Two Therapeutic Approaches to Creativity Motivation of Management Trainees: An Experiment in Nigeria

The purpose of the study is to investigate the effect of problem solving and cognitive restructuring approaches in improving the creativity motivation of management trainees through enhancing their individual creative behaviour. A 3 x 2 factorial design was adopted in this study. The sample of study consisted of 102 subjects randomly drawn from a stratum of management trainees undergoing Masters Program in Business Administration in three Universities in Ibadan, Nigeria. Three validated instruments were used for data collection before and after therapy. Analysis of covariance and t – test statistics were used to test the generated hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results obtained showed that both the creative problem-solving and cognitive restructuring techniques were effective in improving management trainees’ creative behaviour and consequently raising their level of creativity motivation. However, creative problem-solving technique was found to be significantly more effective than cognitive restructuring technique in raising subjects’ creativity motivation. The findings also indicated that the intervention strategies were effective in raising the creativity motivation of both Type A and Type B personality subjects. However, while problem-solving technique was more effective for Type B personality subjects, cognitive restructuring technique was found to have more effect in raising the level of creativity motivation of Type A subjects. Based on the outcome of the study, managers and researchers wishing to foster motivation for creativity in the organizations can do so, not only by paying attention to work environments that enhance creativity motivation, but also by trying to improve the creative behaviour of individuals at work using these or similar intervention measures

Patterns of Antenatal Care Seeking Behavior in South East Nigeria: Exploring Relationship with Age, Education, and Socioeconomic Status

Background: Maternal and infant morbidity and mortality are major public health problems in Nigeria. Although it is well-known that appropriate antenatal care (ANC) is important in reducing maternal morbidity and mortality, there is limited information on inequities on ANC seeking pattern among the pregnant women in Nigeria. Aim: The study was designed to explore inequities due to age, education, and socioeconomic status (SES) of women of childbearing age in seeking ANC services in Nigeria. Subjects and Methods: A household survey was conducted in 10 randomly selected villages in Nnewi, Anambra State, South-East Nigeria. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect relevant data from 420 women of childbearing age from the villages. The effects of age, education, SES, and ANC seeking behavior were analyzed. Results: It was found that 61.4% (254/420) of the respondents attended ANC clinic at least 6times. Although most of the respondents sought ANC in formal health, a greater percentage utilized private hospitals/clinics more than public health facilities. Age (P < 0.01), educational level (P < 0.001), and SES (P < 0.01) had statistically significant effects on respondents’ antenatal clinic attendance and choice of facilities. The highest SES group was more likely to utilize teaching hospitals and private clinics than other SES groups. Conclusions: There were inequities due to SES, educational level, and age of respondents in the pattern of ANC seeking behavior. These inequities could negate the achievement of millennium development goals (MDGs). Interventions that would address the inequities should be developed and implemented if the health-related MDGs are to be achieved.KEY WORDS: Antenatal care, health seeking behavior, inequities, Nigeria, women of childbearing ag

Mothers’ perception of recovery and satisfaction with patent medicine dealers’ treatment of childhood febrile conditions in rural communities

Background Infant mortality in rural areas of Nigeria can be minimized if childhood febrile conditions are treated by trained health personnel, deployed to primary healthcare centres (PHCs) rather than the observed preference of mothers for patent medicine dealers (PMDs). However, health service utilization/patronage is driven by consumer satisfaction and perception of services/product value. The objective of this study was to determine ‘mothers’ perception of recovery’ and ‘mothers’ satisfaction’ after PMD treatment of childhood febrile conditions, as likely drivers of mothers’ health-seeking behaviour, which must be targeted to reverse the trend. Methods Ugwuogo-Nike, in Enugu, Nigeria, has many PMDs/PHCs, and was selected based on high prevalence of childhood febrile conditions. In total, 385 consenting mothers (aged 15–45 years) were consecutively recruited at PMD shops, after purchasing drugs for childhood febrile conditions, in a cross-sectional observational study using a pre-tested instrument; 33 of them (aged 21–47 years) participated in focus group discussions (FGDs). Qualitative data were thematically analysed while a quantitative study was analysed with Z score and Chi square statistics, at p < 0.05. Results Most participants in FGDs perceived that their child had delayed recovery, but were satisfied with PMDs’ treatment of childhood febrile conditions, for reasons that included politeness, caring attitude, drug availability, easy accessibility, flexibility in pricing, shorter waiting time, their God-fearing nature, and disposition as good listeners. Mothers’ satisfaction with PMDs’ treatment is significantly (p < 0.05) associated with mothers’ perception of recovery of their child (χ2 = 192.94, df = 4; p < 0.0001; Cramer’s V = 0.7079). However, predicting mothers’ satisfaction with PMDs’ treatment from a knowledge of mothers’ perception of recovery shows a high accord (lambda[A from B] = 0.8727), unlike when predicting mothers’ perception of recovery based on knowledge of mothers’ satisfaction with PMDs’ treatment (lambda[A from B] = 0.4727). Conclusions Mothers’ satisfaction could be the key ‘driver’ of mothers’ health-seeking behaviour and is less likely to be influenced by mothers’ perception of recovery of their child. Therefore, mothers’ negative perception of their child’s recovery may not induce proportionate decline in mothers’ health-seeking behaviour (patronage of PMDs), which might be influenced mainly by mothers’ satisfaction with the positive attributes of PMDs’ personality/practice and sets an important agenda for PHC reforms

The case of the neonate vs LMIC medical academia - a jury style systematic review of 32 years of literature without significant mortality reduction

Introduction – The high neonatal mortality rate in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) such as Nigeria has lasted over thirty years to date with associated nursing fatigue. Despite the obvious hard work, technology improvements, and many publications being released from the country since 1990, the problem has persisted, perhaps, for lack of intervention scaleup. Could there be neglected discoveries unwittingly abandoned by Nigerian policymakers over the years, perhaps locked up in previous publications? A careful review may reveal these to alert policymakers, inspire researchers, and refocus in-country research efforts towards impactful direction for improved neonatal survival rate. The focus was to determine the prevailed effectiveness of LMIC medical academia in solution creation toward ending high neonatal mortality rate. Methods – An unconventional systematic review protocol structure along PRISMA 2020 checklist was designed and registered at INPLASY (registration number: INPLASY202380096, doi: 10.37766/inplasy2023.8.0096). A jury of paediatricians was assembled and observed by a team of legal professionals. The jury searched the literature from 1990 to end of 2022—extracted newborn-related articles about Nigeria, assessed, and debated these against expected solution-creation, translation, scale-up, sustainability and national coverage. Each juror used a preset criteria to produce a verdict on the possibility of a published novel idea being a potential game-changer for improving the survival rate of the Nigerian neonate. Results – Summation of the results showed that 19 out of 4,286 publications were assessed to possess the potential strategies or intervention to reduce neonatal mortality. Fourteen were fully developed but not appropriately scaled-up across the country, hence, denying neonates proper access to these interventions. Conclusion – Nigeria may already have the required game-changing ideas to strategically scale up across the nation to accelerate neonatal survival. Therefore, the LMIC healthcare systems may have to look inwards to strengthen what they already possess

A realist evaluation of student use of a virtual reality smartphone application in undergraduate legal education

This paper provides a realist evaluation of the Open Justice virtual reality (VR) smartphone app, designed to develop presentation skills for students on an undergraduate legal education module. This work addresses two research questions: what proportion of students engaged with the Open Justice app, and what worked for whom in what circumstances and why? Questionnaire and interviews were conducted and analysed using a realist evaluation approach. This approach is particularly pertinent to the evaluation of how emerging educational technologies are used, as it can point to the potential affordances of a technological intervention, in addition to assessing its current use. In keeping with the realist evaluation approach, data analysis was completed using the context–mechanism–outcome framework. The findings suggest that more than half of students did not engage with the app during their studies, but this was not surprising as it was a pilot project into using VR with our students and such innovations can be difficult to manage in distance education contexts. Those who did engage with it recognised the potential of immersive VR to contribute to legal skills development, but they found the application of the technology, in this context, to be of limited use. By utilising a realist evaluation framework, this study contributes to the emerging field of programme theory‐based evaluations of educational technology, which might form the basis of further research

Toxicity studies in rats fed nature cure bitters

Graded doses of Nature Cure Bitters (NCB) were administered daily (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg p.o) to rats for 28 days and the effects on body weight, organ weight, clinical signs, gross pathology, haematology, histology and serum biochemical parameters were evaluated. The relative weights of the heart, liver and testes of treated rats were unaffected in contrast to a significant increase in the relative weights of the lungs, kidneys and spleen. The packed cell volume and haemoglobin concentrations were significantly reduced whereas total leucocyte counts and glucose levels were remarkably increased. A significant decrease in alkaline phosphatase occurred in all the groups but alanine aminotransferase and albumin levels were significantly elevated. NCB elicited hypo-cholesterolaemic effects in addition to lowering urea, uric acid, BUN and total protein concentrations. Histological findings did not reveal any treatment-related effects. The calculated therapeutic index was >37.5. These preliminary results suggest that NCB was not likely to produce severe toxicological effects on organ weights, haematological and biochemical indices when given at normal therapeutic doses. Key Words: Nature Cure Bitters, organ weight; pathology, haematology; serum biochemistry. African Journal of Biotechnology Vol.4(1) 2005: 72-7

Type 2 diabetes, socioeconomic status and life expectancy in Scotland (2012-2014):a population-based observational study

Aims/hypothesis: The aim of this study was to assess the role of socioeconomic status (SES) in the associations between type 2 diabetes and life expectancy in a complete national population. Methods: An observational population-based cohort study was performed using the Scottish Care Information – Diabetes database. Age-specific life expectancy (stratified by SES) was calculated for all individuals with type 2 diabetes in the age range 40–89 during the period 2012–2014, and for the remaining population of Scotland aged 40–89 without type 2 diabetes. Differences in life expectancy between the two groups were calculated. Results: Results were based on 272,597 individuals with type 2 diabetes and 2.75 million people without type 2 diabetes (total for 2013, the middle calendar year of the study period). With the exception of deprived men aged 80–89, life expectancy in people with type 2 diabetes was significantly reduced (relative to the type 2 diabetes-free population) at all ages and levels of SES. Differences in life expectancy ranged from −5.5 years (95% CI −6.2, −4.8) for women aged 40–44 in the second most-deprived quintile of SES, to 0.1 years (95% CI −0.2, 0.4) for men aged 85–89 in the most-deprived quintile of SES. Observed life-expectancy deficits in those with type 2 diabetes were generally greater in women than in men. Conclusions/interpretation: Type 2 diabetes is associated with reduced life expectancy at almost all ages and levels of SES. Elimination of life-expectancy deficits in individuals with type 2 diabetes will require prevention and management strategies targeted at all social strata (not just deprived groups)

Identifying harmful drinking using a single screening question in a psychiatric consultation-liaison population.

Background: Harmful drinking is common in medical inpatients, yet commonly missed due in part to time pressures. A screening question about past year heavy drinking recommended by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has been validated in primary care and emergency room settings. We tested the psychometric properties of a modified single screening question (SSQ) in hospitalized patients referred to a consultation-liaison service. Methods: A psychiatry attending (n = 40), a psychiatry resident (n = 30) and a medical student (n = 30) administered the SSQ, followed by a self-report 10-item Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) to a sample of 100 consultation-liaison patients who were able to give informed consent for participation. Results: Using the AUDIT as a reference, the sensitivity and specificity of the SSQ to detect harmful drinking in this sample were .96 and .82, respectively. Gender differences in specificity were not found. The single question also had a strong correlation with dependence (r b = .457, p \u3c .001), and harmful use (r b = .620, p \u3c .001) subscales of the AUDIT. Conclusion: The SSQ about past year heavy drinking can rapidly identify harmful drinking in alert nonpsychotic consultation-liaison patients. © 2011 The Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine