O presente trabalho apresenta o resultado de uma investigação realizada com 431 doentes de tuberculose pulmonar, internados em 4 Hospitais de Campos do Jordão, São Paulo, Brasil, no ano de 1977, para verificar o conhecimento dos doentes sobre a doença. A coleta dos dados foi feita por meio de entrevista, utilizando-se um formulãrio semi-estruturado contendo 21 perguntas. O trabalho foi realizado com doentes internados pela primeira vez e com reinternados. Na discussão dos dados foi adotada também a distribuição dos doentes em orientados e não orientados. Os resultados mostram que a população em estudo apresenta conhecimentos insuficientes em alguns aspectos importantes da doença, o que justifica as recomendações apresentadas como subsídios para a integração da educação em saúde aos progranas que visam o controle da tuberculose. / This paper reports an investigation carried out in 1977 in Brazil to assess the knowledge that tuberculosis hospital patients have about their disease. Data was collected through interviews based on a total of 21 questions, and grouped into 4 categories: newly hospitalized patients and relapses; patients who received information on the disease and patients who did not. Findings disclosed that patients lacked knowledge about some important aspects of the disease pointing to the need of integration of health education to aimed at the control of tuberculosis.

The problem with which this investigation was concerned was that of determining the relationship between the variables of acculturation, imagery, self-concept, anxiety, stress, and seriousness of disease in Mexican-Americans. The purposes of this study were 1) to determine the statistical predictive efficiency of stress and its relation to disease, 2) to determine if a combination of anxiety, acculturation, self-concept, imagery, along with stress, would increase the statistical predictive efficiency concerning seriousness of disease, and 3) to provide information that may help to develope a theoretical base concerning the above variables and disease in Mexican-Americans.

O presente trabalho apresenta o resultado de uma investigação realizada com 431 doentes de tuberculose pulmonar, internados em 4 Hospitais de Campos do Jordão, São Paulo, Brasil, no ano de 1977, para verificar o conhecimento dos doentes sobre a doença. A coleta dos dados foi feita por meio de entrevista, utilizando-se um formulãrio semi-estruturado contendo 21 perguntas. O trabalho foi realizado com doentes internados pela primeira vez e com reinternados. Na discussão dos dados foi adotada também a distribuição dos doentes em orientados e não orientados. Os resultados mostram que a população em estudo apresenta conhecimentos insuficientes em alguns aspectos importantes da doença, o que justifica as recomendações apresentadas como subsídios para a integração da educação em saúde aos progranas que visam o controle da tuberculose. / This paper reports an investigation carried out in 1977 in Brazil to assess the knowledge that tuberculosis hospital patients have about their disease. Data was collected through interviews based on a total of 21 questions, and grouped into 4 categories: newly hospitalized patients and relapses; patients who received information on the disease and patients who did not. Findings disclosed that patients lacked knowledge about some important aspects of the disease pointing to the need of integration of health education to aimed at the control of tuberculosis.

College students undergo stressors (e.g., potential financial strain, changes in workload or location), which may precipitate metabolic syndrome (MetS) risk associated with obesity and high blood pressure. Concerning rises in young adult obesity and type 2 diabetes, prompt study into MetS risk factor prevalence and awareness in youthful populations transitioning to new environments, such as college. This study assessed perceived stress, coping resources, and disease awareness differences in the first time on campus and final-year students associated with MetS risk factors (elevated body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure). We hypothesized lower stress perception, lower weight gain and blood pressure, higher MetS knowledge, and more positive coping strategies in final-year students. We conducted a longitudinal cohort study of 43 undergraduates with a baseline assessment in September (T0) and a follow-up in December (T1). BMI and blood pressure were measured at each visit and compared to baseline predictors of MetS knowledge, perceived stress, and coping resources. Though trends in MetS knowledge, perceived stress, and coping scores followed those in our hypothesis, only differences in weight and BMI change were statistically significant. The mixed-effects regression analysis did not find any statistically significant trends. First-time on-campus students gained an average of 1.736 kg, and their average BMI increased by 0.485 kg/m2. Conversely, final year students lost 0.313 kg, and their average BMI decreased by 0.210 kg/m2. Information on blood pressure was inconclusive. The average increase in weight/BMI in first-time on-campus students compared to final-year students highlights the need to provide education and resources to protect against metabolic syndrome risk in young adults. Trends in final year student clinical outcomes and their predictors illustrate how education may be a protective factor against MetS risk.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is significantly more prevalent among African Americans than within the general population, but rates of early detection are lower in the African American community. Researchers have demonstrated that both pessimistic Alzheimer's-directed health beliefs, and negative perceptions of the effectiveness and the accessibility of medical care act as barriers to care seeking by African American family members of individuals with the disease. Recent research into causal judgments made by potential caregivers about individuals with undiagnosed AD suggests that gender bias and errors in attribution may constitute covert barriers to both lay and professional interpretations regarding the need for cognitive assessment. This study used grounded theory to investigate whether African American family caregivers hold integrated, gender-distinct beliefs about causal attributions of their family member's cognitive decline which may contribute to a delay in care-seeking behaviors. The health belief model was used in conjunction with the attribution theory as the conceptual framework for understanding the data. Purposive sampling of geriatric and memory clinics, and a church was used to recruit eight family caregivers who participated in in-depth interviews. The results indicated that there is a significant lack of caregivers' knowledge and understanding of AD regardless of gender, and that this lack is linked to delays in diagnosis. These results may be used to support the development of a new theory of family caregivers' knowledge and understanding of AD. The social change implications include decreasing delayed diagnosis through increased educational awareness, community outreach programs, and universal mandatory cognitive testing of AD for at-risk individuals.