Services In Jordan Research Articles

Satisfaction with community pharmacies services in Jordan: A cross-sectional study

BackgroundPharmacists are responsible for giving patients basic information about their medications, as well as informing them about drug administration, safety, efficacy, medication storage, and promoting patient adherence to their medications. Patient satisfaction will undoubtedly improve if patient-centered care is used and the patient is encouraged to participate in the decision-making process. The aim of this study is to explore patients' satisfaction with the pharmacy, its location, medication handling, dispensing and counselling procedures, or other non-paid services. MethodThis was a cross-sectional study that was conducted in Jordan using online questionnaire tool. Data was collected for the period between November 2021 and January 2022. A previously developed and validated questionnaire tool was used in this study. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to determine factors affecting satisfaction with community pharmacy services. ResultsA total of 1,611 patients participated in this study. More than half of the patients (55.5%) were males. Around 50.0% of the patients were aged 30 years and below. Patients were moderately satisfied with community pharmacy services (the mean satisfaction score was 148.6 (SD: 19.4) out of 205 (maximum obtainable score), which is equal to 72.5%). Patients' satisfaction was relatively consistent across the four sub-scales, ranging from 68.0% (satisfaction with additional non-paid services) to 74.7% (for satisfaction with the store, location, and staff). Patients' satisfaction with the store, location, and staff, as well as satisfaction with dispensing and counselling methods, differed significantly by age, marital status, work status, and the existence of chronic disease history. Patients' satisfaction with drug handling varies significantly depending on the patients' age, marital status, education level, employment position, and the presence of a history of chronic conditions. Patients' satisfaction with additional non-paid services differed significantly depending on the patients' educational level alone. Patients aged between 24 and 30 years old, as well as university students, were more likely to be satisfied with community pharmacy services. ConclusionIn Jordan, patients were satisfied with community pharmacy services to a moderate degree. Future research should look on patient satisfaction with pharmaceutical services in hospitals. Furthermore, strategies to promote satisfaction with pharmaceutical services should be investigated.

Towards A model for Citizens’ Acceptance of E-Payment Systems for Public Sector Services in Jordan: Evidence from Crisis Era

Towards A model for Citizens’ Acceptance of E-Payment Systems for Public Sector Services in Jordan: Evidence from Crisis Era

Knowledge, attitude, practice and perceived barriers towards smoking cessation services among community pharmacists.

Introduction:With more than one billion current smokers, 80% of them living in low and middle-income countries, tobacco smoking is considered a global public health problem. Jordan has one of the highest estimate rates of tobacco use in the region and world. Still, tobacco use interventions, that could significantly reduce the number of smoking-related diseases and reduce health care costs, are scarce. While such interventions could be carried out by community pharmacists, given their unique position to counsel patients and provide effective cessation interventions, the role of community pharmacists in tobacco control services in Jordan has never been fully investigated.Objective:This study aimed at assessing the community pharmacists’ knowledge, attitudes, and practice towards smoking cessation and identifying their perceived barriers for smoking cessation counselling utilizing a sample of community pharmacists in Northern Jordan.Method:A cross-sectional study was conducted among community pharmacies in Irbid city, North of Jordan, between April and August 2018. A random sample of 95 pharmacies was selected using the multistage random sampling technique. A structured English questionnaire, consisting of 5 parts, was used. The Survey assessed pharmacists’ socio-demographics, knowledge, attitude, practice and perceived barriers related to tobacco use cessation services.Results:One hundred and fifty pharmacists completed the survey. Their mean age was 30.71±10.10 years. The mean of pharmacists’ knowledge score was 3.74±0.38, while their positive and negative attitude were 3.87±0.43 and 3.18±0.66 respectively. Pharmacists’ mean smoking cessation practice was 2.01+0.64. Barriers to providing cessation interventions included the lack of training on nicotine replacement therapy products (86%), the lack of smoking cessation programs (84%) and low demands from smokers (83.3%).Conclusion:While knowledge related to tobacco use cessation services among the community pharmacists was sub-optimal, a good positive attitude and a low practice levels were observed. The lack of educational materials, low patients’ demand, knowledge deficits, low training and the lack of cessation programs have been identified as barriers hindering the provision of smoking cessation services. Furthermore, the study identified factors that will increase community pharmacists’ participation in smoking cessation, help in raising pharmacists’ awareness of smoking as a public health problem and the importance of their role.

Impact of coronavirus 19 pandemic on contraception in Jordan

The coronavirus 19 (COVID-19) pandemic has negatively impacted family planning services worldwide. There are no published reports from Jordan on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on family planning methods. This was a web-based cross-sectional study between September and December 2020 with 519 participants; of these 43.5% did not use any method. The most used methods were intrauterine devices, coitus interruptus and male condoms. Furthermore, 38.2% of women changed methods due to limited access to services and non-availability of methods. While 82.1% of women preferred modern methods before the pandemic, 79.7% became more acceptant of traditional methods. Moreover, 35.3% of women got pregnant during the curfew, and 90% were unplanned with a statistically significant higher rate in women who changed their routine method, accepted traditional methods, have been married for less than 10 years and multiparous women. National health policy makers should consider the impact of large-scale pandemics on family planning services. IMPACT STATEMENT What is already known on this subject? Family planning services in Jordan have improved significantly over the last decade because of accessibility and availability of a wide range of contraceptive methods. Available methods are either traditional or modern. Because of the high failure rates of traditional methods, public health family planning programmes promote modern methods. What do the results of this study add? There are no published reports from Jordan on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and curfew on family planning methods. This study aims to report on what family planning methods women used during the pandemic, reporting if women changed their preferred methods and the reasons, assess women's knowledge about the natural methods of family planning which is probably an alternative method in situations where services and accessibility to more effective methods are limited and estimate unplanned pregnancies. What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? National health policy makers should consider the impact of large-scale pandemics on family planning services. Additionally, the implementation of telehealth and home delivery of self-administered methods should be considered. Natural methods of contraception may be an option when access and availability to modern methods is limited.

Quality of Life and Health Status of Jordanian Women Users of Various Contraceptive Methods and Associated Factors: Implications for Contraceptive Policies.

AimThe study aimed at investigating the differences in health status of women users and non-users of contraceptive methods and assess differences in contraception quality of life (CQoL) according to method used.MethodsAcross sectional study with 372 women between the ages of 18 and 49 years old were recruited. Participants completed the health status and the CQoL questionnaire, which was validated using factor analysis combining three factor loading measures with a good Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient.ResultsResults showed that there were no significant differences in health status between users and non-users. There was a significant difference in QoL according to the method used at the p <0.05 level for the three conditions F (2193) = 6.0 and p = 0.003. Post hoc analysis indicated that the total CQoL was significantly higher in IUD users (M = 55.7, SD = 9.6) than users of natural methods (M = 50, SD = 9.0, p < 0.01). In addition, the total CQoL was significantly higher among women from the southern region (M = 56.7, SD = 9.0) than from the northern and mid-regions (M = 49.5, SD = 0.07 and M = 52, SD = 10, respectively, p < 0.01).ConclusionThe physiological changes of women’s QoL was affected by the use of the IUD method with significantly lower QoL scores than those who used oral contraceptives and non-hormonal methods. In addition, there was no significant difference in health status between users and non-users of contraceptive methods.ImplicationsThe study has implications for contraceptive counselling on quality of life of women users of IUD and women from the south region and provides opportunities for the advancement of the reproductive health services in Jordan.

The effect of big data on decision quality: Evidence from telecommunication industry

The aim of the research is to test the impact of big data on the quality of decision making. The necessary data was collected from telecommunication companies operating in Jordan. Three companies provide telecommunications services in Jordan: Zain, Umniah, and Orange. Non-probability purposive sampling was used. Hence, the study instrument was distributed to managers at the senior and middle levels of these companies. The structured equation modeling (SEM) technique was employed to test the study hypotheses. The results confirmed that big data impacts decision quality. Besides, it was determined that the highest impact was on velocity. The researchers suggest that Jordanian telecom companies invest in information technology that allows them to provide data with accuracy, reliability, and high quality, as well as improve the qualifications of their employees.

Avoiding uncertainty by measuring the impact of perceived risk on the intention to use financial artificial intelligence services

The moderating role of influencer endorsement and perceived monetary benefits on the relationship between perceived risk and financial artificial intelligence services was explored in this study. Data were obtained through questionnaires distributed to 200 respondents who were selected using a purposive sampling method. The respondents were customers receiving financial artificial intelligence services in Jordan. Analysis was performed using a structural equation modeling approach run by Smart-partial least squares (PLS) 3.2.9 involving data from 138 returned questionnaires. The results show a negative impact of perceived risk on financial artificial intelligence services, and a moderation effect of influencer endorsement and perceived monetary benefits on the relationship between perceived risk and financial artificial intelligence services. The findings can assist companies in their strategies of decreasing perceived risks that individuals could be encouraged to utilize business intelligence applications, for instance, financial technology services.

Moderating the role of the perceived security and endorsement on the relationship between per-ceived risk and intention to use the artificial intelligence in financial services

Advancement of banking and financial investment has led to the rapid expansion of services automation. The consistent increase of Artificial Intelligence (AI) usage in investment management implies the impending popularity of technology-based service. This study examined influencer endorsement and perceived security benefits as moderators to the relationship between perceived risk and financial AI services. Questionnaires were disseminated to 300 respondents who were customers with experience of using financial AI services in Jordan, and they were chosen through purposive sampling method. Structural equation modeling run using Smart-partial least squares (PLS 3.3.6) was employed in analyzing the data obtained from 220 completed questionnaires. The results show that perceived risk negatively affects financial AI services, while influencer endorsement and perceived security moderate the relationship between perceived risk and financial AI services. This study provides insight to companies on how to reduce perceived risk to encourage people to use business intelligence applications, as in the use of financial technology services.

An Acceptance Model of Using Mobile-Government Services (AMGS)

In recent years, the telecommunications sector is no longer limited to traditional communications, but has become the backbone for the use of data, content and digital applications by individuals, governments and companies to ensure the continuation of economic and social activity in light of social distancing and total closure in most countries in the world. Therefore, electronic government (e-Government) and mobile government (m-Government) are the results of technological evolution and innovation. Hence, it is important to investigate the factors that influence the intention to use m-Government services among Jordan’s society. This paper proposed a new m-Government acceptance model in Jordan (AMGS); this model combines the Information System (IS) Success Factor Model and Hofstede Cultural Dimensions Theory. The study was conducted by surveying different groups of the Jordanian community. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 203 respondents. Multiple regression analysis has been conducted to analyze the data. The results indicate that the significant predictors of citizen intention to use m-Government services in Jordan are Information Quality, Service Quality, Uncertainty Avoidance, and Indulgence vs. restraint. While, the results also suggest that Power Distance is not a significant predictor of citizen intention to use m-Government services.

Patients' Evaluation of the Quality of Emergency Care Services in Jordan: Integration of Patient Centeredness Model.

Accreditation is viewed to enhance the total quality of healthcare. The present study aims at assessing patients' perspectives toward the quality of emergency healthcare services at different hospitals with different characteristics in Jordan. The elements of patients' perception were aligned with the conceptual framework of Patient Centeredness Model. This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in four emergency departments from different healthcare sectors and accreditation statuses in Jordan. Less urgent/nonurgent, alert, and cooperative patients were identified directly after the completion of emergency treatment. The perspectives of patients about the quality of emergency services were evaluated by 10 domains articulated in a validated accident and emergency questionnaire. A total of 276 patients were enrolled in the study. Private sector scored higher in all assessment domains in both accredited and nonaccredited hospitals in comparison with the government sector. Accredited government hospitals scored higher in patients' evaluation for "doctor and nurse," "investigations," "pain," and "overall respect of medical staff" domains than nonaccredited government hospitals. The overall experience was significantly different between accredited and nonaccredited government hospitals. Quality of emergency care services should be assessed through various dimensions related to patients' perspectives. Patients' perception toward the quality of emergency health services is evidently enhanced by accreditation especially in the government sector.

Factors Affecting Students' Satisfaction with Academic Advisory Services in Jordan: A Case Study of Al Shoubak College

Factors Affecting Students' Satisfaction with Academic Advisory Services in Jordan: A Case Study of Al Shoubak College

Midwives and women's perspectives on family planning in Jordan: human rights, gender equity, decision-making and power dynamics

ObjectivesThis study explored midwives' and Jordanian and Syrian women's perceptions towards family planning (FP) counseling and the process of FP decision making mechanism to provide evidence for expanding the access and improving the quality and utilization of FP services in Jordan. MethodsExplorative qualitative study that purposively recruited 24 women for 4 focus group discussions (FDGs) and 17 midwives for in-depth interviews from two governorates in Jordan. The transcribed narratives were subjected to deductive content analysis. ResultsTwo themes were extracted from the narratives: The power dynamics in FP decision-making process and the barriers and motivators of FP decision making. The first theme was built on the perceived influence of gender equity and social pressures and gender-based violence on FP decision making. The second theme was constructed on the respondents' beliefs about reproductive health including FP as a human right and their perceptions of the obstacles and facilitators of FP Decision Making. Overall, husbands have an influential role, and perhaps the final say, in deciding whether to use FP services or not as well as the type of method to use. However, wives must initiate the family planning conversation with her husband and do so in a way that will be pleasing to the husband. Whether the husband agrees with the wife's idea to use family planning and gives her permission and funds for use, depends largely on her presentation of the idea, her husband's education level, and his personality. ConclusionsThis study revealed several relevant issues that play a role in Jordanian and Syrian women's decision to seek FP services. While cultural and social norms related to family planning and decision making continue to exert pressure on women, women have a deep interest in continuing to broaden their knowledge about family planning services. Engaging men and incorporating digital technology in family planning counselling has the potential to improve shared FP decision-making process among Jordanian couples and overcome some of the barriers.

Perceptions Toward the Use of Digital Technology for Enhancing Family Planning Services: Focus Group Discussion With Beneficiaries and Key Informative Interview With Midwives

BackgroundModern family planning (FP) methods allow married couples to discuss and determine the number of children and years of spacing between them. Despite many significant improvements in FP services in Jordan, there are still many issues related to the uptake of FP services for both host communities and Syrian refugees, due to limitations in the health care system based on public health facilities. Digital technologies can provide opportunities to address the challenges faced in the health system, thus offering the potential to improve both coverage and quality of FP services and practices.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to explore the perceptions of Jordanian women, Syrian refugees, and midwives in Jordan toward the use of digital health technology to support and enhance access to FP services.MethodsWe employed a qualitative study based on semistructured, face-to face key informative interviews with 17 midwives (providers) and focus group discussions with 32 married women of reproductive age (clients). Both midwives and clients were recruited from 9 health centers in 2 major governorates in Jordan (Irbid and Mafraq), where 17 in-depth interviews were conducted with midwives and 4 focus groups were conducted with the women. Each focus group included 4 Syrian refugees and 4 Jordanian women. The transcribed narratives were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis.ResultsThree major themes were derived from the narratives analysis, which covered the pros of using digital technology, concerns about digital technology use, and the ideal app or website characteristics. Ten subthemes emerged from these 3 main themes. Overall, midwives and women (Syrian refugees and host communities) agreed that digital technology can be feasible, cost-effective, well accepted, and potentially beneficial in increasing woman’s awareness and knowledge regarding the FP methods and their side effect. Furthermore, digital technology can assist in enabling women’s empowerment, which will allow them to make better decisions regarding FP use. No harmful risks or consequences were perceived to be associated with using digital technology. However, several concerns regarding digital technology use were related to eHealth literacy and the accuracy of the information provided. Midwives were mainly concerned about the patients who would rely mostly on the technology and choose to avoid consulting a health care professional.ConclusionsAs perceived by midwives and women, incorporating digital technology in FP services can be feasible, cost-effective, well accepted, and potentially beneficial in increasing woman’s awareness regarding the FP methods and their side effect. It may also empower the women to play an active role in the shared (with their husband and family) decision-making process. Therefore, digital technologies are recommended to address the challenges faced in health system and to improve both the coverage and the quality of FP services and practices.

Involvement of Jordanian Patients and Their Families in Decision Making Near End of Life, Challenges and Recommendations.

This study aims to explore the challenges in involving patients and their families in decision making near end of life and to provide recommendations to overcome these challenges. A qualitative descriptive phenomenological approach was used with a purposive sample of 8 patients, 7 family caregivers, 7 nurses, and 6 physicians from 2 institutions that provide palliative and end-of-life care services in Jordan. Data were collected using interviews with patients and family caregivers and focus group discussions with nurses and physicians. Colaizzi's method was used to analyze the data. The thematic analysis revealed 5 themes representing the participants' experiences of challenges with decision making near end of life. The identified challenges are (1) struggle with lack of information; (2) improper communication; (3) patient's or family's decision: the cultural taboo; (4) health care providers prefer staying in their comfort zone; and (5) the paradox of surviving and letting go. In addition, the participants endorsed several recommendations to raise public awareness of palliative and end-of-life care, amplify the patients' voice, and raise the bar of communication sensitivity. Decision making near the end of life is a challenge. However, the current study highlighted several areas for improvement that can improve the process and optimize patients' and their families' involvement.

Relying on the views and opinions of librarians to know the reality of the level of electronic information services provided in school libraries in the province of Karak: الاعتماد على آراء أمناء المكتبات لمعرفة واقع مستوى خدمات المعلومات الإلكترونية المقدمة في المكتبات المدرسية في محافظة الكرك

This study focused on the view and opinion of school librarians about the extent of electronic information services provided in school libraries in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. And studied this problem: through the provision of school libraries' electronic information services; what level of their ability to help the success and improve the teaching process. The views and opinions of librarians were collected through a questionnaire on the reality of electronic information services provided by school libraries of the Ministry of Education in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The study included librarians in public schools in the academic year 2016-2017. The study focused on school librarians, whether male or female, in the general public education community in Karak governorate. The researcher used the descriptive, analytical approach and the opinions of the librarians in the information services. To collect the data, the researcher used a questionnaire to know the situation of officials and staff of information services in school libraries and also to identify the problems facing these services and to know future plans to improve and develop information services provided in school libraries. Due to the lack of Internet, the lack of integrated automated systems, the lack of computers for employees or beneficiaries, the lack of marketing activities, the lack of exploitation of social networks, and the lack of cooperation between school libraries in the field of information services in Jordan; Most libraries offer traditional services such as reference service, secondment, etc., as indicated in this study. Electronic information services in school libraries face many difficulties or challenges or important problems, such as lack of information network, budget, the provision of computers rarely, the lack of training programs, and therefore this achieves the desired objectives for libraries negatively affected by these difficulties and challenges. The study focused on a set of hypotheses and the results were as follows: For the response of the sample on the difficulties facing electronic information services, there are differences with statistical function, due to a set of variables such as (gender, participation in training courses), but because of these two variables (knowledge of tasks There are no statistically significant differences.

Food Safety Knowledge among Food Handlers in Hospitals of Jordan

Food safety knowledge (FSK) plays an important role in guiding food handlers (FHs) practices during food operations. The aim of this research was to investigate the level of FSK among FHs in hospitals' food services in Jordan. Up to 245 food handlers work in hospitals were purposefully selected from 6 public and private hospitals. A published FSK questionnaire included 120 items in 6 subscales was used to collect data. Most of the hospitals' FHs were male (91.84, n=225), of mean age 35.89 ± 9.26 years, with average experience of 12.55 ± 8.1 years, education of less than high school, and worked in public hospitals. The overall FSK was found to be

Effectiveness of Psycho-Education Intervention Programme on Coping Strategies Among Jordanian Women Diagnosed with Breast Cancer: A Randomised Controlled Trial.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a psycho-education intervention programme in improving the coping strategies of Jordanian breast cancer patients.MethodsA double-blinded randomised control trial involving 200 participants between the ages of 20 to 65 years old breast cancer patients was performed. Apart from those who refused participation, patients with chronic diseases and extreme baseline depression scores were also excluded. The control group received standard care twice a week from the social welfare services team facilitator compared to the intervention group that received additional psycho-education intervention programme (PEIP). The coping strategies were measured using the Brief-COPE inventory consisting of 28 items. It was administered on the second and 12th week of trial. The primary end point was compared between pre- and post-intervention. The effect of the intervention between groups, time, and covariates was measured using the generalised linear mixed model (GLMM) analysis.ResultsThe mean (SD) of adaptive coping score among the intervention group increased from 5.63 (1.3) at baseline to 6.42 (1.3) at post-intervention. The mean avoidant coping score was 3.87 (1.1) at baseline but reduced to 3.69 (0.8) post-intervention. GLMM showed that women who received the intervention reported significantly higher usage of the adaptive coping strategies after attending the programme (B=0.921, p <0.001).ConclusionPEIP significantly improved knowledge of breast cancer patients. Thus, this programme may be considered as a part of the healthcare services in Jordan towards improving the adaptive coping strategies among breast cancer patients, which may point towards the potential for these services to increase adaptive coping strategies among patients in Jordan.Implications for Public HealthPEIP may be considered as psychosocial intervention in public health and healthcare setting to address rising concerns on quality of care among breast cancer patients.

Health care professionals\u2019 attitudes towards youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services in Jordan: a cross-sectional study of physicians, midwives and nurses

BackgroundYouth-friendly sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services are thought to make such services for adolescents more accessible and acceptable; however, provider attitudes may still present an important barrier. Improving youth SRH service utilization has been recognized as a national priority in Jordan; however, existing services remain underutilized. Previous studies found that youth perceive SRH services to be inadequate and that providers are not supportive of their needs. The purpose of this study is measure provider attitudes towards youth-friendly SRH services and explore their variation according to individual characteristics among health care professionals in Jordan.MethodsWe measured provider attitudes towards youth-friendly SRH services using a scale that was developed and validated in Jordan. The scale consists of three subscales: (1) Attitudes towards SRH information and services offered to youth, (2) Norms and personal beliefs, and (3) Attitudes towards the policy and clinical environment. Possible scores range between 1 and 4, with higher scores reflecting more youth-friendly attitudes. Physicians, midwives and nurses working at either primary health centers, comprehensive care centers, or women’s and children’s health centers where services to adolescents are or should be offered were recruited from four governorates in Jordan using a two-stage, cluster sampling scheme. Differences in attitudes were assessed using simple and multivariable linear regression analysis.ResultsThe sample consisted of 510 providers from four governorates in Jordan. The mean provider score on the full scale was 2.7, with a range of 2.0 to 3.8. On Subscales 1 and 2, physicians exhibited significantly more youth-friendly attitudes than nurses by scoring 0.17 points higher than nurses on Subscale 1 (95% CI: 0.02–0.32; p < 0.05) in adjusted analyses. Providers who had been previously trained in SRH issues scored 0.10 points higher (95% CI: 0.00—0.20; p < 0.05) than those who had not on Subscale 3. No differences were found according to provider characteristics on Subscale 2. Providers exhibited the lowest scores related to items referencing youth sexual behavior.ConclusionsProvider attitudes towards youth-friendly SRH service delivery highlight context-specific, cultural concerns. The limited variation in attitudes related to norms and personal beliefs may be a reflection that such beliefs are deeply held across Jordanian society. Last, as past training on SRH was significantly associated with higher scores, our results suggest opportunity for intervention to improve providers’ confidence and knowledge.

The impact of e-service quality and ease of use of e-customer relationship management: a study of mobile phone services in Jordan

In the use of technology and human resources, e-customer relationship management (e-CRM) plays a key role in clarifying customer behaviour and their value. With the use of such systems, businesses can reap the benefits of customer repeat purchase, word-of-mouth, customer retention, brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. This study tested two components of customer factor namely e-service quality (ESQ) and ease of use (EOU) in their role as antecedents of e-CRM performance from the point of view of the employees of food industry companies (FIC) in Jordan. Based on the analysed data both variables positively and significantly related to e-CRM performance. The study conducted a review of relevant studies and presented an extensive discussion of the development of the research model underpinned by the technology acceptance model (TAM), upon which the formulation of hypotheses was made. The study provided a detailed description of data collection, study sample, results and discussions of findings.

The impact of e-service quality and ease of use of e-customer relationship management: a study of mobile phone services in Jordan

The impact of e-service quality and ease of use of e-customer relationship management: a study of mobile phone services in Jordan