[First Senior Citizens University in Turkey-Empirical findings on the personal benefits of the programmes from the participants' perspective]. / Erste Seniorenuniversität in der Türkei ­ Empirische Befunde zum persönlichen Nutzen der Angebote aus der Perspektive der Teilnehmer/-innen.

The article reports on the evaluation of the programmes offered by the "60+Tazelenme Üniversitesi" (University of Antalya's Senior Citizens' University) from the users' perspective. 174 users (from a population of 6000 people) evaluated in a differentiated according to 18 characteristics their expectations of the programme before enrolling in the four-semester study programme and the personal benefits of the programme after completing it. The results show a highly differentiated picture of the benefits realized with regard to areas of competence and quality of life. The empirical study is placed in the broader context of geragogics and universities of the third age.

Designing ergonomic toilets and bathrooms for older adults: A study on anthropometric dimensions and recommendations.

AIMS: This study aimed to evaluate the ergonomic design of toilets and bathroom equipment for older adults using anthropometric measurements. DESIGN: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. METHODS: Data were collected from 2,721 people aged ≥ 65 years in Turkey. Fourteen anthropometric measurements were evaluated. Body dimension characteristics were described using minimum, maximum, and arithmetic means and standard deviations and the 5th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 95th percentiles. RESULTS: The measurements showed that companies generally do not design bathroom toilet equipment that is suitable for older adults. CONCLUSION: This study provides advice to designers and manufacturers on how to adapt their products to the bathroom according to users' body characteristics in order to increase person-environment fit for older people.

Burnout in primary healthcare physicians and nurses in Turkey during COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Due to additional responsibilities and uncertainties during the COVID-19 pandemic, primary healthcare (PHC) workers are at increased risk of burnout. AIM: To determine and compare the burnout levels and related factors in PHC nurses and family physicians (FPs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: An online survey was delivered to PHC workers. Non-random sampling method was used. To evaluate burnout, the Maslach Burnout Inventory was used, which investigates burnout in three categories: emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP) and reduced personal accomplishment (PA). Multivariate linear regression was used to analyze factors associated with burnout for FPs and nurses separately. FINDINGS: Among the participants, 55.7% were nurses, the mean age was 42.34. FPs and nurses experienced similar levels of burnout in terms of EE. Family physicians had higher levels of low PA and DP. Based on the results of the multivariate analysis, while higher EE levels were significantly associated with unequal distribution of workload and communication problems within the Family Health Center for physicians, the unequal distribution of PPE, lack of appreciation by patients or colleagues and restrictions on work-related rights were relevant factors for nurses. Lack of appreciation and restrictions of the rights were associated with increased DP scores in both groups. Unequal distribution of workload was also associated with reduced PA among FPs. CONCLUSION: PHC physicians and nurses are affected by burnout in different ways under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic based on gender, socioeconomic status and working conditions. To protect the mental health of PHC workers in the next public health emergency, clarification in the organization of services, empowering PHC workers in emergency risk communication and provision of timely, adequate and free PPE is essential. It is also crucial to ensure the rights of health workers through macro policy changes especially during emergencies.

Refugees re-making community: on the performativity of participatory video.

This paper illustrates the performative nature of participatory video (PV), drawing on JL Austin's well-known work on speech acts, utterances, and performative sentences, as well as Butler's reworking and application of the notion of performativity. During recent research I used PV as a method. Sub-Saharan African refugee research participants who had not known each other before the PV project negotiated issues to be filmed and made a short film together, creating a small community where none existed before, who are taking steps to organize collective action. The emergence of this new community in and through the making of the film during the fieldwork illustrates the performativity of PV, what is accomplished in and through its making. This performativity works not only through people who take part in creating a video, distributing the video, and watching the video, but also may have effects on people who have never seen the given video, as they are in a landscape and embedded in social relations affected by people who took part in it or saw it. PV is thus both a way of gathering data to learn about the world, and it also is involved in changing it, bringing forth new relationships and new ways of being.

Determination of Workload, Work Stress and Related Factors in Nursing Home Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Turkey.

COVID-19 has caused a major crisis all over the world. To manage this crisis, a fixed shift system was applied to nursing home staff in Turkey to protect nursing home residents from the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff were not allowed to leave the institution during fixed shifts. It is thought that this practice for the COVID-19 outbreak, while protecting nursing home residents on the one hand, increased the workload and related stress of nursing home staff on the other hand. To the best of our knowledge, there is no study examining the workload and stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic for nursing home staff in Turkey. The aim of this study was to examine the level of workload and work stress experienced by staff working in nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey. METHODS: A cross-sectional research design was used in the study. The sample of the study consisted of nursing home personnel working in nursing homes in the provinces of Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Antalya between October 2021 and January 2022. A personal information form and a workload and stress scale were used for collecting the data. Cluster analysis was performed with SPSS software. RESULTS: In total, 154 nursing home personnel participated in the study. A statistically significant difference was found between the mean age of the two clusters. The first cluster was described as "old" and the second as "young". Statistically significant and high values were found in the quantitative workload, qualitative workload, job organization, social work area and fatigue factors in the nursing home staff in the older participant cluster. CONCLUSION: The results of this study provide new information about the concepts of workload and work stress experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey, which will serve as a guide for the management of future pandemics. Therefore, this study will contribute to the strategies to be followed in future pandemics in Turkey.

Healthcare-Associated Infections in Pediatric Intensive Care Units in Turkey: a National Point-Prevalence Survey.

Health care-associated infections (HCAIs) cause considerable morbidity and mortality in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs). The objective of this point prevalence study was to assess the burden of HCAIs in PICUs in Turkey. Fifty PICUs participated in this study. Data regarding demographics, microbiological findings, therapeutic interventions, and outcomes were collected for all PICU inpatients. A total of 327 patients participated in the study: 122 (37%) experienced 1 or more HCAI. The most frequently reported site of infection was lower respiratory tract (n=77, 63%). The most frequently isolated pathogens were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter species, and Candida species. Two hundred and forty-seven patients (75%) were receiving antimicrobial therapy at the time of the survey, and the most frequently administered antimicrobials were third generation cephalosporins. Hospital type, male, PICU stay >7 days, and mechanical ventilation were found to be independent risk factors for HCAIs. At the 4-week follow up, 43 (13%) patients had died, 28 (65%) of whom died of HCAIs. Endotracheal intubation, urinary catheter, male, and HCAIs were independent risk factors for mortality. This national, multicenter study documented a high prevalence of HCAIs in Turkey. In light of the 'primum non nocere' principle, the prevention of these infections should be a priority of public health policy.

Crystalline-like keratopathy after intravenous immunoglobulin therapy with incomplete kawasaki disease: case report and literature review.

A 7-year-old girl had presented with high body temperature and joint pain which continued for 3 days. Because of the prolonged history of unexplained fever, rash, bilateral nonpurulent conjunctival injection, oropharyngeal erythema, strawberry tongue, and extreme of age, incomplete Kawasaki disease was considered and started on an intravenous immunoglobulin infusion. Six days after this treatment, patient was referred to eye clinic with decreased vision and photophobia. Visual acuity was reduced to 20/40 in both eyes. Slit-lamp examination revealed bilateral diffuse corneal punctate epitheliopathy and anterior stromal haze. Corneal epitheliopathy seemed like crystal deposits. One day after presentation, mild anterior uveitis was added to clinical picture. All ocular findings disappeared in one week with topical steroid and unpreserved artificial tear drops. We present a case who was diagnosed as incomplete Kawasaki disease along with bilateral diffuse crystalline-like keratopathy. We supposed that unusual ocular presentation may be associated with intravenous immunoglobulin treatment.

Fatal encephalitis associated with novel influenza A (H1N1) virus infection in a child.

A 4-year-old girl presented with fever, coughing, and vomiting; followed by unconsciousness. Magnetic resonance imaging showed hyperintense changes in the thalami bilaterally, brain stem, cerebellum, and subcortical cortex. Novel influenza A (H1N1) virus was identified by polymerase chain reaction in patient's nasopharyngeal swab specimen. We reported a rare case of clinically severe, novel influenza A-associated encephalitis. Novel influenza A should be considered in the differential diagnosis in patients with seizures and mental status changes, especially during an influenza outbreak.

Clinical and epidemiological features of Turkish children with 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) infection: experience from multiple tertiary paediatric centres in Turkey.

BACKGROUND: In April 2009 a novel strain of human influenza A, identified as H1N1 virus, rapidly spread worldwide, and in early June 2009 the World Health Organization raised the pandemic alert level to phase 6. Herein we present the largest series of children who were hospitalized due to pandemic H1N1 infection in Turkey. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective multicentre analysis of case records involving children hospitalized with influenza-like illness, in whom 2009 H1N1 influenza was diagnosed by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assay, at 17 different tertiary hospitals. RESULTS: A total of 821 children with 2009 pandemic H1N1 were hospitalized. The majority of admitted children (56.9%) were younger than 5 y of age. Three hundred and seventy-six children (45.8%) had 1 or more pre-existing conditions. Respiratory complications including wheezing, pneumonia, pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum, and hypoxemia were seen in 272 (33.2%) children. Ninety of the patients (11.0%) were admitted or transferred to the paediatric intensive care units (PICU) and 52 (6.3%) received mechanical ventilation. Thirty-five children (4.3%) died. The mortality rate did not differ between age groups. Of the patients who died, 25.7% were healthy before the H1N1 virus infection. However, the death rate was significantly higher in patients with malignancy, chronic neurological disease, immunosuppressive therapy, at least 1 pre-existing condition, and respiratory complications. The most common causes of mortality were pneumonia and sepsis. CONCLUSIONS: In Turkey, 2009 H1N1 infection caused high mortality and PICU admission due to severe respiratory illness and complications, especially in children with an underlying condition.

Parents' perspectives to childhood fever: comparison of culturally diverse populations.

AIM: To reveal the perceptions, knowledge and practices of our parents regarding children's fever and to discuss the differences between other populations. METHODS: Parents of 200 febrile children aged 0-16 years were interviewed between October and November 2007 in the Pediatric Emergency Department at Dr Sami Ulus Children's Health and Diseases Training and Research Hospital. Questions about socio-demographical data, children's previous history about fever, parental beliefs and practices concerning fever were asked. RESULTS: Of the parents, 56.5% stated that fever could be determined by touching the forehead. Of the parents, 43.5% determined children's fever by using thermometer. Only 27.5% of parents knew the correct temperature for fever. Mercury-in-glass thermometer was the preferred one to measure children's fever. The preferred route of measuring temperature was the axillary site. Maternal educational level was significantly associated with knowledge on correct definition of fever and proper use of thermometer (P < 0.05) in accordance with the literature. If fever was untreated, of the parents, 84% believed febrile convulsions occur and 10.5% believed brain damage occur if fever was untreated. Parental age, parental educational status, parental knowledge about fever, median number of children in family and children's previous febrile convulsion history did not significantly effect parents' interventions and beliefs about fever (P > 0.05), corroborating the findings of studies from different populations. CONCLUSION: Parental education about 'fever in childhood' in our population may positively effect parental knowledge and approach to fever. However, parental education may not be effective in removing parental fear of fever in our population.