Effect of Performance-Based Nonfinancial Incentives on Data Quality in Individual Medical Records of Institutional Births: Quasi-Experimental Study.

BACKGROUND: Despite the potential of routine health information systems in tackling persistent maternal deaths stemming from poor service quality at health facilities during and around childbirth, research has demonstrated their suboptimal performance, evident from the incomplete and inaccurate data unfit for practical use. There is a consensus that nonfinancial incentives can enhance health care providers' commitment toward achieving the desired health care quality. However, there is limited evidence regarding the effectiveness of nonfinancial incentives in improving the data quality of institutional birth services in Ethiopia. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of performance-based nonfinancial incentives on the completeness and consistency of data in the individual medical records of women who availed institutional birth services in northwest Ethiopia. METHODS: We used a quasi-experimental design with a comparator group in the pre-post period, using a sample of 1969 women's medical records. The study was conducted in the "Wegera" and "Tach-armacheho" districts, which served as the intervention and comparator districts, respectively. The intervention comprised a multicomponent nonfinancial incentive, including smartphones, flash disks, power banks, certificates, and scholarships. Personal records of women who gave birth within 6 months before (April to September 2020) and after (February to July 2021) the intervention were included. Three distinct women's birth records were examined: the integrated card, integrated individual folder, and delivery register. The completeness of the data was determined by examining the presence of data elements, whereas the consistency check involved evaluating the agreement of data elements among women's birth records. The average treatment effect on the treated (ATET), with 95% CIs, was computed using a difference-in-differences model. RESULTS: In the intervention district, data completeness in women's personal records was nearly 4 times higher (ATET 3.8, 95% CI 2.2-5.5; P=.02), and consistency was approximately 12 times more likely (ATET 11.6, 95% CI 4.18-19; P=.03) than in the comparator district. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that performance-based nonfinancial incentives enhance data quality in the personal records of institutional births. Health care planners can adapt these incentives to improve the data quality of comparable medical records, particularly pregnancy-related data within health care facilities. Future research is needed to assess the effectiveness of nonfinancial incentives across diverse contexts to support successful scale-up.

Health professionals' technology readiness on the acceptance of teleradiology in the Amhara regional state public hospitals, northwest Ethiopia: Using technology readiness acceptance model (TRAM).

BACKGROUND: Considering individual differences caused by personality differences is crucial for end users' technology acceptance. However, previous studies overlooked the influence of users' technology readiness on technology acceptance. This study, therefore, aimed to evaluate the influence of technology readiness on teleradiology acceptance in the Amhara Regional State Public Hospitals using a technology readiness acceptance model. METHODS: An institutional-based cross-sectional mixed study design was conducted in September 2021 among 547 health professionals working at sixteen public hospitals in the Amhara region of northwest Ethiopia. Eight key informants were interviewed to explore organizational-related factors. Face-to-face and Google Meet approaches were used to collect the data. We applied structural equation modeling to investigate the influence of technology readiness on health professionals' teleradiology acceptance using Analysis of Moment Structures Version 23 software. RESULTS: Of the total participants, 70.2% and 85.7% were ready and intended to use teleradiology, respectively. According to technology readiness measuring constructs, optimism and innovativeness positively influenced health professionals' technology acceptance. Perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness showed a statistically positive significant effect on health professionals' intention to use teleradiology. In addition, a statistically significant mediation effect was observed between technology readiness measuring constructs and behavioral intention to use. Furthermore, a shortage of budget, inadequate infrastructure, and users' lack of adequate skills were reported as critical organizational challenges. CONCLUSIONS: We found a higher proportion of readiness and intention to use teleradiology among health professionals. Personality difference measuring constructs and organizational factors played considerable influence on teleradiology acceptance. Therefore, before the actual implementation of teleradiology, ensuring the system's user-friendliness, improving infrastructure, allocating an adequate budget, and availing of capacity-building opportunities are recommended.

Perceptions of caring behaviors: Experiences of nurses in Ethiopia.

Caring is a universal phenomenon that influences nurse-patient interactions and feelings, forming the foundation of the nursing profession. How nurses perceive and experience caring in low-income settings is not well understood. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore Ethiopian nurses' perceptions and experiences of caring using a qualitative descriptive design. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 nurses aged 28-57. Interviews were analyzed inductively using reflexive thematic analysis guided by the recommendations of Braun and Clarke. The analysis resulted in three themes: caring is the heartbeat of patient care, constraints to the provision of care, and ways to overcome constraints. The results revealed that nurses were committed to fulfilling their professional obligations and meeting patients' needs despite experiencing multiple constraints. The findings provide a comprehensive perspective in understanding nurses' experiences of caring. Their narratives demonstrate that they face constraints in their clinical practice, which limit the quality of care, including rotation and lack of resources. Cooperation between health policymakers and nurse authorities is essential for shifting the clinical environment from the prevailing traditional task-oriented approach to patient-centered care.

Minimum acceptable diet and associated factors among children aged 6-23 months in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: To ensure a child's full growth, health, and development during infancy and the early years, adequate nutrition is crucial. A crucial window of opportunity for ensuring children's proper growth and development through adequate eating exists during the first two years of life. According to the evidence of the efficacy of interventions, achieving universal coverage of optimal breastfeeding could prevent 13% of deaths in children under the age of 5 worldwide, and using complementary feeding methods appropriately would lead to an additional 6% decrease in under-five mortality. METHODS: From several electronic databases, all published, unpublished, and gray literature was extracted and exported into EndNote version X20. For further analysis of the review, the retrieved data from the excel sheet were imported into the statistical software program Stata version. Metanalysis was used to determine the prevalence of MAD, and a random effects model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence of MAD. The DerSimonian-Laird Random effects model (REM) was used to combine the determinant factors from all qualifying papers for the meta-analysis, and the heterogeneity was independently assessed using a χ2 test, Q statistics, and matching I2 statistics. To retrieve the extent of publication bias, funnel plots were scattered and tested for asymmetry and, additionally, Egger's test was computed with the user-written "meta bias" command in Stata (version 11) software. To end, sensitivity analyses with trim and fill were performed. RESULTS: The pooled estimate of the overall prevalence of minimum acceptable diet in 16 studies in Ethiopia was 22% with (95% CI: 16, 28%) with a random effect model. However, eight papers were filled during trim and fill in order to counteract the small study effect. The overall filled pooled estimate was 7.9% with (95%CI: 11, 14.8%). Maternal education (primary and secondary) is 1.714 (95% CI 1.244,2.363) and 2.150(95% CI: 1.449,3.190), respectively, Ages of children with range of 12-17 months (2.158 (95% CI 1. 9,3.006) and 18-23 months 2.948(95% CI: 1.675,5.190)), Nutrition information ((1.883 (95% CI 1.169,3.032)) media exposure (1.778(95% CI: 1.396,2.265), and maternal knowledge (2.449 (95% CI 1.232, 5.027) were significantly associated with MAD. CONCLUSION: The pooled estimate of the overall prevalence of minimum acceptable diet in 16 studies in Ethiopia were low. Maternal education (primary and secondary), ages of child with range of 12-17 month and 18-23 months, mothers having nutrition information, mothers who have media exposure,and mothers having good knowledge were significantly associated with Minimum acceptable diet. The government, NGO, and other stakeholders should focus on improving Minimum acceptable diet among 6 to 23 months of children through promoting with mass media, focuses on nutrition council during critical contact point in health facility, and doing capacity building for the mothers/caregivers.

Data completeness and consistency in individual medical records of institutional births: retrospective crossectional study from Northwest Ethiopia, 2022.

BACKGROUND: Ensuring the data quality of Individual Medical Records becomes a crucial strategy in mitigating maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality during and around childbirth. However, previous research in Ethiopia primarily focused on studying data quality of institutional birth at the facility level, overlooking the data quality within Individual Medical Records. This study examined the data completeness and consistency within Individual Medical Records of the institutional birth service and associated factors. METHODS: An institution-based retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in two districts of Northwest Ethiopia. Data were obtained by reviewing three sets of Individual Medical Records of 651 women: the delivery register, Integrated Individual Folder, and integrated card. The proportions of completeness and consistency were computed. A multilevel binary logistic regression was used to identify factors of completeness and consistency. An odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval was used to assess the level of significance. RESULTS: Overall, 74.0% of women's Individual Medical Records demonstrated good data completeness ( > = 70%), 95%CI (70.5, 77.3), while 26% exhibited good consistency, 95%CI (22.9, 29.7). The presence of trained providers in data quality (AOR = 2.9, 95%CI: (1.5, 5.7)) and supportive supervision (AOR = 11.5, 95%CI: (4.8, 27.2)) were found to be associated with completeness. Health facilities' practice of root cause analysis on data quality gaps (AOR = 8.7, 9%CI: (1.5, 50.9)) was statistically significantly associated with the consistency. CONCLUSIONS: Most medical records were found to have good completeness, but nearly only a quarter of them found to contain consistent data. Completeness and consistency varied on the type of medical record. Health facility's root cause analysis of data quality gaps, the presence of trained providers in data quality, and supportive supervision from higher officials were identified as factors affecting data quality in institutional birth service. These results emphasize the importance of focused efforts to enhance data completeness and consistency within Individual Medical Records, particularly through consideration of Individual Medical Records in future provider training, supervision, and the implementation of root cause analysis practices.

Health-related quality of life and associated factors among prisoners in Gondar city prison, Northwest Ethiopia: Using structural equation modeling.

BACKGROUND: Prisoners usually need more comprehensive health and social support than the general population. Due to the growing number of prisoners in Ethiopia and limited access to health service, quality of life is a key concern. Compromised health-related quality of life imposes short and long-term consequences on the prisoners, their families, and the healthcare system. In Ethiopia, there are limited studies that investigate health outcomes and health-related quality of life in this particular population. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the magnitude of health-related quality of life and associated factors among prisoners considering the multidimensional nature of health related quality of life. METHODS: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 1,246 prisoners who were enrolled using simple random sampling. The World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQoL-BREF-26) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) tools were used to assess the HRQoL and depression among prisoners, respectively. The relationships between exogenous, mediating, and endogenous variables were identified using structural equation modeling. As the mediation of effects were present, then the direct, indirect, and total effects were determined. General fit indices of the final model were acceptable (x2/df = 1.76, p < 0.001, RMSEA = 0.06, TLI = 0.90, CFI = 0.91, and SRMR = 0.06). RESULT: The mean (standard deviation) score of the overall health related quality of life was 53.25 (15.12). Having an underlying medical condition had negative total effect on health related quality of life while visits in prison had positive total effect. Having income-generating work in prison had only a direct positive effect. Whereas, older age, being married, longer duration of imprisonment, and depression all had only a negative direct effect on one or more domains of quality of life (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Inmates in Gondar Prison have very poor and compromised levels of physical and psychological health despite having a modest degree of overall HRQoL. The result of this study is significant for people who work in and research the prison environment because it can assist in recognizing prisoners' health needs and devising treatment procedures that take into consideration physical, psychological, environmental, and social relationship aspects.

Patients' perceptions of caring behaviors at referral hospitals in Ethiopia: A cross-sectional survey.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine patients' perceptions of nurse caring behaviors and to identify factors associated with these perceptions. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at three referral hospitals in Ethiopia. A consecutive sample of male and female patients (n = 652, response rate 98.8%) was interviewed using the Amharic version of the Caring Behaviors Inventory-16 (CBI-16, including four subscales: Assurance, Knowledge and skill, Respectful, and Connectedness) and the Patient Satisfaction Instrument (PSI). Socio-demographic and clinical factors associated with perceptions of caring behaviors were identified using multiple linear regression analysis. Results: Patients' perceptions of nurse caring behaviors were high (total Mean = 4.86, SD = 0.72). Behaviors related to the Assurance subscale were rated the highest. The multiple linear regression analysis result showed several socio-demographic and clinical factors statistically significantly associated with patients' perceptions of caring behaviors (total mean scores). Patients who were 40-49 years (B = -0.19, P = 0.012) and single (B = -0.13, P = 0.03) scored lower on total CBI-16 scores. Whereas, patients who had a higher educational level (B = 0.35, P = 0.001), cared for at surgery units (B = 0.11, P = 0.027), and reported having spent more time with a nurse in the past 8-h shift (B = 0.16, P < 0.001) were more likely to have higher perceptions of the care they received. The CBI-16 was positively correlated with satisfaction with received care, as measured with the Patient Satisfaction Instrument (r = 0.62, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Hospitalized patients in Ethiopia have overall high perceptions of nurse caring behaviors, especially with regard to physical-based caring, while their expectations of emotional-focused care are lower. We identified patients who were in need of care, patients aged 40-49 years and single. The time spent with nurses plays a pivotal role in patients' perceptions of nurse caring behaviors.

Medical imaging consultation practices and challenges at public hospitals in the Amhara regional state, Northwest Ethiopia: a descriptive phenomenological study.

BACKGROUND: Medical imaging plays a vital role in the accurate diagnosis, treatment and outcome prediction of many diseases and injuries. However, in many African countries, deserving populations do not have access to the proper medical imaging specialists' services. As a result, clinicians continue to struggle to provide medical imaging via consultation. However, little is known about conventional referral consultation practices and their challenges. This study, therefore, aimed to explore the practice and challenges of medical imaging service consultation among health professionals and patients in the context of the Ethiopian public healthcare delivery system. METHODS: Descriptive phenomenological study was employed to explore the practice of medical imaging service consultation among health professionals and patients in public hospitals of Amhara region from October 12, 2021 to December 29, 2021. Semi-structured interview guides were prepared separately for key-informant and in-depth interviews. A total of 21 participants (6 hospital managers, 4 medical directors, 4 department heads, 3 medical imaging coordinators and 4 patients) were selected using the maximum variation sampling technique. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and subjected to inductive thematic analysis using Open Code 4.02 software. RESULTS: Six major themes emerged following the thematic analysis: (1) medical image service delivery practices; (2) medical imaging consultation modalities; (3) benefits and drawbacks of the consultation modalities; (4) challenges; (5) challenge mitigation strategies; and (6) future recommendations. Image films, compact disks, and telegram apps were the consultation modalities used by the referring clinicians to send the medical images to radiologists. Frequent failure of imaging machines, delayed equipment maintenance, inadequate infrastructure, shortage of budget, lack of radiologists, and low-quality of printed image films were among the challenges influencing the medical imaging consultation service. CONCLUSIONS: This research explored onsite and referral imaging consultation practices. However, there are many challenges encountered by the referring clinicians and the radiologists during the consultation process. These challenges could potentially affect clinicians' ability to provide timely diagnosis and treatment services which would ultimately affects patient health status and service delivery. Virtual consultation via teleradiology and enhancing clinicians' competence through long-term and short-term trainings are recommended to improve the referral consultation practice.

Individual and contextual level enablers and barriers determining electronic community health information system implementation in northwest Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: The government of Ethiopia has envisioned digitalizing primary healthcare units through the electronic community health information system (eCHIS) program as a re-engineering strategy aiming to improve healthcare data quality, use, and service provision. The eCHIS is intended as a community-wide initiative to integrate lower health structure with higher administrative health and service delivery unit with the ultimate goal of improving community health. However, the success or failure of the program depends on the level of identifying enablers and barriers of the implementation. Therefore, this study aimed to explore individual and contextual-level enablers and barriers determining eCHIS implementation. METHOD: We conducted an exploratory study to determine the enablers and barriers to successfully implementing eCHIS in rural Wogera district, northwest Ethiopia. In-depth interviews and key informant interviews were applied at participants from multiple sites. A thematic content analysis was conducted based on the key themes reported. We applied the five components of consolidated framework for implementation research to interpret the findings. RESULTS: First, based on the intervention's characteristics, implementers valued the eCHIS program. However, its implementation was impacted by the heavy workload, limited or absent network and electricity. Outer-setting challenges were staff turnover, presence of competing projects, and lack of incentive mechanisms. In terms of the inner setting, lack of institutionalization and ownership were mentioned as barriers to the implementation. Resource allocation, community mobilization, leaders' engagement, and availability of help desk need emphasis for a better achievement. With regard to characteristics of the individuals, limited digital literacy, older age, lack of peer-to-peer support, and limited self-expectancy posed challenges to the implementation. Finally, the importance of mentoring and engaging community and religious leaders, volunteers, having defined plan and regular meetings were identified elements of the implementation process and need emphasis. CONCLUSION: The findings underlined the potential enablers and barriers of eCHIS program for quality health data generation, use, and service provision and highlighted areas that require emphasis for further scale-up. The success and sustainability of the eCHIS require ongoing government commitment, sufficient resource allocation, institutionalization, capacity building, communication, planning, monitoring, and evaluation.

An Evaluation of Community Health Workers' Knowledge, Attitude and Personal Lifestyle Behaviour in Non-Communicable Disease Health Promotion and Their Association with Self-Efficacy and NCD-Risk Perception.

Community health workers, also known as health extension workers (HEWs), play an important role in health promotion. This study evaluates HEWs' knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy for non-communicable diseases (NCD) health promotion. HEWs (n = 203) completed a structured questionnaire on knowledge, attitude, behaviour, self-efficacy and NCD risk perception. Regression analysis was used to determine the association between self-efficacy and NCD risk perception with knowledge (high, medium, low), attitude (favourable/unfavourable) and physical activity (sufficient/insufficient). HEWs with higher self-efficacy were more likely to have high NCD knowledge (AOR: 2.21; 95% CI: 1.21. 4.07), favourable attitude towards NCD health promotion (AOR: 6.27; 95% CI: 3.11. 12.61) and were more physically active (AOR: 2.27; 95% CI: 1.08. 4.74) than those with lower self-efficacy. HEWs with higher NCD susceptibility (AOR: 1.89; 95% CI: 1.04. 3.47) and perceived severity (AOR: 2.69; 95% CI: 1.46, 4.93) had higher odds of NCD knowledge than their counterparts. Moreover, sufficient physical activity was influenced by HEWs' perceived NCD susceptibility and perceived benefits of lifestyle change. Therefore, HEWs need to adopt healthy lifestyle choices to become effective role models for the community. Our findings highlight the need to include a healthy lifestyle when training HEWs, which might increase self-efficacy for NCD health promotion.

Utilization of optimal antenatal care, institutional delivery, and associated factors in Northwest Ethiopia.

Optimal antenatal care visits (ANC4+) and institutional delivery are essentials to save lives of the women and the baby during pregnancy and delivery. Though focused antenatal care visits and institutional delivery is recommended by World Health Organization, Ethiopia has sub-optimal antenatal care and lagged facility delivery. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 811 lactating women in Northwest Ethiopia. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed using 95% confidence level and p < 0.05. The prevalence of optimal antenatal care visits and institutional delivery were 39.6% (95%CI: 36.2-43) and 62.6% (95%CI: 59.2-66), respectively. Maternal education (AOR = 2.05; 95%CI: 1.14, 3.69), home visiting by health extension workers (AOR = 1.57; 95%CI: 1.01, 2.29), and early antenatal care booking (AOR = 11.92; 95%CI: 8.22, 17.31) were significant predictors of optimal antenatal care. Exposure to mass media (AOR = 1.65; 95% CI: 1.02, 2.65); intended pregnancy(AOR = 1.68; 95%CI:1.12, 3.63); parity of one (AO = 3.46; 95% CI: 1.73, 6.89); 1-3 antenatal care visits (AOR = 2.17; 95% CI: 1.29, 3.63); and ANC4 + (AOR = 3.57; 95% CI: 2.07, 6.14); history of pregnancy-related complications(AOR = 1.63; 95%CI: 1.04, 2.57), and access to transportation to reach a health facility(AOR = 1.58; 95%CI: 1.00, 2.45) were significant predictors of institutional delivery. Addressing the modifiable factors identified in this study could improve optimal antenatal care visit and institutional delivery.

Pooled prevalence of stunting and associated factors among children aged 6-59 months in Sub-Saharan Africa countries: A Bayesian multilevel approach.

BACKGROUND: Over 155 million children under five suffer from stunting, and it is responsible for over one million deaths and 54.9 million Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYS) of under-five children worldwide. These predominantly occurred in low-and middle-income countries like sub-Saharan Africa. Stunted children begin their lives at a marked disadvantage. Some of these are; poor cognition and educational performance, low adult wages, lost productivity and, when accompanied by excessive weight gain later in childhood, an increased risk of nutrition-related chronic diseases in adult life and the devastating effects of stunting can last a lifetime and even affect the next generation. Despite this, its magnitude rises in the past 25 years in sub-Saharan Africa. Studies that capture the pooled prevalence and associated factors of stunting among children aged 6-59 months in sub-Saharan Africa are limited. Therefore, this study was carried out on the basis of the Bayesian approach to determine the pooled prevalence and predictors of stunting among children aged 6-59 months in Sub-Saharan Africa. OBJECTIVE: To assess the pooled prevalence of stunting and associated factors among children aged 6-59 months in Sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: For this study a total of 173,483 weighted samples from the demography and health survey data set of 35 sub-Saharan African countries from 2008 to 2020 were used. After checking Variation between cluster by computing Intraclass Correlation Coefficient, binary logistic regression model was conducted based on hierarchical Bayesian statistical approach to account the hierarchical nature of demography and health survey data and to get reliable estimates by using additional information from the prior distribution. Adjusted odds ratio with 95% credible interval of the best fitted model was used to ascertain the predictors. RESULTS: The pooled prevalence of stunting in Sub-Saharan Africa was about 35% (95%CI: 34.87, 35.31). Of the sub-regions, the highest prevalence of stunting was in East Africa, 37% (95%, CI: 36.96, 37.63) followed by Central Africa, 35% (95%CI: (34.93, 35.94). Being male (AOR = 1.27, 95% CrI 1.25, 1.30), small birth size (AOR = 1.29, CrI 1.25, 1.32), home delivery (AOR = 1.17, CrI 1.14, 1.20), and no education of mothers (AOR = 3.07, CrI 2.79, 3.39) were some of the significant predictors of stunting of children. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: The prevalence of stunting of children in sub-Saharan Africa is among the highest in the world. Predictors such as being male, being small at birth, a child delivered at home, and, low level of maternal education were some of the predictors of childhood stunting. Stakeholders and non-governmental organizations should consider those contributing factors of stunting when they plan and design nutritional improvement programs.

Why maternal continuum of care remains low in Northwest Ethiopia? A multilevel logistic regression analysis.

BACKGROUND: Non-adherence to the maternal continuum of care remains a significant challenge. Though early initiation and continuum of care are recommended for mothers' and newborns' well-being, there is a paucity of evidence that clarify this condition in resource-limited settings. This study aimed to assess the level of women's completion of the maternal continuum of care and factors affecting it in Northwest Ethiopia. METHODS: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from October to November, 2020. Data were collected from 811 women who had a recent history of birth within the past one year. The random and fixed effects were reported using an adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval. The p-value of 0.05 was used to declare significantly associated factors with women's completion of the maternal continuum of care. RESULTS: The study revealed that 6.9% (95%CI: 5.3-8.9%) of women were retained fully on the continuum of maternal care, while 7.89% of women did not receive any care from the existing healthcare system. Attending secondary and above education (AOR = 3.15; 95%CI: 1.25,7.89), membership in the women's development army (AOR = 2.91; 95%CI: 1.56,5.44); being insured (AOR = 2.59; 95%CI: 1.33,5.01); getting health education (AOR = 2.44; 95%CI: 1.33,4.45); short distance to health facility (AOR = 4.81; 95%CI: 1.55,14.95); and mass-media exposure (AOR = 2.39; 95%CI: 1.11,5.15) were significantly associated with maternal continuum of care. CONCLUSIONS: The maternal continuum of care is low in rural northwest Ethiopia compared to findings from most resource-limited settings. Therefore, the existing health system should consider multilevel intervention strategies that focus on providing maternal health education, facilitating insurance mechanisms, encouraging women's participation in health clubs, and ensuring physical accessibility to healthcare facilities to be more effective in improving maternal health services.

Psychometric Properties of the Caring Behaviors Inventory-16 in Ethiopia.

Background: The Caring Behaviors Inventory-16 (CBI-16) is a comprehensive instrument measuring caring behaviors as experienced by patients. The study aimed to translate, culturally adapt and evaluate the psychometric properties of the CBI-16 among adult patients who speak the Amharic language. Methods: The measure was completed by 304 hospitalized patients. Construct validity was evaluated via exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and contrasted groups' validity. Total CBI-16 scores were compared between groups that differed in self-rated satisfaction with care (Patient Satisfaction Instrument) to examine the contrasted groups' validity. Reliability was assessed using internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha). Results: The EFA suggested a four-factor model accounting for 66.1% of the total variance. The items loaded onto the subscales were similar to the CBI-24. The CFA supported the four-factor model with acceptable fit indices: normed Chi-square value 2.65 (X2 = 259.60, df = 98), SRMR = 0.06, and RMSEA = 0.07, CFI = 0.88 and TLI = 0.86. The contrasted groups' validity was supported by significantly higher CBI-16 scores reported by patients more satisfied with their care (t = 3.66, p < 0.001). The reliability of the instrument was satisfactory (Cronbach's alpha = 0.83). Conclusions: The Amharic version of the CBI-16 displayed a four-factor solution and was shown to be a valid and reliable instrument for the assessment of the perceptions of caring behaviors in Ethiopia.

Trend of adherence to iron supplementation during pregnancy among Ethiopian women based on Ethiopian demographic and health surveys: A Multivariable decomposition analysis.

Background: Iron deficiency is one of the significant factors of anemia during pregnancy. Iron supplementation is the main method of prevention and control of iron deficiency anemia, and its effectiveness depends on adherence to the iron supplementation. Methods: This study was based on a secondary analysis of 2005, 2011, and 2016 EDHS data. After the data was weighted using sampling weight, 696, 1,282, and 3,096 in 2005, 2011, and 2016 EDHS data, respectively, were used for the final analysis. The data were edited, cleaned, coded, managed, and analyzed using StataCorp version 16 software. A logit-based multivariable decomposition analysis was used to identify variables significantly associated with the change in the adherence level during pregnancy. Results: Adherence levels increased from 1.1% (95% CI; 0.4, 2.7) in 2005 EDHS to 12.4% (95% CI; 10.9, 14.1) in 2016 EDHS. About 30.9% of the overall change in the adherence level to iron supplement use during pregnancy was due to the difference in women's sociodemographic-related variables. After adjusting for these compositional changes, ~69.1% of the change in the adherence level was because of the difference in the coefficients (behavior-related variables). Among the behavioral characteristics, women's age-group, rich wealth index, and secondary and above-secondary educational status of their husbands had a statistically significant effect on the positive change in the adherence level of pregnant mothers. Conclusion: The adherence level to iron supplement use during pregnancy has increased significantly over the last decade in Ethiopia. Both the compositional and behavioral characteristics of women play a major role in the increasing trend of adherence levels.

Spatial variation and determinants of childhood anemia among children aged 6 to 59 months in Ethiopia: further analysis of Ethiopian demographic and health survey 2016.

BACKGROUND: The magnitude of childhood anemia was increased from time to time. Thus, Even if the Ethiopian government applied tremendous efforts, anemia in children continues as a major public health problem. There is limited evidence on the spatial variation of and determinant factors of childhood anemia at the national level. Therefore, this study aimed to explore spatial distribution and determinants of anemia among children aged 6 to 59 months in Ethiopia. METHOD: A stratified two-stage cluster sampling technique was used in Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey 2016 data. In this study 8602 children aged 6-59 months were included. Bernoulli model was used to explore the presence of purely spatial clusters of Anemia in children in age 6-59 months using Sat scan. ArcGIS version 10.3 was used to know the distribution of anemia cases across the country. A mixed-effects Logistic regression model was used to identify determinant factors of anemia. RESULTS: The finding indicates that the spatial distribution of childhood anemia was non-random in the country with Moran's I: 0.65, p < 0.001. The SaT scan analysis identified a total of 180 significant primary clusters located in the Somali and Afar regions (LLR = 14.47, P-value< 0.001, RR = 1.47). Age of child 12-23 months (AOR = 0, 68, 95%CI: 0.55, 0.85), 24-35 months (AOR = 0.38, 95%CI: 0.31, 0.47), and36-47 months (AOR = 0.25, 95%CI, 0.20, 0.31), working mother (AOR = 0.87, 95%CI: 0.76, 0.99), anemic mother (AOR = 1.53, 95%CI, 1.35, 1.73), had fever in the last 2 weeks (AOR = 1.36,95%CI:1.13, 1.65), moderate stunting (AOR = 1.31,95%CI: 1.13, 1.50),Severely stunting (AOR = 1.82,95%CI: 1.54, 2.16), religion, wealth index, and number of under-five children in the household were statistically significant associated with childhood anemia. CONCLUSION: Spatial variation of childhood anemia across the country was non-random. Age of the child, wealth index, stunting, religion, number of under-five children in the household, fever in the last 2 weeks, anemic mother, and working status of the mother were determinants of childhood anemia. Therefore, interventions should be a priority concern for high-risk (hot spot) areas regarding allocation of resources and improved access to health facilities, and to reduce the consequence of anemia among the generation policymakers and concerned bodies should be implemented these specific determinant factors.

Exploring factors that contribute to human trafficking in Ethiopia: a socio-ecological perspective.

BACKGROUND: A number of individuals in Ethiopia are involved in illegal types of transnational migration, namely human trafficking and smuggling. The magnitude is not declining despite efforts to curb it. An in-depth understanding of the reasons for trafficking is needed to control human trafficking and its consequences. METHODS: The study included four focus group discussions and 44 in-depth interviews conducted in three border towns, five trafficking-stricken areas, and the IOM transit center for returnees in Addis Ababa. Participants were victims of trafficking, emigrants, community members, police, immigration personnel, and staff of labor and social affairs offices and non-government organizations. Based on the social-ecological model framework, content analysis was implemented using opencode-4.03 software. RESULTS: Factors identified as possibly encouraging acts of illegal migration included community attitudes such as having a child abroad being considered a measure of status, and the reluctance to do certain types of works associated with low social status when at home. There was, however, willingness to do similar work abroad, which was coupled with the belief that wages for such jobs were better abroad than at home and a lack of knowledge regarding differences in working conditions in the two settings. Further reasons given were poor government service provisions, ineffective immigration policies, political instability, government focus on reactive and poorly coordinated control rather than on sustainable prevention of human trafficking and corruption. Corruption was said to be the underlying factor for the poor coordination among government agencies, communities, and individuals. These factors, among others, led to the loss of trust and belief in local governance, resources, and opportunities to build one's future at home, thereby creating fertile ground for illegal migration, including smuggling and possibly trafficking. CONCLUSIONS: Individual lack of trust and belief in local governance, resources, and opportunities to build one's future was the main reason why people resorted to migrate in a manner subjecting them to human trafficking. Thus, comprehensive and coordinated efforts involving government agencies, communities, and other stakeholders are needed to help curb human trafficking and its consequences.

Predictors of stunting among children age 6-59 months in Ethiopia using Bayesian multi-level analysis.

In developing countries including Ethiopia stunting remained a major public health burden. It is associated with adverse health consequences, thus, investigating predictors of childhood stunting is crucial to design appropriate strategies to intervene the problem stunting. The study uses data from the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) conducted from January 18 to June 27, 2016 in Ethiopia. A total of 8117 children aged 6-59 months were included in the study with a stratified two stage cluster sampling technique. A Bayesian multilevel logistic regression was fitted using Win BUGS version 1.4.3 software to identify predictors of stunting among children age 6-59 months. Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with 95% credible intervals was used to ascertain the strength and direction of association. In this study, increasing child's age (AOR = 1.022; 95% CrI 1.018-1.026), being a male child (AOR = 1.16; 95%CrI 1.05-1.29), a twin (AOR = 2.55; 95% CrI 1.78-3.56), having fever (AOR = 1.23; 95%CrI 1.02-1.46), having no formal education (AOR = 1.99; 95%CrI 1.28-2.96) and primary education (AOR = 83; 95%CrI 1.19-2.73), birth interval less than 24 months (AOR = 1.40; 95% CrI 1.20-1.61), increasing maternal BMI (AOR = 0.95; 95% CrI 0.93-0.97), and poorest household wealth status (AOR = 1.78; 95% CrI 1.35-2.30) were predictors of childhood stunting at individual level. Similarly, region and type of toilet facility were predictors of childhood stunting at community level. The current study revealed that both individual and community level factors were predictors of childhood stunting in Ethiopia. Thus, more emphasize should be given by the concerned bodies to intervene the problem stunting by improving maternal education, promotion of girl education, improving the economic status of households, promotion of context-specific child feeding practices, improving maternal nutrition education and counseling, and improving sanitation and hygiene practices.

Spatial distribution of stillbirth and associated factors in Ethiopia: a spatial and multilevel analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Although the rate of stillbirth has decreased globally, it remains unacceptably high in developing countries. Today, only 10 countries share the burden of more than 65% of the global rate of stillbirth and these include Ethiopia. Ethiopia ranks seventh in terms of high rate of stillbirths. Exploring the spatial distribution of stillbirth is critical to developing successful interventions and monitoring public health programmes. However, there is no study on the spatial distribution and the associated factors of stillbirth in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the spatial distribution and the associated factors of stillbirth. METHODS: Secondary data analysis was conducted based on the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey data. A total weighted sample of 11 375 women were included in the analysis. The Bernoulli model was fitted using SaTScan V.9.6 to identify hotspot areas and ArcGIS V.10.6 to explore the spatial distribution of stillbirth. For associated factors, a multilevel binary logistic regression model was fitted using STATA V.14 software. Variables with a p value of less than 0.2 were considered for the multivariable multilevel analysis. In the multivariable multilevel analysis, adjusted OR (AOR) with 95% CI was reported to reveal significantly associated factors of stillbirth. RESULTS: The spatial analysis showed that stillbirth has significant spatial variation across the country. The SaTScan analysis identified significant primary clusters of stillbirth in the Northeast Somali region (log likelihood ratio (LLR)=13.4, p<0.001) and secondary clusters in the border area of Oromia and Amhara regions (LLR=8.8, p<0.05). In the multilevel analysis, rural residence (AOR=4.83, 95% CI 1.44 to 16.19), primary education (AOR=0.39, 95% CI 0.20 to 0.74), no antenatal care (ANC) visit (AOR=2.77, 95% CI 1.70 to 4.51), caesarean delivery (AOR=5.07, 95% CI 1.65 to 15.58), birth interval <24 months (AOR=1.95, 95% CI 1.20 to 3.10) and height <150 cm (AOR=2.73, 95% CI 1.45 to 4.97) were significantly associated with stillbirth. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: In Ethiopia, stillbirth had significant spatial variations across the country. Residence, maternal stature, preceding birth interval, caesarean delivery, education and ANC visit were significantly associated with stillbirth. Therefore, public health interventions that enhance maternal healthcare service utilisation and maternal education in hotspot areas of stillbirth are crucial to reducing stillbirth in Ethiopia.

Predictors of CD4 count changes over time among children who initiated highly active antiretroviral therapy in Ethiopia.

INTRODUCTION: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection results in a gradual depletion of immune function, particularly CD4 cells. The CD4 assessment plays a significant role in assessing treatment responses and clinical decision-making for patients on combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) in resource-limited settings. However, new data on CD4 count changes are scarce; the volatility of CD4 counts after initiation of ART over time remains largely uncharacterized. This study aimed to identify the predictors of CD4 changes over time among HIV-infected children who began ART in Amhara, Ethiopia. METHODS: A retrospective follow-up study was performed. A total of 983 HIV-infected children who initiated ART in government hospitals in the Amhara region between 2010 and 2016 were included using a simple random sampling technique. Data were extracted using a structured checklist. An exploratory data analysis was carried out to explain individual and average profile plots. The linear mixed model was used to identify the CD4 change count predictors over time. Variables with p value < 0.05 were considered statistically significant in a multivariable linear mixed regression analysis. RESULTS: The mean CD4 count of the participants was 465.1 cells/mm3 with an average CD4 count increase of 30.06 cells/mm3 over 6 months from baseline CD4 count and ART initiation. Childhood age (ß = - 0.015; 95% Cl - 0.021, - 0.009), opportunistic infection at ART initiation (ß = - 0.044, 95% CI - 0.085, - 0.004), hemoglobin level (ß = 0.013; 95% CI 0.004, 0.022), and baseline WHO clinical stage II (ß = - 0.046, 95% CI - 0.091, - 0.0003) were significant predictors of CD4 changes over time. CONCLUSIONS: The average CD4 count increase was sufficient in HIV patients who began combined antiretroviral therapy over time. The younger age of the infant, the higher baseline level of hemoglobin, the baseline WHO clinical stage II, and opportunistic infections led to changes in CD4 counts. As a result, timely diagnosis and treatment of opportunistic infections will reduce the risk of opportunistic infections.