Challenges in Obtaining and Seeking Information Among Breast Cancer Survivors in an Asian Country: a Qualitative Study.

Breast cancer survivors on adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET) have distinct information-seeking experience compared to those in the diagnosis and intensive treatment phase. This study aimed to understand the challenges in obtaining and seeking information among Malaysian breast cancer survivors. We conducted semi-structured, one-to-one interviews among patients using AET from two hospitals and a local cancer organization. Interviews were conducted until theme saturation was achieved (N = 25). Interviews were de-identified, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using thematic analysis. To ensure rigor, coding was conducted through regular discussions between two researchers and the findings were shared with several participants after analysis was completed. Three main themes were identified: limitations in the healthcare system, pitfalls of seeking information online, and limited information from local sources. The participants perceived that their information needs were not met by their healthcare providers and sought information on the Internet to complement their information needs. However, they were faced with risks of misinformation, information overload, and unethical promotion of health products. Those with limited English proficiency had difficulties in accessing quality information, and suggested that there should be more content created by local health advocates in local languages, with information that is tailored for local cultures. As the Internet has become an important medium of health education, healthcare providers and patients should be equipped with the skills to share and search for information online. Digital health literacy needs to be incorporated in patient education modules to create a more informed and empowered patient community.

Active Aging in ASEAN Countries: Influences from Age-Friendly Environments, Lifestyles, and Socio-Demographic Factors.

Active aging is a challenging issue to promote older population health; still, there is little clarity on research investigating the determinants of active aging in developing countries. Therefore, this research aimed to examine the factors associated with the active aging of the older populations in ASEAN's low and middle-income countries by focusing on Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand. The study is a cross-sectional quantitative research study using multi-stage cluster sampling to randomize the sample. The sample consists of 2031 older people aged 55 years and over, including 510 Thai, 537 Malaysian, 487 Myanmar, and 497 Vietnamese. We collected a quantitative questionnaire of age-friendly environmental scale and active aging scale based on the World Health Organization (WHO) concept. The predictors of active aging include age-friendly environments, lifestyles, and socioeconomic factors; the data are analyzed by using multiple logistic regression. After adjusting for other factors, we found that older people living in a community with higher levels of age-friendly environments are 5.52 times more active than those in lower levels of age-friendly environments. Moreover, the older population with healthy lifestyles such as good dietary intake and high physical activity will be 4.93 times more active than those with unhealthy lifestyles. Additionally, older adults with partners, higher education, and aged between 55 and 64 years will be 1.70, 2.61, and 1.63 times more active than those with separate/divorce/widow, primary education, and age at 75 years or higher, respectively. Our results contribute considerable evidence for ASEAN policy-making to promote active aging in this region.

Age-Friendly Environments in ASEAN Plus Three: Case Studies from Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand.

Promoting age-friendly environment is one of the appropriate approaches to support quality of life toward ageing populations. However, the information regarding age-friendly environments in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Plus Three countries is still limited. This study aimed to survey the perceived age-friendly environments among ASEAN Plus Three older populations. This study employed cross-sectional quantitative research using multistage cluster sampling to select a sample of older adults in the capital cities of Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand. The final sample was composed of 2171 older adults aged 55 years and over, including 140 Japanese, 510 Thai, 537 Malaysian, 487 Myanmarese, and 497 Vietnamese older adults. Data collection was conducted using a quantitative questionnaire with 20 items of perceived age-friendly environments with the rating scale based on the World Health Organization (WHO) standard. The score from the 20 items were analyzed and examined high-risk groups of "bad perception level" age-friendly environments using ordinal logistic regression. The research indicated the five highest inadequacies of age-friendly environments including: (1) participating in an emergency-response training session or drill which addressed the needs of older residents; (2) enrolling in any form of education or training, either formal or non-formal in any subject; (3) having opportunities for paid employment; (4) involvement in decision making about important political, economic and social issues in the community; and (5) having personal care or assistance needs met in the older adult's home setting by government/private care services. Information regarding the inadequacy of age-friendliness by region was evidenced to guide policy makers in providing the right interventions towards older adults' needs.

Ability of HIV Advocacy to Modify Behavioral Norms and Treatment Impact: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: HIV advocacy programs are partly responsible for the global community's success in reducing the burden of HIV. The rising wave of the global burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) has prompted the World Health Organization to espouse NCD advocacy efforts as a possible preventive strategy. HIV and NCDs share some similarities in their chronicity and risky behaviors, which are their associated etiology. Therefore, pooled evidence on the effectiveness of HIV advocacy programs and ideas shared could be replicated and applied during the conceptualization of NCD advocacy programs. Such evidence, however, has not been systematically reviewed to address the effectiveness of HIV advocacy programs, particularly programs that aimed at changing public behaviors deemed as risk factors. OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness of HIV advocacy programs and draw lessons from those that are effective to strengthen future noncommunicable disease advocacy programs. SEARCH METHODS: We searched for evidence regarding the effectiveness of HIV advocacy programs in medical databases: PubMed, The Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature Plus, Educational Resources and Information Center, and Web of Science, with articles dated from 1994 to 2014. Search criteria. The review protocol was registered before this review. The inclusion criteria were studies on advocacy programs or interventions. We selected studies with the following designs: randomized controlled design studies, pre-post intervention studies, cohorts and other longitudinal studies, quasi-experimental design studies, and cross-sectional studies that reported changes in outcome variables of interest following advocacy programs. We constructed Boolean search terms and used them in PubMed as well as other databases, in line with a population, intervention, comparator, and outcome question. The flow of evidence search and reporting followed the standard Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We selected 2 outcome variables (i.e., changing social norms and a change in impact) out of 6 key outcomes of advocacy interventions. We assessed the risk of bias for all selected studies by using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized studies and using the Risk of Bias for Nonrandomized Observational Studies for observational studies. We did not grade the collective quality of evidence because of differences between the studies, with regard to methods, study designs, and context. Moreover, we could not carry out meta-analyses because of heterogeneity and the diverse study designs; thus, we used a narrative synthesis to report the findings. MAIN RESULTS: A total of 25 studies were eligible, of the 1463 studies retrieved from selected databases. Twenty-two of the studies indicated a shift in social norms as a result of HIV advocacy programs, and 3 indicated a change in impact. We drew 6 lessons from these programs that may be useful for noncommunicable disease advocacy: (1) involving at-risk populations in advocacy programs, (2) working with laypersons and community members, (3) working with peer advocates and activists, (4) targeting specific age groups and asking support from celebrities, (5) targeting several, but specific, risk factors, and (6) using an evidence-based approach through formative research. Author conclusions. HIV advocacy programs have been effective in shifting social norms and facilitating a change in impact. PUBLIC HEALTH IMPLICATIONS: The lessons learned from these effective programs could be used to improve the design and implementation of future noncommunicable disease advocacy programs.