Organizational culture as correlate of teachers’ job performance and attitude to work in secondary schools in Anambra State Nigeria

The study investigated organizational culture as correlate of teachers’ job performance and attitude to work in secondary schools in Anambra State, Nigeria. Five research questions guided the study and six null hypotheses were tested. The study adopted correlational survey research design. The population of the study comprised all the 6396 teachers in public secondary schools in the state. Out of the population, a sample size of 1279 teachers was drawn through proportionate stratified random sampling techniques. Data was collected using three different questionnaires developed by the researchers. The questionnaires include school organizational culture questionnaire (SOCQ), Teachers’ job performance questionnaire (TJPQ) and Teachers’ attitude to work questionnaire (TAWQ). The instruments were validated by three experts from Faculty of Education Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka. Cronbach Alpha method was used to determine the reliability of the instruments which yielded a reliability coefficient of .959, .957 and 0.701 respectively. The reliability indices were considered high enough and thus the instruments were deemed reliable. Data collection was done by the researchers with the help of ten research assistants. Aggregate score was used to answer research questions 1 to 3 while Pearson r was used to answer research questions 4 and 5 and critical probability table of Pearson r was used to take decision on the six null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings showed among others that: teachers rated their school organizational culture to be good; teachers’ job performance is good and teachers have positive attitude to their work. Also, it was found that there is no significant relationship between school organization culture and teachers’ job performance; and no significant relationship between school organizational culture and teachers’ attitude to work. Based on the findings it was recommended that: School management and management of Anambra State post primary school service Commission should ensure improvement in secondary school culture in order that all the teachers would rate their school culture to be good without some rating it to be poor. It was also recommended that in- service training be organized for secondary school teachers through seminars, workshops and advance learning in order to ensure that all of the teachers have good job performance and positive attitude to work. Keywords: Correlate, Organizational Culture, Teachers, Job Performance and Attitude to Wor

Risk-factor profile and comorbidities in 2398 patients with newly diagnosed hypertension from the Abuja heart study

Risk factors, comorbidities, and end-organ damage in newly diagnosed hypertension (HT) are poorly described in larger cohorts of urban African patients undergoing epidemiological transition.We therefore decided to characterize a large cohort of hypertensive subjects presenting to a tertiary health center in sub-Saharan Africa. It is an observational cross-sectional study. We prospectively collected detailed clinical, biochemical, electrocardiography, and echocardiography data of all subjects with HT as the primary diagnosis in patients presenting at the Cardiology Unit of the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital over an 8-year period. Of 2398 subjects, 1187 patients (49.4%) were female with a mean age of 51±12.8 years. Presenting symptoms and signs were most commonly palpitation in 691 (28.8%) followed by dyspnoea on exertion in 541 (22.6%), orthopnea in 532 (22.2%), pedal oedema in 468 (19.5%), paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnoea in 332 (13.8%), whereas only 31 (1.3%) presented with chest pain. Risk factors were obesity in 671 (28%); 523 (21.8%) had total cholesterol >5.2 mmol/L, diabetes mellitus was present in 201 (8.4%) and 187 (7.8%) were smokers. End-organ damage was present in form of echocardiographic left ventricular hypertrophy in 1336 (55.7%) followed by heart failure in 542 (22.6%). Arrhythmias occurred in 110 (4.6%) of cases, cerebrovascular accident in 103 (4.3%), chronic kidney disease in 26 (1.1%), hypertensive encephalopathy in 10 (0.4%), and coronary artery disease in 6 (0.26%). There were marked differences in sex as women were more obese and men presented with more advanced disease. The burden of HT and its complications in this carefully characterized African cohort is quite enormous with more than three-fourth having one form of complication. The need of effective primary and secondary preventive measures to be mapped out to tackle this problem cannot be overemphasized

Fixed‐dose combination therapy‐based protocol compared with free pill combination protocol: Results of a cluster randomized trial

Abstract Fixed‐dose combination (FDC) therapy is recommended for hypertension management in Nigeria based on randomized trials at the individual level. This cluster‐randomized trial evaluates effectiveness and safety of a treatment protocol that used two‐drug FDC therapy as the second and third steps for hypertension control compared with a protocol that used free pill combinations. From January 2021 to June 2021, 60 primary healthcare centers in the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria were randomized to a protocol using FDC therapy as second and third steps compared with a protocol that used the same medications in free pill combination therapy for these steps. Eligible patients were adults (≥18 years) with hypertension. The primary outcome was the odds of a patient being controlled at their last visit between baseline to 6‐month follow‐up in the FDC group compared to the free pill group. 4427 patients (mean [SD] age: 49.0 [12.4] years, 70.5% female) were registered with mean (SD) baseline systolic/diastolic blood pressure 155 (20.6)/96 (13.1) mm Hg. Baseline characteristics of groups were similar. After 6‐months, hypertension control rate improved in the two treatment protocols, but there were no differences between the groups after adjustment (FDC = 53.9% versus free pill combination = 47.9%, cluster‐adjusted p = .29). Adverse events were similarly low (<1%) in both groups. Both protocols improved hypertension control rates at 6‐months in comparison to baseline, though no differences were observed between groups. Further work is needed to determine if upfront FDC therapy is more effective and efficient to improve hypertension control rates