Journal of Public Health

The term food desert generally refers to areas where healthy food options, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, are unavailable within a certain number of miles. However, other factors besides distance may affect the ability to purchase healthier foods. The goal of this study was to understand Colorado adults’ perceptions of their access to healthy food options and to assess how other structural and socio-demographic factors may affect that access. Colorado adults were asked questions about self-reported access to healthy food, likelihood of buying fresh fruits and vegetables from convenience/corner stores if available, perceived characteristics of fruits and vegetables available for purchase near respondents’ residence, and demographics. A majority of Colorado adults in 2013–14 reported wanting fresh fruits and vegetables to be more available, more varied, higher quality, and/or less expensive. Socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and regular shopping habits were significantly associated with reported likelihood of purchasing fruits and vegetables from a convenience/corner store if available. Factors other than proximity to a grocery store affect Colorado adults’ perceived access to healthy food options and should be considered in the development and implementation of public health programs and policies geared toward improving healthy food access.

Im ersten Teil des Beitrags wurde der Forschungsstand zur Multiplikatorenarbeit in der Prävention und Gesundheitsförderung berichtet. Im zweiten Teil des Beitrags wird zunächst ein Trainingsprogramm beschrieben, das Teil der Personalkommunikativen AIDS-Aufklärung der Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung (BZgA) ist. Anschließend wird ein Kriterienkatalog zur Bewertung von Trainingsprogrammen für Multiplikatoren vorgestellt. Dieser Kriterienkatalog dient als Grundlage zur Evaluation und Qualitätssicherung von Multiplikatorenmaßnahmen in der AIDS-Prävention. Das Untersuchungsdesign der Evaluation des Multiplikatoren-Programms der BZgA basiert auf teilnehmender Beobachtung, Interviews mit Trainern und Teilnehmern sowie der mehrfachen schriftlichen Befragung der Teilnehmer. Ergebnisse der Evaluation zu Teilnehmerauswahl und Effekten bei den Teilnehmern, zur Angemessenheit der Trainingsinhalte sowie zu den Auswirkungen auf die Präventionsstruktur und auf die Zielsetzungen des Programmträgers werden berichtet.

The current status of lifestyle assessment tools is still unclear. We aim to systematically identify those health lifestyle assessment tools, and synthesize and appraise studies on measurement properties. PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CBM, CNKI, VIP, and WANFANG were searched. Two reviewers independently evaluated the quality of methodological and measurement properties according to the COSMIN risk of bias checklist and quality criteria. The modified version of the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development of Evaluation (GRADE) was used to classify the grade of evidence and form the final recommendation. We identified 38 lifestyle assessment tools. Nine tools were adapted based on health-promoting lifestyle profile (HPLP) or HPLP-II. The reported measurement properties being considered “Sufficient ( +)” included: retest reliability (n = 10, 71.43%), internal consistency (n = 13, 52.00%), content validity (n = 1, 4.00%), criterion validity (n = 1, 16.67%), and construct validity (n = 19, 79.17%). HPLQ, HLQS, and LI-D Scale were assessed as Class A recommendations. The reporting of measurement properties results was incomplete. HPLQ, HLQS and LI-D Scale were recommended as grade A. HPLP-II was the most widely applied lifestyle assessment tool, which could be recommended temporarily after comprehensive consideration and weighing all aspects.

Job stress is an important concept in current organizational behavior and relevant studies. We explored how two types of job stress impact on presenteeism from a dual-path. This cross-sectional study conducted a literature research and questionnaire survey to explore the influence of job stress on presenteeism among healthcare workers based on a dataset composed of 1516 valid samples from 12 hospitals across China. Structural equation modeling and mediation analysis in SPSS were used to test the roles played by public service motivation and health in the influence of job stress on presenteeism. In the final structural model equation, challenge stress had a significant positive impact on public service motivation (β = 0.08; P < 0.05) but a negative impact on health (β = −0.20; P < 0.01), and an insignificant negative effect on presenteeism (β = −0.00; P > 0.05). Hindrance stress was significantly negatively correlated with public service motivation (β = −0.20; P < 0.001) and health (β = −0.27; P < 0.001) and positively correlated with presenteeism (β = 0.09; P < 0.01). The mediating role of public service motivation was insignificant for challenge stress but significant for hindrance stress, while both paths were significant when mediated by health. First, job stress has a significant influence on presenteeism. Second, different types of job stress have different effects on presenteeism and hindrance stress plays a more salient role. Third, health plays a significant mediating role compared with public service motivation. The government and health industry should pay attention to healthcare workers’ working status to improve the quality of healthcare service from the supply side.

The topic of access, or improving access, to healthcare services is a noteworthy matter, regardless of where you live. In Ghana, however, especially in rural areas, it is a critical issue worthy of investigation. Thus, we set out with the aim of exploring the specific reasons for healthcare inaccessibility in Ghana. Telephone interviews were conducted with 15 health directors in the Eastern, Central, and Ashanti regions of Ghana. A thematic analytical framework was used to analyze the data, which were then presented based on an a posteriori, inductive-reduction approach. Six major reasons were identified: inherent inaccessibility initiated by the colonial system of administration, where essential healthcare facilities were concentrated in the capitals; economic reforms of past governments, especially the Structural Adjustment Programme which introduced the user fee system; transportation issues; urban-biased health policy implementation; the financial leakage/inefficiency/corruption that characterize interventions toward accessibility promotion; and other socio-cultural and religious beliefs that certain groups and tribes adhere to. The authors therefore argue that there is no one main cause of healthcare inaccessibility in Ghana, but rather a confluence of issues is responsible, ranging from historical antecedents to current happenings. It is, therefore, imperative for stakeholders in the health sector to take into consideration the factors identified by the present study, in order to guide the design and implementation of policies toward improving healthcare accessibility.

Pediatric pneumonia, a common disease, is the major cause of mortality in young children in China. However, the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of parents in China on etiologies, prevention, and care of pediatric pneumonia are still unclear. Here we investigated the KAP of parents on pediatric pneumonia. This cross-sectional study enrolled parents in the Yungang area, Fengtai, Beijing and surrounding areas from September 1, 2022 to October 31, 2022. The demographic characteristics of subjects were collected for KAP score evaluation. The KAP scores of parents with different demographic characteristics were compared. In total, 502 subjects participated in this study, of which the mean knowledge score was 9.61 ± 3.25, the attitude score was 33.85 ± 4.03, and the practice score was 17.87 ± 2.38. The findings showed that gender, age, residence, education, medical-field work, income per capita, previous pediatric pneumonia, and smoking significantly differed in knowledge score (P < 0.05). Gender, residence, education, and previous pediatric pneumonia were significantly different in attitude score (P < 0.05). Parental age, children's numbers, and smoking were significantly different in practice score (P < 0.05). Parents of young children exhibit a good attitude and practice toward prevention and treatment of pediatric pneumonia, while the relevant knowledge about the same disease was lower. It was recommended to carry out further studies in different regions; government and health institutions could take steps to improve the KAP of parents.

Muscle loss with an increasing loss of muscle mass, muscle strength and muscle function is a disease in elderly individuals. Along with the severity of muscle loss, an increased frailty is evident. The consequences of an increased frailty are age-related reduced resilience and reduced strength conditions, and following this substantial loss of quality of life. The onset and progression of aging processes can be positively influenced by physical training, which helps to prevent the decline in neuromuscular capacity. There is consensus that hypertrophy training focusing on the training of situation specific movement tasks of the individual muscle groups is recommended. In this study we demonstrated that multimodal therapy is an efficient alternative intervention to strengthen the back muscles and by this to increase muscle growth in the areas of extension and flexion as well as lateralization and rotation on both sides. 52 patients aged between 50 and 65 with a main diagnosis of back disease were examined prospective. They completed a 3-week inpatient multimodal therapy program. Effects of the program were assessed by applying two isometric strength measurements of the back muscles. Baseline measurement (T0) was done on the first day of the program and post measurement (T1) on the last day of therapy. The results were described by means of SPSS as mean (M) and standard deviation (SD). The normal distribution was verified (Kolmogorov-Smirnov test). Data indicates that there are significant improvements in extension force, right lateral and right rotation force. Strength gains in flexion, left lateral and left rotation could also be demonstrated, but compared to the other three directions with reduced strength. It could be shown that even a multimodal therapy program leads to an increase in strength. Since pure hypertrophy training is a great challenge, especially for the elderly, the multimodal therapy concepts promising approach to facilitate the often difficult start to the treatment of muscle loss. The significant higher power increase concerning extension, rotation and lateralization on the right side compared to the left side is remarkable. Here further research is needed to obtain explanations. A significant weakness of the study is the lack of a control group. Further research with more sophisticated study designs (e.g. RCT) is necessary in order to learn more about this alternative intervention to treat muscle loss.

Smart wearable devices for continuous monitoring of health conditions have bbecome very important in the healthcare sector to acquire and assess the different physiological parameters. This paper reviews the nature of physiological signals, desired vital parameters, role of smart wearable devices, choices of wearable devices and design considerations for wearable devices for early detection of health conditions. This article provides designers with information to identify and develop smart wearable devices based on the data extracted from a literature survey on previously published research articles in the field of wearable devices for monitoring vital parameters. The key information available in this article indicates that quality signal acquisition, processing and longtime monitoring of vital parameters requires smart wearable devices. The development of smart wearable devices with the listed design criteria supports the developer to design a low power wearable device for continuous monitoring of patient health conditions. The wide range of information gathered from the review indicates that there is a huge demand for smart wearable devices for monitoring health conditions at home. It further supports tracking heath status in the long term via monitoring the vital parameters with the support of wireless communication principles.