Knowledge, attitude, intentional practice and individualized determinants of COVID-19 vaccine uptake among adults: A cross-sectional study in Tanzania.

AIM: The study assessed the knowledge, attitude, intentional practice and individualized factors of COVID-19 vaccine uptake among adults in Tanzania. DESIGN: Hospital-based analytical cross-sectional study. METHODS: Quantitative approaches were adopted to study 312 randomly selected adults using an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire. Descriptive analysis established frequencies and percentages of variables at a 95% confidence interval and a 5% significance level. RESULTS: Mean age was 24.66 ± 6.503 of which 61.5% were males. 86.9% of them were not vaccinated. 57.7% of respondents had inadequate knowledge about the COVID-19 vaccine, and 61.5% had negative attitudes towards it. 63.8% of adults demonstrated an unwillingness to be vaccinated. Participants' sociodemographic characteristics profiles were significantly associated with COVID-19 vaccine knowledge, attitude and willingness to uptake it (p < 0.05). Findings highlight the need for large-scale interventions to address the low uptake vaccine. Adults' willingness to get a coronavirus vaccine was comparatively low. Sociodemographic profiles, knowledge and attitude were associated significantly with low uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine among adults in Tanzania.

Prevalence, medication adherence, and determinants of type 2 diabetes mellitus during Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic among adults in Tanzania.

Introduction: Excessive consumption of comfort foods, which are mostly high in carbs, and limitations on outdoor and gym-based physical activities, for instance, are associated with foods high in the glycemic index and raise the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. In pandemic and or epidemic situations, peoples' lifestyles may change significantly to lead them to non-communicable diseases. However, lifestyle changes and the occurrence of type 2 diabetes mellitus during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic among adults have not been well established in Tanzania. This study assessed the prevalence, medication adherence, and determinants of type 2 diabetes mellitus among adults in the country. Methods: A community-based analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in Dodoma region, Tanzania between September and October 2020 of which 107 adults aged above 18 years were studied regardless of whether they were newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus or not using a quantitative research approach. Interviewer-administered lifestyle habits and medication adherence structured questionnaires benchmarked from previous studies served as the main tools of data collection. The statistical package for social sciences computer program was used to analyze the data descriptively for frequencies and percentages and by regression analysis model to determine the association between variables with a 95% confidence interval and 5% significance level. Results: With a mean age of 31 ± 2.527 years, 59.8% of the respondents were female. 60.7% and 11.7% of the respondents had unhealthy and moderate lifestyle choices respectively. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus accounted for 63.9% of the respondents of which 44.6% were diagnostically confirmed during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic against 19.3% of respondents who were diagnosed before the pandemic. Medication adherence among the type 2 diabetes mellitus respondents accounted for 77.9% of the study respondents. Type 2 diabetes mellitus was significantly associated with being in the 36-55 age group (AOR = 1.054; 95% CI: 0.292, 3.162; p < 0.05); being female (AOR = 1.398; 95% CI: 0.205, 3.048; p < 0.05); having a job (AOR = 2.597; 95% CI: 1.243, 4.402, p < 0.05); and having unhealthy lifestyle habits (AOR = 3.301; 95% CI: 1.199, 6.52; p < 0.05). Conclusion: The majority of adults had type 2 diabetes mellitus of which most of them were confirmed to have the disease during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic. Few type 2 diabetes mellitus adults did not adhere to their medications as recommended. Their sociodemographic characteristics profiles and unhealthy lifestyles significantly led them to have the problem. The treatment of the disease above and health promotion activities may need to take unhealthy lifestyle choices and certain sociodemographic profiles of adults into consideration to assist in preventing the problem.

Prevalence, knowledge, attitude, motivators and intentional practice of female genital mutilation among women of reproductive age: a community-based analytical cross-sectional study in Tanzania.

BACKGROUND: To harmonize and enhance economic growth at the individual, family, community, and national levels, healthy women embody the guardian of family health and a healthy world. They are anticipated to have the freedom to choose their identity in opposition to female genital mutilation in a thoughtful, responsible, and informed manner. Despite restrictive traditions and culture, it is unclear from the available information what exactly would be the drivers of FGM practices in Tanzania from an individual or social perspective. The purpose of this study was to evaluate female genital mutilation among women of reproductive age in terms of its frequency, knowledge, attitudes, and purposeful practice. METHODS: Three hundred twenty-four randomly selected Tanzanian women of reproductive age were studied using a community-based analytical cross-sectional study design quantitatively. Structured questionnaires from earlier studies that were delivered by interviewers were utilized to gather information from the study participants. The statistical software package Statistical Packages for Social Science was used to examine the data. (SPSS v.23). A 5% significance threshold was used with a 95% confidence interval. RESULT: A total of 324 women of reproductive age participated in the study with a 100% response rate with a mean age of 25 ± 7.481 years. Findings revealed that 81.8% (n = 265) of study participants were mutilated. 85.6% (n = 277) of women had inadequate knowledge about FGM, and 75.9% (n = 246) had a negative attitude toward it. However, 68.8% (n = 223) of them were willing to practice FGM. Their age (36-49 years) (AOR = 2.053; p < 0.014; 95%CI: 0.704, 4.325), single women (AOR = 2.443; p < 0.029; 95%CI: 1.376, 4.572), never go to school (AOR = 2.042; p < 0.011; 95%CI: 1.726, 4.937), housewives (AOR = 1.236; p < 0.012; 95%CI: 0.583, 3.826), extended family (AOR = 1.436; p < 0.015; 95%CI: 0.762, 3.658), inadequate knowledge (AOR = 2.041; p < 0.038; 95%CI: 0.734, 4.358) and negative attitude (AOR = 2.241; p < 0.042;95%CI: 1.008, 4.503) were significantly associated to practice female genital mutilation. CONCLUSION: The study observed that the rate of female genital mutilation was significantly high and still, women demonstrated the intention to continue practicing it. However, their sociodemographic characteristic profiles, inadequate knowledge, and negative attitude towards FGM were significantly linked with the prevalence. The private agencies, local organizations, the Ministry of Health, and community health workers are alerted to the findings of the current study to design and develop interventions and awareness-raising campaigns for women of reproductive age against female genital mutilation.

Knowledge, attitude, and perceived practice of sanitary workers on healthcare waste management: A descriptive cross-sectional study in Dodoma region,Tanzania.

Introduction: Healthcare facilities produce a variety of trash that, if handled improperly, could endanger the environment, the health of patients and clients, healthcare personnel, and the general public. Health staff have been given training on infection control and healthcare waste management. It is not apparent whether similar initiatives are taken for sanitary personnel, though. By evaluating sanitary workers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices about healthcare waste treatment in the Dodoma region of Tanzania, this study sought to clarify the situation. Methods: From March to August 2022 in Dodoma, Tanzania, a descriptive cross-sectional study using a quantitative methodology was conducted on 156 randomly chosen sanitary workers. The primary data collection instruments were structured questionnaires that were conducted by interviewers and a trash checklist that the research team created. Statistical Package for Social Sciences computer software was used to conduct a descriptive analysis of the data with a 95% confidence level and a 5% level of significance. Results: The average age was 28 ± 6.2 years, and there were 74.4% females. Of all of the health institutions under study, 78.4% of the generated medical waste was non-infectious, whereas 21.6% of it was infectious. The share of non-infectious and infectious healthcare waste created by regional referral hospitals was 43.5% and 13.2%, respectively. While 67.8% of sanitary workers believed that handling healthcare waste was not their problem and 63.6% of sanitary workers actually displayed subpar practices of handling healthcare waste, 74.4% of sanitary workers had low understanding about handling healthcare waste. Their procedures for handling medical waste were substantially influenced by the kind of healthcare facility, sex, education, job experience, knowledge, and attitude (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Sanitary staff members had limited understanding and thought they were less concerned with gathering, moving, and storing medical waste. To provide the highest level of health safety, national health policy and facility-based interventions must support and fund participatory waste management training that is tailored to the sociodemographic profiles of sanitary employees.

Feeding practices, dietary adequacy, and dietary diversities among caregivers with under-five children: A descriptive cross-section study in Dodoma region, Tanzania.

INTRODUCTION: Suboptimal feeding practices among caregivers contribute to nutritional-related health problems in children in low and middle-income countries, such as Tanzania. The continuum of the recommended feeding practices has been an utmost challenge among caregivers during the transition from health facilities to homes for improved under-five children's health. OBJECTIVE: This study assessed feeding practices, dietary diversities, and dietary adequacy among caregivers with under-five children in the Dodoma region, Tanzania. METHODS: A community-based descriptive cross-sectional study in a quantitative research approach was adopted to study 289 randomly selected caregivers of under-five children in Dodoma region, Tanzania from March to August 2022. The World Health Organization Infant and Young Children Feeding Guidelines was the main data collection tool. Data were analyzed descriptively using a Statistical Package for Social Sciences computer software program version 25. Statistical limits were set at a 95% confidence interval and a 5% significance level. RESULTS: Mean age was 26±6.47 of which 68.2% (n = 197) were females. Findings revealed 66.1% of caregivers had unsatisfactory feeding practices. It was observed that 67.8% of the caregivers fed their under-five children inadequately. Only 32.2% of them attained the minimum dietary diversity while 35.3% and 31.5% of caregivers demonstrated feeding practices < and > the recommended minimum Dietary diversity respectively. Moreover, 90.7% of caregivers fed their children group one food while 59.1% of them did not practice feeding the children snacks between meals. Feeding practice, dietary diversity, and dietary adequacy were significantly related to the caregiver's sex, education level, and socioeconomic status (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Under-five children are at serious risk of nutritional problems as most caregivers in this study demonstrated unsatisfactory feeding practices on dietary diversities for dietary adequacy below the world health organization recommended Minimum Dietary diversity and Minimum Meal Frequency. Community-based nutritional education programs for caregivers need to be disseminated to the community level to address the problem accordingly.

Perceived motivators, knowledge, attitude, self-reported and intentional practice of female condom use among female students in higher training institutions in Dodoma, Tanzania.

BACKGROUND: Unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) inclusive, have remained to be a significant public health challenges among young people, especially across middle and low-income countries. Self-efficacy on the right ways of using condoms appears to be effective against the aforementioned health-related problems. However, most women of reproductive age tend not to use them when they are using highly effective contraceptives such as implants, and/or injectable hormones. It is unknown whether the uptake of female condoms among young girls is significantly high or not. Examining female students' perceived motivators, knowledge, attitudes, and self-reported and intentional female condom practice in training institutions seems to be a key precursor in addressing the challenge. METHODS: The institutional-based analytical cross-sectional survey in a quantitative research approach was adopted to study 384 randomly selected female students from higher training institutions, in Tanzania. Interviewer-administered structured questionnaires from previous studies were the main data collection tools. Data analysis was done using a statistical package for social science (SPSS) with the strength of statistical limits set at a 95% confidence interval and a 5% significance level. RESULTS: The response rate of the study was 100% with 24 ± 2.122 years respondents' mean age while and 32.7% of them were in the third year of their studies. Only 6.2% of the respondents reported having used female condoms while 26.3% of them have not ever seen packages of female condoms. The minority of the respondents (21.7%, 23.3%, and 9.4%) demonstrated good knowledge, positive attitude, and intention to use female condoms respectively. Their age, accommodation, marital status, peer groups, previous training, knowledge, and attitude related significantly to their intentional practices of female condom use (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Given the existing governmental and non-governmental efforts that advocate awareness creation and the uptake of various contraceptives, this study has found that knowledge, attitude, self-reported and intentional practices of female students admitted in higher training institutions within Dodoma region, Tanzania is low. Institutionalized educational programs on sexual and reproductive health matters may need to be prioritized to increase the availability, accessibility, and uptake of female condoms among female students in higher training institutions.

The impact of facilitation in a problem-based pedagogy on self-directed learning readiness among nursing students: a quasi-experimental study in Tanzania.

BACKGROUND: Self-directed learning is important in nursing as it is associated with improved clinical and moral competencies in providing quality and cost-effective care among people. However, unethical professional conduct demonstrated by some graduate nurses is linked with the way they are developed in schools alongside the content and pedagogies prescribed in nursing curricula. Pedagogical transformations appear to be inevitable to develop enthusiastic nursing students who can work independently in delivering quality and cost-effective nursing services to people. This study intended to examine the impact of facilitation in a problem-based pedagogy on self-directed learning readiness among undergraduate nursing students in Tanzania. METHODS: A controlled quasi-experimental design was conducted in Tanzanian higher training institutions from January to April 2019. A 40-item Self-directed learning Readiness scale for nursing education adopted from previous studies measured self-directed learning and the Student A descriptive analysis via a Statistical Package for Social Sciences software program (version 23) was performed to establish nursing students' socio-demographic characteristics profiles. Independent samples t-test determined mean scores difference of self-directed learning readiness among nursing students between groups while regression analysis was performed to discriminate the effect of an intervention controlled with other co-related factors. RESULTS: The post-test results of self-directed learning readiness showed that nursing students scored significantly higher [(M = 33.01 ± 13.17; t (399) = 2.335; 95%CI: 0.486,5.668)] in the intervention group than their counterparts in the control. Findings of SDL readiness subscales were significantly higher among students in the intervention including self-management [(M = 10.11 ± 4.09; t (399) = 1.354; 95%CI: 0.173,4.026)], interest learning [(M = 9.21 ± 2.39; t (399) = 1.189; 95%CI: 0.166,4.323)] and self-control [(M = 13.63 ± 5.05; t (399) = 2.335; 95%CI: 0.486,5.668)]. The probability of nursing students to demonstrate self-directed learning readiness was 1.291 more times higher when exposed to the intervention (AOR = 1.291, p < 0.05, 95%CI: 0.767, 2.173) than in the control. CONCLUSION: Facilitation in a problem-based pedagogy promises to change the spectrum of nursing learning habits potentially to their academic and professional achievements. Nurse tutors need to be empowered with it to prepare nursing students to meet their academic and professional potentials.