What makes you not a Buddhist? : a preliminary mapping of values

This study sets out to establish which Buddhist values contrasted with or were shared by adolescents from a non-Buddhist population. A survey of attitude toward a variety of Buddhist values was fielded in a sample of 352 non-Buddhist schoolchildren aged between 13 and 15 in London. Buddhist values where attitudes were least positive concerned the worth of being a monk/nun or meditating, offering candles & incense on the Buddhist shrine, friendship on Sangha Day, avoiding drinking alcohol, seeing the world as empty or impermanent and Nirvana as the ultimate peace. Buddhist values most closely shared by non-Buddhists concerned the Law of Karma, calming the mind, respecting those deserving of respect, subjectivity of happiness, welfare work, looking after parents in old age and compassion to cuddly animals. Further significant differences of attitude toward Buddhism were found in partial correlations with the independent variables of sex, age and religious affiliation. Correlation patterns paralleled those previously described in theistic religions. Findings are applied to spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and for the teaching of religious to pupils of no faith adherence. The study recommends that quantitative psychometrics employed to conceptualize Buddhist values by discriminant validity in this study could be extended usefully to other aspects of the study of Buddhism, particularly in quest of validity in the conceptualization of Buddhist identity within specifically Buddhist populations

Illegal Substance Use among Italian High School Students: Trends over 11 Years (1999–2009)

Purpose: To monitor changes in habits in drug use among Italian high school students. Methods: Cross-sectional European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) carried out in Italy annually for 11 years (1999-2009) with representative samples of youth attending high school. The sample size considered ranges from 15,752 to 41,365 students and response rate ranged from 85.5% to 98.6%. Data were analyzed to obtain measures of life-time prevalence (LT), use in the last year (LY), use in the last 30 days (LM), frequent use. Comparisons utilized difference in proportion tests. Tests for linear trends in proportion were performed using the Royston p trend test. Results: When the time-averaged value was considered, cannabis (30% LT) was the most, and heroin the least (2%) frequently used, with cocaine (5%), hallucinogens (2%) and stimulants (2%) in between. A clear gender gap is evident for all drugs, more obvious for hallucinogens (average M/F LY prevalence ratio 2, range 1.7-2.4, p,0.05), less for cannabis (average M/F LY prevalence ratio 1.3, range 1.2-1.5, p,0.05). Data shows a change in trend between 2005 and 2008; in 2006 the trend for cannabis use and availability dropped and the price rose, while from 2005 cocaine and stimulant use prevalence showed a substantial increase and the price went down. After 2008 use of all substances seems to have decreased. Conclusions: Drug use is widespread among students in Italy, with cannabis being the most and heroin the least prevalent. Girls are less vulnerable than boys to illegal drug use. In recent years, a decrease in heroin use is overbalanced by a marked rise in hallucinogen and stimulant use.-

Current drinking and health-risk behaviors among male high school students in central Thailand

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Alcohol drinking is frequently related to behavioral problems, which lead to a number of negative consequences. This study was to evaluate the characteristics of male high school students who drink, the drinking patterns among them, and the associations between current drinking and other health risk behaviors which focused on personal safety, violence-related behaviors, suicide and sexual behaviors.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>A cross-sectional study was conducted to explore current alcohol drinking and health-risk behaviors among male high school students in central Thailand. Five thousand one hundred and eighty four male students were classified into 2 groups according to drinking in the previous 30 days (yes = 631, no = 4,553). Data were collected by self-administered, anonymous questionnaire which consisted of 3 parts: socio-demographic factors, health-risk behaviors and alcohol drinking behavior during the past year from December 2007 to February 2008.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results showed that the percent of current drinking was 12.17. Most of them were 15-17 years (50.21%). Socio-demographic factors such as age, educational level, residence, cohabitants, grade point average (GPA), having a part time job and having family members with alcohol/drug problems were significantly associated with alcohol drinking (p < 0.05). Multiple logistic regression analysis, after adjusting for socio-demographic factors, revealed that health-risk behavioral factors were associated with current alcohol consumption: often drove after drinking alcohol (OR = 3.10, 95% CI = 1.88-5.12), often carried a weapon (OR = 3.51, 95% CI = 2.27-5.42), often got into a physical fight without injury (OR = 3.06, 95% CI = 1.99-4.70), dating violence (OR = 2.58, 95% CI = 1.79-3.71), seriously thought about suicide (OR = 2.07, 95% CI = 1.38-3.11), made a suicide plan (OR = 2.10, 95% CI = 1.43-3.08), ever had sexual intercourse (OR = 5.62, 95% CI = 4.33-7.29), alcohol or drug use before last sexual intercourse (OR = 2.55, 95% CI = 1.44-4.53), and got someone pregnant (OR = 3.99, 95% CI = 1.73-9.25).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>An increased risk of health-risk behaviors, including driving vehicles after drinking, violence-related behaviors, sad feelings and attempted suicide, and sexual behaviors was higher among drinking students that led to significant health problems. Effective intervention strategies (such as a campaign mentioning the adverse health effects and social consequences to the risk groups, and encouraging parental and community efforts to prevent drinking) among adolescents should be implemented to prevent underage drinking and adverse consequences.</p

Including gaming disorder in the ICD-11: the need to do so from a clinical and public health perspective

The proposed introduction of gaming disorder (GD) in the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) has led to a lively debate over the past year. Besides the broad support for the decision in the academic press, a recent publication by van Rooij et al. (2018) repeated the criticism raised against the inclusion of GD in ICD-11 by Aarseth et al. (2017). We argue that this group of researchers fails to recognize the clinical and public health considerations, which support the WHO perspective. It is important to recognize a range of biases that may influence this debate; in particular, the gaming industry may wish to diminish its responsibility by claiming that GD is not a public health problem, a position which maybe supported by arguments from scholars based in media psychology, computer games research, communication science, and related disciplines. However, just as with any other disease or disorder in the ICD-11, the decision whether or not to include GD is based on clinical evidence and public health needs. Therefore, we reiterate our conclusion that including GD reflects the essence of the ICD and will facilitate treatment and prevention for those who need it

Patterns of drinking in Thai men

Alcohol problems have increased considerably in Thailand in recent years, in common with many other countries in South East Asia. Little is known about the patterns or contexts of alcohol consumption in these countries, and so efforts to develop preventative strategies have been hampered. To identify current patterns related to alcohol consumption, we recruited 91 alcohol-dependent subjects, 77 hazardous or harmful drinkers, and 144 abstainers or light drinkers. A structured interview incorporating the World Health Organization 'tri-level' method to determine the amount and frequency of drinking, and the Alcohol Use Disorders and Associated Disabilities to diagnose alcohol dependence and harmful drinking was used. Median alcohol intake was 75 and 49 g/drinking day in the alcohol-dependent and harmful or hazardous groups respectively. The former group drank on average 25 days/month, whereas the harmful or hazardous drinkers drank 10 days/month. Drinking alone was more Common in the alcohol-dependent group (67%), whereas harmful or hazardous drinkers typically drank with friends (58%), and infrequent drinkers drank only at social functions (61%). Only 28% of alcohol-dependent subjects perceived themselves as dependent on alcohol. The alcohol-dependent subjects and hazardous or harmful drinkers were more likely to currently smoke cigarettes and have a history of marijuana use than were non-drinkers, infrequent or light drinkers. Antisocial personality disorder was more commonly associated with alcohol dependence. In conclusion, alcohol dependence was characterized by continual drinking, whereas hazardous or harmful consumption was associated with an intermittent pattern. Other forms of substance use and personality disorder were associated with alcohol dependence. Clearer understanding of these factors would be of great benefit in planning an intervention programme for excessive drinking in Thailand

Comparison of health system responsiveness between HIV and non-HIV patients at infectious disease clinics in Yunnan, China

Jing Li,1 Virasakdi Chongsuvivatwong,2 Sawitri Assanangkornchai,2 Edward B McNeil,2 Le Cai1 1School of Public Health, Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China; 2Epidemiology Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand Background: China is in an epidemiologic transition period. Health system responsiveness (HSR) has become an increasing concern in China. With the burden of increasing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection/acquired immune deficiency syndrome, responsiveness of HIV care is urgently needed. We aimed at comparing the experience of HSR between HIV-positive and non-HIV patients. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in Yunnan, China, from January to February 2015 among two consecutive groups of HIV and non-HIV patients in two hospitals with the largest HIV admissions. Patients&rsquo; experience and expectation of HSR were measured using a self-reported questionnaire containing items of seven domains and 35 vignettes (five per domain). Each of the items and vignettes was ranked from 1 &ldquo;very good&rdquo; to 5 &ldquo;very bad.&rdquo; For each domain, B-scales were built based on the difference between experience and the vignettes. Ordered probit and censored ordered probit regression models were constructed to compare HSR experience between the two groups adjusted for socioeconomic status (SES) factors. Results: The majority of HIV patients were at clinical stage 1, were infected via unprotected sexual contact, and had a CD4 count &lt;500 cells/&micro;L. After adjustment by SES factors, HIV patients had better experiences of HSR in six of the seven HSR domains, prompt attention being the only domain that non-HIV patients had better experiences. Conclusion: Perceptions of HSR experience were better among HIV patients except for prompt attention, which could not be explained by SES factors and difference in expectations. A reform is needed not to neglect the needs of non-HIV patients in the study area. Keywords: health system responsiveness, anchoring vignettes, HIV care, Chin

Development of internalized and personal stigma among patients with and without HIV infection and occupational stigma among health care providers in Southern China

Jing Li,1,2,* Sawitri Assanangkornchai,1,* Lin Lu,3 Manhong Jia,3,* Edward B McNeil,1,* Jing You,4,* Virasakdi Chongsuvivatwong1,* 1Epidemiology Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand; 2School of Public Health, Kunming Medical University, 3Yunnan Center for Disease Prevention and Control, 4Infectious Diseases Department, The&nbsp;First Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, Yunnan Province, People&rsquo;s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: HIV/AIDS-related stigma is a major barrier of access to care for those infected with HIV. The aim of this study was to examine, validate, and adapt measuring scales of internalized, personal, and occupational stigma developed in Africa into a Chinese context. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from January to September 2015 in Kunming, People&rsquo;s Republic of China. Various scales were constructed on the basis of the previous studies with modifications by experts using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA + CFA). Validation of the new scales was done using multiple linear regression models and hypothesis testing of the factorial structure invariance. Results: The numbers of subjects recruited for the development/validation samples were 696/667 HIV-positive patients, 699/667 non-HIV patients, and 157/155 health care providers. EFA revealed a two-factor solution for internalized and personal stigma scales (guilt/blaming and being refused/refusing service), which were confirmed by CFA with reliability coefficients (r) of 0.869 and 0.853, respectively. The occupational stigma scale was found to have a three-factor structure (blaming, professionalism, and egalitarianism) with a reliability coefficient (r) of 0.839. Higher correlations of factors in the HIV patients (r=0.537) and non-HIV patients (r=0.703) were observed in contrast to low-level correlations (r=0.231, 0.286, and 0.266) among factors from health care providers. Conclusion: The new stigma scales are valid and should be used to monitor HIV/AIDS stigma in different groups of Chinese people in health care settings. Keywords: HIV/AIDS-related stigma, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, guilt, blaming, being refused, refusing servic