This study assessed the satisfaction of patients receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART) in Vietnam and its multilevel predictors. Cross-sectional data were collected from January to September 2013 ...in eight outpatient clinics in Hanoi and Nam Dinh provinces. Patient satisfaction was evaluated using the Satisfaction with HIV/AIDS Treatment Interview Scale. Multivariable Tobit regression was utilized to measure the associations between these factors and satisfaction with treatment services. Generalized Mixed-effect Regression model was used to estimate the effect of satisfaction with the quality of service on the change between the initial and the latest CD4 cell count. Among 1133 patients, most of them were completely satisfied with the 10 domains measured (65.5% to 82.5%). "Service quality and convenience" domain which was attributed by the waiting time and administrative procedure had the lowest score of complete satisfaction. Compared to central clinics, provincial clinics were negatively associated with the overall satisfaction (Coef = -0.58; 95%CI = -0.95; -0.21). Patients rating higher score in "Consultation, explanation, and guidance of health care workers", "Responsiveness of health care workers to patients' questions and requests" and "Perceived overall satisfaction with the quality of service" were related to improvement in immunological treatment outcomes. Our results revealed the high level of satisfaction among ART patients towards HIV care and treatment services, and this had a high correlation to treatment outcomes. Interventions should focus on reducing administrative procedures, providing sufficient guidance and comprehensive services which integrate physical with psychological care for improving the health outcome of the ART program.
Preparedness and responses to infectious disease epidemics and pandemics require the understanding of communities’ and multisectoral systems’ characteristics with regards to diseases transmission and ...population’s vulnerabilities. This study aimed to summarize measurement profiles of existing risk assessment toolkits to inform COVID-19 control at global and national levels. An online search in different databases and online sources was performed to identify all epidemic risk and vulnerability assessment instruments. Medline/PubMed, Web of Science databases, and websites of public health organizations were used for the searching process. Of 14 toolkits, levels of setting were mostly at the global or nation level. Components such as Governance and Legislation, Financing, Health Service Provision, and Human Resources are key domains in almost all toolkits. Some important issues for disease detection and surveillance, such as laboratory or capacity of the community for disease control, were not adequately addressed in several toolkits. Limited studies were found that validated the toolkits. Only five toolkits were used in COVID-19 studies. This study provides a summary of risk assessment toolkits to inform epidemic responses. We call for global and national efforts in developing more contextualized and responsive epidemic risk assessment scales incorporating specific-disease and -country factors to inform operational decisions making and strengthen countries’ capacities in epidemic responses.
The rising prevalence of smokers in the community, specifically psychiatric patients, necessitates smoking cessation as an important strategy for reducing the harmful effects of tobacco. This study ...aims to compare the profiles of depressed and non-depressed smokers and evaluate how psychiatric symptoms influence respiratory symptoms. A cross-sectional survey was administered to 276 non-depressed adult smokers in the community and 69 adult smokers who had been formally diagnosed with depression in the outpatient clinic of a University Hospital in Singapore. Participants were administered questionnaires on smoking attitudes and perceptions, psychiatric symptoms, and respiratory symptoms. Correlations and multiple regression analyses were conducted. The mean age of smokers in the study was 35.32 ± 13.05 years. Smokers in the community and psychiatric samples were largely similar on all of the sociodemographic factors, except that fewer depressed people were employed (χ² = 8.35,
< 0.01). Smokers with depression also reported more attempts to quit smoking (χ² = 7.14,
< 0.05), higher mean depressive, anxiety, and stress symptom (DASS) scores (t = -10.04,
< 0.01), and endorsed more respiratory symptoms than smokers in the community (t = -2.40,
< 0.05). The DASS scores, number of cigarettes smoked daily, years of smoking, general perception of smokers getting heart disease, and presence of lung disease were positively and significantly correlated with respiratory symptoms. On multiple regression, only anxiety symptoms (β = 0.26, p < 0.05) and the presence of lung disease (β = 0.22, p < 0.001) were significantly correlated with respiratory symptoms. Depressed smokers reported greater difficulty in quitting tobacco use, and they perceived more severe respiratory symptoms compared to non-depressed counterparts. Anxiety symptoms were positively associated with the severity of respiratory symptoms. Smoking cessation campaigns need to specifically target psychological symptoms in smokers and focus more psychoeducation on the risk of cardiovascular disease in the middle-aged population.
This cross-sectional study assessed the quality of life and related factors of Vietnamese women during perimenopause in terms of vasomotor, psychosocial, physical, and sexual aspects.
A ...cross-sectional study on 400 middle-aged women was conducted in Hung Yen, a delta province in Vietnam. Data about socioeconomic characteristics, daily activity patterns, quality of life in terms of vasomotor, psychosocial, physical, and sexual aspects, and level of social support were collected. Tobit multivariate regression model was used to identify factors related to the quality of life among participants.
The symptoms of perimenopause appeared to worsen with the increase of age and the existence of such health issues as migraine and diabetes. Meanwhile, exercises, recreational activities, and social support appeared to alleviate the negative impact of perimenopausal symptoms on women.
It is important to address the care needs of women during perimenopausal age, especially their sexual well-being, and development of specific healthcare services and programs focusing on sport, entertainment, and support for women in perimenopause should be facilitated.
This study examined the neuropsychiatric sequelae of acutely ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection who received treatment in hospital isolation wards during the COVID-19 ...pandemic. Ten COVID-19 patients who received treatment in various hospitals in Chongqing, China; 10 age- and gender-matched psychiatric patients; and 10 healthy control participants residing in the same city were recruited. All participants completed a survey that collected information on demographic data, physical symptoms in the past 14 days and psychological parameters. Face-to-face interviews with COVID-19 patients were also performed using semi-structured questions. Among the COVID-19 patients, 40% had abnormal findings on the chest computed topography scan, 20% had dysosmia, 10% had dysgeusia, and 80% had repeated positivity on COVID-19 reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction testing. COVID-19 and psychiatric patients were significantly more worried about their health than healthy controls (p = 0.019). A greater proportion of COVID-19 patients experienced impulsivity (p = 0.016) and insomnia (p = 0.039) than psychiatric patients and healthy controls. COVID-19 patients reported a higher psychological impact of the outbreak than psychiatric patients and healthy controls, with half of them having clinically significant symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. COVID-19 and psychiatric patients had higher levels of depression, anxiety and stress than healthy controls. Three themes emerged from the interviews with COVID-19 patients: (i) The emotions experienced by patients after COVID-19 infection (i.e., shock, fear, despair, hope, and boredom); (ii) the external factors that affected patients' mood (i.e., discrimination, medical expenses, care by healthcare workers); and (iii) coping and self-help behavior (i.e., distraction, problem-solving and online support). The future direction in COVID-19 management involves the development of a holistic inpatient service to promote immune and psychological resilience.
The novel Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020, impacting the lifestyles, economy, physical and mental health of individuals ...globally. This study aimed to test the model triggered by physical symptoms resembling COVID-19 infection, in which the need for health information and perceived impact of the pandemic mediated the path sequentially, leading to adverse mental health outcomes. A cross-sectional research design with chain mediation model involving 4612 participants from participating 8 countries selected via a respondent-driven sampling strategy was used. Participants completed online questionnaires on physical symptoms, the need for health information, the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) questionnaire and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The results showed that Poland and the Philippines were the two countries with the highest levels of anxiety, depression and stress; conversely, Vietnam had the lowest mean scores in these areas. Chain mediation model showed the need for health information, and the perceived impact of the pandemic were sequential mediators between physical symptoms resembling COVID-19 infection (predictor) and consequent mental health status (outcome). Excessive and contradictory health information might increase the perceived impact of the pandemic. Rapid COVID-19 testing should be implemented to minimize the psychological burden associated with physical symptoms, whilst public mental health interventions could target adverse mental outcomes associated with the pandemic.
Patient satisfaction is a useful predictor of adherence and outcomes of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) treatment. This study explored the satisfaction of Vietnamese CVDs inpatients and outpatients ...using a scale specifically designed for CVDs patients and examined the factors associated with satisfaction towards CVDs treatment services. Interviews of 600 patients at the Hanoi Heart Hospital were conducted. We developed a measurement scale for both inpatient and outpatient services. Multivariate Tobit regression was used to determine the associated factors with patient satisfaction. For inpatients, Cronbach's alpha reported for the domains were in the range of 0.72-0.97, while for outpatients, Cronbach's alpha was within 0.61-0.97. Overall, patients were more satisfied with inpatient services (Mean = 81.8, SD = 5.8) than outpatient services (Mean = 79.7, SD = 5.2, p0.05). In inpatients, the highest complete satisfaction was in Attitude of Nurse item (42.0%), the highest satisfaction score was in Care and treatment domain (Mean = 85.6, SD = 9.7) and the lowest in Hospital facilities domain (Mean = 78.3; SD = 9.2). Among outpatients, the highest complete satisfaction was in Attitude of physicians when examining, guiding and explaining to the patient item (19.7%), the highest satisfaction score was in Attitude of medical staff domain (Mean = 82.8; SD = 7.9) and the lowest in Waiting time domain (Mean = 76.6; SD = 8.2). People not having health insurances had significantly higher scores in Waiting time, Hospital facilities and Attitude of staff domains (for outpatients) and in Health service accessibility, Hospital facilities domains (for inpatients) as well as higher total satisfaction score than those having health insurance. Findings discovered through the application of the newly developed instrument showed low satisfaction regarding hospital facilities for inpatients and waiting time for outpatients, suggesting renovation efforts, while inferiority regarding patient satisfaction of health insurance covered patients compared to those without implied policy reform possibility. Further enhancement and validation of the developed instrument was required.
Objectives
The aim of this study was to assess acceptance of COVID‐19 vaccination and the willingness to pay (WTP) for it, and investigate associated factors among pregnant women in Vietnam.
Methods
...Cross‐sectional survey of pregnant women in two obstetric hospitals in Hanoi and Ca Mau provinces, Vietnam. Data on acceptance and WTP for COVID‐19, demographic characteristics, maternal characteristics, and risk perceptions toward COVID‐19 were collected. Multivariate logistic and linear regression models were performed to identify factors associated with the acceptance and WTP for the vaccine.
Results
Of 651 pregnant women, 60.4% accepted to receive the vaccine, and 82.6% of the total pregnant women were willing to pay for a COVID‐19 vaccine with the mean amount of WTP of USD 15.2 (SD ± 27.4). The most common reason for refusing vaccination was “Worry about the safety of the vaccine” (66.9%) in Hanoi and “The preventive effect of COVID‐19 is low” (45.2%) in Ca Mau. A higher income, having children, self‐perceived risk of COVID‐19 infection, and perceived risk to friends were associated with a higher likelihood of acceptance and WTP for the vaccine.
Conclusions
Implementing COVID‐19 vaccination and resource mobilisation among pregnant women in Vietnam is feasible, although communication programmes to improve risk perception and awareness about vaccine should be developed for facilitating acceptance of the vaccine.
Health personnel and community workers are at the front line of the COVID-19 emergency response and need to be equipped with adequate knowledge related to epidemics for an effective response. This ...study aimed to identify the coverage of COVID-19 health information via different sources accessed by health workers and community workers in Vietnam. A cross-sectional study using a web-based survey was carried out from January to February 2020 in Vietnam. Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) was used for recruiting participants. We utilized the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to examine the construct validity of the questionnaire. A higher percentage of participants knew about "Clinical and pathogen characteristics of COVID-19", compared to "Regulations and policies related to COVID-19". The percentage of participants accessing the information on "Guidelines and policies on prevention and control of COVID-19" was the lowest, especially among medical students. "Mass media and peer-educators" channels had a higher score of accessing COVID-19 information, compared to "Organizations/ agencies/ associations" sources. Participants consumed most of their COVID-19 information via "Internet, online newspapers, social networks". Our findings indicate an urgency to re-design training programs and communication activities for a more effective dissemination of information related to the COVID-19 epidemic or epidemics in general.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is among the leading causes of death in Vietnam. Survivors of TBI suffer from functional and cognitive deficits. Understanding that Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) and ...Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADLs) are crucial in measuring the treatment and health-related quality of life among patients with TBI. This study aims to evaluate ADLs and IADLs among the TBI population in Vietnam and determine the correlated factors to these two indices. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 212 patients with TBI in Vietnam from February to September 2020. ADLs and IADLs scales were applied. Depression, quality of sleep, and social support scales were used. Multivariate Tobit regression was adopted to identify factors associated with ADLs and IADLs. Patients who received first aid had higher ADLs scores than those who had not, by a statistical difference with a p value = 0.04. The mean ADLs score was 5.4 (SD = 1.4). The mean score of IADLs was 7.3 (SD = 1.7). Female patients (Mean = 7.6, SD = 1.1) performed better in IADLs than male patients (Mean = 7.1, SD = 1.9). Both ADLs and IADLs were affected strongly by depression and Injury Severity scores (p < 0.01), whereas IADLs were significantly correlated to caregiver types and quality of sleep (p < 0.01). Family support was observed as a negatively correlated factor to IADLs. Findings from the study provided evidence for authorities to adjust the health strategies among patients with TBI. Proper prehospital care, a basic low-cost hospital care model, and mental health counseling services should be considered when developing health interventions in Vietnam.
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