BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Nutritional anemia has become a national public health problem, particularly among female workers, who are a high-risk group. Dates can be formulated into functional food to treat anemia in this group. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of date biscuits formulated with 10% (A1) and 20% (A2) substitutes in treating anemia among female workers in Makassar, Indonesia.

Experimental research design using a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) with a pre-test post-test randomized group was used. The population of this study were female workers in Makassar City, with a total sample of 61 participants. The study randomly divided the sample into three groups: the intervention group that received formula A1 date biscuits (10%), the intervention group that received formula A2 date biscuits (20%), and the control group that did not receive any intervention. The researchers administered 20 grams of biscuits for 60 days. Hemoglobin levels were measured twice, at baseline and after the intervention. The study further performed a bivariate test by comparing the hemoglobin examination results before and after the intervention using the paired t-test, and analyzed differences between groups using the ANOVA test. The significance value was set at pRESULTS

The results showed that A1 date biscuits reduced the case of anemia by 23.8%, from 38.1% to 14.3%. Meanwhile, provision of A2 date biscuits reduced the case of anemia by 13.7%, from 36.4% to 22.7%.

The provision of A1 date biscuits is more effective than A2 for women with anemia. Date biscuits should be specifically provided to workers or women with anemia as they are less effective for those with normal hemoglobin levels. To further increase hemoglobin levels, female workers should also be given additional nutrient- rich foods

OBJECTIVES

The current study aimed to evaluate the impact of an interprofessional simulation-based training program on providers' perception, knowledge, and confidence in proning of pregnant patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome due to COVID -19 or other causes.

A total of 124 healthcare workers who took part in the management of patients in COVID wards and ICUs participated in the study. The simulation workshop was conducted on May 2022 and the participants were divided into interprofessional teams. Standardized patients and mannequins were used to simulate patients with ARDS. Standardized checklists for proning were used. The participants were debriefed after. The participants completed pre- and post-simulation questionnaires.

After the simulation workshop, the participants’ perception on the benefit of prone position in the ventilation of patients with ARDS, level of confidence in handling proning of pregnant patients, comfort in speaking to patient and next of kin regarding prone ventilation, and knowledge on proning significantly improved. Subgroup analysis
showed statistically significant improvements in knowledge scores among registered nurses, resident physicians, and participants with varying degrees of experience managing COVID-19 patients and proning pregnant patients. Majority of participants deemed it was easy to turn patients in the prone position using the supportive pillow as well as expressed confidence in doing the procedure.

Interprofessional simulation-based training of healthcare workers improved providers' knowledge and confidence in proning pregnant patients. Simulation based training also improved the comfort of the healthcare professional in advising the patient and next of kin on the benefits of proning.
Human ; World Health Organization ; Respiratory Insufficiency ; Handling (psychology) ; Occupational Groups ; Knowledge

OBJECTIVES

Timely access to appropriate levels of care is essential for improving maternal, newborn,
and child health outcomes. To address persistent service delivery fragmentation and strengthen referral systems, the Philippine Department of Health issued Administrative Order 2020-0019 to guide the design of Health Care Provider Networks (HCPNs) under the Universal Health Care Act of 2019. This study assessed the extent to which sixteen municipalities across four provinces in Eastern Visayas comply with the HCPN service delivery guidelines in the context of maternal and newborn care.

The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional mixed-methods design, utilizing structured facility checklists to assess compliance with HCPN standards. Qualitative data were gathered through key informant interviews and focus group discussions with purposively selected stakeholders—decision makers, health personnel, and mothers—to contextualize findings. A three-lever framework for integrated care (policy, operational, and cross- cutting) guided the analysis

The findings revealed significant gaps between the current capacities of study health facilities and the requirements outlined in the HCPN guidelines. Major gaps included (1) weak cooperative governance mechanisms to support network-wide coordination; (2) limited systematic linkages between facilities, including fragmented referral protocols and non-interoperable health information systems; (3) inadequate investments in infrastructure, health human resources, and medical commodities; and (4) absence of performance monitoring systems across HCPNs.

Objectives: 1) To describe the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of working and retired employees aged 55 years and older; 2) To determine the proportion with visual and hearing impairments in participants with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM); and 3) To determine the association between quality of life in participants with T2DM and visual and hearing impairments.

Methods: The study utilized a cross-sectional study design - data derived from the findings of the UP Wellness Initiative for Seniors and Elders (UPWISE) Program. The participants were working and retired university employees age 55 years and above residing in urban and rural-urban (rurban) communities. Stratified random sampling was utilized according to working status and sex. Visual and hearing impairments, and the presence of T2DM were assessed using a multidisciplinary diagnostic process, the comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA).

Results: A total of 301 participants agreed to participate and completed the CGA. The mean age of the participants was 64.8 (±6.3), and 51.2% belonged to the young-old subgroup. There was an almost equal proportion of males and females while there were more working (53.8%) than the retired (46.2%). There were 17.6% of participants with T2DM and of them, 47.2% with visual impairment (VI) alone, 7.5% hearing impairment (HI) alone, and 37.7% with dual sensory impairments (DSI). Good quality of life was reported by 100% of T2DM participants with HI, 80% with VI, and 72.3% with DSI. There was no significant association between quality of life and vision and hearing impairments. On the other hand, a significant association was identified between T2DM and DSI (p-value, 0.001).

Conclusion: T2DM and vision and hearing impairments are prevalent among the two academic communities. Visual impairment was more common than hearing impairment. Participants diagnosed with T2DM and having a visual, hearing, or dual sensory impairments reported good quality of life.

Key Words: sensory, geriatric assessments, retired, employees, quality of life, diabetes mellitus

groups, but the medical expenses of firefighters were much higher than those of government officials and police officers.]]>
Cardiovascular Diseases ; Drug Costs ; Fees and Charges ; Firefighters ; Health Expenditures ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; International Classification of Diseases ; Korea ; Mental Disorders ; Musculoskeletal Diseases ; Myocardial Ischemia ; National Health Programs ; Occupational Groups ; Outpatients ; Police ; Prevalence ; Stomach Neoplasms

Background: The COVID-19 outbreak broadly affected not only the physical but also the psychological wellbeing of the people. However, few studies have been conducted concerning its psychological impact specifically on employees from the academe. Objectives: To determine the psychological responses and coping styles of employees of the School of Health Sciences at the University of the Philippines - Manila during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this study sought to determine the association between participants' socio-demographic characteristics and their psychological responses, and between participants' psychological responses and their coping styles used. Methodology: We employed a cross-sectional design and self-selection or volunteer sampling to recruit 46 academics and support staff employed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data were collected in April 2020. Psychological responses were determined with the 10-item Kessler's Psychological Distress Scale. Coping styles were assessed with the short-form Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. Likelihood ratio chisquare tests and Spearman rho tests were conducted to test the hypotheses. Statistical significance was determined at p < .05. Results: The majority of participants reported low levels of psychological distress in the early stage of the pandemic (n=44; 95.65%). We found a statistically significant relationship between psychological responses and coping styles characterized by rumination (rs = 0.454; P = 0.002) and catastrophizing (rs = 0.408; P = 0.005). Conclusions Our study confirmed the significance of psychological responses during the COVID-19 pandemic and demonstrated a specific association with coping styles characterized by rumination and catastrophizing but are unsuitably less adaptive. Hence, the application of less adaptive techniques when psychologically distressed from the pandemic need to be corrected or modified.
COVID-19 ; Pandemics ; Occupational Groups

Background: Hypertension is the most common reason for consultation at the Cagayan Valley Medical Center Employees’ Health Services (CVMC EHS) Clinic. No local study has been done to investigate the risk factors of hypertension among the employees, purposely for health promotion and specific prevention activities against hypertension Objective: To determine the hypertension-related risk factors among employees of Cagayan Valley Medical Center, Tuguegarao City Methodology: The study was conducted at the CVMC EHS Clinic of the Department of Family and Community Medicine, utilizing the Annual Physical Examination records, with the Non-Communicable Diseases Risk Assessment Form of all employees satisfying the inclusion criteria, who came in for Annual Physical Examination from August 2017 to July 2018. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the collected data Results: Majority of the employees who had their Annual Physical Examination have hypertension (62.96%). Most of them were adults with ages ranging from 40 to 60 years old (73.91%), male (73.69%), and married (73.26%). As to socio-economic profile, most hypertensives were college graduate (96.87%) and with annual family income of Php 250,000 – 480,000 (74.52%). Clinical profile of hypertensive employees revealed a family history of hypertension (57.79%) and with obesity (47.36%). Risk factors noted to be common among the hypertensive employees are low physical activity (95.65%), family history of hypertension (85%), lack or insufficient intake of fruit and vegetables (60.87%) and frequent alcohol consumption (30.43%). Obesity and elevated lipid profile showed high prevalence among the hypertensive with 47.36% and 54.35%, respectively Conclusion The high prevalence of hypertension and its related risk factors among the regular employees of CVMC is of great concern. These underscore the need for urgent public health interventions to encourage changes in lifestyle pattern to promote health and prevent diseases
Hypertension ; Risk Factors ; Occupational Groups

OBJECTIVES: Occupational injuries are known to be the main adverse outcome of occupational accidents. The purpose of the current study was to identify control strategies to reduce the severity of occupational injuries in the mining industry using Bayesian network (BN) analysis.METHODS: The BN structure was created using a focus group technique. Data on 425 mining accidents was collected, and the required information was extracted. The expectation-maximization algorithm was used to estimate the conditional probability tables. Belief updating was used to determine which factors had the greatest effect on severity of accidents.RESULTS: Based on sensitivity analyses of the BN, training, type of accident, and activity type of workers were the most important factors influencing the severity of accidents. Of individual factors, workers' experience had the strongest influence on the severity of accidents.CONCLUSIONS: Among the examined factors, safety training was the most important factor influencing the severity of accidents. Organizations may be able to reduce the severity of occupational injuries by holding safety training courses prepared based on the activity type of workers.
Accidents, Occupational ; Bayes Theorem ; Focus Groups ; Mining ; Occupational Injuries

PURPOSE: This study aimed to determine health problems experienced by workers in special employment relationships (WSER) and identify coping strategies used when such problems occur.METHODS: This qualitative study used the focus group interview method. Thirteen study participants included five home-visit tutors, five insurance salespersons, and three credit card recruiters. The interviews were conducted from November 2018 through January 2019, with each occupational group interview lasting about 2 hours. Analysis based on phenomenological research was independently performed by two researchers.RESULTS: Most participants had common health problems involving vocal cord symptoms, and stress related to emotional labor and traffic accidents. The unique health problems included cystitis, musculoskeletal, and digestive symptoms in home-visit tutors; reduced vision and hearing in insurance salespersons; and mental distress in credit card recruiters. There was no protection system for their health coverage, and the company emphasized their self-employed status to avoid taking responsibility for them. Twelve participants did not purchase occupational accident insurance owing to both not having adequate information and economic burden concerning premium status.CONCLUSION: WSER experienced both physical and mental health problems. These problems were caused by their unstable employment status, and the social security system for their coverage being non-functioning.
Accidents, Occupational ; Accidents, Traffic ; Cystitis ; Employment ; Focus Groups ; Hearing ; Humans ; Insurance ; Mental Health ; Methods ; Occupational Groups ; Occupational Health ; Qualitative Research ; Social Security ; Vision, Low ; Vocal Cords

BACKGROUND: Insufficient physical activity is well known to increase benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). However, only few studies have been conducted on the relationship between occupational physical activity and BPH. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between occupational physical activities and BPH in South Korea.METHODS: The study subjects included 4,102 workers who visited the health promotion center at Ulsan University Hospital and underwent transrectal ultrasonography between January 2016 and December 2017. The subjects were divided into two groups according to occupational physical activity (manual or non-manual workers). BPH was defined as a prostate volume of >25 mL. We performed a multivariate regression analysis to investigate the associations between the occupational groups and BPH. In addition, we divided the subgroups according to age and body mass index and analyzed the relationship between occupational physical activities and BPH in each subgroup.RESULTS: The risk of BPH was significantly higher in the non-manual workers than in the manual workers. This result was consistent after adjusting for other risk factors of BPH (odds ratio, 1.26; 95% confidence interval, 1.05–1.51). Likewise, in the subgroup analysis according to age and body mass index, the non-manual workers had higher BPH risk than the manual workers.CONCLUSION: The risk of BPH was significantly higher in the non-manual workers than in the manual workers. To prevent BPH, more attention should be paid to the physical activities and education of non-manual workers.
Body Mass Index ; Education ; Health Promotion ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Korea ; Motor Activity ; Occupational Groups ; Prostate ; Prostatic Hyperplasia ; Risk Factors ; Ulsan ; Ultrasonography