Levels and Predictors of Proactive Practical Experience to Solve COVID-19 among Public Health Officers in Primary Care Units in the Upper Southern Region, Thailand: An Explanatory Mixed Methods Approach.

Public Health Officers (PHOs)' experiences in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic can be based on whether the PHO is active or passive regarding five experience aspects, including knowledge, understanding, opinion, participation, and practice. Therefore, this study's objectives are to identify the types of experiences and analyse the predictors of proactive practical experiences in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic among PHOs in the southern region of Thailand. METHODS: An explanatory mixed methods approach was used to collect data, through questionnaires and online in-depth interviews. This study was conducted from 4 August 2020 to 3 August 2021. RESULTS: The results include 60 PHOs from 60 Primary Care Units in six provinces, with 41 (68.3%) females and an average age of 35.57 years (SD = 11.61). The PHOs' knowledge, understanding, and participation experience aspects were mostly proactive rather than passive. The factors that significantly predicted proactive practical experiences included sex (ORadj = 1.52, 95% CI = 1.04-2.21), age (ORadj = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.16-2.48), married status (ORadj = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.16-2.48), education level (ORadj = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.02-2.20), and position for work (ORadj = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.16-2.48). The results of quantitative method were confirmed by 12 sub-themes of 8 PHOs' experiences from qualitative method. CONCLUSIONS: The PHOs' knowledge, understanding, opinion, and participation experiences were significant predictors of practical experience. Primary health care systems should promote proactive experiences in all four aspects to increase proactive practical experiences.

Health workers' capability, opportunity, motivation, and behavior to prevent and control COVID-19 in a high-risk district in Thailand.

Background: Village health volunteers have been an important group who plays the role in prevention and control of COVID-19 pandemic situations at primary care units, Thailand. Objective: The objective of this cross-sectional analytic study was to assess the level and analyze the association between personal information, capability, opportunities, motivations, and behaviors to prevent and control COVID-19 among Village healthy volunteers in a high risk district, Southern Thailand. Material and Methods: G*power program was used to calculate the sample size of 145 VHVs recruited for this study. Data collection was done using a well-structured questionnaire with 5-point Likert scale for capability, opportunities, motivations, and behaviors component, and multi-stage sampling of 18 sub-district health promoting hospitals was carried out. Data analysis was done using descriptive, Chi-square and Fisher Exact test. Results: Majority (89.7%) of the VHVs were female, and 62.8% were 28-59 years old. More than half, 55.9% (81) have been VHVs for 11-36 years. Generally, higher capacity was found among 59.3% (86) of the VHVs, low opportunity level among 81.4% (118), high motivation among 53.8% (78) and a good behavior towards the prevention and control of COVID-19 among 72.4% (105). The VHVs' age and duration of practicing were significantly (P< 0.01 and P < 0.05 respectively) associated with COVID-19 prevention behavior (x2 =6.894 and 5.255 respectively). Likewise, there are significant association between capacity (p ≤ 0.001 and x2 = 31.014), opportunity (p≤ 0.05 and x2 = 9.473), motivation (p ≤ 0.001 and x2 = 0.0001) and VHVs' behaviour to prevent and control COVID-19. Conclusion: HVHs' opportunity is very low in the study area and it negatively affects good behavior for the prevention and control of COVID-19. All stakeholders in the district can use the association among the capability, opportunity, motivation and behavioral model to develop practice guideline and set policy for preventing COVID-19 in the community.

The experiences of district public health officers during the COVID-19 crisis and its management in the upper southern region of Thailand: A mixed methods approach.

District public health officers (DPHO) are the major health care providers and vital resources for tackling the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Thailand. No studies have been published on their experiences of combating COVID-19 in Thailand. To guide and improve COVID-19 control efforts, we aimed to describe their experiences and analyze associated factors for tackling the outbreak. This mixed-methods design involved providing structured questionnaires to selected DPHOs across 52 districts of seven provinces in the upper southern region Thailand. We performed data analysis using descriptive and multivariate statistics. The quantitative approach used questionnaires that demonstrated the content validity and reliability. Data collection involved Google forms, analyzed by multivariate statistics. The qualitative approach comprised an online in-depth interview of 11 DPHOs and a thematic analysis. Results found of the 52 DPHOs, 41 were men (78.8%), and the mean age was 50.02 years (SD = 8.52 years). Their proactive experiences were significantly associated with sex (ORadj = 2.38, 95% CI = 1.11-3.30), age (ORadj = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.09-2.76), the length of experience in the current position (ORadj = 2.27, 95% CI = 1.43-3.63), and working time in the current position (ORadj = 2.27, 95% CI = 1.43-3.63). There was no significant association between marital status, knowledge, understanding, opinion, proactive practice, and participation experiences. These results were related to six themes of the qualitative approach as follows: High morbidity and mortality of COVID-19, COVID-19 concomitant with several problems, Reaching out to the community for better COVID-19 solutions, The importance of regular reports and feedback, Solution planning based on the situation, and Providing relief to all stakeholders from COVID-19 issue. Proactive experiences of district public health officers are important for sustainable COVID-19 solutions. Disseminating relevant equipment, guidelines, policy, and government regulations is necessary to promote preparedness and efficacy in the crisis management of COVID-19.

Correlation of body visceral fat rating with serum lipid profile and fasting blood sugar in obese adults using a noninvasive machine.

Increased visceral fat is associated with an increased mortality rate. Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is a noninvasive method to assess visceral fat that is easily accessible and avoids exposure to radiation. It is unknown how a visceral fat rating from a noninvasive machine correlates with the serum lipid profile and fasting blood sugar (FBS). The aim of this research is to study the correlation of the visceral fat rating obtained by a noninvasive method with the serum lipid profile and FBS. This cross-sectional study involved 90 obese adults, ranging in age from 18 to 60 years old. The visceral fat rating was measured by BIA. The results demonstrated that significant positive correlations were found between the serum triglycerides and visceral fat rating (r = 0.287, P = 0.006) and between the FBS and visceral fat rating (r = 0.210, P = 0.047). There was a negative correlation between the serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and visceral fat rating (r = -0.322, P = 0.002). In conclusion, statistically significant positive correlations were found between the serum triglycerides and visceral fat rating and between the FBS and visceral fat rating, and a negative correlation was found between the serum HDL-cholesterol and visceral fat rating.