Healthcare personnel's attitude and coverage about tetanus vaccination in Turkey: a multicenter study.

The tetanus vaccine is not routinely given to Turkish adults. Protective tetanus immunity decreases with age. Health-care personnel (HCPs), who are role models in the field of health, are a target group in order to achieve a higher rate of tetanus vaccination in the community. This study was designed to evaluate attitudes and coverage regarding tetanus vaccination among a large sample of Turkish HCPs. This cross-sectional epidemiologic study was conducted from July to August 2019. A questionnaire was sent to HCPs using social media. Of the 10,644 HCPs included in the study, 65% were female. Overall, the tetanus vaccination coverage (TVC) among HCPs was 78.5% (95% CI: 77.7%-79.3%). TVC was significantly higher among physicians [83.4% (95% CI: 82%-84.6%); p < .001] compared with all other HCPs except nurses. Older age (≥40 years) and length of professional experience were significantly correlated with TVC. Of the 8353 HCPs who received tetanus vaccines during their lifetime, 73.03% received tetanus vaccination in the past 10 years. The self-vaccination rate for protection against tetanus was 13.1%. Acute injuries (25.42%) and pregnancy (23.9%) were the most common reasons for having the tetanus vaccine. One-third (33.7%) of HCPs did not have information about whether pregnant women could receive tetanus vaccinations. This survey study provided excellent baseline information about HCPs' coverage rates and attitudes regarding tetanus vaccination. The present results suggested that tetanus boosters for HCPs should be established as soon as possible, and revealed that the HCPs younger than 30 years with relatively less professional experience and all other HCPs except nurses and physicians should be identified as the target population for future intervention programs.

COVID-19 anxiety and hygiene status in vocational schools of health services students in Turkey: A multicenter study.

BACKGROUND: While the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic creates fear and anxiety on the students' academic achievement, the risk of an infectious disease may negatively affect education by reducing the concentration ability of students. Thus, it is essential to evaluate the knowledge, behaviors, anxiety levels, and hygiene status of students. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the knowledge, behavior change, anxiety, and hygiene status of university students about COVID-19. METHODS: The investigation was conducted with students of three vocational schools of health services located in different provinces of Turkey (n = 1055). Data collected by an online survey consisted of knowledge questions about COVID-19, items about behavior change, the hygiene behavior scale (HBS), and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) scale. RESULTS: The knowledge scores of women were significantly higher than the scores of men. Of the students, 59.6%showed positive hygiene behaviors, and 31.5%had anxiety. Female students' total HDC scale score was significantly lower than that of men, and the total HDC scale score of those who received hand hygiene education was significantly lower than that of participants who did not receive training, which shows a positive hygiene behavior. The total GAD-7 scale score of women was significantly higher than that of men. More than half of the students showed positive hygiene behaviors, and about a third had anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the study's results, psychological support and training should be provided to students.

Identification of the drug-use behaviors of the elderly living in nursing homes.

OBJECTIVE: As our society ages, the incidence of acute and chronic diseases increases, and so does chronic drug use and polypharmacy. This study was intended to examine the medication behaviors of the elderly who lived in the nursing homes in the Elazig and Malatya provinces, located in eastern Turkey, and in the Kayseri province located in Central Anatolia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The population of this cross-sectional study included people over the age of 60 years (n=310) who lived in the nursing homes in the Elazig, Malatya, and Kayseri provinces. The entire population was included in the research without sampling, of which 255 (82.2%) people participated. Data were collected using a survey form, and the survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews. The data were reported in numbers, percentages, and averages. RESULTS: Of the studied population, 87.8% were treated through polypharmacy, using various drugs. The most commonly used drugs were antihypertensives (52.2%). Females over 60 years used more polypharmacy than men (p<0.05). Of the elderly studied, 97.3% used drugs as recommended, 95.3% did not know about the side effects of the drugs they used, and 93.7% did not read the prospectuses of the drugs. Also, 82.7% stated that their drugs did not have any side effects and 70.2% said that the health care personnel did not educate them about their drugs. Of the elderly who were informed about their drugs, 55.3% obtained the information from the nurse and 44.7% from the physician. Of the elderly, 51.3% received education on the duration they would need to take the drug, 30.3% were educated on the intended use of the drugs, 7.9% received education on their drug dose, and 6.6% were educated on the side effects of the drugs. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that the majority of the elderly studied used more than one drug (polypharmacy) and the most used drug group was antihypertensives.

Knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of women regarding breast and cervical cancer in Malatya, Turkey.

The aim of this study is to gather information about the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of women regarding breast and cervical cancer, to increase the knowledge level of the relevant age group and to begin including the relevant age group in screening programs. This cross-sectional study is composed of 6910 women aged 30-69 years in Malatya, Turkey. The study aimed to reach 1782 women with a survey, and all of them were reached. The questionnaire form was completed with face-to-face interview. For statistical analysis, data were evaluated as number and percentage distributions. The average age of the women was 45.6±11.4. Nearly half of the women (46.4%) did not know that scans for early detection of breast and cervical cancers were free. Only 22.2% of women knew that breast cancer could be diagnosed early by mammography. 72.7% had never received a mammogram. One third (31.6%) of women did not know it was possible to recognize cervical cancer early, and two thirds (64.5%) of women had not received a Pap smear test. It has been determined that Turkish women do not have adequate knowledge about cancer diagnosis, early cancer diagnosis, and screening.

Age at the onset of menopause and its influencing factors in Turkish women in a rural area.

This study was performed to identify menopausal age and its determining factors in women over 40 residing in the Dogubeyazit district of Agri, located in Eastern Turkey. This cross-sectional study was performed on a sample of 1,068 women, selected by simple random sampling among all district health center records of women aged 40 and greater, who were each attributed a random serial number. While 35.6% of the subjects had not yet reached menopause, 60.5% had entered it spontaneously and 3.9% surgically. Average age at spontaneous menopause was 47.4 ± 3.7 years and that of surgical menopause 45.1 ± 5.0. Age at marriage, age of last pregnancy, and the age of the subject's mother at menopause affected menopausal status. Identifying menopausal age and its determining factors may modify the menopausal status of women and their management of the perimenopausal period.

Prevalence of obesity in elementary schools in mardin, South-eastern of Turkey: a preliminary study.

OBJECTIVE: This research determines the frequency of obesity among primary school-aged children and evaluates the relationship between obesity and family and environmental factors. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Three thousand four hundred sixty students, aged 6-15 years in three primary schools in Mardin city center were taken into the study. Information about eating habits and family-environmental factors were obtained by questionnaire. For each student we calculated the body mass index (BMI) and the ≥97 percentile was defined as obese, and between 85-97(th) percentile as overweight. These values were calculated with the SPSS statistical program. Chi-square and t-tests were used for analysis. p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: 48.2% of the students were female. In the assessment of body mass index (BMI) the overweight rate for children was 15.78%, the obese rate was 10.57%. The prevalence of obesity according to gender was 9.05% for girls and 11.97% for boys (p<0.01). The mean BMI of the girls in the age group 13-15 is higher than in males of the same age. Those in the higher socio-economic group had a higher prevalence of obesity (p<0.01). Paternal obesity affected child obesity (p<0.01). Children who eat irregular meals (p=0.05), watch more than 2 hours per day TV (p=0.03), were breastfed for less than 6 months (p<0.05) and the mothers' obesity (p<0.05) were found to have a significantly higher prevalence of obesity. CONCLUSION: Obesity is increasing throughout the world as a health problem. Being obese in childhood and having obese parent(s) are two of the risk factors of being obese in adulthood. Persistence of obesity into adulthood is the most serious aspect of the problem. The therapeutic success rate in obesity is unfortunately not high. Therefore, a preventive strategy involving early identification of those at risk by incorporating body mass assessments to routine childhood growth assessment appears to be the most prudent strategy.