Cognitive Testing and Piloting of the Bangla Version of the Washington Group Short Set Questionnaire on Functioning Among Adolescent Girls and Women With Disabilities in Selected Sub-districts of Bangladesh.

Introduction This study focuses on the cognitive testing and piloting of the Bangla version of the Washington Group Short Set Questionnaire on Functioning among adolescent girls and women with disabilities in selected sub-districts of Bangladesh. The Washington Group on Disability Statistics developed the questionnaire as a tool to assess the functioning and disability status of individuals. The adaptation of this questionnaire to Bangla is crucial for capturing accurate data on the experiences of adolescent girls and women with disabilities in Bangladesh. Materials and methods The research employs a two-phase approach, starting with cognitive testing to ensure the linguistic and cultural relevance of the translated questionnaire. This phase involves engaging with a sample of the target population to assess the comprehension, clarity, and appropriateness of the questions. Subsequently, a pilot study was conducted in selected sub-districts to evaluate the feasibility and validity of the Bangla version of the Washington Group Short Set Questionnaire on Functioning in real-world settings. Both of the tests were conducted in March 2023. Results There were different types of participants with different types of disabilities. Information processing, meaning, understanding the questions, thinking, and answering speed or time were different between groups, even though they were different from person to person. The initial assessments indicate strong consistency in responses. Participants demonstrated a favorable response rate, indicating potential effectiveness for broader implementation. Conclusion The current study aims to contribute to disability data collection methodologies, particularly in the context of adolescent girls and women in Bangladesh. The research seeks to empower policymakers, researchers, and advocacy groups with a robust instrument of disability screening. Researchers and clinicians may rely on our accurate and validated Washington Group Short Set Questionnaire on Functioning translation into Bangla when working with adolescent girls and women with disabilities.

Effects of the Involvement of Male Counterparts in the Menstrual Hygiene Management of Women and Adolescent Girls With Disabilities in Selected Sub-districts of Bangladesh: Protocol for a Quasi-experimental Study.

Background Women and adolescent girls with disabilities suffer the most difficulties during menstruation days in developing countries like Bangladesh. They deal with menstruation in a hazardous and unclean manner. In Bangladesh, men serve as the family's gatekeepers for health-seeking behavior. But they frequently have no idea how unpleasant and demanding menstruation can be. Menstrual hygiene care for women and adolescent girls with disabilities can be improved by involving male peers. In Bangladesh, no such intervention has been assessed. The purpose of the study is to assess the effects of male participation on menstrual hygiene management of women and adolescent girls with disabilities in Bangladesh. Methods This will be a quasi-experimental study with a sample size of 120 (60 - control, 60 - intervention). The study will be conducted in a sub-district of Bogura and Chapainawabganj in Bangladesh. Inclusion criteria for the study participants are women and adolescent girls with disabilities (intervention and control groups) and male counterparts (intervention group). The exclusion criteria for this study are women and adolescent girls with mental and intellectual disabilities. Engaging male peers in menstrual hygiene management is the key intervention in the study. No blinding or randomization will be applied. The expected primary outcome in the intervention group will be an improvement in the menstrual hygiene management of women and adolescent girls with disabilities in the selected sub-districts of Bangladesh. Two times data will be collected from the intervention and control groups using the 'Menstrual Practice Needs Scale-36', 'Perceived Stress Scale', and 'Multi-dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support'. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) test will be applied to a two-point data series to assess statistical significance. Results The result of the study will be published in a scientific journal. The outcomes of the research will be disseminated to local policymakers and health planners. The health administrator will get evidence-based information on gender-inclusive menstrual hygiene management for women and adolescent girls with disabilities through study result dissemination events. Conclusion This protocol for a quasi-experimental study in Bangladesh highlights the potential advantages of involving male peers in the menstrual hygiene management of women and adolescent girls with disabilities. It may promote gender-inclusive behavior in selected subdistricts of Bangladesh.

Reliability and Validity of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support Among Women and Adolescent Girls With Disabilities in Selected Sub-districts of Bangladesh.

Background Adequate community-based or societal collaboration and cooperation are considerably important for the overall welfare of women and adolescent girls with disabilities. "The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS)" has not been evaluated for reliability and validity amid women and adolescent girls with disabilities in the Bangladeshi context. Methods A Bangla-translated form of the MSPSS was constructed, and the survey was conducted among 152 women and adolescent girls with disabilities who were purposefully recruited from Bogura Sadar and Chapainawabganj Sadar sub-districts of Bangladesh. Results The Cronbach's alpha of the entire scale was 0.868, indicating high internal consistency. Cronbach's alpha for the family sub-scale was 0.763, the friends sub-scale was 0.820, and the significant others scale was 0.776. The composite reliability for the family sub-scale was 0.849677, the friends sub-scale was 0.881248, and the significant others sub-scale was 0.859668. Convergence reliability was established following sub-scale-wise scores. It affirms the consistency of measurements. The content validity score was >0.62, following the Lawshe approach. The three-factor model was adopted during confirmatory factor analysis when the three-factor model run in SPSS Amos (version 21) CFI (comparative fit index) was 0.919. Conclusions In Bangladesh, to the best of our knowledge, our study is initially to calculate the perceived societal assistance of women and adolescent girls with disabilities. We validated the Bangla-translated form of the MSPSS from the Bangladeshi perspective. Researchers and clinicians may rely on our accurate and validated MSPSS translation into Bangla when working with this group. Based on our findings, this study endorses implementing the MSPSS for assessing professed community-based collaboration using the three-factor model, especially among women and adolescent girls with disabilities.

Health-related quality of life of the adult COVID-19 patients following one-month illness experience since diagnosis: Findings of a cross-sectional study in Bangladesh.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) stances an incredible impact on the quality of life and denigrates the physical and mental health of the patients. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of COVID-19 patients. We conducted this study at the National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM) of Bangladesh for the period of June to November 2020. All the COVID-19 patients diagnosed by real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay in July 2020 formed the sampling frame. The study enrolled 1204 adult (aged >18 years) COVID-19 patients who completed a one-month duration of illness after being RT-PCR positive. The patients were interviewed with the CDC HRQOL-14 questionnaire to assess HRQOL. Data were collected by telephone interview on the 31st day of being diagnosed and by reviewing medical records using a semi-structured questionnaire and checklist. Around two-thirds (72.3%) of the COVID-19 patients were males and a half (50.2%) were urban residents. In 29.8% of patients, the general health condition was not good. The mean (±SD) duration of physical illness and mental illness was 9.83(±7.09) and 7.97(±8.12) days, respectively. Most of the patients (87.0%) required help with personal care, and 47.8% required assistance with routine needs. The mean duration of 'healthy days' and 'feeling very healthy' was significantly lower in patients with increasing age, symptoms, and comorbidity. The mean duration of 'usual activity limitation', 'health-related limited activity', 'feeling pain/worried', and 'not getting enough rest' were significantly higher among patients' having symptoms and comorbidity. 'Not so good' health condition was significantly higher in females (OR = 1.565, CI = 1.01-2.42) and those having a symptom (OR = 32.871, CI = 8.06-134.0) of COVID-19 and comorbidity (OR = 1.700, CI = 1.26-2.29). Mental distress was significantly higher among females (OR = 1.593, CI = 1.03-2.46) and those having a symptom (OR = 4.887, CI = 2.58-9.24). Special attention should be given to COVID-19 patients having symptoms and comorbidity to restore their general health, quality of life, and daily activities.

Post-traumatic stress disorders and coping strategies of health professionals during COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh: findings of a countrywide cross-sectional study.

Background: COVID-19 pandemic imposed a devastating effect on the psychological health of health professionals as they worked nonstop to withstand the hardship of the pandemic. The present study intended to determine the post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) and coping strategies among health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. Methods: This country-wide cross-sectional study was conducted from July to December 2021 among 1394 health professionals (596 physicians, 713 nurses, 85 medical technologists) who served COVID-19 patients at the secondary, tertiary, and specialized government healthcare facilities in Bangladesh and completed at least one month after exposure to COVID-19 patient-care. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS software. All the ethical issues were maintained strictly. Findings: Most of the participants, 877 (62.9%) [95% CI: 60.3-65.5], were female, and 327 (23.5%) [95% CI: 21.3-25.8] developed PTSD. Females (AOR:1.42 [95% CI: 1.083-1.868] p = 0.011), having an elderly family member (AOR:1.515 [95% CI: 1.173-1.956] p = 0.0014), working in specialized hospitals (AOR:2.685 [95% CI: 1.928-3.739] p < 0.001), and working ≥8 hours/day (AOR:1.897 [95% CI: 1.350-2.666] p = 0.0002) had higher odds of developing PTSD. Most of the participants adopted spiritual approaches 96 (29.4%) [24.5-34.6] and distraction by watching TV/YouTube 59 (18.0%) [14.0-22.6] as coping strategies. Interpretation: The study findings would be helpful for health policymakers and managers to develop comprehensive measures for restoring the mental well-being of health professionals by alleviating PTSD induced by a pandemic like COVID-19. Funding: The study got funding from the Directorate General of Medical Education under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Bangladesh.

Malnutrition and other risk factors of geriatric depression: a community-based comparative cross-sectional study in older adults in rural Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND: Malnutrition and depression are highly prevalent in older adults and can lead to disparaging outcomes. Analytical studies on geriatric depression (GD) and its association with malnutrition are very scarce in Bangladesh, although the size of the older population is increasing fast in the country. The current study aimed to assess the association between malnutrition and depression and associated risk factors in rural older adults. METHODS: A community-based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in 600 older adult residents (aged ≥60 years) of three rural communities of Bangladesh from January to October 2019. The study enrolled two groups of participants; 300 depressed as cases and another 300 non-depressed older adults as a comparison group matching their age and living area. We used a semi-structured questionnaire to collect data through a face-to-face interview. Geriatric Depression Scale-15 was used to determine depression, and a score of ≥5 was considered as depressed. We used the Bangla version of the Mini-Nutritional Assessment-Short Form to assess nutritional status, which comprised questions related to appetite, weight loss, mobility, recent illness/stress, dementia/depression, and BMI, and considered a score of 0-7 as the cutoff score for malnutrition. Measures included baseline and personal characteristics, malnutrition, GD, and its associated risk factors. A binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify variables associated with the risk of GD. RESULTS: The study found no significant difference in gender (male Vs. female) between depressed (44.0% Vs. 56.0%) and non-depressed (46.0% Vs. 54.0%) older individuals. The study revealed that malnutrition was significantly (p < 0.01) higher in depressed (56.0%) than in non-depressed (18.0%) rural older adults. The malnourished older adults had around three times (AOR = 3.155; 95% CI: 1.53-6.49, p = 0.002) more risk of having depression than the well-nourished older individuals. Older adults who were unemployed (AOR = 4.964; 95% CI: 2.361-10.440; p = 0.0001) and from lower and middle class (AOR = 3.654; 95% CI: 2.266-7.767; p = 0.001) were more likely to experience depression. Older adults having a 'poor diet' were more likely to experience depression (AOR = 3.384; 95% CI: 1.764-6.703; p = 0.0001). The rural older adults who were single (AOR = 2.368; 95% CI: 1.762-6.524; p = 0.001) and tobacco users (AOR = 2.332; 95% CI: 1.663-5.623; p = 0.003) were found more likely to experience depression. CONCLUSIONS: A significant association between malnutrition and depression was evident by the current study in the rural older individuals of Bangladesh. It will be a prolific initiative if policymakers merge malnutrition and the risk factors associated with geriatric depression in providing universal health care for better health and well-being of the rural older populations.

Age-related risk factors and severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to estimate the prevalence of reported symptoms and comorbidities, and investigate the factors associated with age of the SARS-CoV-2 infected patients. METHODS: We performed a systematic review with meta-analysis (PROSPERO registration: CRD42020182677) where the databases (PubMed, SCOPUS, EMBASE, WHO, Semantic Scholar, and COVID-19 Primer) were searched for clinical studies published from January to April, 2020. Initially, the pooled prevalence of symptoms and comorbidity of COVID-19 patients were estimated using random effect model and the age -related factors were identified performing multivariate analysis [factor analysis]. RESULTS: Twenty-nine articles with 4,884 COVID-19 patients were included in this study. Altogether, we found 33 symptoms and 44 comorbidities where the most frequent 19 symptoms and 11 comorbidities were included in the meta-analysis. The fever (84%), cough/dry cough (61%), and fatigue/weakness (42%) were found more prevalent while acute respiratory distress syndrome, hypertension and diabetes were the most prevalent comorbid condition. The factor analysis showed positive association between a cluster of symptoms and comorbidities with patients' age. The symptoms comprising fever, dyspnea/shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dizziness, anorexia and pharyngalgia; and the comorbidities including diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, COPD/lung disease and ARDS were the factors positively associated with COVID-19 patient's age. CONCLUSION: As an unique effort, this study found a group of symptoms (fever, dyspnea/shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dizziness, anorexia and pharyngalgia) and comorbidities (diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, COPD/lung disease and ARDS), associated with the age of COVID-19 infected patients.

Impact of childhood cancer on the family: evidence from Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND: The care of children with cancer creates emotional, financial, and social impacts for their families. Information on the impact of childhood cancer (CC) on the family is scarce in Bangladesh. Thus, the study was set out to assess the impact of CC on the families in the local context. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted from January to June 2018 in three purposively selected tertiary hospitals. All the children diagnosed and treated at those hospitals during the study period were eligible for this study. Children undergoing bone marrow transplantation, or those who were seriously ill, or those transferred to another hospital, or those who died were excluded or whose parents were not willing to participate. A total of 242 children were enrolled in the study and their parents were included in the interview. Measures included socio-demographic attributes, financial burden, personal strain, social impact, mastery, and treatment cost. Informed written consent was obtained from the parents and a face-to-face interview was conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire based on (i) About you and your-family and (ii) the Impact-On-Family (IOF) scale. High scores of the scale correlated to high impact. Medical records were reviewed to collect data on the pattern of CC and treatment costs. RESULTS: Major CCs included leukemia (36.0%), blastoma (18.2%), sarcoma (14.9%), and lymphoma (12.4%). The weighted score was highest for mastery (3.63) followed by financial burden (3.33), personal strain (3.27), and social impact (3.21) domains. The difference of IOFS score was significant by family type (p < 0.05), father's occupation (p < 0.05), type (p < 0.01) and duration of cancer (p < 0.01), and treatment cost (p˂0.01). Families adopted diverse coping strategies including changed lifestyle (98.3%), sought social support (86.0%), rely more on religion (98.8%), and reduced family investment (83.9%) to adjust the impact. CONCLUSION: The impact of CC on the family is evident at many levels. In particular, mean scores of financial burden, personal strain, social impact, and mastery domains of the IOF scale were significantly associated with the employment status of parents, residing place, treatment cost, type, and duration of cancer. The study findings could contribute to devising impact-reducing intervention programs in Bangladesh.

Risk factors for non-communicable diseases in Bangladesh: findings of the population-based cross-sectional national survey 2018.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the national prevalence of risk factors of non-communicable diseases (NCD) in the adult population of Bangladesh. DESIGN: The study was a population-based national cross-sectional study. SETTING: This study used 496 primary sampling units (PSUs) developed by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. The PSUs were equally allocated to each division and urban and rural stratum within each division. PARTICIPANTS: The participants were adults aged 18 to 69 years, who were usual residents of the households for at least 6 months and stayed the night before the survey. Out of 9900 participants, 8185 (82.7%) completed STEP-1 and STEP-2, and 7208 took part in STEP-3. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME: The prevalence of behavioural, physical and biochemical risk factors of NCD. Data were weighted to generate national estimates. RESULTS: Tobacco use was significantly (p<0.05) higher in the rural (45.2%) than the urban (38.8%) population. Inadequate fruit/vegetable intake was significantly (p<0.05) higher in the urban (92.1%) than in the rural (88.9%) population. The mean salt intake per day was higher in the rural (9.0 g) than urban (8.9 g) population. Among all, 3.0% had no, 70.9% had 1 to 2 and 26.2% had ≥3 NCD risk factors. The urban population was more likely to have insufficient physical activity (adjusted OR (AOR): 1.2, 95% CI: 1.2 to 1.2), obesity (AOR: 1.5, 95% CI: 1.5 to 1.5), hypertension (AOR: 1.3, 95% CI: 1.3 to 1.3), diabetes (AOR: 1.6, 95% CI: 1.6 to 1.6) and hyperglycaemia (AOR: 1.1, 95% CI: 1.1 to 1.1). CONCLUSIONS: Considering the high prevalence of the behavioural, physical and biochemical risk factors, diverse population and high-risk group targeted interventions are essential to combat the rising burden of NCDs.

Community clinics in Bangladesh: A unique example of public-private partnership.

BACKGROUND: Bangladesh has established more than 13,000 community clinics (CCs) to provide primary healthcare with a plan of each covering a population of around 6,000. The inception of CCs in the country has revolutionized the healthcare delivery to reach the doorstep of people. The provision of healthcare through CCs is truly participatory since the community people donate land for building infrastructure and also involve in management process. The study was conducted to assess pattern of public private partnership in healthcare delivery through participation of community people in establishment, management, monitoring and utilization of community clinics. METHODS: This quantitative study involving descriptive cross sectional design included 63 healthcare providers, 2,238 service-users and 3,285 community people as household members. Data were collected by face-to-face interview and reviewing records of CCs with the help of semi-structured questionnaire and checklist respectively. The public private partnership was assessed in this particular study by finding community participation in different activities of CCs. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Almost all (96.9%) CCs are located in easy-to-reach areas and have good infrastructure. Lands of all CCs are donated by the respective communities. The security of most of the CCs (93.7%) is maintained by community people. Cleanliness of the CCs is maintained by the cleaners or ayas who are appointed by local communities. Community Groups (CGs) of 88.9% and Community Support Groups (CSGs) of 96.8% CCs are found to be active. In most of the CCs (98.4%), monitoring is done by analysis of monthly reports. All CCs provide referral services for pregnant women. Health care delivery is found to be 'good' in more than three-fourths while health education service is 'good' in 96.7% of CCs. All CCs showed an increased trend in the utilization of services and conduction of normal child deliveries. Benefits of CCs as perceived by service users included free drugs (82.1%), free treatment (81.2%), easy access (76.3%), need-based health services (75.0%), and immunization services (68.6%). Almost all (99.0%) of the CC service users opined that CGs are involved in management of CC activities. CONCLUSION: In resource-poor settings of developing countries, public private partnership in primary healthcare delivery through community clinics may play crucial role in sustainable development of community health by providing quality health care. The study recommends public-private partnership for strengthening CCs including establishment, maintenance, utilization, monitoring and supply of essential drugs and logistics.