Knowledge of tuberculosis and self disclosure amongst patients accessing treatment in an urban Local Government Area, Lagos, south west Nigeria

Background: Disease-related stigma and knowledge of the disease by individual are believed to be associated with patients' willingness to seek and adhere to treatment. Increased morbidity and mortality of tuberculosis (TB) have been blamed on neglect of the human dimension of TB control. Assessing knowledge, self disclosure status and perceived stigma among TB patients would help to understand TB-related stigma as a social process and a better understanding of patients.Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out among newly diagnosed TB patients aged ≥18 years on treatment for at least four weeks. Consecutive enrollment was carried out in all the seven DOTS centers in Ikeja LGA.Patients were asked questions about TB knowledge, self- disclosure and level of perceived stigma. Knowledge scores were grouped as poor (1-11), fair (12-17) and good (18-22). A total of 309 patients were interviewed between January and September 2012.Results: Fifty-six percent of the patients were between 21 to 40 years with the male to female ratio of 1:1.13 while 45.3% and 51.5% had secondary school education and were married respectively. Thirty-two percent, 58% and 10% had poor, fair and good knowledge respectively. Majority (86%) of the patients have disclosed their status and treatment to family members with 39% disclosing to friends and associates. Regarding level of perceived stigma, 50% reported that having TB is an embarrassment to the family while 77% and 68% reported that TB patients should not share plates and sleep on the same bed with others respectively. Those with good knowledge and those that have retired from active service were more likely to selfdisclose to family members than others (p<0.05).Conclusion: Although perceived stigma and poor knowledge of TB was common among patients, most still disclosed status to family members. Health education of new patients on TB should be intensified.Keywords: TB, knowledge, selfdisclosure, stigm

Adolescents’ bullying and aggression tendencies at junior secondary school as predictors of delinquent behaviour: the mediating role of self-control

This study examined aggression and bullying acts as predictors of delinquent behaviour and the mediating role that self-control could play in the exhibition of the violent acts among junior secondary school students in Lagos, Nigeria. One hundred and fifty adolescents from three Junior Secondary Schools were selected through random and stratified sampling techniques with 25 male and 25 female from the co-educational school and 50 students from each of the two single sex schools selected for the study. The schools selected were one single sex (male), one single sex (female) and one co-educational, all are public schools at mainland local government area in Lagos State. Three null hypotheses were formulated on the basis of identified major independent variables. The results of the first hypothesis show that there is a significant influence of adolescents’ aggression and bullying on delinquent behaviour respectively among the participants with =4.04 and =3.90. The second hypothesis also revealed that self-control can play a significant role of influencing both the aggression and the bullying tendencies among adolescents having =4.18 as against =3.90. For the third hypothesis, a significant gender influence on the two independent variables among adolescents with (=1.94, =2.01) and (=2.63, =2.01) is inferred. The study clarifies aggression and bullying as predictive factors for delinquent behaviour later. It also predicted the impact self-control can make as a mediating factor. Thus, there is the need for an early intervention to help overcome the full blown societal risks of delinquent behaviour among adolescents.Keywords: Adolescent, Bullying, Aggression, delinquent behaviour, self-contro

UNDERSTANDING THE GENDER PREFERENCE ON THE MOTIVATION OF INFORMAL ENTREPRENEURS: THE SOUTHWEST, NIGERIA SCENARIO

The gain of entrepreneurial practice has been the alleviation of poverty along with the reduction of unemployment in every economy. Various studies have embarked on the practice of entrepreneurship intent amidst other needs but the scarcity in the line of motivation has been a dredge in the entrepreneurial literature. To this end, this study responds to the need to venture into more data on the gender preference on the informal entrepreneur participation using the electronics market in a developing nation for the study. The study employed the use of the gatekeeper to employ the quantitative technique, using T-test analysis to riddle the involved patterns of discussion in the selected electronics market, southwest Nigeria. The two-sample showed that 435 male participants were found to be socially motivated (M=3.8587 SD=0.63775) compared to the 109 female participants in the selected informal market (3.3965, SD=0.76449). From the study result, it was also posited that the involvement of informal entrepreneurship in the electronics market was not a gender-based effect but a social drive as needed which needed to be infused for sustainable development in the nation. The study clearly shows that there are lapses in gender-based comparison in informal entrepreneurship and thus a need to fill the ga

Data on strategic change on employees’ behavioural attitudeand firm performance of selected manufacturing firms in Nigeria

In today’s businessenvironment,organizationsmustcontinually and constantlyreinventthemselvestostayrelevantbecausethey conduct operationsinworkplacesthatarecharacterizedbysteady competition anderraticchange.Moststudiesshowthatorgani- zational improvementcannotoccurwithoutstrategicchanges directedtoyieldadifferenceinperformance.Thus,improving performance requirestheconsiderationofchange-relatedpolicies and individuals’ dispositions relevanttochange.Strategicchange as perceivedbymanyauthorsrequiresqualitativechangesandnot simple continuousandusualchanges.Strategicchangemustbe aligned tothemission,andpurposeofanorganization.Employees’ attitudes towardschangestronglyrelatestotheirattitudesabout their employerandchangesattheirorganizationbecauseorgani- zations continuallycommencenewprogramsoforganizational change, theseongoingandseeminglyendlesseffortsputalotof burden notonlyonorganizationsbutalsoonindividuals. Researchershighlightthechallengestostrategicchangeas;poor organizational managementandculture,increasedtechnology installation, organizationalstructure,strongcompetitionand employeeissues.Attitudestowardstrategicchangearethefeelings employeeshavetowarddifferentinternalpoliciesoftheorgani- zation. Manyinvestigationssuggestthatitisreasonabletoexpect employeestoreacttostrategicchangeeffortssincetheprocessof change involvesgoingfromtheknowntotheunknow

Data onimpactoftechnologicalchangeon employees'cognitiveattitudeandorganizational performance

Change isunavoidablefororganizationsjustasitisineverysphere of life.Whateverthereasonsare,organizationsneedtochange, keeping inmindtheendgoaltosurviveandtobesuccessful. Organizations operateinanenvironmentwhereglobalisationis the commonexpressionofthephenomenonthatisdrivingagreat dynamism inthebusinessenvironmentacrosstheworldandno business isimmunefromtheeffectsofthis “globalisation”. Com- petition, policymakingandadvancementintechnologyexistona day-to-daybasis(Hatch,2009)aswellasopportunitiesareno longer localisedwithinanation,regionorcontinent,everybusi- ness isnowcompetingwithcompetitorsallovertheworld.These forces areinconstantchangeandaffectalargenumberoforga- nizations, whichinvolvescreatingnewstrategiesandpoliciesin order fortheorganizationstosurviveandcompetewithinthe global businessworldandalsotoimproveorganizationalperfor- mance but,therearealsomanychallengesaswellastheintensi- fication ofcompetition.Theusageoftechnologydecidesthe qualityandnumberofproductsandservicestobedelivered. Organizational andnationalrestrictiveexecutionandimprove- ment arecontrolledbythestateandtypesoftechnology.Tech- nology likewiseimpactsthelivingstatesofindividualandgroups in organizationsandcountriesandtherelationshipbetweenthem. Technologyisinclinedtochange,andtheconditionoftechnology havedirectconnectiontotherelationshipbetweenthebusines

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries