Domestic Accidents of Children in the Orodara District of Burkina Faso: Mothers' Knowledge of First-Aid Practices.

First-aid practices after a domestic accident are not always known, especially in Africa. This study aimed to measure mothers' knowledge of emergency procedures and attitudes in the event of domestic accidents in children. We conducted a cross-sectional study in the Orodara health district, Kénédougou province, Burkina Faso, among mothers of children aged 0-14 years. The dependent variable was the mothers' knowledge of domestic accident first-aid practices, and the independent variables were the sociodemographic characteristics of the households and the mothers. Determinants were identified using linear regression with a threshold of 5%. A total of 798 mothers were surveyed. The mean knowledge score was 6.9 (standard deviation = 1.5) out of 19. Upon our multivariate analysis, the factors associated with the mothers' knowledge about first-aid practices were the mothers' age, the number of children under 14 years old living in the same household, the household size, the score for knowledge of non-recommended attitudes, the mothers' level of education, and the place of residence. This study showed that awareness campaigns, especially in rural areas, seem important in improving mothers' knowledge of first-aid practices in domestic accidents and, therefore, reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with domestic accidents.

Pregnancy as a transition: First-time expectant couples' experience with alcohol consumption.

INTRODUCTION AND AIMS: Most official healthcare guidelines apply the precautionary principle by recommending that pregnant women abstain from any alcohol consumption. However, a number of women continue drinking alcohol while pregnant. The aim of this study was to investigate couples' experiences of the issue of alcohol consumption during pregnancy as a transitional process. DESIGN AND METHODS: Thirty semi-directive joint interviews were conducted with couples expecting their first child in Switzerland. Interviews were analysed thematically with the help of ATLAS.ti. RESULTS: Couples endorsed the imperative of changing drinking habits and all the women reduced their alcohol consumption, although some reported difficulties. First, we identified three themes describing how couples experienced the woman's change of drinking habits as a smooth transition: Internalisation of risk discourses, abstinence as a social norm and embodiment of alcohol aversion. Second, we emphasised four kinds of difficulties that couples encountered in their everyday lives: burden of risk discourses, conflicting advice, social occasions and desire for alcohol. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: This paper makes a significant contribution by examining prenatal drinking change as a transition. In this conceptualisation, the change of alcohol consumption is a relational process that is shaped by multiple changes and social norms. Our findings have important implications for practice. First, health professionals should be aware of the difficulties women experience when they abstain from alcohol during pregnancy. Second, our findings suggest the importance of a patient-centred approach that considers the role of the partner in supporting a pregnant woman's change of alcohol consumption.

The relevance of clinical ethnography: reflections on 10 years of a cultural consultation service.

BACKGROUND: Training health professionals in culturally sensitive medical interviewing has been widely promoted as a strategy for improving intercultural communication and for helping clinicians to consider patients' social and cultural contexts and improve patient outcomes. Clinical ethnography encourages clinicians to explore the patient's explanatory model of illness, recourse to traditional and alternative healing practices, healthcare expectations and social context, and to use this information to negotiate a mutually acceptable treatment plan. However, while clinical ethnographic interviewing skills can be successfully taught and learned, the "real-world" context of medical practice may impose barriers to such patient-centered interviewing. Creating opportunities for role modeling and critical reflection may help overcome some of these barriers, and contribute to improved intercultural communication in healthcare. We report and reflect on a retrospective analysis of 10 years experience with a "cultural consultation service" (CCS) whose aim is to provide direct support to clinicians who encounter intercultural difficulties and to model the usefulness of clinical ethnographic interviewing for patient care. METHODS: We analyzed 236 cultural consultation requests in order to identify key patient, provider and consultation characteristics, as well as the cross cultural communication challenges that motivate health care professionals to request a cultural consultation. In addition, we interviewed 51 clinicians about their experience and satisfaction with the CCS. RESULTS: Requests for cultural consultations tended to involve patient care situations with complex social, cultural and medical issues. All patients had a migration background, two-thirds spoke French less than fluently. In over half the cases, patients had a high degree of social vulnerability, compromising illness management. Effective communication was hindered by language barriers and undetected or underestimated patient/provider differences in health-related knowledge and beliefs. Clinicians were highly satisfied with the CCS, and appreciated both the opportunity to observe how clinical ethnographic interviewing is done and the increased knowledge they gained of their patients' context and perspective. CONCLUSIONS: A cultural consultation service such as ours can contribute to institutional cultural competence by drawing attention to the challenges of caring for diverse patient populations, identifying the training needs of clinicians and gaps in resource provision, and providing hands-on experience with clinical ethnographic interviewing.

Beliefs about and attitudes toward gambling in French-speaking Switzerland.

The present study aims to analyze attitudes and beliefs of the French-speaking general Swiss population (n = 2500; female n = 1280; mean age = 43 years) as regards gambling, which are to date almost exclusively studied in the North American and Australian contexts. Beliefs related to gambling include the perception of the effectiveness of preventive measures toward gambling, the comparative risk assessment of different addictive behaviors, the perceived risks of different types of gambling and attitudes are related to the gambler's personality. The general population perceived gambling rather negatively and was conscious of the potential risks of gambling; indeed, 59.0% of the sample identified gambling as an addictive practice. Slot machines were estimated to bear the highest risk. Compared with women and older people, men and young people indicated more positive beliefs about gambling; they perceived gambling as less addictive, supported structural preventive measures less often, and perceived gambling as a less serious problem for society. Gamblers were more likely to put their practices into perspective, perceiving gambling more positively than non-gamblers. General population surveys on such beliefs can deliver insights into preventive actions that should be targeted to young men who showed more favorable views of gambling, which have been shown to be associated with increased risk for problematic gambling.