Prevention and control of mosquito-borne arboviral diseases: lessons learned from a school-based intervention in Brazil (Zikamob)

© 2022 The Authors. Published by BMC. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12554-wBackground: Since the 1980s, when dengue was reintroduced in Brazil, outbreaks and epidemics caused by different arbovirus strains transmitted by vector mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti have been an annual occurrence. The aim of this study was to evaluate the behavioural change of high school students and teachers who participated in an educational intervention for the prevention and vector control of arboviral diseases. Methods: In this school-based intervention, a self-reported questionnaire was used in a pre-post intervention methodology to assess environmental risk factors, sociodemographic variables and to measure attitudes and behaviours. In all, 883 high school students and teachers from the city of Campina Grande, in the state of Paraíba, northeastern Brazil, participated. The e-health intervention consisted of a competition between schools to comply with preventive actions via content production for social networks, and the monitoring was performed over a period of three months through the ZikaMob software developed by the researchers. Results: Out of the 883 survey participants, 690 were students ranging in age from 14 to 41 years, with an average of 17 ± 2 years; and 193 were teachers from 22 to 64 years old, averaging 38 ± 9 years. The analysis of the data shows that significant differences in most of the target behaviours were apparent after the intervention, with an increase of about 10% in the performance of inspection actions; a 7% greater separation of recyclables and a 40% increase in the screening of windows among students. Students showed lower fear of, and a lower self-perception of the risk of, acquiring arboviruses than teachers on average. Conclusions: ZikaMob is an innovative strategy with the potential to be replicated in any location that has an internet network and can involve an unlimited number of participants.This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) (Finance Code 001), Universidade Estadual da Paraíba (UEPB), Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa do Estado da Paraíba (FAPESQ) (Grant 02/2017), British Council Newton Fund Institutional Links (Grant 274560199).Accepted versio

Development and validation of an evaluation scale for audiovisual production for health interventions - ZIKAMOB

© 2022 The Authors. Published by The Canadian Center of Science and Education. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/gjhs/article/view/0/47625According to the World Health Organization, intervention actions and Health Education achieve better performance when based on Behavior Change Theories associated with new technologies. This work aimed to build and validate an Audiovisual Production Assessment Scale (APAS) for use in educational interventions. One hundred videos of up to 90 seconds in length, produced by high school students from Northeast Brazil, were analyzed. The APAS contains twenty statements, grouped into five sections, some of which are based on the Social Cognitive Theory (observational learning; facilitators) and others, such as the halo effect and cognitive comfort, were proposed by Daniel Kahneman. It was found that, of the twenty statements, 15 of them had no significant difference between different evaluators; having obtained a value of 0.941 for Cronbach's Alpha, showing excellent internal reliability of the APAS. On average, 22 (33.8%) videos received a score greater than 60 points, indicating that they have the potential to significantly contribute to population behavior change in relation to the prevention of mosquito-borne arboviruses; 28 (41.3%) contribute satisfactorily; 15 (22.9%), partially and from one to two videos were scored with values lower than 19 points. Altogether, 12% of the videos received maximum scores in relation to the total score and subjective score. The APAS is, therefore, an example of an effective tool for assessing audiovisual content that can be used in educational interventions in health, with good internal reliability. The scale allows evaluating any content, classifying the production into categories that reveal its potential to promote behavior change.This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) (Finance Code 001), Universidade Estadual da Paraíba (UEPB), Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa do Estado da Paraíba (FAPESQ) (Grant 02/2017; 005/2020), British Council Newton Fund Institutional Links (Grant 274560199).Published onlin

Mosquito-borne arboviruses in Brazil: Assessment of apps based on the mobile apps rating scale (MARS)

© 2022 The Authors. Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/gjhs/article/view/0/47502Background: In Brazil, the prevalence of arboviral diseases, such as dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya, transmitted mainly by mosquitos, has increased alarmingly. In recent years, numerous free mobile apps tackling this issue have become available for various purposes and users. Objectives: This study aimed to systematically survey and evaluate these apps using the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS). Methods: The survey was performed on Google Play Store and sought to identify these apps adopting the descriptors “Chikungunya”, “Dengue” and “Zika”. The MARS scale was used by two researchers to evaluate the apps following their translation to Portuguese and subsequent validation. Student's T-test, Kappa statistics, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient were employed to evaluate the interobserver agreement and the reliability of the scale. Results: Most apps (20 out of 29 or ~70%) were created to disseminate basic information about arboviral diseases to the population or for entertainment. There was an agreement between the two researchers for all parameters of the MARS scale, except for the engagement (p=0.002). The Cronbach's alpha coefficient indicated good reliability. Conclusions: The use of the MARS scale has shown that most of the evaluated apps were developed to share information about arboviral diseases in an interactive way, but they do not necessarily have the purpose of influencing their users to change behaviours related to vector control or the prevention of arboviral diseases, which the authors feel would be a more appropriate aim for future app development.This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) (Finance Code 001), Universidade Estadual da Paraíba (UEPB), Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa do Estado da Paraíba (FAPESQ) (Grant 02/2017 and CNPQ/FAPESQ/PPSUS - EDITAL 005/2020), British Council Newton Fund Institutional Links (Grant 274560199)