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Arnaiz P, Bergman MM, Seelig H, Adams L, Dolley D, Gerber M, Joubert N, Nqweniso S, Steinmann P, Utzinger J, Randt RD, Walter C, Pühse U, Müller I. Acceptability and perceived feasibility of the KaziKidz health promotion intervention among educators and caregivers in schools from South Africa: a qualitative descriptive study. BMC Public Health 2024; 24:934. [PMID: 38561742 PMCID: PMC10985953 DOI: 10.1186/s12889-024-18456-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2023] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Despite the uncontested benefits of physical activity, its promotion lags behind in the public health agenda of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). School-based interventions are promising strategies to foster health during childhood, but evidence of their effectiveness is limited and inconclusive for LMICs. Thus, further investigation is needed on contextual factors associated with intervention implementation in low-resource settings. We studied the acceptability and feasibility of the KaziKidz health promotion intervention and its implementation and make recommendations to improve future adoption and sustainability. METHODS KaziKidz was implemented in four primary schools from low-income communities in South Africa in 2019. Semi-structured interviews with four school principals, three focus group interviews with 16 educators, and another three with 16 caregivers were conducted between October and November 2021. Participants were purposively recruited. Interview transcripts were analyzed via thematic analysis using a deductive and reflexive approach. RESULTS Three main themes influencing intervention implementation and adoption were identified: (1) prioritizing teachers' needs (2), integrating the program into the school structure, and (3) creating opportunities in the community. Supporting recommendations included: (theme 1) adopting intervention approaches that are inclusive of educators' health and providing them with capacity development and external support; (theme 2) fostering a feeling of ownership and belonging among school stakeholders to adapt interventions to specific resources and needs; and (theme 3) raising community awareness to encourage individuals to claim power over and actively engage with the program. CONCLUSIONS Comprehensive interventions comprising health support, adequate training, and ongoing assistance for educators combined with school-wide and community outreach actions seeking to strengthen program ownership, accountability, and engagement can enhance uptake of school-based interventions and long-term maintenance. TRIAL REGISTRATION ISRCTN15648510, registered on 17/04/2020.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia Arnaiz
- Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
| | | | - Harald Seelig
- Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Larissa Adams
- Department of Human Movement Science, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, South Africa
| | - Danielle Dolley
- Department of Human Movement Science, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, South Africa
| | - Markus Gerber
- Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Nandi Joubert
- Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland
- University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Siphesihle Nqweniso
- Department of Human Movement Science, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, South Africa
| | - Peter Steinmann
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland
- University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Jürg Utzinger
- Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland
- University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Rosa du Randt
- Department of Human Movement Science, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, South Africa
| | - Cheryl Walter
- Department of Human Movement Science, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, South Africa
| | - Uwe Pühse
- Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Ivan Müller
- Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
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Greeshma J, Mini GK, Marthanda Pillai A, Irazola V. Cardiovascular disease risk factor prevalence among police officials: findings from a cross-sectional study in Kerala, India. J Occup Health 2024; 66:uiae025. [PMID: 38713917 PMCID: PMC11195579 DOI: 10.1093/joccuh/uiae025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2024] [Revised: 03/14/2024] [Accepted: 05/02/2024] [Indexed: 05/09/2024] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Police officials' stressful and physically demanding activities reportedly increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). This study explored the prevalence of CVD risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, and overweight among police officials in Kerala, India. METHODS A cross-sectional study was conducted among 255 police officials in selected police stations in the Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala. The World Health Organization STEPs questionnaire for noncommunicable disease risk factor surveillance was used to collect information. We collected STEP 1 (demographics, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and diet) and STEP 2 (weight, height, and blood pressure) data. Multivariable analysis was done to identify factors associated with hypertension. RESULTS The mean age of participants was 42 years (range: 30-55 years) and the majority were men (83.5%). Current use of tobacco or alcohol was reported by 22.7% of the participants. The prevalence of overweight was 64.7% and physical inactivity was 35.1%. Self-reported prevalence of diabetes was 7.5% and of hyperlipidemia was 11.4%. Hypertension prevalence was 40.4%. Among hypertensives, 35.9% were aware, 20.4% were treated, and 5.8% had controlled blood pressure. The control rate was 28.6% among treated hypertensives. When controlling for age, diabetes (odds ratio [OR]: 3.57; 95% CI: 1.16-10.90), and overweight (OR: 1.88; 95% CI: 1.06-3.35) participants were more likely to have hypertension compared with their counterparts. CONCLUSIONS Police officers have a high prevalence of significant CVD risk factors such as hypertension, physical inactivity, and being overweight. These findings reinforce the need for interventions addressing the above risk factors to prevent CVD in this population.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Greeshma
- Global Institute of Public Health, Ananthapuri Hospitals and Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
| | - G K Mini
- Global Institute of Public Health, Ananthapuri Hospitals and Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
- Department of Public Health Dentistry, Saveetha Dental Colleges & Hospitals, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai, India
- Centre for Environment and Development, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
| | - A Marthanda Pillai
- Global Institute of Public Health, Ananthapuri Hospitals and Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
- Department of Neurosurgery, Ananthapuri Hospitals and Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
| | - Vilma Irazola
- Department of Research in Chronic Diseases, Institute for Clinical Effectiveness and Health Policy, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Ang LW, Gao Q, Cui L, Farwin A, Toh MPHS, Boudville IC, Chen MIC, Chow A, Lin RTP, Lee VJM, Leo YS. Prevalence of measles antibodies among migrant workers in Singapore: a serological study to identify susceptible population subgroups. BMC Infect Dis 2022; 22:88. [PMID: 35078426 PMCID: PMC8787927 DOI: 10.1186/s12879-022-07066-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2021] [Accepted: 01/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background In 2019, two clusters of measles cases were reported in migrant worker dormitories in Singapore. We conducted a seroprevalence study to measure the level of susceptibility to measles among migrant workers in Singapore. Methods Our study involved residual sera of migrant workers from seven Asian countries (Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and the Philippines) who had participated in a survey between 2016 and 2019. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody levels were first measured using a commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test kit. Those with equivocal or negative IgG results were further evaluated using plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT). Results A total of 2234 migrant workers aged 20–49 years were included in the study. The overall prevalence of measles IgG antibodies among migrant workers from the seven Asian countries was 90.5% (95% confidence interval 89.2–91.6%). The country-specific seroprevalence ranged from 80.3 to 94.0%. The seroprevalence was significantly higher among migrant workers born in 1965–1989 than those born in 1990–1999 (95.3% vs. 86.6%, p < 0.0005), whereas there was no significant difference by gender (90.8% in men vs. 89.9% in women, p = 0.508). 195 out of 213 samples with equivocal or negative ELISA results were tested positive using PRNT. Conclusion The IgG seroprevalence in migrant workers was below the herd immunity threshold of 95% for measles. Sporadic outbreaks may occur in susceptible individuals due to high transmissibility of measles virus. Seroprevalence surveys can help identify susceptible subgroups for vaccination. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12879-022-07066-2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Wei Ang
- National Public Health and Epidemiology Unit, National Centre for Infectious Diseases, 16 Jalan Tan Tock Seng, Singapore, 308442, Singapore. .,Public Health Group, Ministry of Health, Singapore, Singapore.
| | - Qi Gao
- National Public Health and Epidemiology Unit, National Centre for Infectious Diseases, 16 Jalan Tan Tock Seng, Singapore, 308442, Singapore
| | - Lin Cui
- National Public Health Laboratory, National Centre for Infectious Diseases, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Aysha Farwin
- National Public Health and Epidemiology Unit, National Centre for Infectious Diseases, 16 Jalan Tan Tock Seng, Singapore, 308442, Singapore
| | - Matthias Paul Han Sim Toh
- National Public Health and Epidemiology Unit, National Centre for Infectious Diseases, 16 Jalan Tan Tock Seng, Singapore, 308442, Singapore.,Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Irving Charles Boudville
- National Public Health and Epidemiology Unit, National Centre for Infectious Diseases, 16 Jalan Tan Tock Seng, Singapore, 308442, Singapore
| | - Mark I-Cheng Chen
- National Public Health and Epidemiology Unit, National Centre for Infectious Diseases, 16 Jalan Tan Tock Seng, Singapore, 308442, Singapore.,Public Health Group, Ministry of Health, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Angela Chow
- National Public Health and Epidemiology Unit, National Centre for Infectious Diseases, 16 Jalan Tan Tock Seng, Singapore, 308442, Singapore.,Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.,Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.,Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Office of Clinical Epidemiology, Analytics, and Knowledge (OCEAN), Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Raymond Tzer-Pin Lin
- National Public Health Laboratory, National Centre for Infectious Diseases, Singapore, Singapore.,Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.,Department of Laboratory Medicine, National University Hospital, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Vernon Jian Ming Lee
- Public Health Group, Ministry of Health, Singapore, Singapore.,Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Yee Sin Leo
- Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.,Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.,Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.,National Centre for Infectious Diseases, Singapore, Singapore.,Department of Infectious Diseases, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
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Mini GK, Sathish T, Sarma PS, Thankappan KR. Effectiveness of a School-Based Educational Intervention to Improve Hypertension Control Among Schoolteachers: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial. J Am Heart Assoc 2022; 11:e023145. [PMID: 35023346 PMCID: PMC9238527 DOI: 10.1161/jaha.121.023145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Background The control of hypertension is low in low- and middle-income countries like India. We evaluated the effects of a nurse-facilitated educational intervention in improving the control rate of hypertension among school teachers in India. Methods and Results This was a cluster-randomized controlled trial involving 92 schools in Kerala, which were randomly assigned equally into a usual care group and an intervention group. Participants were 402 school teachers (mean age, 47 years; men, 29%) identified with hypertension. Participants in both study groups received a leaflet containing details of a healthy lifestyle and the importance of regular intake of antihypertensive medication. In addition, the intervention participants received a nurse-facilitated educational intervention on hypertension control for 3 months. The primary outcome was hypertension control. Key secondary outcomes included systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and the proportion of participants taking antihypertensive medications. For the primary outcome, we used mixed-effects logistic regression models. Two months after a 3-month educational intervention, a greater proportion of intervention participants (49.0%) achieved hypertension control than the usual care participants (38.2%), with an odds ratio of 1.89 (95% CI, 1.06-3.35), after adjusting for baseline hypertension control. The odds of taking antihypertensive medications were 1.6 times higher in the intervention group compared with the usual care group (odds ratio, 1.62; 95% CI, 1.08-2.45). The reduction in mean systolic blood pressure was significantly greater in the intervention group by 4.2 mm Hg (95% CI, -7.2 to -1.1) than in the usual care group. Conclusions A nurse-facilitated educational intervention was effective in improving the control and treatment rates of hypertension as well as reducing systolic blood pressure among schoolteachers with hypertension. Registration URL: https://www.ctri.nic.in; Unique Identifier: CTRI/2018/01/011402.
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Affiliation(s)
- G K Mini
- Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science StudiesSree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology Trivandrum Kerala India.,Global Institute of Public Health, Ananthapuri Hospitals, and Research Institute Trivandrum Kerala India.,Women's Institute for Social and Health Studies (WISHS)Women's Social and Health Studies Foundation Trivandrum Kerala India
| | | | - Prabhakaran Sankara Sarma
- Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science StudiesSree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology Trivandrum Kerala India
| | - Kavumpurathu Raman Thankappan
- Department of Public Health and Community Medicine Central University of Kerala, KasaragodTejaswini Hills Periye Kerala India
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Control of hypertension among teachers in schools in Kerala (CHATS-K), India. Indian Heart J 2020; 72:416-420. [PMID: 33189204 PMCID: PMC7670257 DOI: 10.1016/j.ihj.2020.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2020] [Revised: 05/22/2020] [Accepted: 06/17/2020] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Objective We investigated the prevalence, awareness, treatment, control of hypertension and the factors associated with hypertension prevalence and control among school teachers in Kerala, India. Methods We surveyed 2216 school teachers in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala as part of the control of hypertension among teachers in schools in Kerala (CHATS-K), India. We used World Health Organization STEPS tools for non-communicable diseases risk factor surveillance. Blood pressure, weight and height were measured using standard protocols. Hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥ 140 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥ 90 mmHg, or self-reported current antihypertensive medication. Controlled hypertension was defined as SBP<140 and DBP<90 mmHg. Separate multivariate analysis was done for finding the associated factors with prevalence and control of hypertension. Results Age adjusted hypertension prevalence was 14.6%. Men, those with self-reported diabetes, having family history of hypertension and overweight were more likely to have higher prevalence of hypertension compared to their counterparts. Among hypertensives 62% were aware, 49% on treatment and 34% achieved adequate control. Hypertension control was significantly higher among women, diabetics and overweight individuals compared to their counterparts. Conclusions A higher level of hypertension control among school teachers in this study indicates an attainable level of hypertension control in the general population of the state. Teachers, with their highly regarded place in the social construct of the country and the state, could thus be used as role models for hypertension control for the general population in the state.
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