COVID-19/psychology* ; Child ; Child Health ; Health Care Rationing ; Health Policy ; Health Services Accessibility ; Humans ; Pandemics ; Parents/psychology* ; Patient Acceptance of Health Care ; Singapore/epidemiology*

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to understand the situation of diabetes patients receiving examinations for diabetes complications and to explore the factors influencing their intention to receive examinations for diabetes complications. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was performed that included 251 diabetes patients who visited outpatient clinics in Southern Taiwan. A survey using a self-administered questionnaire was conducted from October 2015 to January 2016. The questionnaire included items on demographic characteristics, perceived susceptibility to diabetes complications, perceived seriousness of diabetes complications, perceived benefits of taking action to receive diabetes complication examinations, perceived barriers to taking action to receive diabetes complication examinations, and the intention to receive diabetes complication examinations. The data were analyzed using regression analysis. RESULTS: The percentage of participants who received fundus, foot, and kidney examinations was 67.7%, 61.4%, and 73.3%, respectively. Every point increase on the perceived barriers to taking action to receive diabetes complication examinations scale increased the intention to receive a foot examination in the following year by 0.91 times (p = .002), and every point increase on the perceived susceptibility to diabetes complications scale increased the intention to receive a kidney examination in the following year by 1.19 times (p = .045). CONCLUSIONS: Nurses should shoulder the responsibility to increase patients' intention to receive examination of diabetes complications. The results of this study can be used to promote nurses' care efficacy in preventing diabetes complications. They can also provide medical institutions with information to establish prevention and control policies for diabetes complications.
Ambulatory Care/utilization ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Diabetic Angiopathies/nursing/*prevention & control/psychology ; Diabetic Nephropathies/nursing/*prevention & control/psychology ; Disease Susceptibility/psychology ; Early Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Intention ; Kidney Function Tests ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nurse-Patient Relations ; Ophthalmoscopy ; Patient Acceptance of Health Care/*psychology ; Perception ; Physical Examination/nursing/*psychology/utilization ; Taiwan

PURPOSE: Unique features of adolescent cancer patients include cancer types, developmental stages, and psychosocial issues. In this study, we evaluated the relationship between diagnostic delay and survival to improve adolescent cancer care. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 592 patients aged 0-18 years with eight common cancers were grouped according to age (adolescents, ≥10 years; children, <10 years). We retrospectively reviewed their symptom intervals (SIs, between first symptom/sign of disease and diagnosis), patient delay (PD, between first symptom/sign of disease and first contact with a physician), patient delay proportion (PDP), and overall survival (OS). RESULTS: Mean SI was significantly longer in adolescents than in children (66.4 days vs. 28.4 days; p<0.001), and OS rates were higher in patients with longer SIs (p=0.001). In children with long SIs, OS did not differ according to PDP (p=0.753). In adolescents with long SIs, OS was worse when PDP was ≥0.6 (67.2%) than <0.6 (95.5%, p=0.007). In a multivariate analysis, adolescents in the long SI/PDP ≥0.6 group tended to have a higher hazard ratio (HR, 6.483; p=0.069) than those in the long SI/PDP <0.6 group (HR=1, reference). CONCLUSION: Adolescents with a long SI/PDP ≥0.6 had lower survival rates than those with a short SI/all PDP or a long SI/PDP <0.6. They should be encouraged to seek prompt medical assistance by a physician or oncologist to lessen PDs.
Adolescent ; Child ; *Delayed Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasms/classification/*diagnosis/*mortality/psychology ; Patient Acceptance of Health Care/*statistics & numerical data ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Analysis ; Survival Rate ; Time Factors

PURPOSE: This study aimed to understand why mothers do not utilize the prenatal care and delivery services at their local hospital supported by the government program, the Supporting Program for Obstetric Care Underserved Area (SPOU). METHODS: We conducted a focus group interview by recruiting four mothers who delivered in the hospital in their community (a rural underserved obstetric care area) and another four mothers who delivered in the hospital outside of the community. RESULTS: From the finding, the mothers were not satisfied with the quality of services that the community hospital provided, in terms of professionalism of the obstetric care team, and the outdated medical device and facilities. Also, the mothers believed that the hospital in the metropolitan city is better for their health as well as that of their babies. The mothers who delivered in the outside community hospital considered geographical closeness less than they did the quality of obstetric care. The mothers who delivered in the community hospital gave the reason why they chose the hospital, which was convenience and emergency preparedness due to its geographical closeness. However, they were not satisfied with the quality of services provided by the community hospital like the other mothers who delivered in the hospital outside of the community. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, in order to successfully deliver the SPOU program, the Korean government should make an effort in increasing the quality of maternity service provided in the community hospital and improving the physical factors of a community hospital such as outdated medical equipment and facilities.
Delivery, Obstetric/statistics & numerical data ; Emergency Treatment ; Female ; Focus Groups ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Hospitals, Community/*utilization ; Humans ; *Medically Underserved Area ; Mothers/psychology ; Patient Acceptance of Health Care/*psychology/statistics & numerical data ; Patient Satisfaction ; Pregnant Women/psychology ; Prenatal Care/*utilization ; Qualitative Research ; Quality Improvement ; Quality of Health Care ; Republic of Korea ; Trust

PURPOSE: This study aimed to explore the factors associated with the intention to receive a Pap test among married immigrant women of Vietnamese origin living in Taiwan. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional community-based study.We enrolled 281 women aged 30 years and over in the study, from July 2013 to January 2014. The participants' characteristics, cervical cancer knowledge, Pap test knowledge, attitudes toward cervical cancer, barriers to receiving a Pap test, fatalism, and intention to receive a Pap test, were measured using self-report questionnaires. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed to examine the variables associated with participants' intentions to receive a Pap test. RESULTS: Vietnamese women with low scores on the measures of cervical cancer knowledge and perceived barriers to receiving a Pap test were more willing to receive the test, as were those with high scores on the measures of Pap test knowledge and fatalism. Women who received a Pap test in the previous year were more willing to receive a Pap test within the next 3 years. CONCLUSIONS: Preventive healthcare for immigrant women should be a focus of nurses. The development of culturally appropriate health education and strategies should enhance their knowledge of Pap tests and reduce perceived barriers to Pap test participation. This study's results can be a reference for nurses who work with immigrant women.
Adult ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Emigrants and Immigrants/*psychology ; Emigration and Immigration ; Female ; Humans ; *Intention ; Marriage/psychology ; Papanicolaou Test/*psychology ; Patient Acceptance of Health Care/*psychology ; Self Report ; Socioeconomic Factors ; Taiwan/epidemiology ; Vietnam/ethnology

OBJECTIVES: The suicide rate in Korea is increasing every year, and is the highest among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries. Psychiatric patients in particular have a higher risk of suicide than other patients. This study was performed to evaluate determinants of mental health care utilization among individuals at high risk for suicide. METHODS: Korea Health Panel data from 2009 to 2011 were used. Subjects were individuals at high risk of suicide who had suicidal ideation, a past history of psychiatric illness, or had utilized outpatient services for a psychiatric disorder associated with suicidal ideation within the past year. The chi-square test and hierarchical logistic regression were used to identify significant determinants of mental health care utilization. RESULTS: The total number of subjects with complete data on the variables in our model was 989. Individuals suffering from three or more chronic diseases used mental health care more frequently. Mental health care utilization was higher in subjects who had middle or high levels of educational attainment, were receiving Medical Aid, or had a large family size. CONCLUSIONS: It is important to control risk factors in high-risk groups as part of suicide prevention strategies. The clinical approach, which includes community-based intervention, entails the management of reduction of suicidal risk. Our study identified demographic characteristics that have a significant impact on mental health care utilization and should be considered in the development of suicide prevention strategies. Further studies should examine the effect of mental health care utilization on reducing suicidal ideation.
Adult ; Aged ; Ambulatory Care ; Female ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Mental Disorders/economics/psychology ; Middle Aged ; Odds Ratio ; Patient Acceptance of Health Care/*statistics & numerical data ; Republic of Korea ; Risk Factors ; *Suicidal Ideation ; Suicide/*prevention & control/psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo understand the infection status of enterovirus 71 (EV71) and coxsackievirus A16 (Cox A16) among children receiving health examination for child care setting entrance in Beijing and their related medical care seeking practice and provide evidence for the estimation of disease burden caused by hand foot and mouth disease (HFMD).

METHODSSerological survey was conducted in the local children receiving health examination for child care setting entrance. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was conducted to detect anti-EV71 and anti-Cox A16 IgG and IgM.

RESULTSA total of 813 children were surveyed (mean age: 3.5 ± 1.0 year old). The seropositive rate was 61.9% and 4.4% for anti-Cox A16 IgG and IgM. The seropositive rate was 9.3% and 1.1% for anti-EV71 IgG and IgM. No significant difference was observed in sex specific seropositive rate (P > 0.05). However, significant differences were found in seropositive rate among different age groups (P < 0.05). Among the children who were anti-Cox A16 positive, 7.8% had ever had rashes on their hands and feet, mouth or buttocks (HFMD-like rashes). Among the children who were anti-EV71 positive, 10.7% had ever had HFMD-like rashes. For the children who were anti-Cox A16 or anti-EV71 positive, only 7.1% were brought to see doctors by their parents. However, among the seropositive children with rashes, 80.5% were brought to see doctors.

CONCLUSIONIn the healthy children at the age to go to child care setting in Beijing, most had ever infected with Cox A16. The anti-EV71 positive rate was much lower than the anti-Cox A16 positive rate. It was necessary to strengthen the prevention and control of EV71 infection in child cares settings.

Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic ; blood ; Beijing ; epidemiology ; Child Health Services ; utilization ; Child, Preschool ; Cost of Illness ; Enterovirus A, Human ; isolation & purification ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Female ; Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease ; epidemiology ; virology ; Humans ; Male ; Parents ; psychology ; Patient Acceptance of Health Care ; statistics & numerical data

In this study, we conducted an investigation among medical workers, patients and college students concerning their acceptability of breast palpation performed by male doctors (hereinafter referred to as "acceptability", or "the examination", respectively, if not otherwise indicated), to get the information about their acceptability and reasons for accepting or declining the examination among the three population. A questionnaire investigation was conducted in 500 patients with breast diseases, 700 students of medical colleges, and 280 medical workers working in hospitals. The subjects were asked to choose between two options: accept or do not accept (the examination). The subjects were asked to fill out the questionnaire forms on free and anonymous basis and the questionnaire forms were collected on spot, immediately after completion. The questionnaires collected were coded, sorted out and checked. Data of the eligible questionnaires were input into Epidata software and analyzed by SPSS. Upon the establishment of the database, the intra-group data were tested by utilizing χ(2) test. Among 1480 questionnaires, 1293 (90.41%) questionnaires were retrieved. Our results showed that 56.78% of patients reported that they could accept breast palpation by male doctors. About 59.66% of medical staff expressed their acceptance of the examination, but only 35.03% of students said the examination. On the basis of this study, we were led to conclude that the examination is not well accepted by different populations, and therefore, (1) medical professionals and administrators should pay attention to the gender-related ethics in their practice and the feeling of patients should be respected when medical examinations involve private or sensitive body parts; (2) to this end, related departments should be properly staffed with doctors of both sexes, and this is especially true of the departments involving the examination or treatment of private or sensitive body parts; (3) health education should, among other things, include helping female patients to overcome the fear and anxiety in such examinations. This is of great importance since some women may miss the opportunity to get timely diagnosis.
Adult ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Female ; Health Personnel ; psychology ; Humans ; Male ; Mammary Glands, Human ; physiology ; physiopathology ; Middle Aged ; Outpatients ; psychology ; Palpation ; psychology ; Patient Acceptance of Health Care ; ethnology ; psychology ; Physical Examination ; ethics ; Physicians ; ethics ; Students, Medical ; psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires

PURPOSE: This study was done to explore experiences of persons living through the periods of cancer diagnosis, treatment, and self-care. METHODS: With permission, texts of 29 cancer survival narratives (8 men and 21 women, winners in contests sponsored by two institutes), were analyzed using Kang's Korean-Computerized-Text-Analysis-Program where the commonly used Korean-Morphological-Analyzer and the 21st-century-Sejong-Modern-Korean-Corpora representing laymen's Korean-language-use are connected. Experiences were explored based on words included in 100 highly-used-morphemes. For interpretation, we used 'categorizing words by meaning', 'comparing use-rate by periods and to the 21st-century-Sejong-Modern-Korean-Corpora', and highly-used-morphemes that appeared only in a specific period. RESULTS: The most highly-used-word-morpheme was first-person-pronouns followed by, diagnosis.treatment-related-words, mind-expression-words, cancer, persons-in-meaningful-interaction, living and eating, information-related-verbs, emotion-expression-words, with 240 to 0.8 times for layman use-rate. 'Diagnosis-process', 'cancer-thought', 'things-to-come-after-diagnosis', 'physician.husband', 'result-related-information', 'meaningful-things before diagnosis-period', and 'locus-of-cause' dominated the life of the diagnosis-period. 'Treatment', 'unreliable-body', 'husband . people . mother . physician', 'treatment-related-uncertainty', 'hard-time', and 'waiting-time represented experiences in the treatment-period. Themes of living in the self-care-period were complex and included 'living-as-a-human', 'self-managing-of-diseased-body', 'positive-emotion', and 'connecting past . present . future'. CONCLUSION: The results show that the experience of living for persons with cancer is influenced by each period's own situational-characteristics. Experiences of the diagnosis and treatment-period are negative disease-oriented while that of the self-care period is positive present-oriented.
Family Relations ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Neoplasms/diagnosis/*psychology/therapy ; Patient Acceptance of Health Care ; Professional-Patient Relations ; Program Development ; Self Care ; User-Computer Interface

PURPOSE: This study aimed to improve prostate biopsy compliance by analyzing the factors that influence the acceptance of prostate biopsy by patients to whom transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided prostate biopsy is recommended for suspected prostate cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The subjects of this study were 268 patients to whom TRUS-guided prostate biopsy was recommended from January to June 2011 and who completed a questionnaire. Patients who showed a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) increase to more than 4.0 ng/mL or abnormal findings on a digital rectal examination and TRUS were recommended to undergo prostate biopsy. The questionnaire consisted of 9 questions about the subjects' demographic characteristics and 15 questions that assessed their knowledge of prostate disease. Fisher exact probability test was conducted to assess the influence of the demographic characteristics and levels of knowledge of prostate disease on acceptance of prostate biopsy. RESULTS: The mean age of the subjects was 66.2 years (range, 43-83 years). Of the cohort, 188 patients (70.7%) agreed to the prostate biopsy and 78 patients (29.3%) refused. In terms of demographic characteristics, the patients' acceptance of prostate biopsy was associated only with education level. Patients with relatively lower education levels had a higher acceptance rate for prostate biopsy (80.0% vs. 65.9%, p=0.018). Other demographic factors, as well as the degree of knowledge of prostate disease, had no significant effect on the acceptance rate. CONCLUSIONS: The patients' acceptance of prostate biopsy can be influenced by demographic characteristics, especially education level. Therefore, when prostate biopsy is recommended to patients, their demographic characteristics should be taken into consideration.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Biopsy, Needle/methods/psychology ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Kallikreins/blood ; Male ; Middle Aged ; *Patient Acceptance of Health Care ; Prospective Studies ; Prostate-Specific Antigen/blood ; Prostatic Neoplasms/*pathology/psychology/ultrasonography ; Republic of Korea ; Socioeconomic Factors ; Ultrasonography, Interventional