Assessment of health literacy among migrant populations in Southern Spain: A cross-sectional study

Aim: The aim of this study was to measure of health literacy in the migrant population and establish a type of immigrant profile with a higher risk of presenting low levels of health literacy. Design: A cross-sectional descriptive study. Methods: Health literacy was measured in a total of 278 immigrants using HLSEU-Q16. An inferential descriptive and multiple regression analysis was carried out. Results: 65.1% having inadequate and problematic health literacy. Significant correlations were found between health literacy and length of stay in Spain (r = .398), age (r = .178p) and perceived social status (r = .151). Participants with shorter length of stay (β = .405 1), without health sciences education (β = .205) and low education level (β = .182) had limited health literacy.11 página

Effectiveness of a Multifactorial Intervention in the First 1000 Days of Life to Prevent Obesity and Overweight in Childhood: Study Protoco

(1) Background: Obesity is a global health problem, and its prevention must be a priority goal of public health, especially considering the seriousness of the problem among children. It is known that fetal and early postnatal environments may favor the appearance of obesity in later life. In recent years, the impact of the programs to prevent obesity in childhood has been scarce. The aim of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention based on the concept of early programming. (2) Methods: Non-randomized controlled trial design. Inclusion criteria are: two-year-old infants whose gestational period begins in the 14 months following the start of the intervention, and whose mothers have made the complete follow-up of their pregnancy in the same clinical unit of the study. The intervention will be developed over all the known factors that affect early programming, during pregnancy up to 2 years of life. Data will be collected through a data collection sheet by the paediatricians. A unibivariate and multivariate analysis of the data will be carried out. (3) Ethics and dissemination: The trial does not involve any risk to participants and their offspring. Signed informed consent is obtained from all participants. Ethical approval has been obtained. (4) Results: It is expected that this study will provide evidence on the importance of the prevention of obesity from the critical period of the first 1000 days of life, being able to establish this as a standard intervention in primary care

Health Literacy, Misinformation, Self-Perceived Risk and Fear, and Preventive Measures Related to COVID-19 in Spanish University Students

The "infodemic" is one of the main obstacles in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to face it, health literacy (HL) is essential since it allows for knowledge about COVID-19 and the practice of preventive measures to be fostered. This is especially relevant in university students due to their idiosyncrasy. This study aims to evaluate the level of HL related to COVID-19 (HLC), risk perception, misinformation, and the attitudes and behaviors adopted to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Spanish university students. An online questionnaire was administered to 499 Spanish university students. The HLC index presented a mean of 33.89 out of 50; a total of 63.8% had an inadequate level of HLC. They practiced a mean of 7.54 out of 9 preventive behaviors, and the mean knowledge score was 10.40 out of 13. The HLC showed significantly different scores for the degree, the practice of preventive measures, and some sources of information. The level of HL correlates with the adoption of preventive measures. The higher the severity and perceived susceptibility, the more preventive measures are taken by the students. Therefore, there is a need to strengthen the HL skills of university students and address the dissemination of misinformation. Although caution should be taken when generalizing these results due to the limitations inherent within a cross-sectional study and the convenience sampling, our results can guide the establishment of health education strategies and policies for the management of the infodemic in pandemic situations, according to this target population

Measuring COVID-19 health literacy: validation of the COVID-19 HL questionnaire in Spain

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of health literacy to make informed preventive decisions. A specifc COVID-19 health literacy questionnaire (CHL-Q) is included in the COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring WHO initiative to conduct behavioral insights studies related to COVID-19. The objective was to assess the psychometric properties of a Spanish version of the COVID-19 Health Literacy Questionnaire (CHL-Q). Methods: Data quality, acceptability, internal consistency, and construct and structural validity were analyzed. A Rasch analysis was also performed. This cross-sectional, observational study was conducted on the Spanish general population after the frst wave of the pandemic and after the end of the general lockdown by an online survey agency. 1033 participants (inclusion criteria were being 18 years or older and living in Spain), was extracted from a panel of approximately 982,000 participants. The sampling was stratifed matching the Spanish general population in terms of age, gender, and area of residence. The CHL-Q includes 9 items and assesses people’s knowledge, motivation and competencies to access, understand, evaluate, and apply information about COVID-19 in order to make informed decisions. Results: CHL-Q index presented a mean of 33.89 (SD=9.4), and good ft to the Rasch model (χ2(32)=34.672, p=0.342, person separation index=0.77), with ordered thresholds, unidimensionality, item local independence, and no item bias by sex, age or education level. The CHL-Q showed signifcant diferent scores by level of education, experience of infection, confusion related to COVID-19 information and adherence to preventive measures. We found a statistically signifcant correlation between the CHL-Q index and the total number of preventive measures adopted, COVID-19 knowledge, and information seeking behaviour. The Cronbach´s alpha was 0.87 and the item total corrected correlation, 0.49–0.68. Conclusions: The Spanish version of CHL-Q is a short, adequate, and reliable instrument to measure COVID-19 related health literacy in the Spanish general population. Measuring the CHL in the population can be useful to evaluate whether public authorities, media and the medical and scientifc community have been able to reach the population to ofer the information in the terms they need it.This work was supported by Carlos III Health Institute.S

Perceptions and experiences of access to health services and their utilization among the immigrant population

Objetivo: Identificar y describir las necesidades y los problemas percibidos por la población inmigrante en relación con el acceso y la utilización de los servicios de salud. Método: Estudio cualitativo descriptivo de orientación fenomenológica mediante grupos focales. El ámbito de estudio fue la comarca del Campo de Gibraltar, puerta de entrada a Europa para la inmigración procedente de África. La saturación teórica determinó el tamaño final de la muestra (51 inmigrantes de 11 nacionalidades). Se llevó a cabo un análisis narrativo del contenido con el software informático QSR NVivo9. Resultados: Los discursos muestran cuatro categorías de análisis: respuesta ante un problema de salud, acceso al sistema, conocimiento de recursos sociosanitarios y necesidades de alfabetización en salud. Las respuestas desplegadas ante los problemas de salud y la forma de acceder al sistema sanitario son distintas en función de algunas características sociodemográficas (nacionalidad/cultura de origen, tiempo de estancia y estatus económico). En general utilizan principalmente la asistencia sanitaria a demanda cuando presentan problemas de salud, y quedan relegados los servicios de promoción y prevención de la salud. Las necesidades de alfabetización en salud detectadas se relacionan sobre todo con el dominio del idioma y el funcionamiento del sistema sanitario. Conclusiones: Es necesario fomentar intervenciones destinadas a potenciar la alfabetización en salud de la población inmigrante, que atiendan a la diversidad, tengan en cuenta el tiempo de estancia y partan de una metodología de acción-participación.Objective: To identify and describe the needs and problems of the immigrant population related to access and utilization of health services. Method: A descriptive, qualitative, phenomenological study was conducted using focus groups. The study area was the county of Campo de Gibraltar (Spain), which represents the gateway to Europe for immigration from Africa. The final sample size (51 immigrants from 11 countries) was determined by theoretical saturation. A narrative analysis was conducted with QSR NVivo9 software. Results: Immigrants’ discourse showed four categories of analysis: response to a health problem, system access, knowledge of social and health resources, and health literacy needs. Responses to health problems and the route of access to the health care system differed according to some sociodemographic characteristics (nationality/culture of origin, length of residence, and economic status). In general, immigrants primarily used emergency services, hampering health promotion and prevention. The health literacy needs identified concerned language proficiency and the functioning of the health system. Conclusions: There is a need to promote interventions to enhance health literacy among immigrants. These interventions should take into account diversity and length of residence, and should be based on an action-participation methodology

Self-management in heart failure using mHealth: A content validation.

AIM: To describe the development of a mobile health application -mICardiApp- designed by a multidisciplinary professional team and patients with heart failure and to evaluate its content validity. METHODS: Critical reviews of the literature, semi-structured interviews with patients, and user stories guided the development of the content of the mobile application. These contents were refined and validated through a modified Delphi process. An expert panel of healthcare and social care professionals together with patients and academics evaluated the content through two content validity indicators, relevance, and adequacy, and provided narrative feedback. The content validity of the app and each screen was determined by calculating the Content Validity Index (CVI). Similarly, the Adequacy Index (AI) was analyzed. RESULTS: The developed app is composed by 8 topics: (1) available resources, (2) cardiac rehabilitation, (3) control of signs and symptoms, (4) emotional support, (5) learning and having fun, (6) medication, (7) nutrition, and (8) physical activity. The results demonstrated high CVI of the screens and the full app. 57 of the 59 screens in the app reached an excellent CVI≥0.70 for both relevance and adequacy, except for 2 screens. The CVI Average Method of the app was 0.851. CONCLUSIONS: mICardiApp is presented as an application to improve health literacy and self-management of patients with multimorbidity and heart failure, with proven validation

Enhanced Organic Electrochemical Transistor Performance of Donor–Acceptor Conjugated Polymers Modified with Hybrid Glycol/Ionic Side Chains by Postpolymerization Modification

[Abstract] Emergent bioelectronic technologies are underpinned by the organic electrochemical transistor (OECT), which employs an electrolyte medium to modulate the conductivity of its organic semiconductor channel. Here we utilize postpolymerization modification (PPM) on a conjugated polymer backbone to directly introduce glycolated or anionic side chains via fluoride displacement. The resulting polymers demonstrated increased volumetric capacitances, with subdued swelling, compared to their parent polymer in p-type enhancement mode OECTs. This increase in capacitance was attributed to their modified side chain configurations enabling cationic charge compensation for thin film electrochemical oxidation, as deduced from electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance measurements. An overall improvement in OECT performance was recorded for the hybrid glycol/ionic polymer compared to the parent, owing to its low swelling and bimodal crystalline orientation as imaged by grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering, enabling its high charge mobility at 1.02 cm2·V–1·s–1. Compromised device performance was recorded for the fully glycolated derivative compared to the parent, which was linked to its limited face-on stacking, which hindered OECT charge mobility at 0.26 cm2·V–1·s–1, despite its high capacitance. These results highlight the effectiveness of anionic side chain attachment by PPM as a means of increasing the volumetric capacitance of p-type conjugated polymers for OECTs, while retaining solid-state macromolecular properties that facilitate hole transport.Reino Unido. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council; EP/T028513/1República de Corea. Global Research Laboratory program; NRF-2017K1A1A2013153República de Corea. National Research Foundation of Korea; RF-2021R1A2C101301511 569República de Corea. National Research Foundation of Korea; 2021R1A2C1013015República de Corea. National Research Foundation of Korea; 2018M3A7B4070988República de Corea. National Research Foundation of Korea; 2021R1A4A102292

Needs of patients with multi-morbidity and heart failure for the development of a mHealth to improve their self-management: A qualitative analysis

Objective: To provide practical information regarding needs, preferences of content and format of an app to assist the self-management in patients with multi-morbidity and heart failure (HF). Methods: The three-phase study was conducted in Spain. Six integrative reviews, a qualitative methodology based on Van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenology through semi-structured interviews and user stories were used. Data collection continued until data saturation was reached. All data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using a framework approach. Thematic analysis technique following the methods of Braun and Clarke was used for emerging themes. Results: Integrative reviews conducted included practical recommendations to include in the content and format of the App and helped create the interview guide. Interviews revealed 15 subthemes that captured the meaning of narratives offering contextual insights into the development of the App. The main effective mechanisms of multicomponent interventions for patients with HF must contain (a) components that increase the patient's understanding of HF, (b) self-care, (c) self-efficacy and participation of the family/informal caregiver, (4) psychosocial well-being and (5) professional support and use of technology. User stories revealed that patients prioritized improvements in direct contact with health services in case of emergency (90%), nutritional information (70%), type of exercises in order to improve their physical condition (75%) and information about food and drug interaction (60%). The importance of motivation messages (60%) was highlighted by transversal way. Conclusions: The three-phase process integrating theoretical basis, evidence from integrative reviews and research findings from target users has been considered a guide for future app development17 página

Search for new particles in events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search is presented for new particles produced at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, using events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb(-1), collected in 2017-2018 with the CMS detector. Machine learning techniques are used to define separate categories for events with narrow jets from initial-state radiation and events with large-radius jets consistent with a hadronic decay of a W or Z boson. A statistical combination is made with an earlier search based on a data sample of 36 fb(-1), collected in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed with respect to the standard model background expectation determined from control samples in data. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on the branching fraction of an invisible decay of the Higgs boson, as well as constraints on simplified models of dark matter, on first-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying to quarks and neutrinos, and on models with large extra dimensions. Several of the new limits, specifically for spin-1 dark matter mediators, pseudoscalar mediators, colored mediators, and leptoquarks, are the most restrictive to date.Peer reviewe