Rural School Nurses'Attitudes about AIDS and Homosexuality

ABSTRACT: The AIDS epidemic has spread to rural areas of the United States. Conservative rural communities are facing the challenge of having children with HIV entering school. School nurses, as the only health care providers in the schools, are in a strong position to facilitate the education of children with HIV and to provide AIDS education to students, faculty, and parents. School nurses' knowledge and attitudes about AIDS and people with AIDS influence their effectiveness in prevention activities and care of HIV-infected children. This study examined the relationship between specific demographic, practice, and cultural variables and rural school nurses' attitudes about AIDS and homosexuality. Sixty-nine school nurses responded to a mailed questionnaire as part of a larger study of rural nurses. Results indicate attitudes about homosexuality were related to nurses' homosexual knowledge and religious beliefs while attitudes about AIDS were related to nurses' willingness to care for people with AIDS and feeling prepared to do so.(J Sch Health. 1997;67(8):341–347)     

Undergraduate nursing students' experiences in a rural clinical placement

Objective: This paper draws on questionnaire findings and analysis of students' comments to demonstrate the aspects of rural placements that were effective in engaging students in the learning process. It also examined how a primary health care clinical placement in Aboriginal communities can provide nursing students with a rich and varied learning experience and an insight into the complex aspects of rural life including Aboriginal health. Design: A cohort of eight second‐year nursing students from the Australian Catholic University, North Sydney, in partnership with the Broken Hill University Department of Rural Health (BHUDRH), participated in a 4 weeks' rural placement in far western New South Wales. A pre‐test/post‐test questionnaire was used to capture their experiences with the students completing the questionnaires before and after their clinical placements. Such placements offer students opportunities to deepen their understanding of issues related to rural health in clinical, professional, social and community contexts. Results: The results suggest that clinical experience in rural areas can positively influence attitudes, preparedness for practice and engage students on many levels, deepened their understanding of rural communities and issues related to rural health. Conclusion: This group of undergraduate nursing students indicated they all had a positive learning experience in their rural clinical placement. The value of rural placements as a method for increasing nursing student's practical experience should be promoted.     

Rural physicians' attitudes toward the elderly: evidence of ageism?

Rural elderly patients receive health services primarily in the outpatient setting, with their primary care provider often serving as their only point of contact with the health care system. Little is known however about the attitudes of physicians, and more specifically attitudes of those practicing in rural locations, toward differing age groups of the elderly. The current study was undertaken to examine the perceptions and attitudes of rural Florida physicians who routinely provide care for the elderly. We utilized an existing and validated survey instrument designed to measure the perceptions and attitudes of health professionals toward 3 different cohorts of elderly people: the elderly population in general, the elderly population older than 85 years, and the nursing home population. The study provides evidence that physicians who routinely provide care for the elderly in rural Florida demonstrate ageist perceptions, especially against those older than 85 years and the nursing home population. The trends identified are important because they may directly influence the quality of care that this population receives.     

Career intentions of medical students in the setting of Nepal's rapidly expanding private medical education system

The number of medical students trained in Nepal each year has increased nearly fifty-fold in the last 15 years, primarily through the creation of private medical schools. It is unknown where this expanding cohort of new physicians will ultimately practice. We distributed an anonymous survey to students in their last 2 years of medical school at four medical schools in Nepal to examine two dimensions of career intention: the intention to practice in Nepal and the intention to practice in rural areas. Eighty-five per cent of the eligible study population participated, for a total of 469 medical students. Of these, 88% thought it was likely they would practice in Nepal and 88% thought it likely they would practice in urban areas. Those students who indicated a greater likelihood of practicing abroad came from families with higher incomes, were more likely to think earning a good salary was very important to their decision to become a physician, and were less likely to think they could earn a good salary in Nepal. Students whose tuition was paid by the government were no more likely to indicate an intention to practice in Nepal than students paying their own tuition at private medical schools. Students who indicated a greater likelihood of practicing in rural areas were more likely to be male, to have gone to a government secondary school, to have been born in a village, or to have received a scholarship from the Ministry of Education that requires rural service. Based on our findings, we suggest the following policy changes: (1) medical schools consider selecting for students from rural backgrounds or government secondary schools who are more likely to intend to practice in rural areas, and (2) increase the number of post-graduate positions--weighted toward rural health needs--to retain students in Nepal.     

广西壮族中专学生口腔健康知识与行为调查

目的 研究广西壮族中专学生口腔健康相关知识、态度、行为情况，建立其基线调查资料。方法 对广西壮族学生较集中的2所中专学校的学生进行问卷调查，抽取壮族学生有效问卷660份进行统计分析。结果 99％以上的学生每天刷牙1到2次，大部分人知道刷牙的目的，但开始刷牙的时间较晚，掌握正确刷牙方法的很少。口腔卫生知识的知晓率低，所接受的口腔健康教育及保健治疗指导非常有限，对待牙病的态度和行为较落后，大部分调查项目未表现出性别差异。结论 广西壮族中专学生的口腔健康知识较薄弱，态度和行为较落后，对其口腔健康教育需加强。     

RURAL AND URBAN FEMALE SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' ATTITUDES TOWARDS AND USE OF PRIMARY CARE SERVICES

ABSTRACT: In light of the current and ongoing threats to young women's health of unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmissible diseases (including HIV/AIDS), assured access to appropriate and sensitive health services is of paramount importance. In this article, the results of a recent Victorian study involving rural and urban female secondary school students on issues relating to sexual health are reported. Drawing upon the findings of an extensive self-report questionnaire, young women's attitudes towards and use of health services are presented with a particular focus upon the variations that exist between the rural and urban populations. Apart from issues associated with privacy, which were found to be more crucial to rural young women's decisions to seek medical care, this study found young women's concern about the attitudes of medical and non-medical staff alike, the atmosphere of surgery or clinic, and gender of doctor all to be important factors in their general use of health services, regardless of location.     

Studies on common illnesses and medical care utilization patterns of adolescents in Hong Kong

Purpose: To estimate the prevalences of common illnesses in Hong Kong adolescents, the sociodemographic and selected risk factors associated with these illnesses, and their health care utilization behavior and attitudes.

Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 3355 participating secondary school students (response RATE = 98%).

Results: Self-reported 3-month prevalences were obtained for cough/cold/influenza (55.2%), digestive disorders (34.6%), accidental injuries (29.5%), headache/dizziness (23.6%), chronic anxiety/insomnia (20.1%), skin problems (9.5%), asthma (3.8%), liver disease (1.3%), and menstrual pain (13.8% of female students). Self-perceived poor health, smoking, and alcohol consumption were associated with many of these illnesses. Treatment choice depended on the illness suffered (e.g., most students with respiratory problems consulted medical practitioners, whereas most with chronic anxiety/insomnia did not). Many students lacked trust in their doctors, doctor-shopped, relied heavily on self-medication, did not comply with prescribed treatments, would not seek help about medical problems, felt they had insufficient access to health information, and wanted confidential health care.

Conclusions: This study examined for the first time the common illnesses and health care utilization patterns of Hong Kong adolescents. Students with chronic anxiety/insomnia were much less likely to seek care, indicating a need for better education on mental health. Efforts to prevent smoking and alcohol consumption among adolescents need to be strengthened. The students’ attitudes, poor compliance and help-seeking behaviors suggest suboptimal use of the health care system. Our findings are useful for international comparisons by medical practitioners, health care managers, and researchers.     

Preventive care attitudes of medical students

Presently developing attitudes of future physicians towards preventive medicine will likely provide either a major impetus for or barriers to the inclusion of preventive medicine content in medical school curricula and in other formats of physician education. In turn, attitudes about preventive care and its role in medical practice will continue to have a large influence on how much disease prevention and health promotion emphasis physicians provide in their practices. Consequently, it becomes important to study how medical students' attitudes evolve during the process of medical education. Furthermore, to the extent that we can better understand how desired attitudes can be developed and nurtured, the practice of preventive medicine may become more purposeful. Beginning and third-year medical students were surveyed with a 100-item questionnaire designed to assess their attitudes regarding: the relative importance of 20 specific preventive services to the practice of medicine and the adequacy of preclinical coursework for preparing them to offer preventive care in medical practice. The confidence of third year students' in the ability of primary care physicians to provide these specific services was also assessed. Preventive care service areas about which third-year students expressed high confidence in the ability of physicians to provide were: immunizations, health screening physicals, blood pressure control, cancer detection education, family planning, health counseling/education, and sexually transmitted disease prevention. Services that students had low confidence in the ability of physicians to provide were: smoking cessation, nutrition counseling/education and weight reduction.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Asthma management in rural New South Wales: Perceptions of health care professionals and people with asthma

Objective:  To investigate the perceptions and attitudes towards asthma management of general practitioners, pharmacists and people with asthma in a rural area.
Design:  Qualitative semistructured interviews.
Setting:  Small rural centre in New South Wales.
Participants:  General practitioners, pharmacists and people with asthma in a rural area.
Results:  General practitioners perceived that the patient provided a barrier to the implementation of optimal asthma services. They were aware that other health care professionals had a role in asthma management but were not aware of the details, particularly in relation to that of the pharmacist and would like to improve communication methods. Pharmacists also perceived the patient to be a barrier to the delivery of optimal asthma management services and would like to improve communication with the general practitioner. The impact of the rural environment for the health care professionals included workforce shortages, availability of support services and access to continuing education. People with asthma were satisfied with their asthma management and the service provided by the health care professionals and described the involvement of family members and ambulance officers in their overall asthma management. The rural environment was an issue with regards to distance to the hospital during an emergency.
Conclusions:  General practitioners and pharmacists confirmed their existing roles in asthma management while expressing a desire to improve communication between the two professions to help overcome barriers and optimise the asthma service delivered to the patient. The patient described minimal barriers to optimising asthma management, which might suggest that they might not have great expectations of asthma care.     

杭州市中小学生新冠肺炎认知防护行为及态度

  目的  分析杭州市中小学生对新型冠状病毒肺炎(简称“新冠肺炎”)的认知、防护行为和态度现状,为学校开展有针对性的防控措施提供科学依据。  方法  于2020年3月3—7日采用网络方便抽样的方法,利用问卷星,对杭州市14 216名中小学生进行新冠肺炎相关知识的认知、防护行为和态度的匿名式问卷调查。  结果  杭州市中小学生对新冠肺炎传播途径(85.83%)、潜伏期(77.44%)知晓率较高,对症状知晓率相对较低(44.70%)。戴口罩、咳嗽礼仪和正确洗手的执行率分别为97.27%,88.01%,91.82%。中小学生防护行为总体较好,91.21%呈中等及以上水平。有83.91%的中小学生担心感染新冠肺炎,55.42%的中小学生对复学存在紧张心理。小学生、农村学生对复学更为紧张(χ2值分别为46.66,26.70,P值均 < 0.05)。  结论  杭州市中小学生新冠肺炎相关知识和防护行为总体情况较好,但需进一步开展有针对性的健康教育,同时加强中小学生的心理健康教育。     

深圳市中学生预防艾滋病干预措施评价

目的 探索在中学开展预防艾滋病（AIDS）有效干预模式及其效果评价。方法 对深圳市10所中学初一、高一学生进行预防艾滋病健康教育干预前后相关知识、态度及行为的变化进行比较。结果 （1）知识方面：干预后,学生预防AIDS基本知识平均得分初一男生由7.47提高到10.21（满分为15）;初一妇生从7.17提高互10.21;高一男生从10.30提高到11.09;高一妇生从9.58提高到10.55。（2）态度方面:对待HIV/AIDS患采取正向态度明显提高,男生由22.6％上升到34.9%;女生由24.4%上升到41.5%。（3）行为方面：同学可以运用更多的信息来源获取有关知识。结论 学校预防AIDS教育干预措施以帮助学生增强抵御HIV／AIDS的能力,树立正向的态度,但要由知识转变行为还需要一定的时间、综合的干预和社会的多方支持。     

Teaching primary health care: some lessons from Zimbabwe

A new teaching programme for fourth-year medical students in child health in Harare, Zimbabwe is outlined. A 2-week attachment to a rural district-level hospital is intended to orient the students to primary health care and to the practice of clinical medicine in a low resource environment. The attachment has become popular with students and it is hoped that it will improve attitudes of teaching staff in the medical school towards primary health care.     

云南省中小学生青春期性教育需求调查

目的 了解当前中小学学生性健康认知和性教育需求现状,为全面性教育的开展提供依据.方法 于2021年5月采用自填式问卷开展匿名调查.通过分层随机整群抽样获得3 241例中小学生性健康认知和性教育需求调查数据.采用x2检验和多因素logistic回归进行统计分析.结果 小学生的性健康知识及格率和优良率为50.0％和19.2...     

Attitudes toward mental illness in medical students: does personal and professional experience with mental illness make a difference?

PURPOSE: Medical students may be susceptible to emotional difficulties because of the high levels of both academic and interpersonal stress associated with their training. This study examined attitudes toward mental illness in medical students. It was expected that people who had experience of mental illness, either in their personal lives or through their professional experience, would have more positive attitudes toward students with mental health problems than would people who had not had such experience. METHOD: Faculty and staff employed by a large American university medical centre completed a questionnaire package including several measures designed to assess specific attitudes toward medical students with emotional problems. Data were also collected on the degree to which specific mental disorders were thought to interfere with the performance of medical students. RESULTS: In general, prior experience with mental illness, either through personal or professional activities, was associated with more positive attitudes about students with mental illness. However, the pattern of findings was complex. CONCLUSION: Future research should examine the extent to which specific mental illnesses actually affect the performance of medical students.     

Access to health care among Australian adolescents young people's perspectives and their sociodemographic distribution.

PURPOSE: To identify the health concerns for which adolescent residents in New South Wales, Australia, do not receive health care, and the associated factors, including their sociodemographic distribution. METHODS: Purposive sampling was used to recruit school students who were stratified by gender and age (12-14, 14-16 and 16-17 years), from schools stratified by socioeconomic status and urban/rural location. Out-of-school young people were recruited through youth health services. Qualitative methods were used to collect and analyze data. RESULTS: Eighty-one focus groups were conducted. Most young people defined health solely in terms of their physical well-being, but still identified a broad range of situations, conditions, or behaviors which they believed might affect their health. One-third of females and two-thirds of males said they would not seek help for their health concerns, and when they did, were most likely to seek help from family, friends, or others they trusted. When professional help was sought, young people again preferred someone they knew and trusted. The three groups of barriers to accessing health care were: concerns about confidentiality, knowledge of services and discomfort in disclosing health concerns, and accessibility and characteristics of services. Factors related to use of health care services were associated with age, gender, and location, but rarely with socioeconomic status. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of these young people in New South Wales (particularly males) do not seek health care despite identifying a broad range of issues that affect their health.     

Physicians' attitudes toward preventive care services: a seven-year prospective cohort study.

We report results of a seven-year prospective cohort study of physicians' attitudes about and intentions to provide 27 preventive care services in their future practices. Respondents in the cohort were surveyed three times: first, during orientation to medical school; second, during their third year of medical school; and finally, following completion of their third-year of residency training. The majority of preventive care services were viewed as more important to clinical practice in primary care than in non-primary care specialties. Positive attitudes toward preventive care services generally persisted among both primary and non-primary care physicians. Respondents expressed only fair to medium levels of confidence in the ability of physicians in their specialty areas to provide any of the preventive services examined. Respondents reported low levels of confidence in the ability of primary care physicians to provide nutritional counseling, though they ranked it as important. Respondents were fairly or moderately confident in the ability of primary care physicians to provide counseling about smoking cessation, health, AIDS education, and substance abuse. Participants ranked smoking cessation counseling, health counseling, AIDS education, cancer detection education, and substance abuse counseling and education as very important. In general, physicians were less likely to plan on providing preventive services than they were to expect their residency programs to prepare most or all to provide the services. Findings document the need to prepare physicians better to provide preventive services.     

Patients' experience of epilepsy and health care

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the severity of epilepsy and its effect on patients lives, and to describe patients' use of and attitudes to health care. METHOD: A questionnaire was sent to 595 people with epilepsy identified from 14 general practices in north-west Bristol. All patients aged 16 years and over receiving anti-epileptic medication for their epilepsy were included in the study. Areas investigated included severity of epilepsy and its effect on quality of life, anti-epileptic medication and its perceived effect, health care utilization and preferences for health care. RESULTS: Seizure frequency was strongly associated with adverse effects of epilepsy. Attacks of epilepsy were experienced at least monthly by 20.4% (95% confidence intervals (Cl) 17.0-23.7%) of patients, 29.4% (25.4-33.4%) took more than one anti-epileptic drug, 56.1% (50.1-62.2%) reported drug side effects, 74.1% (70.3-77.8%) would prefer to receive all or most of their epilepsy care in a general practice setting, and 69.8% (63.5- 76.2%) would like contact with a primary care-based epilepsy specialist nurse. During the previous year 42.4% (35.9-48.8%) of patients had not seen a doctor about their epilepsy. Of patients who had attended the general practice only 13.4% (9.6-17.2%) had regular arrangements to see their GP about epilepsy. Patients receiving both primary and secondary care had the greatest needs and wants for improved care. CONCLUSIONS: Structured care, including regular appointments, co-ordination of primary and secondary care, and increased monitoring and discussion, may improve the quality of life of people with epilepsy, but requires evaluation.      

Attitudes toward the elderly among students of health care related studies at the University of Salamanca, Spain

INTRODUCTION: This study uses a cross-sectional approach in terms of evaluating attitudes toward the elderly among health sciences students. The aim of this study was to measure attitudes among final year pregraduate students of seven health care careers. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted with final year students of medicine (M), occupational therapy (OT), physiotherapy (P), nursing (N), psychology (Ps), social work (Sw), and dentistry (D). The data was collected using the validated Spanish version of the questionnaire that uses the Aged Semantic Differential (ASD), a scale developed by Rosencrantz and colleagues. Additional information about sociodemographic characteristics of students was collected. RESULTS: A total of 472 valid questionnaires were collected; 54% of the students showed positive attitudes toward the elderly. Female students had more positive attitudes than male ones. The Ps and P students showed a high interest in choosing geriatrics as their speciality (36%), while only 16% of the medical students considered it among their career options. DISCUSSION: Pregraduate health care students' attitudes tend to be less positive concerning older people's capacity for self-determination. Therefore, it would be advisable to enhance continuous interaction among healthy aged people and students of the named specialities during their specific training. The fact that the N students had less positive attitudes toward the elderly, while they were also more likely to take action, and the fact that the Ps and Sw students had more positive attitudes might suggest a need to enhance and combine the approach to the care of the older people in nursing with the psychological and life course approaches.