Undergraduate psychiatry teaching in Ethiopia

Many epidemiological studies have shown the magnitude and seriousness of mental disorders in developing countries. However, mental health care remains unsatisfactory owing to lack of skilled manpower and many other social and medical priorities. General practitioners and other health personnel can significantly help in extending mental health care provided they receive adequate training during their medical curriculum. With this aim, the Department of Psychiatry at Addis Ababa University runs a 6-week full-time course for undergraduate medical students. Its chief objectives, teaching methods, achievements and shortcomings are discussed in the paper.     

Teaching medical students about the appropriateness of social and sexual contact between doctors and their patients: evaluation of a programme

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of an educational intervention on medical students' attitudes toward social and sexual contact with patients by doctors from three medical specialties (general practice, obstetrics/gynaecology and psychiatry). Medical students from two consecutive fifth year classes at one medical school participated in one 3 hour session that included instruction on the standards of the profession that prohibit doctor–patient sexual contact. Students were assigned to either intervention groups or control groups and responded to an anonymous questionnaire (overall response rate 66·8% ; n=141). As many as 14·5% of control group students thought it was (sometimes or usually) appropriate for general practitioners to date their own patients and at least 3% thought it appropriate for members of any of these three medical specialties to engage in sexual contact with their own patients. However, there were no significant differences in attitudes toward hugging, dating or sexual contact with current patients between those who had attended the seminar and the control groups. The session significantly influenced attitudes regarding obstetrician/gynaecologists and psychiatrists hugging and having sexual contact with former patients. These findings are discussed in relation to a need for expansion of such instruction.     

师范大学学生艾滋病知识现况调查及健康教育近期效果评价

目的 了解师范大学学生艾滋病相关知识及行为现状，为高校制定艾滋病健康教育规划提供参考。方法 抽取天津师范大学2000年入学新生，通过集体讲座，使用统一的调查问卷在教育前后分别调查学生艾滋病相关知识及态度，并利用EPIinf0软件进行分析。结果 天津师范大学一年级学生健康教育后对艾滋病性质、主要传播途径等的正确回答率都有所提高，能够正确对待艾滋病病毒感染者，教育前后学生对性行为的态度无明显改变。学生希望获得艾滋病知识的前4位方式均为电视、报刊书籍、卫生课和医生。结论 从国情和现实需要出发，在大学生中开展适时、适度、适量的性健康教育和健康行为教育，对预防性病艾滋病有着积极的意义。     

Attitudes of the 1984 medical graduates of Sri Lanka to anaesthesia

A total of 196 intern medical officers who had graduated from the four medical schools in Sri Lanka in 1984 indicated their attitudes towards anaesthesia as a medical specialty in response to a postal questionnaire. Eighty per cent of the graduates considered anaesthesia to be an established specialty in Sri Lanka, while 17% felt that the specialty had limited clinical application. A total of 62% of the graduates were not aware, prior to their entry to medical school, that anaesthesia was related to medical practice. All the graduates indicated that the intra-operative role of the anaesthetist was on a par with that of the surgeon, but 40% felt that the pre- and post-operative roles were of a secondary nature. Overall, 42% considered that an anaesthetist acts as an assistant to the surgeon. The graduates were of the opinion that only 35% of the patients undergoing surgery were appreciative of the services rendered by an anaesthetist. Fifty per cent of the graduates considered exposure to the specialty in the undergraduate curriculum as inadequate. Anaesthesia was chosen as the first career preference by 1.5%. The dominant reasons for not selecting anaesthesia as a career specialty were: minimal patient contact and patient recognition (62%), and lack of recognition of the specialty by society (54%). Anaesthetists in Sri Lanka are challenged to alter the perceptions associated with the specialty, which are probably a result of chronic staff shortages restricting practice to the confines of operating theatres.     

Students'' assessment of a course in obstetrics and gynaecology

A complete annual entry of 181 students were administered a questionnaire in which they were invited to make value judgements about all aspects of their 3-month course in obstetrics and gynaecology. The resulting performance indicators were used to compare individual staff and clinical firms.     

参加新婚教育人群对紧急避孕的知识、态度和实践

为探讨新婚前后人群对避孕方法(特别是紧急避孕方法)的知识、态度和使用以及新婚前后人群对紧急避孕的需求及对推广EC的意愿的建议。采用描述性流行病学研究方法,以郑州市新婚学校为研究现场,直接收集第一手数据。采用EPI INF6.04软件包,和SPSS7.5 FOR WINDOW95软件包,进行数据处理、统计与分析。统计分析的主要指标有:频数分布,单因素分析,logistic多元回归分析等。结果平均年龄26.41岁,女性占49.4％。在第一次同房时,仅有46.4％的人使用过避孕方法。第一次同房时最常用的避孕方法是避孕套(76.1％)。在女性应答者中,25岁以下开始同房者占76.6％,有9.3％的人有过人工流产史。88.2％的人每周有1～6次同房。有43.2％的人听说过EC方法,有35.9％的人听说过紧急避孕片,有29.9％的人知道使用EC片有时间限制,有24.7％的人听说过上环可作为紧急避孕方法,有17.4％的人知道上环紧急避孕方法有时间限制。仅有12.9％的人使用过某种事后避孕方法,其中有事后3天内使用者占82.0％。92.6％的人赞成开展EC教育。73.7％的人认为,应在未婚青少年中开展EC教育。80.7％的人认为,在本单位进行EC教育是可行的。应答者认为,最易的接受的EC教育形式依次为:阅读材料(40.4％),录相(20.6％)和讲课(15.7％)。认为EC的最可靠的信息来源     

上海市预防接种工作人员疑似预防接种异常反应监测认知和报告影响因素

目的了解上海市预防接种工作人员疑似预防接种异常反应(Adverse events following immunization,AEFI)监测的知识和态度以及影响AEFI报告的因素。方法采用方便抽样在上海市所有459个预防接种门诊选择预防接种工作人员开展问卷调查,分析AEFI监测知识得分(满分6分)和态度,采用多因素Logistic回归分析AEFI报告的影响因素。结果1379名调查对象的AEFI监测知识平均得分为3.30±1.31分;认为开展AEFI监测有必要、报告AEFI是自身职责、AEFI监测是额外工作负担的调查对象分别占98.84%、92.75%、30.38%。69.62%的调查对象近1年报告过AEFI;社区接种门诊、免疫规划专职人员、近1年接受过AEFI培训、AEFI监测知识得分高的调查对象报告AEFI的比例高[OR(95%CI):19.55(14.16-26.98)、1.95(1.45-2.64)、3.14(1.76-5.59)、1.91(1.38-2.63)]。结论上海市预防接种工作人员AEFI监测知识水平不高,对AEFI监测存在一定认识误区;需加强AEFI监测培训,进一步提高其AEFI报告意识。     

Assessing attitudes towards online psychoeducational interventions: Psychometric properties of a Brief Attitudes Scale

Participant attitudes are an explanatory factor for attrition in online health-related interventions. However, its assessment prior to interventions start is uncommon, partly because proper measures are missing. This study presents the psychometric properties of a new scale measuring attitudes towards online psychoeducational interventions (OPIs). Structural validity, reliability and screening performance of the Online Psychoeducational Intervention – Brief Attitudes Scale (OPI-BAS) were studied in a sample of 157 dementia caregivers. Scale cut-off scores were derived to categorise the participants into ‘OPIs sympathisers’ or ‘non-sympathisers’. Groups were compared across sociodemographic and internet use variables. A parsimonious five-item version of OPI-BAS demonstrated good structural validity, with one factor explaining 63.3% of variance. Internal consistency of the scale was high (α = 0.85). OPI-BAS showed good screening performance in identifying individuals with either a preference to use conventional face-to-face or online psychoeducational interventions (area under the curve = 0.84). An optimal cut-off score of 20 was suggested by the receiver operating characteristic graph, providing good sensitivity (74%) and specificity (84%). No significant differences were found between groups on sociodemographic and internet use variables. Attitudes towards OPIs were overall positive, but face-to-face interventions were preferred. This study offers preliminary support to the psychometric quality of OPI-BAS. This short scale has practical applications for research and intervention.     

Knowledge and attitudes of registered dietitians concerning vegetarian diets

Registered Dietitians' (RD) knowledge and attitudes about the safety, adequacy and health benefits of vegetarian diets were estimated. A questionnaire was developed with demographic, knowledge, and attitude questions and was completed by 182 RDs from Washington, Nebraska and Vermont. The results showed that RDs in Vermont had significantly higher attitude scores regarding vegetarian diets than RDs in Nebraska (63% vs. 52% of questions answered correctly, respectively) and that RDs in Washington had significantly higher knowledge scores concerning vegetarian diets than RDs in Nebraska (73% vs. 67% of questions answered correctly, respectively). A significantly higher percentage of the RDs from Vermont, 52%, reported having followed some type of vegetarian diet compared to only 28% of the RDs from Washington or 12% of the RDs from Nebraska. Results also showed that RDs who had followed vegetarian diets at the time of the study or at some time in the past had significantly higher overall knowledge and attitude scores when compared with those RDs who had never followed vegetarian diets. There was a significant positive correlation between overall knowledge and overall attitude score for individual subjects. This suggests that increasing the knowledge base of RDs concerning vegetarian diets may lead them to consider meatless diets in a more positive light. In addition, average overall knowledge and attitude scores suggested that RDs are not up to date with current research in the field of vegetarian nutrition.     

Evaluating problem-based learning in a multilingual student population

OBJECTIVES: The University of Natal Medical School in South Africa provides training for a student body composed of two groups: one with English as a first language and the other with an African language as a first language and English as the second. A new methodology was developed to evaluate an innovative course using modified problem-based learning techniques in this heterogeneous environment. DESIGN: The learning model proposed required achieving a balance of three components: content, enquiry/learning process and social interaction/group process. A multidimensional system, felt to be consistent with this educational philosophy, was developed using seven different quantitative and qualitative techniques. SETTING: The University of Natal Medical School. SUBJECTS: First-year multilingual medical students. RESULTS: The results revealed that social interaction was highly successful in reducing barriers between the student groups and between students and facilitators. However, the emphasis on group participation may have overshadowed the enquiry process, leading to superficial discussions of problems and feelings of repetitiveness. During the course students and facilitators expressed concern that the innovative assessments used did not assess the course content adequately. While the group presentations and projects were useful exercises for consolidation and group interaction, they did not enable facilitators to identify struggling students. CONCLUSIONS: The outcome of the evaluation stressed the need of achieving an appropriate balance both in the curriculum and assessments of the three components of the learning model, particularly in a setting where student backgrounds and language ability differ. Multidimensional methodology is needed for effective evaluation that promotes critical reflection.