensive health literacy and each statistically significant factor (p-value < 0.05) after controlling other covariates were described by adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 95% Confidence Interval (95% CI). Results: Of 406 participants, the overall prevalence of limited hypertensive health literacy was 54% (95% CI: 49.20-59.11). Among the participants, 56% were male and 68% of them were married. Factors associated with limited hypertensive health literacy were pre-hypertension (AOR=1.83, 95% CI: 1.12-3.01), primary and below level of education (AOR=2.26, 95% CI: 1.36-3.74), ≤48 months duration of stay in Thailand (AOR=2.24, 95% CI: 1.44-3.48), poor and fair level of knowledge (AOR=2.02, 95%CI: 1.20-3.42) and poor and fair level of attitude (AOR=2.61, 95%CI: 1.68-4.07). Conclusion: More than half of the study population was limited in hypertensive health literacy. Educational status, duration of stay in Thailand, blood pressure, knowledge and attitude towards hypertension were associated with health literacy among Myanmar migrant population. Thus, creating user-friendly resources and health programs for newcomers is essential to close health literacy disparities. Using multidisciplinary approach could be effective in promoting health literacy.

ANALISIS USER EXPERIENCE PADA APLIKASI THREADS MENGGUNAKAN METODE USER EXPERIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE (UEQ)

This research aims to analyze the User Experience in the Threads application through the application of the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ) method. User Experience (UX) is how users interact with a product or service offered by a company or organization. The role of users certainly greatly influences the success of an application. The Threads app is a social media app that launched on July 5, 2023, but its user experience has not been explored much. The UEQ method is used to measure various aspects of user experience, including Attractiveness, Clarity, Efficiency, Appropriateness, Stimulation, and Novelty. The research was carried out by distributing questionnaires that had been created using Google Form and then processing the data results using the Data Analysis Tool. UEQ analysis results provide deep insight into how users interact with Threads applications and how certain aspects of the user experience can be improved. Of the 6 UEQ assessment scales, the results of this research are that there are 4 scales with "Bad" results in Attractiveness, Efficiency, Accuracy, and Stimulation. Then, there is a scale with “Below Average” results in Clarity. And there is a scale with “Above Average” results in Recency. This indicates that the Threads application has a poor benchmark level. The results of the User Experience (UX) analysis show that users feel less satisfied when using the Threads social media application.

Pinch force sense test–retest reliability evaluation using contralateral force matching task

A high test–retest reliability in measurement of pinch force sense is required to assess a clinical parameter accurately over a longitudinal study. Ipsilateral reproduction (IR) task and contralateral matching (CM) task have commonly been used for the assessment of force sense. To date, there has been little research on the test–retest reliability of pinch force sense utilizing the contralateral force matching task. This research aimed to explore this phenomenon across a spectrum of reference force levels (10, 30, and 50 percent maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC)) using a contralateral matching task. Every participant in the study was tested twice by the same skilled experts, with each session separated by one week. Although normalized variable error indicated a poor level of reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = − 0.25 to 0.05) for these force sense tests, normalized constant error (ICC = 0.76–0.85) and normalized absolute error (ICC = 0.61–0.81) results indicated a fair to good of reliability. The lower bound of 95% CI of ICC for NAE and NCE indicated fair test–retest reliability (0.41–0.69). These findings suggest that investigators can reasonably obtain a fair to good test–retest reliability when investigating pinch force sense using the contralateral matching task. The Bland–Altman plots, SEM, and MDD95% were lower at these lower reference force level (10% MVIC) compared to the level of higher reference forces (30% and 50% MVIC). Therefore, when the reference force level increases, the participant needs a larger NAE or NCE decrease to show that their pinch force sense has indeed improved.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Toward Dietary Salt Intake Among Medical Students at King Abdulaziz University.

Background Since the beginning of the century, dietary patterns have been changing rapidly due to evolving lifestyles, restaurants that cater to dietary restrictions, etc. As a result, populations started consuming a large amount of salt in their diets. Years of research have found that high salt intake is strongly related to many serious health problems like hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. This study's objective is to evaluate knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding dietary salt intake among medical students at King Abdulaziz University (KAU) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and to identify barriers and concerns related to optimum dietary sodium intake. Method A cross-sectional study done at KAU among 310 students using an online questionnaire included items to assess their knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to dietary salt intake. There were 24 questions to assess knowledge, six questions to assess attitude, and eight questions to assess practice. Results The mean age of the participants was 21.52 ± 1.94 years; 180 of the 57.5% were female. A score of "1" was given to the right answer for knowledge, positive attitude, and correct practice. The mean knowledge, attitudes, and practices scores were 16.99 ± 3.8, 3.03 ± 1.46, and 2.13 ± 1.34, respectively. The percentage of poor, fair, and good knowledge levels regarding dietary salt intake among studied students was 72:23%, 210:67.1%, and 31:9.9%. While the prevalence of negative, fair, and positive attitudes was 111:35.5%, 141:45%, and 161:9.5%. As for practice level, none of the students had good practice, while 263:84% and 50:16% had poor and fair practice, respectively. Conclusion In conclusion, the majority of students were aware that a high-salt diet can result in serious health issues. They were also uncertain of whether their salt intake was extremely high or not, which is consistent with thefact that they were ignorant of the daily salt intake guidelines. The findings in our study can stand as a reference point for salt-related knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) studies to help further future research in Saudi Arabia and other countries. Multi-sector coordination between the food suppliers, health agencies, and government is necessary to increase public awareness, decrease the salt content of food, and lower individual salt consumption in Saudi Arabia.

Knowledge and practices on diabetic care among the caregivers of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus: A cross sectional study

Background: Diabetes mellitus care in children requires parental support and involvement as young children cannot independently handle all of their diabetes cares; the diabetic cares given to these children entirely depend on the knowledge and skills of the care givers. This study was conducted to determine the knowledge and practices on diabetic care and associated factors among the caregivers of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus attending the follow-up clinic at Jimma Medical Center, Southwest Ethiopia. 
 Methods: Institution-based prospective cross-sectional study was conducted from July 10 to October 10, 2022. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using statistical packages for social sciences software Version 25.0. Bivariate and stepwise multivariate analysis was performed to test associations between the dependent and independent variables. 
 Results: One hundred fifty-eight caregivers of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus participated in the study; over half of the participants (93, 58.9%) were females. Over half of caregivers have a poor level of knowledge (56.3%) and practice (58.6%) about diabetes cares. Participants residing in the urban area are found to have better knowledge (p<0.001; 95%CI:1.81-6.86), whereas being female caregiver (p=0.03; 95%CI:1.04-4.22), attending diabetic education sessions (p=0.035; 95%CI:1.17-79.66) and, those who had good diabetes knowledge (p=0.04; 95%CI:1.03-4.04 ) were found to have a better practice. 
 Conclusion: The knowledge and practices of caregivers regarding diabetic care among caregivers of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus were found to be low. Structured diabetes care education should be given to all caregivers to improve their knowledge and practices.

Awareness and readability of privacy policy documents in mobile loan applications among undergraduate students in Nigeria

The study investigated the awareness and readability of privacy policy documents on mobile loan applications among undergraduate students at Kogi State University, Anyigba, Kogi State, Nigeria. Two research objectives specifically guided the conduct of the study. The study adopted a descriptive design approach (survey) and the questionnaire as its primary instrument for data collection. The population comprised 33,700 students of Kogi State University. Given the large population, Krejcie and Morgan were used to purposively select 379 undergraduate students who have smartphones across eight faculties. The study’s findings demonstrate adequate knowledge and sensitization on the part of undergraduates to privacy policy documents on mobile loan applications. It was discovered that students of tertiary institutions were aware of the availability of privacy policy documents on mobile loan applications because of their level of social and technological intelligence. Despite students’ level of awareness of privacy policy documents on mobile loan applications, there is, however, a poor level of readability of privacy policy documents. The study concludes that following the known and unknown consequences, students have failed to carefully read the entire privacy policy documents in a mobile loan application. The study, among others, recommends that commercial banks and other financial institutions should educate the students more adequately on the eventual risks and consequences of not reading privacy policy documents on mobile loan applications, and mobile loan application developers should concisely mention the privacy policies and put security measures in place to protect user’s data.

Improving efficiency and sustainability of water-agriculture-energy nexus in a transboundary river basin under climate change: A double-sided stochastic factional optimization method

In this study, a double-sided stochastic fractional programming (DSFP) method is developed for identifying optimal water-allocation schemes of water-agriculture-energy nexus (WAEN) system under considering climate change impact. The advantages of DSFP are (i) handling complex uncertainty of double-sided randomness, (ii) addressing conflicting objectives with optimal system efficiency, and (iii) achieving trade-off between marginal benefit and system risk. Then, a DSFP-based water-agriculture-energy nexus (DSFP-WAEN) model is formulated for water resources allocation in a transboundary river basin of Central Asia, where 48 scenarios are designed to examine the impacts of climate change, irrigation efficiency, and system risk over a long-term planning horizon (2026–2050). Results reveal that: (i) among all agricultural activities, cash crop cultivation shows the greatest change in adaption to climate change, with the share of cash crop cultivation increasing to 70.7% by 2050 under RCP4.5; (ii) Kazakhstan, which has the largest irrigation needs and is the county most sensitive to water supply risk, should be the first to be constrained in the case of severe water shortages and poor delivery levels; (iii) the improvement of irrigation efficiency can increase the inflow to the Aral Sea by 2.7%, and reduce water loss of infield irrigation by 11.3% even under severe water shortage (i.e. p = 0.01). Compared with the models based on the traditional stochastic programming and single-objective methods, DSFP-WAEN has advantages in optimizing water-use efficiency and reflecting system complexity with flexible solutions. To coordinate transboundary water conflicts, strategies from both demand and supply sides related to quota management and water-saving techniques are suggested for the Syr Darya River basin, such as clean energy transition, drip irrigation promotion and canal system improvement. From a long-term planning perspective, WAEN schemes should be adapted to risk attitude and climate change, which can help address water scarcity and achieve future sustainability.

Inspection Based Corrosion Rate Mapping for Remaining Strength and Remaining Life of Two-Phase Geothermal Steel Piping

Geothermal as green energy has many advantages for power generation due to cleanness, zero waste, and renewable. However, during the operational period, corrosion and scaling in two-phase geothermal steel piping are two main challenges that can cause leaks, reduce flow performance, and reduce safety. Therefore, the two-phase geothermal steel piping remaining strength and life analysis are conducted to manage its integrity. This paper presents a case study on the corrosion rate mapping, excessive corrosion, and scaling for a two-phase flow line in Well Pad B, one of the geothermal production facilities in Unit 1 Dieng, PT Geo Dipa Energi. The data used for this assessment refer to the results of the wall thickness inspection; meanwhile, the data used for scaling and corrosion analysis refer to field observation results. The results of the remaining strength calculation, using both ASME B31G Original and Modified methods, indicate that the remaining strength of all tested points was deemed acceptable in 2020. The remaining life calculation, based on API 579, reveals that the longest remaining life is 9.08 years and the shortest is 0.83 years in the long-term scenario. In the short-term scenario, the longest remaining life is 57.29 years and the shortest is 11.01 years. The corrosion rate is classified as Class I, based on the total key species, with a predictive corrosion rate value > 1.3 mm/year or 51.1 mpy (poor level). In the long-term scenario, the highest corrosion rate recorded is 258.7 mpy (unacceptable level), while the lowest is 39 mpy (fair level). In the short-term scenario, the highest corrosion rate observed is 23 mpy (fair level), and the lowest is 9 mpy (good level). Furthermore, based on the calculation of the Ryznar Stability Index, the fluid has the potential to generate heavy scale, with an RSI value of 4.1.

Assessing General Knowledge and Nutritional Knowledge on the Role of Vitamin D, Attitudes, and Behavior Toward Sun Exposure Among Tertiary Students in Oman

Background: Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent among the Omani population, driven by factors such as urbanization, technology‐driven lifestyles, reduced physical activity, limited sun exposure, unhealthy eating habits, and genetic predispositions. Despite the year‐round availability of sunlight, there is limited understanding of the specific causes of this deficiency and effective strategies to mitigate it.Aim: This study aimed to develop and validate a knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) questionnaire on vitamin D and measure the KAP levels among students at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) in Oman to inform preventive and educational measures.Methodology: A cross‐sectional study was conducted using a newly developed, self‐administered KAP questionnaire distributed online to a random sample of 1034 Omani students enrolled in various degree programs at SQU. The questionnaire was developed following a standardized protocol, including a literature review, focus group discussions, and expert input. Validity and reliability were assessed using Cronbach’s α coefficient (α ≥ 0.70), and normality was examined with the Shapiro–Wilk test. The 54‐item questionnaire was divided into three domains: general knowledge of vitamin D, nutritional knowledge, and attitudes and behavior toward sun exposure. Descriptive and variance analyses were performed, with qualitative data expressed as numbers and percentages.Results: The questionnaire demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.8057). Only 20.6% of the students had a good level of knowledge, 62% had an average level, and 17% had a poor level regarding vitamin D and its importance. The mean scores were 8.43 for general knowledge, 5.83 for nutritional knowledge, and 8.09 for attitudes and behavior toward sun exposure.Conclusions: The constructed questionnaire showed satisfactory validity and reliability. The study identified a generally poor level of knowledge about vitamin D among students, highlighting the need for targeted educational strategies to improve awareness and promote better health outcomes.

Evaluation of China’s Digital Economy: A Case Study using Entropy and TOPSIS

Recently, digital economy in social science has become increasingly significant. A well-constructed evaluation structure could generally and promptly describe and reveal its overall social digitalization development. Building on existent researches, this paper improves the evaluation system, which comprises four first-level indicators and thirty-one second-level indicators. Notably, this paper innovatively incorporates higher education into digital innovation of the evaluation. The Entropy method is utilized to assign weights to various indicators in an objective way, with employing the TOPSIS approach to prioritize the development of digital economy in places based on the closeness to the ideal solution. By analysing related data related from 31 provinces in China between 2017 to 2021, this paper greatly finds: Firstly, the development of digital economy vary significantly across provinces, with most provinces at a relatively poor level, indicating considerable potential for overall growth; Secondly, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shandong consistently ranked in the top four from 2017 to 2021, reflecting their specific development attributes and their emphasis on digital economy; Thirdly, significant disparities exist both between regions and among provinces. Consequently, this paper suggests establishing a comprehensive national digital economy development plan, formulating region-specific digital economy policies tailored to local conditions, and encouraging leading provinces to actively share experiences with other provinces.

Modelling of Poor Household in East Kalimantan Using Zero Inflated Ordered Probit (ZIOP) Approach

Discrete ordinal response variables often exhibit an “excess” of zeros, which can be attributed to two different data conditions. Conventional ordinal probit models are limited in their ability to explain these excess zeros. The Zero Inflated Ordered Probit (ZIOP) model, which combines binary probit and ordinal probit regression, can be used to address this limitation. This study reviews the empirical analysis of the factors that contribute to poor household levels in East Kalimantan. The goodness-of-fit of the ZIOP and ordinal probit models was assessed using the Vuong test.

Prehospital airway management by health workers in Riyadh City: A local survey

This study sought to determine the perception of healthcare workers (HCWs) about pre-hospital airway management and their experiences. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among health workers at the emergency department of King Fahad Medical City in the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh City. This study targeted physicians, nurses, paramedics, and respiratory therapists. Data were collected using an online questionnaire. The questionnaire included demographic characteristics, training, and experiences in airway management and a 5-item questionnaire to measure the perception of HCWs about airway management. Results: Of the 100 HCWs, 39% were doctors, and 37% were nurses. Approximately 23% had a poor experience with intubation. Traumatic injuries were the major difficulties involving airway management (44%). The overall perception of HCWs about prehospital airway management was good (68%), 31% were moderate, and only 1% were considered poor perception levels. No significant differences were observed between perception scores in relation to the demographic characteristics and experiences of HCWs in airway management (all p>0.05). Conclusion: Despite HCWs' good perception of prehospital airway management, some gaps have been identified mainly through intubation skills and experiences. This study provided evidence that perception towards prehospital airway management was not affected by profession, years of experience, regular practice of intubation, and airway management. Regular training should be implemented, with equipment and resources should be available to improve airway management and patient quality of care.

Leisure-Time Physical Activity in a Southern Brazilian City (2004-2021): Applying an Equity Lens to Time-Trend Analyses.

This study aimed to verify leisure-time physical activity trends over 15years and monitor inequalities according to gender, self-reported skin color, and socioeconomic position in a Southern Brazilian city. A secondary aim is to evaluate intersectionalities in physical activity. Trend analysis using 3 population-based surveys carried out in 2004, 2010, and 2021. Main outcome assessed was the prevalence of physical activity according to recommendations (150min/wk). Inequalities dimensions measured were sex, self-reported skin color, and wealth. Intersectionalities were evaluated using Jeopardy index combining all inequality dimensions. Trend analysis was performed using least-squares weighted regression. We included data from 3090, 2656, and 5696 adults in 2004, 2010, and 2021, respectively. Prevalence of physical activity remains stable around 25% in the 3years. In the 3 periods evaluated, men presented a prevalence in average 10 percentage points higher than women (SII2004 = -11.1 [95% confidenceinterval, CI, -14.4 to -7.8], SII2021 = -10.7 [95% CI, -13.7 to -7.7]). Skin color inequalities did not present a clear pattern. Richest individuals, in general presented a prevalence of leisure-time physical activity level 20pp higher than poorest ones (SII2004 = 20.5 [95% CI, 13.7 to 27.4]; SII2021 = 16.7 [95% CI, 11.3 to 22.0]). Inequalities were widely marked, comparing the most privileged group (represented by men, the wealthiest, and White) and the most socially vulnerable group (represented by women, the poorest, and Black/Brown). The Slope Index of Inequality for intersectionalities was -24.5 (95% CI, -31.1 to -17.9) in 2004 and -18.8 in 2021 (95% CI, -24.2 to -13.4). Our analysis shows that women, Black/Brown, and poor present lower leisure-time physical activity level. This group is often neglected regarding other health and social outcomes.

Prehospital airway management by health workers in Riyadh City: A local survey

This study sought to determine the perception of healthcare workers (HCWs) about pre-hospital airway management and their experiences. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among health workers at the emergency department of King Fahad Medical City in the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh City. This study targeted physicians, nurses, paramedics, and respiratory therapists. Data were collected using an online questionnaire. The questionnaire included demographic characteristics, training, and experiences in airway management and a 5-item questionnaire to measure the perception of HCWs about airway management. Results: Of the 100 HCWs, 39% were doctors, and 37% were nurses. Approximately 23% had a poor experience with intubation. Traumatic injuries were the major difficulties involving airway management (44%). The overall perception of HCWs about prehospital airway management was good (68%), 31% were moderate, and only 1% were considered poor perception levels. No significant differences were observed between perception scores in relation to the demographic characteristics and experiences of HCWs in airway management (all p>0.05). Conclusion: Despite HCWs\' good perception of prehospital airway management, some gaps have been identified mainly through intubation skills and experiences. This study provided evidence that perception towards prehospital airway management was not affected by profession, years of experience, regular practice of intubation, and airway management. Regular training should be implemented, with equipment and resources should be available to improve airway management and patient quality of care.

Bi-cation incorporated Ni3N nanosheets boost water dissociation kinetics for enhanced alkaline hydrogen evolution activity.

Nickel nitride (Ni3N) is a promising electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) owing to its excellent metallic features and has been demonstrated to exhibit considerable activity for water oxidation. However, its undesirable characteristics as an HER electrocatalyst due to its poor unfavourable d-band energy level significantly limit its water dissociation kinetics. Herein, the HER electrocatalytic activity of Ni3N was prominently enhanced via the simultaneous incorporation of bi-cations (vanadium (V) and iron (Fe), denoted as V-Fe-Ni3N). The optimized V-Fe-Ni3N displays impressive performance with an overpotential of 69 mV at 10 mA cm-2 and good stability in 1.0 M KOH, which is remarkably better than pristine Ni3N, V-doped Ni3N, and Fe-doped Ni3N and considerably closer to a commercial Pt/C catalyst. Based on density functional theory (DFT) studies, V and Fe atoms not only serve as active sites for promoting water dissociation kinetics but also tune the electronic structure of Ni3N to achieve optimized hydrogen adsorption capabilities. This work presents an inclusive understanding of the rational designing of high-performance transition metal nitride-based electrocatalysts for hydrogen production. Its electrocatalytic performance can be significantly enhanced by doping transition metal cations.

Efficacy of Triglyceride Glucose Index-Neck Circumference and Triglyceride Glucose Index-Neck-to-Height Ratio in the Diagnosis of Cardiovascular Diseases and Metabolic Syndrome.

A group of characteristics known as metabolic syndrome raises the chance of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Insulin resistance (IR) and obesity are regarded as critical metabolic syndrome pathophysiology. The diagnostic accuracy of IR indicators, triglyceride (TG) glucose index-neck circumference (TyG-NC), and TG glucose index-neck-to-height ratio (TyG-NHtR) to be evaluated for the detection of cardiovascular diseases and metabolic syndrome in nondiabetic individuals. A cross-sectional study was conducted and passed by the Ethics Committee of the institute. The age should be 18 years or older, and subjects should not have diabetes. Each patient's clinical information was gathered, and lab tests were run. The study was done for a period of 1 year. The study has 100 participants. Around 74% of the group was women. Only 26.5% of the group had an obesity diagnosis. Poor fasting plasma glucose levels were found in 19.4% of the research team. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC)-area under the curve (AUC) testing revealed that all examined IR indices can differentiate individuals with metabolic syndrome from those who are healthy. Our analysis laid out the soaring high area under the ROC curve for TyG index and the low stunted area under the ROC curve for TyG-NC. For obesity, all indices showed appreciable diagnostic efficacy, indicating the maximum achieved area under the ROC curve for TyG index and the minimum recorded metabolic score for IR. The AUC in the case of the metabolic score for IR (METS-IR) male sample population was found to be not statistically compelling. The exploration of indirect indices, the proposed ones, namely TyG-NC and TyG-NHtR, emphasized an intricate link between cardiovascular diseases and metabolic syndrome.

Awareness of Indications and Complications of Sleeve Gastrectomy among Obese and Overweight People in Saudi Arabia

Background and Aims: Obesity is a significant worldwide health issue hindering individuals’ daily activities and raising the risk of numerous illnesses that can lead to serious complications. However, research studies have shown that sleeve gastrectomy (SG) can have a considerable impact on improving comorbidities and is the most effective treatment for obesity. Therefore, our current study targeted obese and overweight people in Saudi Arabia to assess their awareness of the indications and complications of SG. Methods: A digital cross-sectional survey was distributed in December 2022 among a general population in Saudi Arabia via social media channels. Results: A total of 902 eligible participants were enrolled in the study. Their mean age was 31.5 years, and the majority of participants were female 505 (56%). Meanwhile, 557 (61.8%) participants had a university degree. Regarding body mass index, 505 (56%) were obese, while the remaining were over¬weight. Of the participants, 882 (97.8%) have heard about SG. Moreover, 60.6% believed that they understood the indications of SG, while 573 (63.5%) believed that they understood the complications of SG. A total of 420 (46.6%) participants had overall good awareness levels, while 482 (53.4%) had poor awareness levels regarding SG. Conclusions: Our study findings showed that almost half of the participants were well informed regarding the indications and complications of SG. Moreover, participants with post-graduate degrees exhibited good levels of awareness compared to those with only a secondary level of education. Nevertheless, the establishment of health-related educational activities to promote general awareness of SG is recommended.

Assessment of the level of knowledge and awareness of abdominal hernia as a risk factor for acute intestinal obstruction among the adults of Saudi Arabia

Background: Abdominal hernia occurs when tissues protrude through the abdominal walls with symptoms such as pain, inflammation, tenderness, and vomiting. It is thought that abdominal hernias pose a risk factor for the development of acute abdominal obstruction in patients who seek emergency care for abdominal discomfort because they cause bowel obstruction when they occur. Methods: The study adopted descriptive a cross-sectional design from a sample of 533 participants in the Saudi Arabian general population. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package of Social Sciences Version 27. Results: The findings revealed that 30 (5.6%) of the participants had an abdominal hernia. 17 (3.2%) of them had an acute intestinal obstruction. A considerable proportion 249 (46.7%) of the participants indicated that they had weak knowledge about abdominal hernia. The study results revealed a poor knowledge level about abdominal hernia as a risk factor for acute abdominal obstruction in 346 (64.8%) of the participants with only 187 (35.2%) of them exhibiting good knowledge. The knowledge of abdominal hernia as a risk factor for acute abdominal obstruction was found to be significantly associated with age, education level, and work status (p-values< 0.05) Conclusion: The study results revealed a considerably poor knowledge level about abdominal hernia as a risk factor for acute abdominal obstruction among the general population in Saudi Arabia. Participants who were 30 years of age or older, those who had attained a higher level of education, and those employed were associated with better knowledge of abdominal hernias. There is a need for public awareness about abdominal hernia among the Saudi Arabian populace.

Knowledge and attitude regarding monkeypox among Saudi MOH primary healthcare nurses in Jeddah: A cross-sectional study.

Knowledge of monkeypox can be utilized to prevent and control possible new cases of monkeypox. Access to knowledge regarding monkeypox can help the health worker to determine the suspected cases of monkeypox and enhance Ministry of Health (MOH) efforts for good prevention and control of the disease that leads to reduced incidences. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge of and attitude toward monkeypox disease among nurses. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among nurses working at MOH primary health care centers in Jeddah city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, between November 1 and December 31, 2022. A structured self-administered questionnaire was utilized in data collection including sections, the demographic information, work experience, respondent's knowledge of monkeypox, and nurses' attitude toward monkeypox. A total of 195 nurses were included in the study. Females represented 56.4% of them, and almost half (50.3%) aged between 35 and 44 years. The history of hearing about monkeypox was reported by the majority (88.2%) of the participated nurses. Overall, a good level of knowledge regarding monkeypox disease was observed among 16.9% of the nurses, whereas 30.8% of them had a poor level of knowledge. Nurses in the age group of 45-54 years, non-Saudis, and technicians/specialists were more knowledgeable about monkeypox disease compared to their peers. More than half of the nurses (57.9%) expressed positive attitude toward monkeypox disease, particularly more experienced nurses (>5 years) and those with good knowledge about the disease. Although the majority of nurses were aware of monkeypox disease, their knowledge about the disease was mostly poor to fair. However, they expressed positive attitude toward the disease. There is a need to organize educational programs for them about the disease, and this may assist the higher authorities to improve monkeypox prevention and control.