Cigarette Smoking among Adolescents aged 13-15 in Viet Nam and Correlates of Current Cigarette Smoking: Results from GYTS 2014 Data

Effect of Peer Promoters on Changes in Adolescent Smoking Knowledge and Attitudes: A School-based Intervention Study

Background: Smoking is currently a trend among youths, with the public emergence of new smokers shifting to this group. Aim:This study aims at analyzing the effect of peer promoters as communicators on the knowledge and smoking attitudes of junior high school adolescents. Methods:The quasi-experimental and non-equivalent control group designs were used. Furthermore, the respondents included 1062 students from two junior high schools in Makassar City, Indonesia, with 473 and 589 males and females, respectively. A total of 801 respondents had paired data (pre and post-test) consisting of 334 in the intervention and 467 in the control school.Paired t-test was used to measure the difference in the pretest and post-test scores of intervention and control schools. Independent t-test was used to determine  mean difference between the pretest and post-test scores between intervention and the control schools. Results:The results showed that 18.4% (n = 1062) had smoked, with subtleties of 39.4% male and 1.5% female understudies. the knowledge score increase of 0.82 (p = 0.000) and 0.22 (p = 0.004) was observed in the intervention and control schools, respectively (n = 801). The attitude score also increased by 2.23 (p = 0.080) in the intervention and 2.51 (p = 0.000) in the control school (n = 801).  Differences in the knowledge and attitude scores between both schools obtained a value of p = 0.004 and 0.766, respectively. Conclusion: education by peer promoters increase knowledge and change adolescent smoking attitudes indicated the promotion of school-based smoking behavior prevention efforts with intensive peer approach

What Drives Young Vietnamese to Use Mobile Health Innovations? Implications for Health Communication and Behavioral Interventions

BACKGROUND

Mobile phone use in Vietnam has become increasingly popular in recent years, with youth (people aged 15-24 years) being one of the groups with the heaviest use. Health-related apps on mobile phones (mobile health [mHealth] apps) appear to be a feasible approach for disease and health management, especially for self-management. However, there has been a scarcity of research on mobile phone usage for health care among youth and adolescents.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to identify the patterns of usage of mobile phone apps and the preferences for functionalities of mobile phone-based health-related apps among Vietnamese youth.

METHODS

An online cross-sectional study was conducted in Vietnam in August to October 2015. Web-based respondent-driven sampling technique was adopted to recruit participants. The online questionnaire was developed and distributed using Google Forms. Chi square and Mann-Whitney tests were used to investigate the difference in attitude and preference for mobile phone apps between the two genders.

RESULTS

Among 356 youths (age from 15 to 25 years) sampled, low prevalence was found of using mHealth apps such as beauty counseling (6.5%, 23/356), nutrition counseling (7.9%, 28/356), disease prevention (9.8%, 35/356), and disease treatment (7.6%, 27/356). The majority of users found the app(s) they used to be useful (72.7%, 48/356) and reported satisfaction with these apps (61.9%, 39/356). No significant differences were found between the genders in their perception of the usefulness of apps and their satisfaction with mobile health apps. Most of the participants (68.2%, 238/356) preferred apps which are conceptualized and designed to run on a mobile phone compared to Web-based apps, and 50% (176/356) preferred visual materials. Approximately 53.9% (188/356) reported that it was integral for the mobile phone apps to have a sharing/social network functionality. Participants with a higher perceived stress score and EuroQol-5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) index were significantly less likely to use mHealth apps.

CONCLUSIONS

This study found a low proportion using mHealth-related mobile phone apps, but a high level of receptiveness and satisfaction among Vietnamese youth. Acceptance level and preferences toward mHealth apps as well as specifically preferred functionalities discovered in this study are essential not only in conceptualizing and developing appropriate mobile phone interventions targeting youth and adolescents, but also in the application of technically advanced solutions in disease prevention and health management.