Social capital, trust in health information, and acceptance of Measles-Rubella vaccination campaign in Tamil Nadu: A case-control study.

Background: Parents' decision about vaccination of children is influenced by social relationships and sources of information. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of social capital and trust in health information on the status of Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccination campaign in Tamil Nadu. Materials and Methods: This was a case-control study carried out in Kancheepuram district in Tamil Nadu where the MR vaccination campaign offered by Government of Tamil Nadu had poor acceptance. Cases were parents of children who had refused the MR vaccine and controls were parents having children in the same age group who had accepted the vaccine. Data on social capital and trust in health information were collected by using social capital scale developed by the researchers and trust in the source of information was measured by using simple questions on the level of trust in the information source. Results: Nonadministration of MR vaccine was high among young parents and parents of younger children. Vaccine acceptance was higher when it was offered at school (P < 0.000) and also among parents who trusted school teachers (P < 0.003) and other school children (P < 0.014) as source of information. MR vaccine acceptance was less among parents who trusted social media and WhatsApp information. Greater levels of health-related physical social capital led to greater vaccine hesitancy. Multivariate analysis revealed that greater the age of the child, better parental attitudes toward vaccination, poorer health-related physical social capital, and greater trust in health information provided by school teachers led to overall greater acceptance of the MR vaccine. Conclusion: Strong homogeneous bonding social capital had a negative influence on MR vaccine acceptance. Schools and school teachers played a vital role in influencing parental decision to vaccinate.

Patient-physician trust among adults of rural Tamil Nadu: a community-based survey.

BACKGROUND: Trust is the acceptance of a vulnerable situation in which the truster believes that the trustee will act in the truster's best interests. The cornerstone of the patient-physician relationship is "trust". Despite the intensity and importance of trust relationship of patients toward their physician, the phenomenon is rarely studied in developing countries. OBJECTIVE: Our study aimed to explore the concept of patient-physician trust among adults of rural Tamil Nadu to assess the factors affecting patient-physician trust relationship and patient satisfaction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive household survey was carried out on 112 individuals selected by a multistage random sampling method. Men and women aged above 40 years who have visited a health care service at least once during the last 5 years were included in the study. Thom et al's modification of the Anderson and Dedrick Physician Trust scale was used to measure patient trust in physician. RESULTS: Trust is a one-dimensional construct in the surveyed population as revealed by an exploratory factor analysis which extracted one component explaining 50% of the overall variance. Trust influences patient's self-reported satisfaction (ß coefficient of 0.048; P < 0.001) and remains independent of all the other factors assessed in the study such as, age, gender, education, self-reported health status, time spent with the physician, physician's gender, physician's age, and medical specialty that the physician belongs to. Physician's gender, physician's age, self-reported health status, and time spent with the physician were significantly associated with satisfaction with the physician. CONCLUSION: Trust in physicians seems to not depend on any of the assessed factors and largely seems to be implicit in the physician-patient relationship. Trust in physician is associated with patient satisfaction. Further studies are needed to assess trust in physicians in developing country settings.

An investigation of risk factors associated with tooth surface loss: a pilot study.

Few prospective studies have investigated risk factors associated with severe tooth surface loss. This case-control study assessed the possible association between medical history, diet, psychological profile and salivary pH and flow [Delongis 1982, Johansson 1993] with the incidence of severe tooth surface loss. A total of 80 subjects (40 cases and 40 age- and gender-matched controls) aged 25-85 years were recruited. Cases were subjects with severe tooth surface loss, and controls with mild tooth surface loss. Conditional logistic regression analysis estimated the odds of severe tooth surface loss to be 15·4 times higher for those with cardiovascular disease and 16 times for gastrointestinal disturbances. Most domains of the psychological profile were associated with elevated risk of severe tooth surface loss, particularly the effects of finance and health. Recreational drug use and prescription medications were also associated with severe tooth surface loss. There was no association between salivary flow and severe tooth surface loss. Although not statistically significant, the pH was slightly lower in the severe tooth surface loss group.