The Second Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) Forum: the state of play of CATI survey methods in Australia

Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) systems are recognised in Australia and internationally for their ability to provide timely and relevant data on the health of the population. The Second CATI Population Health Surveys Forum highlighted the importance of this system for surveillance and using this information to determine priority health issues, develop strategies, monitor effectiveness of interventions, and influence health policy. A national CATI data collection strategy is required to determine priorities for health surveillance. Several development and technical issues need to be addressed for such a national strategy to provide a coordinated approach to health surveillance.     

Nutritional routines and attitudes among doctors and nurses in Scandinavia: a questionnaire based survey

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Hospital malnutrition is prevalent, but nutritional practice in hospitals has a low priority. To improve the quality in nutritional routine, ESPEN has developed standards to improve the inadequate and insufficient nutritional treatments seen today. However, there is a discrepancy between the standards and clinical practice. This study was conducted to investigate nutritional practice in different hospital settings in relation to these standards (e.g.: screening of all patients, assessment of at-risk patients) among Scandinavian doctors and nurses. METHODS: A questionnaire about nutritional attitudes and routine was mailed to doctors and nurses in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. RESULTS: Altogether, 4512 (1753 doctors, 2759 nurses) answered the questionnaire. Both screening and assessment of at-risk patients differ between the countries. Nutritional screening was more common in Denmark (40%), compared to Sweden (21%) and Norway (16%). Measuring dietary intake in nutritional at-risk patients was more common in Denmark (46%), compared to Sweden (37%) and Norway (22%). However, all countries agreed that nutritional screening (92%, 88%, 88%) and measuring dietary intake (97%, 95%, 97%) were important, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, respectively. CONCLUSION: There is a large discrepancy between nutritional attitudes and practice. The standards suggested from the ESPEN are not fulfilled.     

Costs of caring for a child with cancer: a questionnaire survey

BACKGROUND: Current therapies for childhood cancer have resulted in improved survival rates. However, this has been achieved at considerable price to families, with financial costs including additional expenditure and loss of earnings having been described. The impact of these extra costs for UK families and the extent to which help from charities and government benefits is able to alleviate this is unknown. METHODS: Questionnaires concerning income, expenditure, employment and financial support were completed by 145 parents, recruited from three United Kingdom Children's Cancer Study Group treatment centres. RESULTS: Parents' responses highlighted increased expenditure related mainly to travel to treatment centres. The majority of families (55%) had spent between pound 50-100 in the past week over and above pre-illness expenditure, with a further 18% spending more than pound 100. Many parents (mainly mothers) had either given up or reduced outside employment in order to care for their child and this was associated with further financial problems for 42.7% of families. Despite help from charities and government benefits for the majority of families, extra costs were associated with money worries for 68.3% of families. CONCLUSIONS: Although families are offered timely information about their entitlement to benefits, financial problems are incurred by families of a child with cancer partly because legislation prevents benefits being claimed for the first 3 months of a child's illness - the time when expenses are still at their highest. Furthermore, because benefits are backdated only to the point at which the claim was made, families do not recoup all their costs. Waiving of the 84-day wait period for children undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and the introduction of weekly bridging payments while a Disability Living Allowance claim is being assessed, would ameliorate this problem and so improve the treatment experience for families.     

Nutrition survey in the Republic of the Congo: results from a national survey conducted in 1987

The objective was to evaluate the nutritional status of preschool children in the rural areas in order to establish a baseline for the measurement of the impact of a Government Nutrition Education Project (NUTED) in forthcoming years. The household cross-sectional survey was carried out on a representative sample of the rural population. The sample was stratified in order to portray the nutritional status of the children in the northern regions (more thinly populated) and in the southern regions: one stratum for small towns (between 2000 and 30,000 inhabitants) and 4 strata for rural localities. The sampling method used was by clusters of 30 children, distributed randomly in 20 zones per stratum. The nutritional indices of 2429 children were calculated and analysed according to WHO recommendations. The prevalence of the different types of malnutrition was 27.5% (95% confidence interval (CI), 24.2-30.8) for stunting (height-for-age retardation) and 5.5% (CI = 4.2-6.8) for wasting (weight-for-height retardation). Both types coexisted among 1.9% of the children; 23% of children were underweight for their age (CI = 21.6-26.2), and 15.8% (CI = 14.7-16.9) aged greater than 12 months had a mid-arm circumference below 135 mm. No sex difference was observed in the results. Stunting seems to appear in the second trimester of life (3-5 months), and wasting appeared between 9 and 23 months (highest rate between 12 and 17 months: 14.0% (CI = 9.3-18.8], which presents a real public health problem. The stratification did not show any significant differences in nutritional status among the children living in rural zones and those living in the small towns. However, the prevalence of malnutrition in the rural zones was 2 or 3 times higher than that observed in 1986 in Brazzaville. The division of the country into five main ecological zones allows some useful comparisons, e.g., the prevalence of stunting ranges from 15.5% (CI = 12.8-18.2) in the northern inundated forest zone to 38.8% (CI = 32.9-44.7) in the southern forests of Mayombe and Chaillu. The diet also varied, the frequency of animal protein consumption on the preceding day ranging from 76.3% to 59.1% in the different zones. The Republic of the Congo differs from other African countries in having relatively lower rates of stunting but an astonishingly high prevalence of wasting.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Evaluation of child care practice factors that affect the occurrence of sudden infant death syndrome: Interview conducted by public health nurses

We examined the child-rearing environmental factors that affect the occurrence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) using a nationwide survey. Infants who died due to SIDS between January 1996 and June 1997 in Japan were identified from death certificates. Controls of the same gender, birthplace, and birth months as the corresponding SIDS were chosen from birth certificates. Interviews of both cases and controls were undergone in January and February, 1998 by public health nurses. The following child-rearing factors exhibited a significant relationship with the occurrence of SIDS: Concerning the sleeping position, the prone position was associated with increased risk compared with the supine position, with an odds ratio of 3.02 (95% c.i. 2.07–4.65). Regarding the feeding method, artificial feeding alone demonstrated a higher risk than breast feeding alone, with an odds ratio of 4.92 (95% c.i. 2.78–9.63). With regard to smoking, infants with both parents who smoked exhibited a higher risk than infants where neither parent smoked, with an odds ratio of 3.50 (95% c.i. 1.74–8.32).     

Dissemination of information to General Practitioners: a questionnaire survey

Background  

Early identification of permanent hearing impairment in children enables appropriate intervention which reduces adverse developmental outcomes. The UK Government has introduced a universal hearing screening programme for neonates. All involved health professionals, including those in Primary Care, need to be aware of the service to enable them to offer appropriate support to their patients. A programme of information dissemination within Primary Care was therefore undertaken. The aim of the current study was to determine the extent to which the information had reached General Practitioners (GPs), the GPs' preferred mode of dissemination and the sources from which GPs accessed information     

Conflict between work and family roles and satisfaction among nurses in different shift systems in Croatia: a questionnaire survey

The objective of this study was to examine the perception of conflict between work and family roles and job, family, and life satisfaction among nurses in Croatia. One hundred and twenty-nine nurses (married mothers) working in hospitals in Zadar, ?ibenik, and Split were divided in four groups according to their worktime schedule. The participants completed a survey, which included a set of sociodemographic-type questions, questions about the level and allocation of family responsibilities between spouses, and scales measuring the perceived negative effects of worktime, psychological demands of the work, work-family conflict, and semantic differential scales for measuring the affective and cognitive-evaluative component of job, family, and life satisfaction. This was the first study in Croatia to deal with work-family conflict among nurses or workers with different shift systems.The results of this study indicate that nurses working morning shifts only experienced less conflict between work and family than other groups of nurses, who worked the morning, afternoon, and the night shift. The cognitive-evaluative component of job satisfaction was the highest among morning shift nurses and the lowest in nurses who worked 12-hour shifts, while the affective component of life satisfaction was the lowest in nurses working irregular and backward rotated shifts. These results confirm that shiftwork makes the work-family role conflict even worse. They also support the view that the type of shift rotation matters.     

Performance of the Self-Reporting Questionnaire as a psychiatric screening questionnaire: a comparative study with Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR

The SRQ (Self-Reporting Questionnaire) is a psychiatric screening tool that originally included 30 questions. The Brazilian version of SRQ-20 (a version that includes the 20 items for non-psychotic mental disorders) was validated in the early 1980s. The objective of the present study was to validate the Brazilian version of SRQ-20 and the 5 items for alcohol-related disorders as compared to the SCID-IV-TR (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR) as the gold standard. The study was conducted in Santa Cruz do Sul, a small town in southern Brazil, with 485 subjects (54.8% females, mean age 40.04 years). The 5 items for alcohol-related disorders showed low sensitivity (66%). The optimum cutoff value for SRQ-20 was 7/8, with 86.33% sensitivity and 89.31% specificity. The discriminant power of SRQ-20 for psychiatric screening was 0.9, and Cronbach's alpha was 0.86.     

The schistosomiasis problem in the world: results of a WHO questionnaire survey

This article presents an overview of the magnitude of the schistosomiasis problem throughout the world, and is based on information on schistosomiasis control programmes provided by 103 countries in reply to a questionnaire circulated by the World Health Organization in 1976. According to the data either given in these replies, published, or provided in internal reports to WHO, schistosomiasis is one of the most widespread parasitic infections of man. Some 500 million people are thought to be exposed to infection and four main species of schistosomes are prevalent, together with their various intermediate snail hosts, in 73 countries. Control programmes are operating in 41% of responding endemic countries although they are on a national scale only in Brazil, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Morocco, Puerto Rico, St Lucia, Tunisia, and Venezuela. It appears that a maximum of only 1-2% of all cases have been treated, the most frequently used drugs being niridazole and hycanthone. A small number of efficient molluscicides are in regular use but their high cost precludes large-scale application. Installation of water supplies and health education are the most frequently used non-specific control measures. Nearly 50% of endemic countries use more than three different methods of control simultaneously. The national schistosomiasis control programmes in Brazil, Egypt, Iran, Japan, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela are examples of combined approaches that have resulted in a significant decline in the prevalence of schistosomiasis. Finally, some specific needs in research, control, and training of personnel are discussed.     

Pregnancy counselling clinic: a questionnaire survey of intimate partner abuse

CONTEXT: Intimate partner abuse has a significant and detrimental impact on the mental and physical health of a woman. Physical abuse is often associated with sexual abuse. OBJECTIVE: To examine the prevalence and nature of physical and sexual partner abuse experienced by women who request a termination of pregnancy (TOP). DESIGN: Quantitative data collection using an anonymous, self-completed questionnaire. SETTING: A pregnancy counselling clinic located within a large district general hospital in the north west of England. PARTICIPANTS: A sample of 312 women attending the clinic. RESULTS: Three hundred and twelve questionnaires were returned (96.7% response rate). The prevalence rate of intimate partner abuse at some stage in the woman's life was 35.1%; 19.5% had experienced actual physical abuse in the past year; and 3.7% had experienced forced sexual intercourse in the past year. Of the latter, in over half of the cases, this may have resulted in the current pregnancy. A total of 6.6% of women in this study are currently living in fear. DISCUSSION: The anonymity of the survey and the method of implementation encouraged an excellent response rate. The prevalence of physical abuse was higher than that reported in previous studies, however the prevalence of sexual abuse was lower. Up to 2% of requests for TOP could have been due to recent forced sexual intercourse. CONCLUSIONS: Many women requesting a TOP have been, or still are, in violent relationships. Some women may attend with an unwanted conception following sexual assault by their current or previous intimate partner.     

Choice of medical investigations for developmental delay: a questionnaire survey

The aim of this study was to describe the range and cost of investigations ordered by paediatricians for children with mild to moderate developmental delay. A total of 79 consultants on the Thames Regions Consultant Community Paediatricians database were sent a faxed questionnaire and 86% of the paediatricians responded. The number of tests ordered by each paediatrician ranged from none to 15; 26 different medical investigations were selected. The four most common tests were chromosomes for karyotyping, fragile X testing, thyroid function testing and metabolic studies which each appeared in over half of the responses. The median cost of the investigations chosen was 386 with a range from 0-E1181. This study revealed marked variations in clinical practice when paediatricians investigate a developmentally delayed child. This was found to reflect both personal bias and a lack of consensus in the medical literature. There is a need for accurate community based prevalence data on causes of developmental delay, and critical appraisal of the available diagnostic tests.     

Adoption of Internet technology by UK postgraduate centres: a questionnaire survey

A survey of UK postgraduate centres during September 1997 found that almost 60% were connected to the Internet, but librarians were still the largest user group, few had more than one access point and support to users was limited. Significant progress was made during the following 18 months--by April 1999 all but one of the remaining sites had Internet access in either the postgraduate centre or in a separate library. Lack of funds and decisive policy were stated to be the most common reasons for delay in connecting. The Internet was rated highly as source of the latest research information and support for evidence-based medicine and continuing education. Expansion of the role of librarians to include assistance with sophisticated searches seemed a logical move to the majority, yet the survey suggests that a significant investment in time and money will be required to support the use of the Internet in continuing medical education in the broadest sense. It is likely that the traditional boundaries between IT departments, libraries and user groups will need to be redrawn if the technology is to be exploited effectively.     

Estimates of nutrient intake from a food frequency questionnaire: the 1987 National Health Interview Survey.

Nutrient intake data are reported from a 60-item food frequency questionnaire administered in the 1987 National Health Interview Survey to a representative sample of US adults 18 to 99 years of age (n = 22,080). These data provide for the first time an estimate of the distribution of usual nutrient intakes in a national probability sample. For several nutrients, 10% to 25% of respondents may habitually consume substantially less than the Recommended Dietary Allowance, despite apparently adequate group means. Hispanics reported higher energy and carbohydrate intakes and a lower percentage of energy from fat than blacks or whites (35.6%, 38.4%, and 38.7% of energy from fat for Hispanics, blacks, and whites, respectively.) Whites had lower cholesterol intake than the other two groups, and blacks had a higher intake of sweets. Alcohol intake was lower among women and persons older than 65 years, but no other differences in alcohol intake emerged. Use of adjustment factors improved nutrient intake estimates from this shortened questionnaire to levels similar to those obtained from other national dietary surveys. The nutrient intake data from this research can be used to compare demographic subgroups and to describe the mean and distribution of nutrient intake. Furthermore, this research provides national reference data to investigators who use this or related questionnaires in nutrition research.     

Attitudes towards care of the dying: a questionnaire survey of general practice attenders.

In order to determine the views of General Practice attenders on death and dying, a survey was conducted using a questionnaire with nine questions on aspects of death and dying. There were 4117 respondents with an average age of 36.4 years, who attended 10 general practices. A control group of 100 patients was employed. There was a stated preference for management by the General Practitioner and a wish to die in the home. An honest approach by doctors was called for and the greatest fear concerning death was that of leaving the family. A subgroup of people who stated that they had close personal experience of death or dying, amplified most of these findings.