A Comparative Study on Health Risks, Lifestyle Behaviors, Health Perceptions, and Health Seeking Patterns between Older and Younger Filipinos in the Rural Areas.

Background: Worldwide trends in health risks, lifestyle behaviors, health perceptions, and health-seeking patterns suggest alarming disparities among individuals from low- and middle-income countries. Such international comparisons are particularly troubling for older individuals (≥ 60 years). Objectives: This study aims to compare health risks, lifestyle behaviors, health perceptions, and health-seeking patterns between younger (<60) and older (≥60) Filipinos from rural communities in the Philippines. Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study was employed with 863 younger and 427 older Filipinos. Data were analyzed using frequencies, chi-squares, and T-tests. Results: Older participants were more likely to be single/widowed, ≤ high school education and had higher rates of hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, and depression. They reported poorer health status and went to the village health center when sick. Furthermore, they were less likely to drink alcohol and see a physician. Conclusion: There were significant differences in modifiable health risks and lifestyle behaviors and differences in health perceptions between younger and older cohorts of Filipinos living in rural areas in the Philippines. Our findings suggest the need to design separate health promotion interventions that target older and younger Filipinos' unique needs from rural communities.

Salutogenesis and COVID-19 pandemic impacting nursing education across SEANERN affiliated universities: A multi-national study.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of many. Particularly, nursing students experience greater stress as their normal curriculum is interrupted and some of them face the risk of being infected as frontline workers. Nursing faculty members may face similar struggles, in addition to developing teaching materials for online learning. Thus, it is important to examine the faculty members' and students' views on their ability to adapt during the pandemic to obtain a holistic view of how learning and training has been affected. DESIGN: The descriptive cross-sectional quantitative design was used. SETTINGS: Data were collected from Southeast and East Asian Nursing Education and Research Network (SEANERN) affiliated nursing institutions from January 2021 to August 2021. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 1897 nursing students and 395 faculty members from SEANERN-affiliated nursing institutions in Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam were recruited for this study. METHODS: Quantitative surveys were used to explore the satisfaction levels in education modalities, confidence levels, psychosocial well-being, sense of coherence and stress levels of nursing students and faculty members during the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: Participants were mostly satisfied with the new education modalities, although most students felt that their education was compromised. Both groups showed positive levels of psychosocial well-being, despite scoring low to medium on the sense of coherence scale and experiencing great stress. The participants' sense of coherence was positively correlated with their psychosocial well-being and negatively correlated with stress levels. CONCLUSIONS: While the COVID-19 pandemic had negatively impacted the lives of nursing students and faculty members, most of them had a healthy level of psychosocial well-being. Having a strong sense of coherence was associated with better psychosocial health and lower stress levels. As such, it may be helpful to develop interventions aimed at improving the sense of coherence of nursing students and staff to help them manage stressors better.

Are Health Behaviors and Risk Factors for Altherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Interrelated Among Older Filipinos in Underserved Communities?

Introduction: Moving individuals toward ideal cardiovascular health through adoption of healthy lifestyle behaviors is critically important for prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and other important health conditions. However, associations between health behaviors and risks for ASCVD is poorly understood among older adults (≥ 60 years) living in rural areas in the Philippines. Likewise, their access to healthcare and health-seeking practices are unknown. Purpose: To 1) compare risk profiles of Filipinos at low- vs. moderate to high-risk for ASCVD; and 2)examine the relationships befiveen demographic variables, risk profiles, and health behaviors. Methods: A convenient sample of 427 Filipinos (≥ 60 years old) were recruited to participate in this comparative, cross-sectional study. Data on sociodemographic characteristics, risk profiles, and health behaviors (e.g., dietary patterns, physical activity, smoking status,and alcohol use)were collected. Results: Of the 427 participants (mean age was 69.2± 6.7 years, primarily women [65%], married [52.8%]), 319 (75%) were at low-risk and 108 (25%) were at moderate to high-risk for ASCVD. Those at moderate to high-risk were more likely to have cardiometabolic diseases(e.g., hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and obesity, all p's < .001).Health behaviors did not differ between the two groups except for consumption of≥ 5 servings of fruit which was higher in the low-risk group. Conclusion: Findings showed that there is highly consistent and convergent evidence that older Filipinos living in rural areas are at high risk for ASCVD and other health conditions. Much of this is attributable to the suboptimal implementation of prevention strategies, uncontrolled ASCVD risk factors, and poor access to effective and equitable healthcare services commonly observed in low-income countries. Clinicians, researchers, policy makers, and other stakeholders need to address these issues to improve primary and secondary prevention and disease management in this population.