Predictors of Depressive Symptoms Among Parents of Children With Cancer in Ethiopia.

Background: The severity of the psychological impact on parents of children with cancer, often depressive symptoms due to mild-to-severe stress, is well documented. The causes are primarily related to their child's cancer diagnosis and treatment, side effects, lack of social support, missing information about their child's disease, and understanding of how to care for their child during treatment. This study assessed predictors of depressive symptoms among parents of children with cancer in one hospital in Ethiopia. Method: The institution-based, cross-sectional design was employed. Parents (n = 126) whose child was admitted at Jimma University Medical Center between February 25 and April 25, 2020, and met inclusion criteria were invited to participate. Results: Questionnaires from 122 parents of children with cancer were included (four had missing data). The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 60.7%. Multivariate regression analysis revealed gender (B = 1.207, p = .033) and higher levels of education (B = 1.019, p < .001) were associated with depressive symptoms in mothers. Receiving information about the child's treatment, however, was negatively associated with depressive symptoms (B = -1.490, p = .031). Monthly income and contact with religious leaders were not significant predictors. Discussion: Mothers of children hospitalized for initial cancer treatment in Jimma, Ethiopia, are at risk for depressive symptoms. It is possible that mothers with higher education are in occupations demanding their time, not allowing them to fulfill responsibilities felt to be essential in the child's treatment journey. Information on the child's treatment nurses have an important role in identifying depressive symptoms in parents but require training to do so.

Prevalence of HIV seropositive status and associated factors among family members of index cases of antiretroviral clinical attendants in Sodo Town, Southern Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Human immunodeficiency virus is primarily transmitted through sexual contact with an infected partner and babies born to mothers infected with the virus. Partners of people living with HIV and children whose parents have HIV are at higher risk of contracting HIV unless they take preventive measures. This study aimed at identifying prevalence and determinants of HIV infection among family members of index cases on antiretroviral treatment (ART). METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 623 randomly selected family members of HIV index cases in Sodo Town from February to June 2021. A pre-tested structural questionnaire was used to collect data. Binary logistic regression was used to identify variables independently associated with the outcome variable. The adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to show the strength of association, and a P-value 0.05 was used as a cut-off point to determine the level of statistical significance of point estimate. RESULTS: This study revealed that 31.5% (95%CI: 27.6-35.2%) of family members of index cases were HIV seropositive. In subgroup analysis, this study also revealed that 11.1% (95%CI 8.4-14.5%) of biological children and 69.6% (95%CI 63.1-75.6%) of spousal partners of index cases were HIV seropositive. Immediate ART initiation of index cases (AOR = 0.148, 95%CI: 0.067-0.325), being bedridden or ambulatory functional status at enrollment (AOR = 7.71, 95%CI: 3.5-17), and baseline CD4 level of 350 cells/ml (AOR = 8.06, 95%CI: 1.8-36) were statistically significant with the outcome variable among biological children. Among spousal partners, STI history or symptoms (AOR = 5.7, 95%CI: 1.86-17.5), early disclosure (AOR = 0.062, 95%CI: 0.024-0.159), immediate ART initiation (AOR = 0.172, 95%CI: 0.044-0.675), and duration of infection (AOR = 5.09, 95%CI: 1.8-14.4) were statistically associated with the outcome variable. CONCLUSION: As evidenced by our data, the risk of HIV among family members of index cases is high. Interventions like immediate ART initiation, early disclosure, screening, and early treatment of STIs for minimizing HIV transmission might be given.

Patient-Centered Care and Associated Factors at Public and Private Hospitals of Addis Ababa: Patients' Perspective.

BACKGROUND: Patient-centered care is a practice of caring for patients in ways that are valuable to the individual patient and families. Implementation of the practice is a common problem worldwide. In Ethiopia, the available information is limited and is largely skewed to certain dimensions of the practice. OBJECTIVE: To assess the patient-centered health care practice and associated factors among public and private general hospitals of Addis Ababa 2020. METHODS: An institution-based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in two public, and seven private general hospitals located in Addis Ababa from April 08 to May 20, 2020. A multistage sampling technique was employed to select the study participants. Data were collected using an interviewer-administered structured questioner, then entered into Epi-data version 3.1, and finally analyzed using SPSS version 25. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify independent predictors of clients' perceived patient-centered care. Statistical significance was declared at p-value <0.05 and adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: A total of 570 patients were involved with 99.8% response rate. About 49% (95% CI: 45.0-53.1) of patients rated the practice as good. It was 27.8% (95% CI: 22.5-33.1), and 70.2% (95% CI: 64.6-75.4) for public, and private hospitals, respectively Hospital type (AOR:0.21; 95% CI: 0.13-0.35), service easiness (AOR:3.3; 95% CI: 2.0-5.8), hospital attractiveness (AOR:2.3; 95% CI: 1.2,4.5), privacy to access care (AOR:2.0; 95% CI: 1.1,4.1), information on plan of care (AOR:2.3; 95% CI; 1.1,4.6), information on medication (AOR:3.1; 95% CI; 1.5,6.3), and perceived intimacy with the provider (AOR: 0.4; 95% CI;0.2,0.8) were the factors associated with the practice. CONCLUSION: Even though providing patient-centered care has been the focus of quality improvement in Ethiopia, this study showed it is mostly being implemented from the traditional provider-centered approach and public hospitals were lower in practice than private hospitals.