Towards an Ecosystem of Youth Leadership Development

This study is aimed at understanding how youth leadership development programs can be more inclusive and promote a broader range of leadership values, qualities, and behaviors by focusing on young people who have been disaffected by leadership development programs. The study design was intended to provide a creative space for youth to engage in meaningful conversations about their evolving concepts and expectations of leadership. Using critical youth participatory action research to engage a group of youth, cohort members co-created a new youth leadership development program while addressing their identified challenges and needs. Findings from this study highlight the importance of adults in youth programs and provide insights toward an ecosystem approach to youth leadership development. Practitioners, funders, and community leaders can create more inclusive and meaningful youth development opportunities and programs by understanding the youth program’s ecosystem. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu/) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu)

Assessment Awareness of Breast Cancer Signs, Risk Factors, and Barriers: An Online Cross‑Sectional Study in Syria

Background: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), breast cancer (BC) is women's most common type of cancer. In LAMICs, breast cancer incidence is low. However, a lack of information about the signs and symptoms of breast cancer potentially results in the disease's progression to life-threatening stages.This study aimed to determine the levels of breast cancer symptom awareness among Syrian women and to identify the variables associated with a high level of awareness.   Methods: From 3 September 2022 to 27 September 2022, Syrian women participated in an online cross-sectional survey to measure their knowledge about breast cancer, risk factors, and symptoms. This survey was derived from previous research that included a comprehensive, authorized scale. The admission requirement was 18-year-old or older Syrian women from all Syrian governorates. The questionnaire was divided into two portions; the first component included sociodemographic characteristics. Based on the original BCAM scale, the second portion assessed the participant's knowledge of breast cancer symptoms, risk factors, and obstacles. Using the IBM SPSS V. 28.0 software, descriptive and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed on the data.   Results: Among 1305 study participants, the mean age and standard deviation of the individuals were 30.7 and 11.2, respectively. Students constituted almost three-quarters (75.2%) of the study respondents. The average level of knowledge about risk factors was higher among women with chronic diseases (Mean = 4.44, SD = 2.176), whereas jobless people had a higher average level of information regarding obstacles than other subgroups of practical circumstances. In addition, single women scored higher on the barrier comprehension scale than other marital status groups (mean=3.34, SD=2.32). Only two variables, including age and educational level, were statistically significant in predicting an acceptable degree of knowledge of the risk factors for breast cancer. Participants with a PhD were more aware than other educational subgroups (P-value 0.05; OR =6.186). Participants with a PhD. are projected to be 6.18 times more aware of breast cancer risk factors than those with lower levels of education. Women with chronic conditions were 1.84 times more likely than others to be aware of breast cancer barriers.    Conclusion: Our findings indicate that Syrian females have a poor to moderate knowledge of breast cancer symptoms, risk factors, and barriers. It is proposed that more breast cancer awareness campaigns be conducted and that yearly screening programs be improved to combat the late detection of this illness. Social media and television might be effective venues for raising awareness of breast self-examination and early identification of symptoms

Assessment of Syrian Obstetric Care Providers Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Towards Preconception Care and Associated Factors: An online Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Preconception care was instituted in 2013 by the World Health Organization (WHO) to promote more attention to pregnant women by medical staff. Preconception care attempts to optimize pregnancy outcomes and promote health by managing and treating variables that influence it. Obstetric care providers in LAMICs have been reported to have low levels of preconception care awareness. This study investigates the Knowledge, attitudes, and practice-related features of obstetric care providers in Syria's public health institutions about preconception care.   Methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken in Syria between 6 September 2022 and 7 October 2022 to evaluate obstetric care providers' Knowledge, attitudes, and practice at public health institutions regarding preconception care and related concerns. The questionnaire was designed using a validated scale from a prior study conducted in Ethiopia. The inclusion criteria for study participants were obstetricians and gynaecologists, midwives and residents, and nurses of Obstetrics and Gynecology. There were six sections in the questionnaire (sociodemographic information, Knowledge, practice attitude, additional factors associated with Preconception practice, and related actual & potential access to resources). The data were subjected to descriptive and multivariate logistic regression analysis using the IBM SPSS V. 28.0 software.   Results: The mean age of 499 participants was 31.8 (SD = 9.7). Most participants were female (81.8%) and physicians (60%). 91.4% of respondents were deemed knowledgeable about preconception care. the most identified question (96.2%) was (Women intending pregnancy should be encouraged to defer pregnancy until they have reduced their drug, alcohol, and cigarette usage). (24.8%) participants regularly queried their patients about their reproductive life plan, with women aged 18 to 49 being the most often questioned group (92.3%). Only 18.6% of physicians routinely informed their patients about environmental dangers and contaminants. In addition, 53.5% of responders inquired about the patient's surgical and medical histories. 29.7% of participants strongly agreed that PCC provides an opportunity to improve the health of couples, particularly women, whereas 18.2% are certain that PCC does not belong to their scope of duties. Knowledge was more likely to be poor among participants who had never seen a doctor practicing PCC than among those who had (OR=2.81, P value = 0.026). Participants who did not get training on reproductive life plan examination throughout their practice time were less knowledgeable than those who did (OR = 2.91, P value= 0.04).    Conclusion: Our results have shown that obstetric care providers in Syria have good Knowledge of and low to moderate practice and attitude towards preconception care. Improving access to training, carrier development, Internet, and library services is vital to improving PCC training. It is recommended that extra platforms be made accessible to obstetric care providers during their training to assist them in becoming preconception carers and in raising awareness about the significance of preconception care

Knowledge of Cancer Among Syrians: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background:  The worldwide burden of cancer continues to rise, mainly due to global demographic changes and an increase in cancer-causing habits, such as smoking, epically in low-income countries. The Syrian National Cancer Registry (SNCR)estimates that 17,599 new cancer cases were diagnosed before the start of the war in 2011. According to statistics from the Al Bairouni 2020 hospital-based registry, which includes data on more than 60% of Syrian cancer patients, the number of cancer diagnoses has been rising in Syria. There is no research conducted in Syria to determine people’s knowledge about cancer and risk factors, symptoms, and signs. This research aims to determine how well-informed Syrians were on the following topics:(i) the age-related risk and prevalence of cancer; (ii) cancer signs and symptoms; and (iii) cancer risk factors. In addition, determining how well-informed different demographic categories.   Method: This is a cross-sectional study which was conducted in Syria. Participants who were eligible to participate in the study who were residents of Syria irrespective their age or gender. The instrument of survey was a structured questionnaire the content of which was adapted from the validated cancer awareness measure (CAM) the cam was translated to Arabic and a scoring system was applied to the questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed via several social media platforms.   Results: A total of 1463 participants completed the questionnaire. There were 768 respondents (52.5%) said that there is no relation between age and cancer. Almost all the participants (85.6%) thought that the breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, while around half of the participants (55.1%) reported that the prostate cancer was the most common cancer among males. The most frequently reported cancer symptom was unexplained weight loss (73.2%), followed by unexplained swelling/lump (66.5%). The level of knowledge about cancer signs/symptoms among the participants were good in 623 (42.6%), fair in 594 (40.6%), and poor in 246 (16.8%). The most commonly recognized risks of cancer were smoking (83.5%).   Conclusion: According to this research, taking into consideration the war and the bad economic situation that Syria is facing, Syrians’ knowledge towards cancer is acceptable. However, it is not meeting the ideal expectations. More research should be held to dig deeper into this issue

Relationship between Brand Perceptions and Satisfaction: Empirical Study on Skin Products in Malaysia

In the highly competitive marketplace, marketers for the skin care product are facing challenges with identifying the consumer’s brand perception and brand satisfaction. Brand satisfaction is perceived as an important issue on skin care industry. Obviously, customers are the important stakeholders in organizations and their satisfaction is a priority to the company. This study aims to investigate the relationship between brand perceptions and brand satisfaction on skin care products with four independent variables (quality, promotion, image and preference). This study employed the statistic software of SPSS version 19.0 to evaluate 200 sets of questionnaires which collected from students, undergraduates, working adults and other respondents. The findings in this study shows that the brand perceptions on quality, image and preference have positive and significant relationship with brand satisfaction on skin care products. However, the relationship between brand perception on promotion and brand satisfaction is being rejected. Thus, the marketers can focus on perception on quality, image and preference to increase customers’ brand satisfaction to capture and retain them

Assessment Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Toward Tuberculosis Among Syrian People: An online cross-sectional study

Background: TB was reported to have the highest mortality rate among other infectious diseases in 2018 worldwide. Syria and other low-income countries have a higher incidence rate of TB in comparison to high-income countries. Stigma toward TB is extremely high in low-income countries like Syria, and these stigma delays patients from seeking healthcare facilities. Our purpose in this study is to assess the Syrian's knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward TB and understand their Practice related to this disease.    Methods: An online cross-sectional questionnaire was distributed between15 September 7 October 2022, among Syrians to assess their knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward TB. This questionnaire was adapted from a published study, and the inclusion criteria were all male and female Syrian citizens aged 18 or above. The survey was divided into four questions: the first section assessed sociodemographics, and the other sections were about knowledge, attitude, and practices, respectively. Using IBM SPSS V. 28.0, the data were submitted to descriptive and multivariate logistic regression analyses.   Results: About (38.6%) of the 1407 participants in this research were male. The research participants' knowledge scores indicated that 78.1% have excellent knowledge. However, 54.1% of interviewees agreed that shaking someone's hand may transmit tuberculosis. Regarding attitude, more than two-thirds (85.7%) of the participants in the survey had an optimistic outlook. Accordingly, most participants (81.3%) had effective TB preventive and control practices. Participants aged 61 to 70 had more TB knowledge than other age groups (P value<0.05; mean=6.63, SD=1.13). Participants with chronic illness had a more positive attitude toward tuberculosis than those without (P value<0.05) (mean=2.17, SD=0.63). Participants with a university degree demonstrated more TB practice than those with lower levels of education (mean=6.17, SD=0.85). Participants with a university degree were expected to have 4.38 times more TB knowledge than those without formal education (P 0.05). Participants with a university degree were projected to practice tuberculosis 10.63 times more often than those without education (P 0.001).   Conclusion: Our results indicate that there is poor knowledge regarding the route of transmission of TB; therefore, more efforts should be made to raise awareness about TB transmission, as understanding these facts is a crucial aspect in mitigating the incidence of TB. Consequently, individuals reported poor practices toward TB; for that reason, educating individuals about good practices toward TB should take priority in Syria as war has destroyed the understructure of the healthcare system

A Cross-Sectional of Syrians' Knowledge of Diabetes Mellitus and Hypertension Management

Background: Diabetes and hypertension are the two most common types of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) impacting people globally. There is no prior research on the Syrian population's knowledge and treatment of hypertension and diabetes, so it is crucial to assess how the Syrian population acknowledges and perceives these illnesses. This research intends to assess the level of hypertension and diabetes-related awareness, knowledge, attitude, and practices among Syrian individuals.    Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between 1 August and 25 August 2022 to assess adult awareness, knowledge, attitude, and behavior about hypertension and diabetes. The questionnaire for the study was developed based on previous research, and the inclusion criteria for the sample were Syrian residents older than 18 who presently live in Syria. On the questionnaire, there were four sections: sociodemographics information, WHO STEPS survey instrument on knowledge of and lifestyle determinants for hypertension and diabetes, respondents' knowledge of and comprehension of hypertension and diabetes, and respondents' awareness of these disorders.   Results: Among 976 participants, (65.8%) were females. Participants reported hypertension caused by (90.1%) stress, (78.2%) old age, (69%) anxiety, and (38.6%) drug usage. High salt consumption (87%), genetics (82.1%), and obesity (78%) are all risk factors for hypertension. In addition, minimizing salt consumption (92.4%), regular exercise (87.2%), and avoiding anxiety (85%) are preventative measures for hypertension. Participant answers to hypertension consequences were (75.8%) foot ulcer and (74%) eyesight loss. Primary and middle school educational status participants had greater hypertension knowledge (92.3%) than other educational levels. Alcohol use was linked to hypertension knowledge (P < 0.05). Participants whose lifestyles did not include alcohol use had a higher hypertension knowledge level (90.3%). Participants with a family history of diabetes have a greater knowledge of hypertension (92%) than those without (66.9%). Almost age groups have shown good knowledge of diabetes, especially participants aged above 55 (93.8%). However, most individuals have examined blood pressure (82.3%), whereas fewer than half had screened for blood sugar (64.4%). 82.2% of individuals check their blood pressure frequently, whereas 6.2% monitor their blood sugar. Men have a higher hypertension knowledge than females (mean=8.39, SD=2.02), P-value< 0.05, and knowledge of hypertension among participants was shown to be higher among those in good income status than other economic levels (mean=8.34, SD=1.98), P-value< 0.05. Participants between the ages of 40 and 55 showed better knowledge of diabetes compared to other age groups (mean=11.32, SD=2.54), P-value< 0.05; as well, men demonstrated greater knowledge of diabetes than females (mean=10.76, SD=2.79), P-value< 0.05.   Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that the Syrian population has a good to moderate understanding of hypertension and diabetes. However, there is still a shortage of standardized, regular screening practices. Since individuals remain involved in unhealthy lifestyle habits, it is vital to provide accurate information about hypertension and diabetes