Background Characteristics Of Respondents Research Articles

Primary Care Patient Interest in Multi-Cancer Early Detection for Cancer Screening.

Multi-cancer early detection (MCED) tests are being developed, but little is known about patient receptivity to their use for cancer screening. The current study assessed patient interest in such testing. Our team conducted a prospective, observational study among primary care patients in a large, urban health system. They were asked to complete a telephone survey that briefly described a new blood test in development to identify multiple types of cancer, but was not currently recommended or covered by insurance. The survey included items to assess respondent background characteristics, perceptions about MCED testing, and interest in having such an MCED test. We also used multivariable analyses to identify factors associated with patient interest in test use. In 2023, we surveyed 159 (32%) of 500 identified patients. Among respondents, 125 (79%) reported a high level of interest in having an MCED test. Interest was not associated with personal background characteristics, but was positively associated with the following expectations: testing would be recommended for cancer screening, be convenient, and be effective in finding early-stage disease (OR = 11.70, 95% CI: 4.02, 34.04, p < 0.001). Research is needed to assess patient interest and actual uptake when detailed information on testing is presented in routine care.

Attitudes of Patients with Adrenoleukodystrophy towards Sex-Specific Newborn Screening.

Newborn screening (NBS) for X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) can identify affected individuals before the onset of life-threatening manifestations. Some countries have decided to only screen boys (sex-specific screening). This study investigates the attitudes of individuals with ALD towards sex-specific NBS for ALD. A questionnaire was sent to all patients in the Dutch ALD cohort. Invitees were asked who they thought should be screened for ALD: only boys, both boys and girls or neither. The motives and background characteristics of respondents were compared between screening preferences. Out of 108 invitees, 66 participants (61%), 38 men and 28 women, participated in this study. The majority (n = 53, 80%) favored screening both newborn boys and girls for ALD, while 20% preferred boys only. None of the respondents felt that newborns should not be screened for ALD. There were no differences in the background characteristics of the respondents between screening preferences. Our study revealed a diverse range of motivations underlying respondents' screening preferences. This study is one of the first to investigate the attitudes of patients towards sex-specific screening for ALD. The outcomes of this study can offer insights to stakeholders engaged in the implementation of NBS programs. ALD patients are important stakeholders who can provide valuable input in this process.

Can you feel the change of seasons? Perspectives of academic staff on organizational change

ABSTRACT Research on academic staff experiences with mergers in higher education points out that they often struggle with the change process. Reform appears to go hand in hand with uneasiness and even anxiety, but studies also report mixed results: part of those involved share concerns, others report positive experiences. This study on mergers in Norwegian higher education uses a survey among academic staff, enabling us to compare the experiences of academic staff at merged institutions with staff at institutions that did not merge. We find that academic staff at merged institutions are less positive about developments within their study programmes and research units compared to those not having been part of a merger process. Further fine-grained analyses show that both background characteristics of respondents and discipline play a role as well. Our contribution to the literature on mergers is that attention should be paid to the background characteristics of academic staff, for these factors are important to understand impact.

Evaluation of Barriers to Access Treatment for Gum Disease: A Cross-sectional Study

This study identified the specific factors which influence the treatment of gum disease. Specifically, the aims are to examine i) the differences in the prevalence of self-reported periodontitis treatment in 2011–2012 and 2017–2018, ii) the association between the background characteristics of respondents and treatment of gum disease, iii) the effects of the background characteristics on the treatment of gum disease and iv) reasons for the lack of access to dental care in 2011–2012 and 2017–2018. Data from the National Health an Nutrition Examination Survery (NHANES) oral health questionnaires 2011-2012 and 2017-2018 were used. NHANES is a periodic survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This data represents a stratified, multistage probability sample of the civilian noninstitutionalized population in the 50 United States U.S) and the District of Columbia. Binary multivariable logistic regression was used to examine the socioeconomic predictors of self-reported therapy for gum disease. Compared to 2011-2012, more participants accessed oral health care services during 2017-2018, resulting in fewer people seeking treatment for gum disease. Affordability and lack of dental health insurance were the primary reasons for not receiving treatment for gum disease. Compared with Whites, Asians were more likely to report having had treatment, followed by Hispanics and Blacks. Increasing oral health services for the elderly could improve access to care related to periodontal disease in this cohort of patients. In addition, the expansion of dental coverage with reduced out-of-pocket expenditure could improve access to dental services and overall health.

Adverse Drug Reactions Reporting among Health Professionals in Government Hospitals in Katsina State, Nigeria

Medicines have the potential to cause Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) and therefore the need for health professionals to detect and spontaneously report to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for further actions to ensure patients and public safety. The study was conducted to ascertain the proportion and reporting procedures of ADRs reported by health professionals in the Government Hospitals in Katsina State, Nigeria. This was a cross-sectional survey of 392 health professionals randomly selected from the 19 secondary hospitals in Katsina state. Data were collected through a self-administered structured questionnaire from 18th January to 19th February 2021 with a 98.7% and 1.3% response rate. Data were analyzed using STATA software Version 15.0. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the background characteristics of respondents, and the outcome, such as the proportion of ADR reported summarized in percentages, frequencies, and charts. There was only a 28.3% ADRs reporting rate, and 25.1% of health professionals who saw an ADRs case reported it by completing the ADRs form. The level of knowledge on ADRs reporting procedures was 58.3% among respondents. The main systemic challenge with ADRs reporting was the lack of access to the reporting form for ADRs. Therefore, there is a need to improve access to the reporting form in all the hospitals. Keywords: Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting, Government Hospitals, Health Professionals, Katsina state, Nigeria, Reporting Rate.

I’ll be dammed! Public preferences regarding dam removal in New Hampshire

Decisions about dams, like other environmental conflicts, involve complex trade-offs between different water uses with varying human and ecological impacts, have significant impacts on public resources, and involve many stakeholders with diverse and often conflicting interests. Given the many upcoming dam decisions in New England and across the United States, an improved understanding of public preferences about dam decisions is needed to steward resources in the public interest. This research asks (1) What does the public want to see happen with dams? and (2) How do public preferences regarding dam removal vary with demography and politics? We address these questions using data from three random sample statewide telephone polls conducted in New Hampshire over 2018 that asked people for their preferences concerning dam removal versus maintaining dams for specific benefits—property values, hydropower generation, industrial history, or recreation. Respondent age, education, gender, and political party were tested among the possible predictors. We find that majorities (52% or 54%) of respondents favor removing dams rather than keeping them for industrial history or property values, and a plurality (43%) favor removal over keeping them for recreation. A plurality (46%) prefer keeping dams, however, if they are used to generate hydropower. Respondent background characteristics and political identity affect these preferences in ways resembling those for many other environment-related issues: women, young or middle-aged individuals, and political liberals or moderates (Democrats or independents) more often support dam removal. Education, on the other hand, has no significant effects. The results quantify levels of general public support for dam removal in New England, illustrating the use of public opinion polling to complement input from public meetings and guide decisions. More broadly, they contribute a new topic to existing scholarship on the social bases of environmental concern.

Change in the Prevalence and Determinants of Consanguineous Marriages in India between National Family and Health Surveys of 1992–1993 and 2015–2016

This study aimed to determine the changing prevalence of consanguineous marriage in India between two national-level surveys. The primary hypothesis was whether region of residence and religious affiliation continue to play a significant role in determining consanguineous marriage even after controlling other potentially significant confounding variables. Data from the 81,781 and 85,851 ever-married women during the National Family and Health Surveys (NFHS) survey periods 1992-1993 (NFHS-1) and 2015-2016 (NFHS-4), respectively, were used in the analysis. Multinomial and binary logistic regression analyses examined determinants of consanguineous marriage types and of paternal and maternal first-cousin marriages, respectively. In both analyses a systematic model-building procedure was adopted. Altogether, four models were estimated. In the final model (model 4) of both the analyses, all respondent background characteristics (region of residence, religious affiliation, sociodemographic, household wealth) and years of survey were included. Although the overall prevalence of consanguineous marriage in India declined significantly (16%), it was not uniform across respondent background characteristics. The northern region of India (154%) showed a significant increase in consanguineous marriage, whereas eastern (31%), central (2.3%), northeastern (40%), and southern (8%) regions showed a significant decline. Significant declines in consanguineous marriage were found for Hindus (16%) and Muslims (29%); for Muslims of eastern (48%), central (29%), western (31%), and southern (27%) regions; and for Hindus in the western region (37%). Relative risk ratios estimated using multinomial logistic regression models suggest those living in the southern region show 9.55 (p < 0.001), 5.96 (p < 0.001), and 38.16 (p < 0.001) times more likelihood in the prevalence of first-cousin, second-cousin, and uncle-niece marriages, respectively, compared to the northern region after controlling all other confounding variables. Muslims also showed 3.76 (p < 0.001) and 2.91 (p < 0.001) times more likelihood in first-cousin and second-cousin marriages, respectively, compared to Hindus. Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) estimated using binary logistic regression models suggest those living in southern and northeastern regions were 1.25 (p < 0.001) and 1.36 (p < 0.05) times more likely, respectively, to marry a maternal first cousin compared to the northern region. The AOR estimates also show that Muslims were 1.11 (p < 0.01) times more likely to marry a maternal first cousin compared to Hindus. The authors conclude that, despite significant development in the socioeconomic condition of India during the postglobalization era (beginning in 1992-1993), region of residence and religious affiliation continue to play significant role in determining consanguineous marriage.

Screening at the dental office: An opportunity for bridging the gap in the early diagnosis of hypertension and diabetes in Ghana.

Background:The prevalence of hypertension and diabetes is increasing in Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa. Screening is a useful tool in improving the early detection of both diseases to reduce the mortality and morbidity associated with the conditions. This study set out to determine the prevalence of patients with hypertension and hyperglycemia attending a dental clinic in Accra.Methods:A cross-sectional study, modeling a screening exercise, was conducted in a major dental clinic in Accra. Hypertension and diabetes were screened for with serial blood pressure checks at rest and random blood glucose measurements, respectively. Other variables were the pulse rate, the respiratory rate, and the background characteristics of respondents. Data were analyzed with Stata Version 14, and descriptive statistics were generated and reported.Results:There were a total of 175 participants in the study, comprising 76 males (43.4%) and 99 females (56.6%). This represented a male-to-female ratio of 0.8:1. The ages ranged from 18 to 86 years, with the median and mean ages of 40 years and 43.1 years (±16.9), respectively. This study found the prevalence of hypertension and hyperglycemia in the dental clinic to be 31.4% and 24.6%, respectively.Conclusion:The results of this study demonstrate the importance of the dental clinic in detecting both undiagnosed hypertension and diabetes, as well as those who have previously been diagnosed, but do not have their blood pressure and blood sugar under adequate control. With efficient referrals and follow-up systems in place at dental offices, they could be harnessed as a fertile place for hypertension and diabetes screening.

Factors influencing decision to use antenatal care services among women in the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Uyo, Nigeria

Background: Antenatal care is the care that a woman receives during pregnancy that helps to ensure healthy outcomes for the women and newborns. It is one of the pillars of safe motherhood initiative. Nigeria’s maternal mortality ratio is estimated to be 814/100,000 live births with regional variations. Proper antenatal care is a viable option at reducing maternal mortality rate in Nigeria.Materials and methods: This was a longitudinal study carried out at the antenatal clinic of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. A purposive sampling method was adopted to recruit 330 eligible antenatal clinic attendees. A Semi-Structured Interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to obtain information on the background characteristics of respondents including socio-demographic characteristics and reasons for utilizing antenatal care. The data entry and analysis were done using SPSS version 17.0 with the level of significance set at p&lt;0.05,Results: A total of 330 pregnant women were recruited for the study. The mean age of the respondents was 29.37± 4.255 with a range of 16-42 years. Nearly all the women were Christians (99.4%) and married (95.2%). About 80.6% lived in urban settlements and more than half of them (58.5%) and their husbands (68.5%) had tertiary level of education. Almost two-third of the respondents (64.5%) were of parity one to four. The most common reason for attending antenatal clinic was to assess foetal wellbeing (90.6%). In about one-third of respondents their husbands alone decided place to receive antenatal care while 27.3% decided jointly as a couple.Regression analysis of the data obtained showed two factors as being significant in decision to use antenatal care services. These were nature and extent of antenatal care services, and knowledge of benefits of use of antenatal care services.Conclusion: Decision to use antenatal care (ANC) services is mainly influenced by the desires of the pregnant women to have their babies assessed for wellbeing as well as to detect any pregnancy-related disorders. This shows that women have good knowledge of the benefits of routine antenatal care services.

Unintended Pregnancy among Pregnant Women in Ghana: Prevalence and Predictors.

Background Unintended pregnancy is seen as the key concept for better understanding the fertility and the unmet need for family planning of populations. It is seen as a major challenge among women in many developing countries including Ghana. However, there is scarcely nationally representative information on its prevalence and predictors in Ghana. MethodsIn a cross-sectional study design, data for this study were extracted from the 2014 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey. The prevalence of unintended pregnancies was computed, and logit regression models were fitted to predict the factors influencing unintended pregnancies in the country. Results The total prevalence of unintended pregnancies among pregnant women in Ghana was found to be 40%. Background characteristics such as age (OR=4.85, CI=1.48-15.84), level of education (OR=0.50, CI=0.26-1.01), marital status (OR=3.83, CI=1.67-8.75), parity (OR=0.13, CI=0.05-0.32), and region of residence (OR=0.11, CI=0.03-0.31) were the significant predictors of unintended pregnancy, net of unmet need for contraception. However, unmet need for contraception (OR=7.13, CI=1.57-8.91) serves as an independently significant predictor of unintended pregnancy regardless of the background characteristics of respondents. Conclusions The study findings strongly underscore the need for significant improvement in the access to contraception methods and family planning information in the quest to considerably reduce unintended pregnancies in the entire country.

Factors associated with older persons' physical health in rural Uganda.

IntroductionThe proportion of older persons in developing countries is increasing with no clear evidence of improvement in physical health. The aim of this paper was to examine the factors associated with older persons’ physical health in rural Uganda.MethodsThis paper is based on a cross-sectional study of 912 older persons age 60 years and older across four major regions of Uganda. The study was conceptualized basing on World Health Organization quality of life BREF (WHOQOL-BREF). Analysis was done at three levels, that is, frequency distributions were generated to describe background characteristics of respondents and cross-tabulations were done to determine associations between dependent and each of the independent variables. Ordinal logistic regression was used to determine the predictors of physical health.ResultsThe likelihood of good physical health is high among older persons (Ops) who controlled their household assets (OR = 3.64; CI = 1.81–7.30) or the household assets controlled by their spouses (OR = 4.44; CI = 1.91–10.32) relative to those whose household assets were controlled by their children. There is high likelihood of good physical health among those who engage in physical activities (OR = 2.28; CI = 1.52–3.43) compared to those who do not.ConclusionThe findings have various policy implications, including creating an enabling environment and building capacities of older persons to remain in control of their household assets. Interventions focusing on deepening sensitization of older persons about importance of physical exercises could be a viable strategy for improving physical health of older persons.

Implied threat or part of the scenery: Americans’ perceptions of open carry

Existing empirical studies of American perceptions of open gun carrying are limited to polls that often omit key background characteristics of respondents. The present study examined American perceptions of open carry by studying perceptions of safety across locations such as home, work, and shopping areas and by level of familiarity with the individual engaging in open carry. Data were drawn from a 45-question, nationwide online survey conducted in 2016. Respondents included more than 250 household gun owners and 250 non-owners. The data were analyzed using ordinal logistic regression models. Overall, results showed that respondents felt uncomfortable in a situation involving open carry, and even less comfortable when the person engaging in open carry was a stranger. Gun owners, whites, and those with higher levels of education all expressed greater feelings of perceived safety. Respondents also reported that concern over mental state was a key factor in their perceived safety. Explanations for these findings, practical implications, and directions for future research are discussed.

Logical inconsistencies in time trade-off valuation of EQ-5D-5L health states: Whose fault is it?

IntroductionInconsistency in the time trade-off (TTO) task in EQ-5D-5L occurs when a respondent gives a higher value to a logically worse health state, the occurrence of inconsistency compromises the quality of the data. It is not yet clear which factors are associated with individual level inconsistency. Relating inconsistency to the characteristics of the respondent, interviewer, and the interview process could be helpful in understanding the causes of inconsistency. The objective of this paper is to discover the factors associated with individual level inconsistencies.MethodsTwenty interviewers interviewed 1,296 respondents and each respondent valued 10 health states using the EQ-VT platform in 5 cities in China. At the respondent level, inconsistency was identified in terms of severity and quantity and related to the respondent’s background characteristics, the time and iterations spent on the wheelchair example task, and the formal TTO tasks, using multilevel multinomial regression analyses. Interviewers’ impact on inconsistencies was analyzed using single level multinomial regression analyses.ResultsIn the full dataset, slight inconsistency was more related to the interview process (Time spent on TTO task: RRR = 1.246 with 95%CI: 1.076,1.441; time spent on Wheelchair example: RRR = 0.815 with 95%CI:0.699,0.952) while severe inconsistency was more related to respondent’s gender (Gender: RRR = 2.347 with 95%CI:1.429,3.855). One Interviewer (Interviewer 7: RRR = 7.335 with 95%CI:1.908,28.195) and interviewer’s experience (Sequence: RRR = 0.511 with 95%CI:0.385,0.678) in general showed strong influence over inconsistency in the TTO task.ConclusionIn conclusion, logical inconsistency in the valuation of EQ-5D-5L health states is associated not only with respondents’ characteristics but also with interviewers’ performance and the interview process. The role of interviewers and the importance of interviewer training may be more crucial than hitherto believed. This finding could be generalizable to other interviewer-administered health-state valuation study.

Perceptions and knowledge about prostate cancer and attitudes towards prostate cancer screening among male teachers in the Sunyani Municipality, Ghana

IntroductionPoor perceptions and attitudes about prostate cancer screening are some reasons for late reporting for PC screening and treatment. Understanding perceptions of PC and how it translates to screening and treatment is important for physicians and public health practitioners as this information clarifies existing knowledge and provides valuable information for the design of public health programmes to reduce the disease burden of PC. ObjectiveThis study examined perceptions and knowledge about PC and attitudes towards screening among male teachers in the Sunyani Municipality. Subjects and methodsThis is a cross-sectional study involving 160 teachers aged 45–60 years randomly sampled from primary, junior and senior high schools in the municipality. A structured questionnaire on background characteristics of respondents, perceptions about PC and attitudes towards early screening was used to elicit responses. Preliminary analysis summarised data on socio-demographic characteristics of respondents, perceptions and attitudes about PC screening. The Pearson’s chi square (χ2) and Fisher’s exact tests, and logistic regression analysis were later used to examine the association between socio-demographic variables, knowledge, perceptions and attitudes about PC screening. ResultsThe mean age of respondents was 49.52 (SD=±3.95). PC was not considered to be transmitted sexually (58.8%) and caused by radiations from mobile phones, (40.6%). Majority of respondents agreed that PC screening is beneficial (95.0%) and disagreed with the assertion that going through PC screening is embarrassing (72%) and painful (49.3%), although the majority had never been screened (90%). There was no association between demographic variables and perceptions about PC. However, knowledge about PC was found to be significantly associated with perceptions about PC (p<0.001). There was a significant association between knowledge of PC (p<0.0001) and attitudes towards PC screening. ConclusionConsidering the public health significance of PC, public health programmes should go beyond awareness creation to organise educational campaigns for all socio-economic groups. These programmes should provide clarity on healthy lifestyles to prevent cancer, the health benefits of early screening, detection and treatment, screening and treatment options and the peculiarities of each to inform health-seeking choices.

Providers of antenatal care services in Ghana: evidence from Ghana demographic and health surveys 1988\u20132014

BackgroundAntenatal care is one of the three most essential care - antenatal, delivery and post-natal, given to women during pregnancy and has the potential to contribute towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 3.1- reducing the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 and target 3.8 – achieve universal health coverage. The main objective is to examine the contribution of the various providers of antenatal care services in Ghana from 1988 to 2014.MethodsThe study uses data from all the six rounds of the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS). Binary logistic regression models were applied to examine the association between background characteristics of respondents and providers of antenatal care services.ResultsThe results show that majority of antenatal care services were provided by nurses over the period under review. The proportion of women who received antenatal care services from nurses improved over the period from 55% in 1988 to 89.5% in 2014. Moreover, there was a decline in antenatal care services provided by traditional birth attendants and women who did not receive antenatal care services from any service provider over the years under review. It was observed that women from rural areas were more likely to utilise antenatal care services provided by traditional birth attendants, whilst those from urban areas were more likely to utilise antenatal care from doctors and nurses.ConclusionTo further improve access to and utilisation of antenatal care services provided by nurses and doctors it is recommended that the Ghana Health Service and the Ministry of Health should put in place systems aimed at improving on the quality of care given such as regular training workshops for health personnel and assessment of patient’s satisfaction with services provided. Also, they should encourage women in rural areas especially those from the savannah zone to utilise antenatal care services from skilled providers through social and behaviour change communication campaigns.

English

Despite the national and international efforts to reduce marriage at earlier age, significant proportion of girls in Bangladesh still marry before reaching legal age of marriage. The aim of this study was to identify the individual-, community- and household- level predictors of early marriage by using the nationally representative data sets to achieve the national picture. This study analyzed the data of 16,830 women extracted from Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, 2014 of which 12,740 (75.04%) were getting early marriage. Frequency distribution was used to describe the background characteristics of respondents. Statistically significant determinates of early marriage were calculated by using the Chi-square test. To examine the association between individual-, community- and household level Characteristics of early marriage, I used a series of multivariate regression models with accounting complex survey design. I found respondents education, partner education, respondent socioeconomic condition, region of residence, place of residence, husband occupation, religion and types of family as an important factors of early marriage by Chi-square test. The results of the multivariate logistic regression analysis indicate women with lower education, rural place of residence, women in Rangpur, Rajshai, Barisal and Khulna division, and women in the Muslim community were the greater risk of being early marriage. Additionally, partner lower education, partner lower age, and partner physical and agricultural worker involvement were positively associated with early marriage. Increasing social awareness about the adverse effect of early marriage and protective government law are important to reduce number of early marriage in Bangladesh. &nbsp; Key words: Early marriage, adverse effect, predictors factors, multivariate logistic regression analysis, Bangladesh

Demographic and Socioeconomic Determinants of Women Begging in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, 2007

Background: Begging is a last resort of coping mechanisms of poverty, disability and various political, social and environmental crises. It is practiced to obtain from others. Objective: This study is attempted to investigate the demographic and socio-economic determinants of begging at Bahir Dar. Methods: case-control study design was used with a total population of 204 (102 cases[ beggars] and 102 controls[ non- beggars] ). Semi-structured questionnaire were used and entered in to SPSS for Windows version 15.0 for analysis. Result: reasons for beggar’s engagement in begging were, Poverty (98%) unemployment (78%) and physical handicap (54%) were identified. As to the background characteristics of respondents, the result of the binary logistic regression indicates that there was significant relation between begging and literacy status. The odds of begging decreases by 25% for literate respondents than their illiterate counterparts. In this study, beggaring was found increasing as age level increases. The logistic regression results also indicate that the odds of begging is 10.76 times higher for cases in the age group 25-34 years than younger cohorts (15-24 years). Annual household income also showed an association to be beggars between the groups. Conclusion and Recommendation: illiteracy, migration, old age and low annual household income were significantly associated with being beggar. Reducing rural urban migration and establishing an old age security system may solve the problem.

Improving Patient-Provider Communication for Patients Having Surgery

This research sought to describe and compare perceptions of consent-related health communication between surgical patients undergoing procedures at facilities that did and did not adopt a new health literacy-based consent form and process. A self-administered, mail survey was used to collect information about demographic characteristics, health locus of control, and perceptions of surgical consent-related health communication from patients aged 18 years or older, approximately 2 to 4 months after undergoing laparascopic cholecystectomy, total hip replacement, or total knee replacement surgery within a 10-hospital integrated health system in Iowa. A static group comparison design with multivariable logistic regression analyses was used to compare perceptions about 12 aspects of surgical consent-related health communication between the adopting and nonadopting facilities while controlling for observed differences in respondent background characteristics using a threshold of P < 0.05 for model inclusion. Respondents from facilities implementing the new consent form and process had significantly higher odds of strongly agreeing that the nurses asked them to restate the type of surgery being performed in their own words (adjusted odds ratio, 1.92; 95% confidence interval, 1.30-2.82) and they were comfortable asking questions about their surgery (adjusted odds ratio, 1.53; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-2.26). The consent process can be refined to stimulate communication and comfort with asking questions, and promote use of health literacy-based techniques (i.e., teach-back) in the perioperative care setting. Adopting a health literacy-based informed consent process promotes patient safety and supports health providers' obligations to communicate in simple, clear, and plain language.

Predictors of knowledge about HIV/AIDS among young people: Lessons from Botswana

This study sought to identify factors that can predict knowledge about HIV/AIDS among adolescents in Botswana. The data were collected through a self administered questionnaire from a sample of 1294 students from schools around the capital city of Botswana, Gaborone. The research instrument consisted of 76 items that solicited information on background characteristics of respondents, indicators of family cohesiveness and bonding of children with their parents, indicators of personal adjustment, evidence of sex life, and knowledge about HIV/AIDS. Most respondents (63.1%) displayed adequate knowledge about HIV/AIDS. The ‘type of job that mothers did’ was the most important single factor that distinguished between students who had “adequate knowledge” from those who did not. Other factors, which could be used to predict knowledge about HIV/AIDS, were, in order of importance: type of family of socialisation, level of education, extent of common residence among parents, level of conflict in the family of socialisation, extent of disagreement with mother and extent to which sexual issues were discussed with members of the family. The study concludes that intervention policies should target students whose mothers do jobs of a low status and should promote family bonding and cohesion. Key words: Botswana, adolescence, discussion of sexual issues, family cohesion, HIV/AIDS, knowledge, mothers’ occupation, socio-economic status.

Identifying Response Styles: A Latent-Class Bilinear Multinomial Logit Model

Respondents can vary strongly in the way they use rating scales. Specifically, respondents can exhibit a variety of response styles, which threatens the validity of the responses. The purpose of this article is to investigate how response style and content of the items affect rating scale responses. The authors develop a novel model that accounts for different types of response styles, content of items, and background characteristics of respondents. By imposing a bilinear parameter structure on a multinomial logit model, the authors graphically distinguish the effects on the response behavior of the characteristics of a respondent and the content of an item. The authors combine this approach with finite mixture modeling, yielding two segmentations of the respondents: one for response style and one for item content. They apply this latent-class bilinear multinomial logit model to the well-known List of Values in a cross-national context. The results show large differences in the opinions and the response styles of respondents and reveal previously unknown response styles. Some response styles appear to be valid communication styles, whereas other response styles often concur with inconsistent opinions of the items and seem to be response bias.