Abstract Worldwide trends in health risks, lifestyle behaviors, health perceptions, and health-seeking patterns suggest alarming disparities among individuals from low- and middle-income countries; particularly for older individuals (≥ 60 years). This study aims to compare health risks, perceptions, lifestyle behaviors, and health-seeking patterns between younger (< 60 years) and older (≥ 60 years) Filipinos from rural communities in the Philippines; and assess relationships between demographic, health risks and perceptions, and lifestyle behaviors to bolster health promotion efforts. A comparative cross-sectional study was employed with 863 younger and 427 older Filipinos. Results show that older participants were more likely to be single/widowed and had ≤ high school education. Older participants had higher rates of hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, and depression but were more likely to report higher quality of life, ≥ 150 minutes of physical activity per week, ≥ 5 servings of fruits and vegetable per day, more difficulty falling asleep, report seeing a physician regularly, going to the community health center when sick, and attend stress management classes compared to their younger counterparts (all p’s < .001). There were no differences in rates of obesity, self-medication, and use of integrative health. Older age was associated with higher risks, improved health perceptions, healthier lifestyle behaviors, and better health-seeking patterns. Our data suggest that health risks are higher in older individuals but risky lifestyle behaviors were higher in younger individuals and suggest the need to design separate health promotion interventions that target the unique needs of older and younger Filipinos from rural communities.
INTRODUCTION:More than one billion people worldwide are affected by mental health disorders, making up 16% of the world's population. However, psychological morbidity has been understudied and disparately estimated among Filipinos living in low-income communities in the Philippines. PURPOSE:The specific aims of this descriptive, cross-sectional study were to 1) describe depression, anxiety, distress, and quality of life in a large sample of Filipinos from low-income communities in the Philippines; and 2) determine the prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, and distress in this sample. METHODS:A convenient sample of Filipinos (⩾ 18 years old) were recruited to participate in the study and asked to complete a general health survey. Only one person per household was eligible to participate in the study to avoid biases based on the prevalence of mental health disorders. RESULTS:One thousand two hundred three participants, mean age, 49.5 ± 17.6 years, primarily women (64.6%) and married (58.4%) reported the following cardiometabolic disorders: overweight/obesity (29%), hypertension (43%), hyperlipidemia (21%), type 2 diabetes (14%), and current smoker (19%). The mean physical and mental quality of life was 46.2 ± 8.1 and 48.6 ± 7.7, respectively. Depression (21%), anxiety (39%) and distress (82%) were prevalent in the sample. Depression was associated with older age, higher distress and anxiety, and lower quality of life. Anxiety and distress were associated with younger age, female gender, higher depression, and lower quality of life. CONCLUSION:Mental health disorders are prevalent in Filipinos from low-income communities. Findings provide empirical support for the provision of mental health services consistent with the World Health Organization's action plan in this understudied population. The high association between psychological morbidity and perceived physical and mental quality of life signifies the need to screen for depression in older adults and anxiety and distress in younger adults and women.
The study aimed to determine the level of awareness and to assess compliance to Diabetes management of adolescents diagnosed with Type-1 Diabetes. A descriptive correlational type of research was utilized to gather information on the level of awareness and compliance of adolescent patients to diet, exercise and drug management suffering from Type-1 diabetes mellitus. The patients (n=20) were recruited from Institute for Studies on Diabetes Foundation Incorporated, Philippines. A purposive sampling was utilized to select twenty adolescents. A researcher-made questionnaire was utilized as the main instrument in gathering data. Focus group discussion was also done to further assess patient's level of awareness and compliance to diabetes management. Results showed that patients have a moderate level of awareness and some extent of compliance to diabetes. Patients have extreme awareness in diet management and moderate awareness in exercise and drug management. In terms of compliance, patients are compliant to some extent only, while drug management has the highest level of compliance, followed by exercise and diet. There is a low correlation between level of awareness and compliance in diabetes management (r = .32 p = 0.15), indicating that the moderate level of awareness of patients to DM management is not related to their compliance. The results are limited only to the participants of the study. Further study using a larger population and different setting is recommended. Nurses taking care of adolescent patients with diabetes mellitus must understand the importance of health education. Health educations are valuable to increase level of awareness and extent of compliance of adolescent patients with Type-1 diabetes.
INTRODUCTION:There is limited information on the knowledge, perceptions, beliefs, and practice, about genetics and genomics among Filipino-American nurses. The National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Organizations (NCEMNA), in which the Philippine Nurses Association of America (PNAA) is a member organization, conducted an online survey to describe the genomic knowledge, perceptions, beliefs, and practice of minority nurses. This study reports on responses from Filipino-American survey participants, which is a subset analysis of the larger NCEMNA survey. OBJECTIVE:The purpose of this study was to explore the knowledge, perceptions, beliefs, practice and genomic education of Filipino-American nurses. METHOD:An online survey of 112 Filipino-American nurses was conducted to describe the knowledge, perceptions, beliefs, and practice of genetics/genomics. Survey responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS:Most (94%) Filipino-American nurses wanted to learn more about genetics. Although 41% of the respondents indicated good understanding of genetics of common diseases, 60% had not attended any related continuing education courses since RN licensure, and 73% reported unavailability of genetic courses to take. The majority (83%) of PNAA respondents indicated that they would attend genetics/genomics awareness training if it was offered by their national organization during their annual conference, and 86% reported that the national organization should have a visible role in genetics/genomics initiatives in their community. CONCLUSION:Filipino-American nurses wanted to learn more about genetics and were willing to attend genetics/genomics trainings if offered by PNAA. The study findings can assist PNAA in planning future educational programs that incorporates genetics and genomics information.
This study investigated rural Lao PDR village women's views and experiences of recent, or impeding, childbirth to better understand barriers to maternity service usage. Lao PDR has the highest maternal mortality rate (MMR) in the South-East Asian region with very low utilization rates for skilled birth assistance and health sector delivery services. The study site, Sekong, a southern Lao province, was lowest in the country on virtually all indicators of reproductive and maternal health, despite several recent maternal health service interventions. The study's aim was to gain a fuller understanding of barriers to maternity services usage to contribute towards maternity services enhancement, and district and national policy-making for progressing towards 2015 MDG 4 & 5 targets. A descriptive cross-sectional study was used. First, face-to-face questionnaires were used to collect demographic and reproductive health and health care experience data from 166 village woman (120 with a child born in the previous year, and 46 who were currently pregnant). In- epth individual interviews then followed with 23 purposively selected woman, to probe personal experiences and perspectives on why women preferred home birthing. The majority of women had given birth at home, assisted by untrained birth attendants (relatives or neighbours). While seventy percent had accessed some antenatal services, postpartum follow-up attendance was very low (17 percent). Limited finances, lack of access to transport and prior negative health service experiences were important factors influencing women's decision making. Giving birth at home was seen by many, not just as unavoidable, but, as the preferred option. Recent top-down maternal health initiatives have had little impact in this region. Improving maternal and child-health strategies requires much greater community participation and use of participatory action methodologies, to increase women's engagement in policy and planning and subsequent usage of health service developments.
The purpose of this study is for readers tounderstand the various experiences teenageparents endure within the Phetchaburi Province ofThailand. Using a qualitative research design, ten (10)pregnant ...
A conceptual framework is a set of interrelated ideas designed to describe explain and predict a phenomenon of interest. That set of ideas forms an image of the behavior of the phenomenon in the real world. The author presents a conceptual framework for integrating primary health care (PHC) in the nursing curriculum at the bachelor degree level (BSN). The concepts in the framework include the demographic socioeconomic and health context; PHC development; community development; health for all; and quality of life. This paper explains what a conceptual framework is and its uses the conceptual framework for the integration of PHC in the BSN curriculum and some data in support of the framework as well as some illustrations of the link between the concepts in the framework and the year and course level concepts.
