Co-occurrence of occupational outcomes and associated factors among hospitals cleaners, eastern ethiopia: a cross sectional study

BACKGROUND

Hospital cleaners face a complex and varied work environment due to several potentially dangerous circumstances, including the risk of getting injured by sharp objects and being subjected to various ergonomic and physical risks. They thus acquire a combination or co-occurrence of outcomes associated to their line of work. In this study it stands for occurrence of occupational injuries and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) during study period, which has not been explored in developing countries like Ethiopia, particularly among hospital cleaners.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the prevalence of co-occurrence of occupational outcomes and associated factors among hospital cleaners, Eastern Ethiopia.

METHODS

A cross sectional study was conducted on 741 cleaners in eight hospitals in eastern Ethiopia from May, 2023 to 30th August, 2023. Face-to-face interview was conducted. The data quality was maintained by designing standard questions that preserved both external and internal validity. The entered data was exported from Epi-Data 3.1 to Stata 17MP. Descriptive statistic was used to characterize one variable, While, binary logistic regression was used to explore the relationship of the predictors. At binary analysis variables having a p-value of < 0.20 were candidates for multivariate logistic regression. The crude odds ratio and adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) were presented. Those variables having < 0.05 were reported. The variance inflation factor used to test multicollinearity. While, Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness-of-fit-test was applied for model fit.

RESULT

From total of 741 hospital cleaners, 679 (91.63%) of them were responded. The prevalence co-occurrence of occupational outcome among cleaners was 25.04% (95%CI: 21.82, 28.47). The multivariate logistic regression shows that those had workload (AOR:2.78, 95%CI: 1.25,6.17), those worked more than 8r/day (AOR:3.45, 95%CI:2.34,6.32), those have sleeping disorders (AOR: 4.61,95%CI: 2.89, 8.03), those had work stress (AOR:2.05, 95%CI:0.98,4.29), those highly exposed with hazards (AOR: 4.22, 95%CI:2.40, 7.45) and those had poor knowledge of risk (AOR:2.41, 95%CI:1.06, 5.50) were more likely increase the odds of co-occurrence of occupational outcome as compared to their counterparts.

CONCLUSION

The current study concluded that one-fourth of the co-occurrence of occupational outcomes was reported among hospital cleaners. The study also found that lack of supervision, workload, working more hours per a day, severely presence of occupational hazards, lack of regular job rotation, the sleeping disorders and having work stress all increased the odds of co-occurrence occupational outcome.

Slicing Through the Layers of Pediatric Unintentional Injury With the Swiss Cheese Model: A Topical Review

Pediatric unintentional injury significantly burdens children, families, and society. Behavioral researchers have examined the problem for decades, identifying many risk factors and greatly enhancing knowledge of the injury antecedent process. Approaches using theories and models to guide inquiry into etiology and prevention are still needed. We offer an approach borrowed from the field of human factors to enhance understanding and prevention. We focus our exploration on an error modeling and accident investigation tool called the Swiss Cheese Model. We first introduce the basic elements of the model. Next, we apply error modeling concepts to example scenarios drawn from real unintentional incidents and discuss the implications for understanding etiology and prevention. Finally, potential future directions are discussed to illustrate paths for the advancement of injury etiology and prevention.

Challenges, Successes, and the Future of Firearm Injury Prevention

Policy Points Firearm injury is a leading cause of death in the United States, with fatality rates increasing 34.9% over the past decade (2010-2020). Firearm injury is preventable through multifaceted evidence-based approaches. Reviewing past challenges and successes in the field of firearm injury prevention can highlight the future directions needed in the field. Adequate funding, rigorous and comprehensive data availability and access, larger pools of diverse and scientifically trained researchers and practitioners, robust evidence-based programming and policy implementation, and a reduction in stigma, polarization, and politicization of the science are all needed to move the field forward.

Predicting behavioral intentions for unsafe off-highway vehicle use

INTRODUCTION

Hundreds of adults are killed or injured each year while operating off-highway vehicles. Four common risk-taking behaviors were identified on off-highway vehicles in the literature and examined intention to engage in such behaviors within the context of the Theory of Planned Behavior.

METHOD

One hundred and sixty-one adults completed measures of experience on off-highway vehicles and injury exposure followed by a self-report created according to the predictive structure of the Theory of Planned Behavior. Behavioral intentions to engage in the four common injury risk behaviors on off-highway vehicles were predicted.

RESULTS

Similar to research on other risk behaviors, perceived behavioral control and attitudes emerged as consistently significant predictors. Subjective norms, the number of vehicles operated, and injury exposure showed varying relationships to the four injury risk behaviors. Results are discussed in the context of similar studies, intrapersonal predictors of injury risk behaviors, and with regard to implications for injury prevention efforts.

Raising Concussion Awareness among Amateur Athletes: An Examination of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Heads Up Campaign

Attention to concussion prevention and management has grown in recent years due to the potentially long-term, debilitating effects a head injury can have on an individual. Although multiple campaigns have been designed to target this issue, there remains a need to evaluate the persuasive principles used to advocate for safety measures and protocols, specifically within youth sports. With this in mind, we applied the health belief model (HBM) in our content analysis of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Heads Up concussion awareness campaign. Campaign videos (N = 35) were coded for threat severity, threat susceptibility, benefits, barriers, self-efficacy, and cues to action. The majority of videos communicated the seriousness of concussions and attempts to communicate concussion susceptibility were driven by personal stories, rather than facts and statistics demonstrating concussion prevalence. Less than half of the videos communicated the benefits of following concussion protocols and only a third of the messages described barriers to following recommended protocols. The majority of videos aimed to elevate self-efficacy among athletes and parents, but not coaches, by focusing on identifying symptoms and concussion avoidance. The implications for concussion prevention and management among athletes, parents, and coaches are discussed.

Transforming injury prevention for youth (TrIPY): an intersectionality model for youth injury prevention

Injury is deadly and expensive, and rates are increasing. The cost of injury is not only a financial burden; individuals, families and communities suffer the human costs of physical and emotional injury. For children and youth in Canada, injuries are the leading cause of death and disability. However, the risk of preventable injury is not equal for all youth. The transforming injury prevention for youth (TrIPY) model aims to recognise and remediate these inequities by applying an intersectionality lens to injury prevention programming. TrIPY conceptualises injury prevention programming through an intersectionality lens. The model was developed with diverse youth in mind, and the intended users include injury prevention practitioners, partners, stakeholders, communities and decision-makers. TrIPY was designed using a transformative perspective and built on core concepts within public health, injury prevention, intersectionality, gender analysis, youth risk, health equity, and systems of privilege and oppression. TrIPY helps to analyse intersecting inequities along multiple dimensions, to improve injury prevention programmes for diverse youth with unique identities, skills and lived experiences. The end goal of implementing an intersectionality model within injury prevention is to find out who is being missed in order to address existing inequities concerning youth injury. No matter what a person’s unique social location or lived experience, they will have the opportunity to be included in prevention programming. Developing injury prevention programmes through an intersectionality lens is needed to better understand the factors that interact to influence an individual’s risk for injury. There is a need to explore the unique experiences of youth at the intersection of various identity factors, including gender, race and ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. With this knowledge, prevention programmes can be more culturally responsive, gender transformative, inclusive, accessible and engaging for diverse groups of youth.

BASE: Pragmatic Injury Prevention for Practitioners

Unintentional injury remains a leading health problem in developed nations, making injury prevention imperative. Practitioners are primary stakeholders in the injury prevention process but rarely can devote significant time to complicated prevention efforts. Furthermore, theory-based approaches to support injury prevention are less common than atheoretical approaches. We propose a simple method for injury prevention grounded in concepts found in antecedent models. Barriers, attitudes, social context, and environmental factors (or BASE) are suggested as a simple injury prevention model practitioners can follow when working with patients. We present each component of BASE and offer examples of how the approach can be applied to risk factors associated with several types of injury risk behavior.

Understanding Infants' In-Home Injuries: Context and Correlates

RATIONALE

Infancy is a time of elevated risk of injury. Past research has focused mostly on the type of injuries, leaving many gaps in knowledge about contextual information that could aid in injury prevention planning.

METHODS

In this longitudinal study, a participant-event recording method was used in which mothers tracked their infants' home injuries through three motor development stages (sitting up independently, crawling, and walking). A contextual analysis elucidated where injuries occurred, their type and severity, the infant's and parent's behaviors at the time, if the infant had done the risk behavior before and been injured, the level of supervision, and the nature of any safety precautions parents implemented following these injuries.

RESULTS

Injuries occurred as often in play as in nonplay areas and were due to physically-active nonplay activities more so than play activities; mothers were often doing chores. Bumps and bruises were the most common types of injuries. As infants became more mobile, supervision scores declined and injury severity scores increased. Infants had done the risk behavior leading to injury previously about 60% of the time, with higher scores associated with parents implementing fewer preventive actions in response to injury. When mothers did implement a safety precaution, greater injury severity was associated with more modifications to the environment and increased supervision; teaching about safety was infrequent.

CONCLUSION

Implications of these results for injury prevention messaging are discussed.

Using Behavioral Theory to Enhance Occupational Safety and Health: Applications to Health Care Workers

Work-related morbidity and mortality are persistent public health problems across all US industrial sectors, including health care. People employed in health care and social services are at high risk for experiencing injuries and illnesses related to their work. Social and behavioral science theories can be useful tools for designing interventions to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses and can provide a roadmap for investigating the multilevel factors that may hinder or promote worker safety and health. Specifically, individual-level behavioral change theories can be useful in evaluating the proximal, person-related antecedents (such as perceived behavioral control) that influence work safety outcomes. This article (1) provides a brief overview of widely used, individual-level behavior change theories and examples of their application to occupational safety and health (OSH)-related interventions that involve the health care community; (2) introduces an integrated theory of behavior change and its application to promoting the OSH of health care workers; and (3) discusses opportunities for application of individual-level behavior change theory to OSH research and practice activities involving health care workers. The use of behavioral science to consider the role of individual behaviors in promoting health and preventing disease and injury provides a necessary complement to structural approaches to protecting workers in the health care industry.

Compliance to Recommendations and Mental Health Consequences among Elderly in Sweden during the Initial Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic-A Cross Sectional Online Survey

Background (1): In the wake of COVID-19, elderly people have been labelled a risk group. As the pandemic is a new crisis in Sweden, we have no knowledge on how this group perceives the information and recommendations being provided. Complying with these recommendations entails physical distancing and, for some, isolation at home. Methods (2): From 16 April to 15 May 2020, we conducted an online survey targeting people aged 70 and older in Sweden (n = 1854). Results (3): A vast majority of the participants find the information and recommendations clear and reliable. Half of the participants report staying at home all the time, and up to half report decreased mental health in terms of, e.g., feeling depressed, having sleeping problems and that isolation makes them feel bad. However, elderly people are not a homogenous group, and there are gender and demographic differences. (4) Conclusion: At this point, we do not know the full extent of the ongoing pandemic, either in terms of duration or in terms of losses. The Swedish model for action on COVID-19 has not included a lock down. However, elderly people seem to comply with recommendations and practice social distancing to a high degree. This might lead to decreased mental health and long-term effects.

Wombs and Whippersnappers: Reflections on Health Education Research and Opportunities for the Future

My talk will describe two public health problems facing women and children that were the focus of the work my colleagues and I did over my years as a health behavior change researcher. I start by addressing why a focus on women and children is important from a public health perspective and then provide two mini case studies: (1) identifying needs and interventions for women living with HIV and intimate partner violence and (2) disseminating proven interventions to reduce unintentional injuries in children. The conclusions present thoughts on the contributions of health education to these public health concerns and opportunities for the future.

Primary Care Opportunities to Prevent Unintentional Home Injuries: A Focus on Children and Older Adults

Unintentional injuries are a persistent public health problem in the United States. A new health care landscape has the potential to create a clinical environment that fosters greater involvement by health care providers in injury prevention. The aim of this article is to provide evidence supporting the need for engagement by primary care providers in unintentional home injury prevention along with examples of how this could be accomplished. We know a great deal about what population groups are at risk for certain types of injuries. We also know that many injuries can be prevented through policies, programs, and resources that ensure safe environments and promote safe behaviors. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's STEADI (Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, and Injuries) initiative comprises clinical decision support tools and educational materials for health care providers. Two effective interventions that have demonstrated a reduction in falls among children are the redesign of baby walkers (engineering) and the mandated use of window guards (enforcement). Primary care clinicians can play a key role in promoting their patient's safety. Taken collectively, a focused attention on preventing unintentional home injuries by primary care providers can contribute to the reduction of injuries and result in optimal health for all.

Knowledge of childhood burn risks and burn first aid: Cool Runnings

AIM

The high incidence of hot beverage scalds among young children has not changed in the past 15 years, but preventive campaigns have been scarce. A novel approach was used to engage mothers of young children in an app-based hot beverage scald prevention campaign 'Cool Runnings'. This paper provides baseline data for this randomised controlled trial (RCT).

METHOD

Queensland-based mothers aged 18+ years with at least one child aged 5-12 months were recruited via social media to Cool Runnings, which is a two-group, parallel, single-blinded RCT.

RESULTS

In total, 498 participants from across Queensland completed the baseline questionnaire. The most common source of burn first aid information was the internet (79%). One-third (33%) correctly identified hot beverage scalds as the leading cause of childhood burns, 43% knew the age group most at risk. While 94% reported they would cool a burn with water, only 10% reported the recommended 20min duration. After adjusting for all relevant variables, there were two independent predictors of adequate burn first aid knowledge: first aid training in the past year (OR=3.32; 95% CI 1.8 to 6.1) and smoking status (OR=0.17; 95% CI 0.04 to 0.7).

CONCLUSION

In this study, mothers of young children were largely unaware how frequently hot beverage scalds occur and the age group most susceptible to them. Inadequate burn first aid knowledge is prevalent across mothers of young children; there is an urgent and compelling need to improve burn first aid knowledge in this group. Given the high incidence of hot beverages scalds in children aged 6-24 months, it is important to target future burn prevention/first aid campaigns at parents of young children.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

ACTRN12616000019404; Pre-results.

Parental Perceptions, Risks, and Incidence of Pediatric Unintentional Injuries

INTRODUCTION

More than 9,000 children die annually from various causes of unintentional injury. Of all the pediatric unintentional injuries occurring in the United States, 8.7 million are treated in emergency departments, and 225,000 require hospitalization annually. Health education programs are available to address these injuries. The objective of this research was to examine the distribution of self-reported high priority injury risks in an urban Midwestern pediatric level 1 trauma center and investigate the relationship between parental perceptions and injury-prevention behaviors. Prevalence rates for 3 data sources are compared.

METHODS

Missouri Information for Community Assessment (MICA) was categorized to mirror variables corresponding with risks of injury presented in the Safe 'n' Sound (SNS) program. Level 1 trauma center data were examined to determine how the variables were distributed compared with MICA data and with the parent-reported levels.

RESULTS

A total of 429 SNS surveys were compared with ED data and MICA data. For SNS users, car crashes were identified as the highest risk, specifically due to the use of incorrect car seats. The injuries seen most often in the emergency department were falls, and falls were also the most prevalent injury captured by MICA. Controlling for demographics, parental perceptions predicted several risks for injury.

DISCUSSION

Because parental perceptions are significantly related to risks of injury, prevention programs aiming to decrease injuries could focus on the perceptions. Not only can perceptions be used to tailor health communication materials, these perceptions can be the targets of change. Further work might investigate the extent to which changes in perceptions result in increased adoption of safety practices.

Developing tailored positive parenting messages for a clinic-based communication programme

BACKGROUND

Health care providers fill a central role in the prevention of both child abuse and neglect (CA/N) and unintentional childhood injury. Health communication interventions hold promise for promoting attitudes and behaviours among parents that increase positive parenting practices, which may be linked to decreased rates of intentional and unintentional childhood injuries. This manuscript describes the development of 'RISE Up', an ambulatory clinic-based childhood injury prevention programme that provides tailored, injury prevention print materials to parents of children ages 0-5.

METHODS

Fifteen semi-structured key informant interviews were conducted with clinic healthcare providers and staff to develop communication strategies and materials for caregivers. Cognitive response testing was then conducted with 20 caregivers of the priority population to assess all materials. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed using thematic coding methods.

RESULTS

Formative research revealed that health care providers and caregivers were very responsive to messages and materials. Health care providers reported that abuse and neglect were particularly relevant to their patients and noted several benefits to implementing the RISE Up programme in a health care setting. Caregivers generally found messages on reducing the risks of injuries, as well as the graphics displayed in the RISE Up programme to be helpful.

CONCLUSIONS

Addressing the common determinants of both intentional and unintentional childhood injury through customized print materials may be a useful component of comprehensive prevention efforts to address childhood injury risk with greater impact. Providers and parents responded favourably to this communication strategy.

Supervision to prevent childhood unintentional injury: developmental knowledge and self-efficacy count

Caregiver developmental knowledge was tested as a moderator of the association between caregiver-perceived self-efficacy and perceived supervision to prevent childhood unintentional injury. Caregivers (N = 123; 95 mothers and 28 fathers) of children (M = 3.5 ± 1.2 years, 49.6% female, 80.8% Caucasian) were recruited from pediatric primary care offices and local message boards. All caregivers completed self-report questionnaires on perceived self-efficacy, developmental knowledge, and perceived supervision to prevent injury. Separate hierarchical linear regression models were conducted to test moderation for mothers and fathers. The interaction effect of perceived self-efficacy and developmental knowledge significantly predicted maternal-perceived supervision, R (2) change = .06, F(1, 86) = 6.76, p < .01. No significant findings were detected for fathers. Models of studying injury prevention that consider complex cognitive-behavioral interactions and their potential modifiable role in the development of injury-prevention practices may elucidate upon the attitude-practice gap currently identified in the literature.

Toward environments and policies that promote injury-free active living--it wouldn't hurt

Although being active is vital to the health and well-being of children, increases in physical activity can lead to an elevated risk of injury, which is a leading cause of childhood mortality globally. This article provides an overview of the evidence base concerning unintentional injuries associated with popular forms of physical activities for youth, and describes how injury prevention and child obesity professionals can work together to prevent injuries while promoting active lifestyles. Policy and environmental interventions that are beneficial to both outcomes are highlighted and recommendations for future research for these complementary areas are also provided.

The mediating role of hyperactivity and inattention on sex differences in paediatric injury risk

BACKGROUND

Extensive research suggests that risk of injury is higher among young boys versus young girls. The present study examined a mediational model to identify mechanisms that may explain differences in injury risk.

METHODS

Reports of child behaviour and two indices of injury risk among 114 children in early childhood were obtained from parents in community-based paediatric medical centres.

RESULTS

Regression analyses and post-hoc examination of indirect effects supported a mediation model in which the relationship between child sex and child injury risk was explained by hyperactivity and inattention.

CONCLUSIONS

Interventions that promote child well-being by targeting constellations of externalizing behaviour problems may simultaneously decrease paediatric injury risk.

Human Factors in Injury Control

A person’s interaction with the environment represents a system for research and focus. Human factors is a discipline dedicated to studying this system. The authors provide a summary of how the field human factors informs and enhances injury control programs. They introduce perception, cognition, and environmental design components that should be considered; review automation and workload issues; and discuss best practice recommendations for increasing safe product use as well. Finally, the authors offer lessons learned from human factors approaches to safety at large and suggest future areas of study. Specifically, they note that investigating behavioral adaptation is important to extend intervention effects. They also note that human factors approaches have been used extensively in occupational and transportation areas but can be applied to other areas of injury control that are worth exploring.