Impact of the coronavirus disease on the mental health and physical activity of pharmacy students at the University of Zambia: a cross-sectional study

Background: The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a serious global health problem that has negatively impacted the mental health of students.Methods: We conducted an online descriptive cross-sectional study among 273 undergraduate pharmacy students at the University of Zambia from August to September 2020. A partial proportional odds regression model was used to determine the predictors of anxiety. All statistical tests were set at 95% confidence level (p<0.05).Results: A response rate of 70% was obtained with the majority of the students being female 51.6%. Of the 273 respondents, 23.8% did not experience anxiety, 34.4% experienced mild anxiety, 24.9% experienced moderate anxiety while 16.9% experienced severe anxiety about COVID-19. It was also found that 61.2% of students reported that their attention to mental health increased during the COVID-19 pandemic whereas 44.3% reported an increased resting time with a significant reduction in relaxation 51.3% and physical activity 45.4% time. Factors that affected mental health included; reduced family care (OR: 2.27; 95% CI: 1.09-4.74), not changing attention to mental health (OR: 0.33; 95% CI: 0.18-0.62), being in the final year of study (OR: 0.33; 95% CI: 0.13-0.84), reduced time of resting (OR: 2.10; 95% CI: 1.26-3.50) and feeling helpless (OR: 0.42; 95% CI:0.23-0.75).Conclusions: COVID-19 negatively impacted the mental health and physical activity of pharmacy students at the University of Zambia. This can have negative health and academic outcomes for students going forward. Higher learning institutions and key stakeholders should implement measures to aid students to recover from the impact of COVID-19 on their mental health and physical activity

Impact of structured educational program on maternal knowledge, attitude, and practice toward diarrhea management in children <5 years age in Anantapur District

Introduction: Maternal knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) toward management and prevention of diarrhea in children <5 years age is essential as it maintains good quality of life by reducing the morbidity and mortality. Aim: A study is designed to assess the KAP of mothers before and after the structured educational program on management of diarrhea in children less the 5 years of age. Settings and Design: Quasi-experimental design without control was preferred to test the effect of education on KAP toward diarrheal management among mothers at a rural secondary care referral hospital situated at resource challenged settings of south India. Subjects and Methods: A total of 384 mothers were enrolled and given education regarding the childhood management and prevention of diarrhea. A prevalidated KAP questionnaire toward management and prevention diarrhea was used to assess maternal KAP levels before and after the structured educational program. Statistical Analysis: Epi-Info-7 statistical software was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics such as frequency and proportion were calculated for demographic characteristics. Chi-square test was used to test differences between the pre- and post-intervention KAP levels. Results and Discussion: The majority of women (56.7%) were belonging to the age group of 20–29 years. Among all the participants, nearly 85.4% were illiterate. Most of the women were of lower socioeconomic status (69.7%). There is a significant effect of structured educational program on maternal knowledge (χ2 = 577.2; P < 0.05), attitude (χ2 = 326.3; P < 0.05), and practice (χ2 = 347.3; P < 0.05) toward diarrhea management and prevention. Conclusion: Structured educational program targeting health-care providers and mothers primarily focusing on management and prevention of diarrhea shall improve the clinical outcomes in children <5 years of age

Comparing knowledge, attitudes, and practices in cardiovascular disease prevention and health promotion between community and hospital pharmacists in Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study

Purpose: Saudi Arabia is one of the leading nations in the world in terms of the high frequency of chronic diseases and their associated risk factors. Knowledge and awareness are crucial for pharmacists to play an active role in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The current study assessed the pharmacists' knowledge, attitude, and practice to determine the potential differences with respect to their respective practice settings toward CVD prevention and related health promotions. Methods: It is a cross-sectional study targeted the registered pharmacists in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. An online questionnaire was prepared, and the link was circulated through various social media platforms. Descriptive statistics, multivariate linear regression analysis and chi square test were used to analyze the data accordingly. Results: A total of 324 pharmacists were included in the study. Among these, 157 (48.4 %) were community pharmacists, and the remaining were hospital pharmacists (51.6 %). No significant differences in knowledge scores were observed between community and hospital pharmacists. The mean attitude score among community and hospital pharmacists was found to be 26.40 ± 5.125 and 25.09 ± 5.393 respectively, which was statistically significant (p = 0.026). Similarly, the total practice scores across the settings were statistically significant (p = 0.02). Gender plays a significant role in terms of knowledge scores among both community and hospital pharmacists (p = 0.016 &amp; 0.029). Gender, professional practice experience, and number of prescriptions handled and prescriptions with CVD medications showed significant differences in the distribution of positive attitudes and good practice frequency between community and hospital pharmacists. Conclusion: It is evident that there is a deficiency in knowledge among hospital pharmacists compared to community pharmacists. Which indicates that there is a need for a rigorous continuous pharmacy education covering the fundamental aspects of CVD primary prevention and health promotion among pharmacists, given more focus on hospital pharmacists