Perceptions and use of sources of health knowledge by young adolescents

Mindful and Intuitive Eating Imagery on Instagram: A Content Analysis

Non-dieting approaches, including mindful/intuitive eating, to health improvement are of increasing interest, yet little is known about young adults' social media exposure to them. Therefore, this study aimed to describe the imagery related to mindful/intuitive eating which is visible to young adult Instagram users. Images categorized under the hashtags 'mindfuleating' and 'intuitiveeating' were searched in September 2021 using the 'top posts' view. Screen captures of 1200 grid-view images per hashtag were used to construct coding frameworks and to determine saturation. Sample sizes for #mindfuleating and #intuitiveeating were 405 and 495 images, respectively. Individual images were coded collaboratively. Almost half of each sample depicted food or drink, of which 50-60% were healthy foods. Approximately 17% were single-person images, of which the majority were young, female adults with healthy weight. Approximately one-third of text suggested credibility through credentials, profession, or evidence. Messaging was similar for both hashtags, encompassing mindful/intuitive eating (~40%), nutrition/eating behaviours (~15%), physical/mental health (~20%), disordered eating (~12%), and body-/self-acceptance (~12%). Differences were observed between hashtags for weight-related concepts (20%/1%) and anti-diet/weight-neutral approaches (10%/35%). The representation on Instagram of mindful and intuitive eating portrays healthy lifestyles without a focus on weight but lacks demographical and body-type diversity. Instagram holds the potential for health professionals to disseminate culturally/demographically inclusive, evidence-based health/nutrition information to youth.

Prevalence of inappropriate use behaviors of antibiotics and related factors among chinese antibiotic users: an online cross-sectional survey

Background

Inappropriate use of antibiotics could have a profound negative impact on individual and community. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of inappropriate use behaviors of antibiotics in Chinese antibiotic users and explored their related factors.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted from July 1, 2018 to September 30, 2018. A structured questionnaire was widely distributed on the online survey platform (Questionnaire Star, https://www.wjx.cn) and was used to collect data from respondents in China on demographic and sociological characteristics, antibiotic use and related knowledge. Main outcomes included self-medication with antibiotics (SMA), self-storage with antibiotics (SSA), and non-adherence to antibiotic treatment (NAAT). Logistic regression was used to identify the related factors of above inappropriate use behaviors of antibiotics.

Results

Of the 15,526 participants, 37.1% reported SMA in the past 6 months, 67.9% reported SSA in the past 6 months, and 48.3%, 15.2%, 25.5% and 78.0% of respondents said that they had missed antibiotics, increased antibiotic dosage, decreased antibiotic dosage, and discontinued antibiotics once symptoms disappear, respectively. Overall, 53.3% reported NAAT during this period. After adjusting for other variables, multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that those aged 30–44 years old, with higher levels of education, poorer status of self-perceived health, or lower levels of antibiotic knowledge were more likely to have these inappropriate use behaviors of SMA, SSA, and NAAT (P < 0.05).

Conclusions

The prevalence of SMA, SSA, and NAAT is high in China. Developing a nationwide action plan for the rational use of antibiotics among publics, including national media publicity, online and offline health education, and medication guidance from general practitioners, is urgently needed.

Self-medication with antibiotics, self-storage with antibiotics, and non-adherence to antibiotic treatment are important performances of inappropriate use behaviors of antibiotics.

The results of this study showed that the prevalence of inappropriate use behaviors of antibiotics among Chinese antibiotic users were between 37.1% and 67.9%.

A nationwide action plan for rational use of antibiotics is urgently needed in China.

Prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics and its related factors among Chinese residents: a cross-sectional study

Background

Self-medication is one of the most common forms of inappropriate use of antibiotics. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics (SMA) in China and evaluate the related factors.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Wuhan, Hubei, China from July 1, 2019 to July 31, 2019. Participants were recruited in public places to answer a structured questionnaire. The information of participants’ social demographic characteristics, antibiotic knowledge and health beliefs were collected. Binary Logistics regression analysis was used to examine the associated factors of SMA.

Results

Of the 3206 participants, 10.32% reported SMA in the past 6 months. Participants who with middle or high perceived barriers to seek health care services showed a higher likelihood of SMA (P < 0.05). Participants who with middle or high perceived threats of self-medication, and who with middle or high self-efficacy to overcome obstacles showed a lower likelihood of SMA (P < 0.05).

Conclusions

Compared with developed countries, the prevalence of SMA in China is still higher. Measures to conduct public health education and improve the accessibility of health services are crucial to decrease the overall self-medication rate in China.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13756-021-00954-3.

Relationship between stressful life events, stigma and life satisfaction with the willingness of disclosure of psychotic illness: A community study in Hong Kong

AIM

The preference of and potential barriers to disclosure of psychotic illness vary across cultures. Studying its patterns and correlates can guide the design of future culture-specific intervention and public education approaches to improve willingness to disclose and thereby reducing the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP).

METHODS

A population-based, random telephone survey was conducted with a total of 1514 respondents in Hong Kong in January 2018. Cross-sectional data on willingness to disclose psychotic illness, life satisfaction, stigmatizing attitude and recent experience of stressful life events (SLEs) were analysed against age and gender using structural equation modelling (SEM).

RESULTS

Unwillingness to disclose to anyone was reported by 12% of the participants. Family was reported as the preferred disclosure candidate by most respondents. Our model, which showed a good fit to the data demonstrated that stigmatizing attitude and life satisfaction were directly associated with willingness to disclose illness. Younger age was correlated with more recent experience of SLEs, lower life satisfaction and less willingness to disclose illness. Women's disclosure willingness was positively associated with their life satisfaction, which was sensitive to recent exposure to single SLE. In contrast, men's was negatively associated with their stigmatizing attitude, which increased significantly upon exposure to two or more recent SLEs.

CONCLUSION

Encouraging the public to help their family to seek treatment should be a focal point of a successful mental health public education campaign. Cultural-specific and integrated interventions should be developed targeting the vulnerable groups including people with high recent life stress, particularly woman and those with younger age.

Gym Members Show Lower Nutrition Knowledge than Youth Engaged in Competitive Sports

OBJECTIVE

Adolescents may be vulnerable to misleading nutritional information and adopt unhealthy food habits. In addition, specific features related to physical training, either aimed to improve fitness or to comply with sport demands, may influence food habits of the youth. This cross-sectional study was aimed to compare nutrition knowledge, food habits and adherence to Mediterranean diet in youth engaged in fitness training, competitive sports or inactive.

METHODS

Three questionnaires, the General and Sport Nutrition Knowledge (GeSNK) questionnaire, a food habit questionnaire and the KIDMED were administered to gym members, athletes engaged in volleyball, long-distance swimming, and gymnastics, and inactive adolescents.

RESULTS

The total sample included 211 youth (age 16.8 ± 1.7 years). Gym members, like the inactive youth, had lower general and sport-related nutrition knowledge compared to athletes (p = 0.001). In the whole sample, general nutrition knowledge was positively associated with healthy food habits (p < 0.01) and adherence to the Mediterranean diet pattern (p < 0.02).

CONCLUSIONS

Gym members had a level of nutrition knowledge lower than young athletes and similar to inactive youth. Healthy food habits were related with nutrition knowledge among adolescents. Specific nutritional education programs are needed to address food habits in fitness settings.

Sexual Health and the Internet: Cross-Sectional Study of Online Preferences Among Adolescents

BACKGROUND

The Internet is widely used by adolescents for sexual health information and bears the potential to increase knowledge and positively affect behavior.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study is to assess students' preferences when looking for sexual health information online.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional survey among ninth grade students in a convenience sample of 13 secondary schools in Berlin, Germany. During a regular school period, participants were requested to rate the importance they attribute to nine aspects of sexual health websites in a paper-based questionnaire. Bivariate and multivariable analyses were used to assess awareness and preferences by gender, age, migrant background, and school type.

RESULTS

Of 1190 eligible students, 1177 (98.91%) students with a mean age of 14.6 (SD 0.7) years participated, 52.52% (605/1152) were male, and 52.94% (612/1156) had at least one parent born abroad. Participant numbers were spread equally across three types of secondary schools in Berlin. Website aspects most frequently cited as important were easily comprehensible wording (88.33%, 961/1088), clear information layout (80.57%, 871/1081), and reliability of the website's publisher (79.28%, 857/1081), whereas the visual style of a website was deemed important by the lowest number of students (35.13%, 378/1076). There was a marked gender difference in the importance students attached to website publisher reliability. Although 437/515 (84.9%) of female participants regarded this as important, only 420/566 (74.2%) of male participants did likewise (P<.001). In multivariable analyses, demographic differences were also particularly visible in the importance of publisher reliability: male participants were significantly less likely to find this aspect important (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.37-0.69). The odds ratio for students with migrant background was 0.64 (95% CI 0.50-0.81, reference=no migrant background) and OR 2.04 (95% CI 1.03-4.03) for students in the most academic school type (reference=least academic).

CONCLUSIONS

Students prefer easily understandable online resources. Setting up sexual health websites according to the explicit preferences of the target audience might encourage usage, especially by those subpopulations less likely to critically assess information validity: male adolescents, children of immigrants, and the academically disadvantaged.