During the last year of World War I (1918), a second deadly foe was causing mortality around the world. Spanish Influenza killed an estimated 50-100 million people worldwide, including 50,000 people in Canada during the 1918-1919 pandemic. This thesis examines the impact of Spanish Influenza on people living in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada between June of 1918 and June of 1919. Statistical analysis with SPSS was used to determine the association between influenza-caused deaths and socio-demographic characteristics such as age, gender, immigration status, and employment. In Vancouver, those who were between the ages of 19 to 39, and those who were employed, showed higher odds of dying from influenza during the epidemic. / Graduate

M.A. University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities (Population Studies), 2012 / This study is based on secondary data analysis of the 1998 South African Demographic and Health Survey (SADHS) data set. The aim of the study was to identify socio-demographic, socio-economic and environmental variables that affect the survival of South African children under the age of five years. Descriptive analyses, frequency tables, Pearson’s chi-square tests of association and binary logistic regression analysis were used for data analysis in this study. Mothers who lost an under-five child were predominantly Black and rural. Such mothers were characterized by rural residential areas, relatively large family sizes, relatively poorer socioeconomic status, relatively poorer access to basic health services, relatively more child deliveries at home, and low level of education. The study showed that 269 of the 5, 066 children in the study died before celebrating their fifth birthday (5.31%). At the 5% level of significance, the survival of under-five children is significantly influenced by 2 of the 11 predictor variables found to be significantly associated in the univariate analysis and therefore included in the logistic regression analysis. These 2 predictor variables were: place of delivery of child [OR=0.97; P=0.000; CI = (0.96, 0.98)], and use of modern contraceptives by the mother [OR=0.73; P=0.002; CI = (0.59, 0.89)]. The study found that not using modern contraceptives gives a lower chance on death of a child under 5 as well as delivering at home, in the absence of a trained birth attendant. These findings are unexpected and contrary to what was found in the univariate analysis. No real explanation can be given for these findings and it would be interesting to see if the same results are found with more recent data. In order for the South African National Department of Health to fulfil its United Nations Millennium Development Goals, rural mothers and their under-five children must be provided with improved health as well as socioeconomic services.

Pastaruoju metu visuomenėje gana plačiai nagrinėjama psichikos ligomis sergančių žmonių stigmatizacijos ir diskriminacijos problema. Stigmatizuojantis požiūris, susiformavęs istorijos kontekste palaiko stereotipus, kurie neigiamai paveikia psichikos ligomis sergančių asmenų psichosocialinę egzistenciją. Tyrimo tikslas – nustatyti tiriamų asmenų požiūrį į psichikos ligomis sergančius žmones bei įvertinti sąsajas su sociodemografinėmis tiriamųjų charakteristikomis. Tyrime dalyvavo 227 Kauno ir Alytaus miestų gyventojai (65 vyrai ir 162 moterys). Požiūriui į psichikos ligomis sergančius asmenis nustatyti naudota Didžiosios Britanijos Nacionalinio statistikos departamento sudaryta anketa, „Visuomenės požiūrio į psichikos negalią turinčius žmones skalė“ sutrumpinta forma (angl. Community Living Attitudes Scale Mental Retardation – Short Form (CLAS)) bei tyrimo autorės sudaryta anketa. Tyrimo rezultatai atskleidė vyraujančią nuomonę, jog psichikos ligomis sergantys asmenys yra pavojingi, neprognozuojamo elgesio, dažnai jų bijoma. Tačiau šie žmonės nesmerkiami, jiems jaučiama užuojauta ir gailestis. Pusė apklaustųjų manė, kad psichikos ligomis sergantiems asmenims naudinga integruotis į visuomenę, tačiau tik vienas trečdalis tiriamųjų sutiko, kad psichiatrinės ligoninės – pasenęs gydymo būdas. Atsižvelgiant į tiriamųjų lytį bei išsilavinimą, didelių požiūrio skirtumų į psichikos ligomis sergančius asmenis nebuvo nustatyta. Tačiau stebimi reikšmingi požiūrio skirtumai atsižvelgiant... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Nowadays one of the widely discussed topics is the stigmatization and discrimination of people with mental illness. Stigmatization is based on the stereotypes and negatively reflects on the psychosocial life of people with mental illness. The goal of this research is to define attitudes towards people with mental illness and find correlations with socio-demografic characteristics. 227 respondents from Kaunas and Alytus participated in this study (65 men and 162 women). The following questionnaires were used to assess the respondents attitudes towards people with mental illness: a questionnaire, taken from National Department Statistics of Great Britain, the Community Living Attitudes Scale Mental Retardation – Short Form (CLAS) and a questionnaire made by the author of this study. The results of this study showed the basic attitude that people with mental illness are dangerous. Their behaviour is regarded as unpredictable and they are feared of. However, people with mental illness can expect sympathy and compassion. Half of the respondents admitted that they thought it would be useful to integrate people with mental illness into society, but, on the other hand, only one third of the respondents agreed that mental hospitals are not quite good for people with mental illness. There weren’t significant differences between respondents with regards to their sex and education. Significant differences in attitudes toward people with mental illness were found in different age groups... [to full text]

Thesis (DPhil (Environmental Health))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / Informal caregivers play an important role in the well-being of dependent members in a household. The burdens of these caregivers are multiple and pervasive and may contribute to mental health epidemiology as a result of worry, grief, anxiety and stress. The literature review revealed that studies in caregiving and its various facets began from a pragmatically applied interest rather than from theoretical and intellectual curiosity. The majority of the research on caregiver burden involves meta-analysis of qualitative studies with little quantitative research. Also, many of these studies are concentrated on caregivers of chronically ill patients, such as those suffering from dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and heart disease, without much attention to care burden resulting from caring for those who are not necessarily ill. Similar studies by other researchers did not consider the impact of the physical health of the care recipients or the environmental factors that are critical in the study of female caregiver burden in low-income settings. In addition, existing studies did not adequately evaluate the many potential factors that may vary and influence the lives of the caregivers, especially in a single, comprehensive model. This study attempted to provide a more complete picture of these relationships in low-income and culturally diverse settings. The study population consisted of black/African and coloured populations living in subsidised or low-cost housing settlements. In each of the two different cultural communities, 100 black/African and 100 coloured female caregivers were selected through a systematic random sampling procedure. In addition, data were also collected from caregivers in Tamale, Ghana to assess differences between the socio-demographic profiles of the caregivers in Cape Town, South Africa and Tamale, Ghana. The theoretical paradigm used in this study is the Stress Process Model by Pearlin et al., (1990). The study instrument assessed caregiver burden with both objective and subjective measures through the use of a fully structured questionnaire. The information that was collected according to the constructs of the Stress Process Model included personal and role strains and incorporated the physical health of the care recipients and environmental factors such as kitchen and toilet hygiene. Inclusion criteria for the respondents in both Cape Town and Tamale were the principal female caregivers who were present, willing, and able to give informed consent. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS Version 22) was used for the analyses. The Chi-square test was used to assess the relationships between environmental health, the socio-demographics of the female caregivers and the health status of the care recipients. The hierarchical regression analysis in the form of a General Linear Model was used to model caregiving burden. iv The results showed that the majority of the female caregivers were in the age group 40 – 49 years and in both Cape Town and Tamale, a large proportion was in the low-income group. Also, the majority of the informal caregivers in the two samples were in care tasks as a full-time job, providing more than 40 hours of care per week. Regarding the length of time in caregiving, a large proportion of the caregivers in both Cape Town and Tamale had been in the care role for more than three years preceding the survey, and almost all the caregivers in the Cape Town sample (98.4%) did not use any form of caregiving programme to ameliorate the negative effects of caregiving. Further, the results showed statistically significant relationships between the socio-demographic characteristics of female caregivers (age, education, population group and income status) and the diarrhoea status of the care recipients. Also, a significant relationship was shown between environmental health variables of the home (kitchen hygiene and toilet hygiene) and the physical health of the care recipients. The major predictors of female caregiver burden in the samples were the physical health of the care recipients and access to social grants. On the basis of the analyses, it was recommended that the government should recognise the importance of the physical health of the care recipients and increase the amounts of social grants to the caregivers since this could improve the circumstances of both the caregivers and the care recipients. In addition, this could aid in improving the standard of living of caregivers in these households. Future research in similar settings should disaggregate the data to compare the burden of caring for caregivers of physically strong care recipients with physically ill care recipients.

An in-depth-analysis was carried out on short, medium and long commuters using the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) of 2001 and American Community Survey (ACS) of 2000 to determine the role of individual,household, trip and area related characteristics on commute length. The individuals with commute time less than or equal to 15 min were considered as short commuters and individuals with commute time greater than 15 min but less than 60 min were considered as medium commuters and the individuals with commute time 60 min or more were considered as long commuters. The commute time is considered as a link joining the residence and workplace locations. The availability of the desired mode used is considered as flexibility in moving the location of these points in the area. As the jobs get dispersed the lower income people face more and more transportation problems in linking the residence and workplace. There is a potential threat in their social, physical and economic isolation in the society. The individual, household, and area related characteristics are assumed to influence both the commute time and location of these points. The descriptive analysis using NHTS 2001 and ACS 2000 revealed that the characteristics of short and long commuters are different in nature. A commuter type choice model and commute length measurement models were used to estimate the influence of socio-demographic characteristics on the residential and workplace separation. Multinomial Logit Model (MNL) methodology was adopted to develop the commuter type choice model and Structural Equations Model methodology (SEM) was adopted with commute time and commute distance as endogenous variables to estimate the commute length on a continuous scale. The models confirmed the importance of demographic variables in explaining commuter length.

Traffic fatalities accounted for 1.24 million lives lost in 2013 worldwide, and almost 33 thousand of those fatalities were in the U.S. in 2013. The southeastern region of the nation stands out for continuously having higher fatality rates per mile driven than the national average. If one can establish compelling relationships between various factors and fatality rates, then policies and investments can be targeted to increase the safety on the network by focusing on policies that mitigate those factors. In this research effort risk-taking characteristics are explored. These factors have not been as comprehensively reviewed as conventional factors such as vehicle and facility conditions associated with safety. The hypothesis assumes if a person exhibits risk-taking behavior, that risk-taking behavior is not limited to only one aspect of risk, but is likely to occur in multiple facets of the person's life. Some of the risk-taking characteristics explored include credit score, safety belt use, smoking and tobacco use, drug use, mental health, educational attainment, obesity, and overall general health characteristics. All risk-taking characteristics with the exception of mental health were found to have statistically significant correlations with fatality rates alone. However, when a regression model was formed to estimate fatality rates by risk-taking characteristics, only four risk-taking characteristics - credit score, educational attainment, overall poor health, and seat belt use were found to be statistically significant at an integrated level with other demographic characteristics such as unemployment levels and population born is state of residency. By identifying at-risk population segments, education, counseling, enforcement, or other strategies may be deployed to help improve travel safety.

South Africa, being a multicultural society, is faced with unique and unusual circumstances that can influence the interaction between their work and personal lives. However, countries can vary noticeably in cultural norms, values and gender-role beliefs, which can lead to the different experience of work-life interaction. Because of these differences, South African workers could experience the interaction between work and home in different ways, and this interaction may manifest differently in various socio-demographic groups. This makes it difficult to develop strategies and intervention programmes that will help workers integrate their work and personal lives more effectively. The general objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and four dimensions of work-home interaction and to establish which socio-demographic characteristics best predict work-home interaction amongst South African employees. A sample (n = 2040) was taken from four industries in South Africa (i.e. police service, the earthmoving equipment industry, mining and nursing). A socio-demographic questionnaire and the 'Survey Work-Home Interaction - Nijmegen' (SWING) were used. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach alpha coefficients, Pearson product-moment correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to analyse the data. The results indicated that robust predictors included occupation, gender and language for negative work-home interference (WHI), occupation, language and age for positive WHI, language and occupation for negative home-work interference (HWI) and language, occupation, age and education for positive HWI. Recommendations were made for organisations and for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Lietuvoje asmenims, priklausomiems nuo opioidų, vis dažniau yra skiriamas gydymas stacionaruose ir farmakoterapija metadonu ar buprenorfinu. Tokiems pacientams visą parą skiriama slauga, todėl siekiant tobulinti slaugos paslaugų kokybę, svarbu žinoti, kaip slaugos veiksnius vertina patys pacientai, priklausomi nuo opioidų, ir slaugytojai, dirbantys priklausomybės ligų centruose, kokie slaugos veiksniai turi teigiamą arba neigiamą poveikį slaugos procesui ir pacientų lūkesčiams. Darbo tikslas. Išanalizuoti opioidinės priklausomybės pacientų lūkesčių tenkinimą slaugos procese. Tyrimo metodika. Atliktas empirinis kiekybinis tyrimas. Taikyti šie metodai: anoniminė anketinė apklausa pagal standartizuotus klausimynus (juos adaptuojant), statistinis duomenų apdorojimas ir medicininės literatūros analizė. Apklausa vykdyta dviejuose priklausomybės ligų centruose. Tyrime dalyvavo 266 pacientai (priklausomi nuo opioidų), kurie gydėsi priklausomybės ligų centruose, ir 71 slaugytojas iš šių gydymo įstaigų. Tyrimas atliktas vadovaujantis etikos principais. Tyrimo rezultatai. Nustatyta, kad labiausiai turintys įtakos pacientų lūkesčiams veiksniai yra šie: slaugytojų elgesys, jų sąžiningumas, geranoriškumas ir tolerantiškumas, aplinkos pritaikymas gydymui, informacijos apie gydymo ir slaugos svarbą ir vaistų vartojimą suteikimas, skiriamas dėmesys, bendravimas su pacientais ir jo šeimos nariais, pacientų ir jų asmeninių įpročių gerbimas. Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad pacientų lūkesčiams turi... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / In Lithuania, persons who have opioid dependence are more often assigned to inpatient treatment and pharmacotherapy with methadone or buprenorphine. These patients are allocated with round the clock care service, therefore in order to improve the quality of care, it is important to find out how patients with opioid dependence and carers working in addiction recovery centres rate care aspects, what factors have a positive or negative impact on the process of care and on expectations of patients. Objective of the thesis. Analyze expectations in care process of patients with opioid dependence. Methods. Empirical quantitative research has been conducted. The following methods were applied: anonymous survey using standardized (adapted) questionnaires, processing of statistical data and analysis of medical literature. The survey was carried out in two Centres of Addictive Disorders. 266 patients (addicts on opioids), who were treated in Centres of Addictive Disorders, and 71 nurses from these medical institutions have participated in the research. The study was conducted in accordance with ethical principles. Findings. It was found that factors having most influence to expectations of patients are as follows: behaviour of nurses, their honesty, kindness and tolerance, adaptation of environment to treatment, providing information about importance of treatment and care, and usage of medicines, expressing attention, communication with patients and family members, respecting patients... [to full text]

South Africa, being a multicultural society, is faced with unique and unusual circumstances that can influence the interaction between their work and personal lives. However, countries can vary noticeably in cultural norms, values and gender-role beliefs, which can lead to the different experience of work-life interaction. Because of these differences, South African workers could experience the interaction between work and home in different ways, and this interaction may manifest differently in various socio-demographic groups. This makes it difficult to develop strategies and intervention programmes that will help workers integrate their work and personal lives more effectively. The general objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and four dimensions of work-home interaction and to establish which socio-demographic characteristics best predict work-home interaction amongst South African employees. A sample (n = 2040) was taken from four industries in South Africa (i.e. police service, the earthmoving equipment industry, mining and nursing). A socio-demographic questionnaire and the 'Survey Work-Home Interaction - Nijmegen' (SWING) were used. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach alpha coefficients, Pearson product-moment correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to analyse the data. The results indicated that robust predictors included occupation, gender and language for negative work-home interference (WHI), occupation, language and age for positive WHI, language and occupation for negative home-work interference (HWI) and language, occupation, age and education for positive HWI. Recommendations were made for organisations and for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:10:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DiegoBSL_DISSERT.pdf: 829804 bytes, checksum: e8513b1969770df1630ff406301f2cb9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-04-09 / This study assessed the level of knowledge, attitude and practice of Pap smear and human papillomavirus (HPV), in addition to analyzing the prevalence of genital HPV infection, Herpes Simplex Type 2 (HSV-2) and Chlamydia trachomatis in teenagers. The study consisted of two approaches, one based only on interviews conducted with adolescents enrolled in public schools or in public health facilities in the city of Natal. The other approach involved only a group of 132 adolescents enrolled among those admitted to two health units in Natal-RN. This second group of participants two specimens were collected for laboratory analysis: one was directed to prepare the blade for the Pap test, and other processed for DNA extraction for molecular analysis, focusing on the detection of HPV, HSV-2 and C . trachomatis. The presence of DNA of the three pathogens was investigated by the technique of polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The presence of each of the three pathogens was analyzed in terms of socio-demographic characteristics, as well as sexual and reproductive activity to identify risk factors for infection and development of lesions of the uterine cervix. The results show that the adolescents in this study had levels of knowledge and attitude very low, both in relation to cytology to HPV as though they have made a reasonable percentage of adequate practice exam and prevention of HPV infection. The overall prevalence of HPV infection was 54.5% and 48.2% in adolescents with normal cytology and 86.4% in those with abnormal cytology. We observed a higher proportion of cases of infection in the age group of 18 to 21. The prevalence of HPV infection was slightly higher among pregnant teenagers. The overall prevalence of HSV-2 infection was 13.6% and 11.8% in women with normal cytology and 22.7% in those with abnormal cytology. A higher proportion of cases of infection was found in the age group from 14 to 17, with a slightly higher prevalence among pregnant women. The C. trachomatis was found with an overall prevalence of 19.7% and 21.8% in adolescents with normal cytology and 9.1% in those with abnormal cytology. The prevailing rate was highest in the age group 18 to 21 years and in nonpregnant / O presente estudo avaliou o grau de conhecimento, atitude e pr?tica do exame de Papanicolaou e do v?rus do papiloma humano (HPV), al?m de analisar a preval?ncia da infec??o genital por HPV, Herpes Simples tipo 2 (HSV-2) e Chlamydia trachomatis em adolescentes. O estudo constou de duas abordagens, uma baseada apenas em entrevistadas realizadas com adolescentes recrutadas em escolas p?blicas ou em unidades de sa?de p?blica da cidade do Natal. A outra abordagem envolveu apenas um grupo de 132 adolescentes arroladas entre aquelas atendidas em duas unidades de sa?de de Natal-RN. Das participantes deste segundo grupo foram coletados dois esp?cimes para an?lise laboratorial: um foi destinado ? prepara??o de l?mina para o exame citol?gico de Papanicolaou, e outro processado para extra??o de DNA para an?lise molecular, visando ? detec??o de HPV, HSV-2 e da C. trachomatis. A presen?a do DNA dos tr?s pat?genos foi pesquisada por meio da t?cnica da rea??o em cadeia da polimerase (PCR). A presen?a de cada um dos tr?s pat?genos foi analisada em fun??o das caracter?sticas s?cio-demogr?ficas, bem com da atividade sexual e reprodutiva visando identificar fatores de risco para a infec??o e o desenvolvimento de les?es da c?rvice uterina. Os resultados mostram que as adolescentes deste estudo apresentaram graus de conhecimento e de atitude muito baixos, tanto em rela??o ao exame citol?gico quanto ao HPV, embora tenham apresentado um percentual razo?vel de pr?tica adequada do exame e da preven??o da infec??o pelo HPV. A preval?ncia global da infec??o pelo HPV foi de 54,5%, sendo 48,2% nas adolescentes com citologia normal e 86,4% naquelas com citologia alterada. Foi observada uma maior propor??o de casos da infec??o na faixa et?ria dos 18 aos 21. A preval?ncia da infec??o pelo HPV foi ligeiramente maior entre as adolescentes gr?vidas. A preval?ncia global da infec??o pelo HSV-2 foi de 13,6%, sendo 11,8% nas mulheres com citologia normal e 22,7% naquelas com citologia alterada. Uma maior propor??o de casos da infec??o foi encontrada na faixa et?ria dos 14 aos 17, sendo a preval?ncia ligeiramente maior entre as gr?vidas. A C. trachomatis foi encontrada com uma preval?ncia global de 19,7%, sendo 21,8% nas adolescentes com citologia normal e 9,1% naquelas com citologia alterada. A taxa de prevalecia foi maior na faixa et?ria dos 18 aos 21 anos e nas n?o gr?vidas