Identification of the role of oral health educators in elementary schools during COVID-19 pandemic: a competency framework

Objective Oral health educators should have the required knowledge, skills and attitude in order to meet the increased needs of the Ministry of Education in Syria as well as to perform their duties in promoting oral health in children appropriately during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study was undertaken to identify core competencies required for oral health educators in elementary schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative exploratory study was undertaken. A focus group which consisted of 5 Medical Education postgraduates and 3 oral health educators’ training team members were invited to formulate a preliminary list of basic competencies. Delphi technique was also adopted through inviting 12 experts in oral health education to evaluate and formulate a final list of elementary schools’ oral health educators’ competencies during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results A competency framework was developed. Fifty-five competencies were identified including 35 in cognitive domain, 12 skills and 8 attitude competencies. A list of essential competencies has been identified. These competencies should be addressed in training programs targeting oral health educators, which can consequently produce competent educators who can successfully promote and provide health care to all schoolchildren during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professional competence of health educators with special consideration of physiotherapists

Health education consists in developing human knowledge, attitudes and skills and abilities, as well as in affecting human conduct in order to maintain or improve their state of health, whereas health promotion comprises propagation of a fit and healthy lifestyle including implementation of some prophylactic measures preventing the development of complaints, illnesses or diseases. Physiotherapists, who become health educators, play a significant role in attaining those objectives through undertaking some preventive measures; they also play a key part in encouraging their clients/patients to change their lifestyle and implement pro-health attitude towards life.

A Scenario of the Formative E-assessment Based on the ARCS Model: What Is the Impact on Student Motivation in Educational Context?

The purpose of this research is to measure the motivation of nursing students, option: multi-skilled nurse (n=58), following their participation in an e-learning activity in the form of formative quizzes. The pedagogical scenario was based on Keller's ARCS motivation model. Data were collected through the IMMS questionnaire adopted from the ARCS model. The results show that the students were motivated by the e-learning activity (mean score = 4.22±, 51091), and that the motivation variables studied correlated positively with the overall motivation score (p-value < .001). Through this research, it was found that an instructional scenario based on the ARCS model had a positive impact on students' motivation for e-learning, thus encouraging allied health educators to design educational tools that can motivate nursing students.

Recruiting Eligible and Interested Study Participants With Cognitive Impairment

Recruiting and enrolling older adults with cognitive impairment is challenging under the best of circumstances. This symposium will begin with an introduction to best practices for recruitment of older adults living with cognitive impairment, followed by four presentations describing recruitment successes and challenges across multiple settings. The first presentation describes COVID-19 pandemic-related factors that have influenced recruitment and enrollment of older adults with cognitive impairment in an intervention study of a physical activity smartphone app. Strategies and procedural alterations to facilitate achievement of enrollment goals for technology-based interventions are discussed. The second presentation describes researchers’ recruiting experiences with older adults with mild cognitive impairment (oaMCI)-care partner dyads for a pilot, platform trial of biopsychosocial interventions. There were differences in study disinterest between oaMCI and study partners that may require specialized communication messaging and strategies for dyad engagement. The third presentation features recruitment adaptations for an Internet-delivered behavioral intervention study with oaMCI and insomnia. Anticipated concerns of oaMCI using technology or accessing the Internet were not significant barriers to recruitment, while fewer oaMCI endorsed sleep concerns than expected. The last presentation demonstrates the potential for telephone-based outreach to increase dementia knowledge and cognitive risk. Working with faith-based health educators to reach rural, ethnically-diverse older adults, researchers will describe how to promote inclusivity and successfully recruit oaMCI within the community. Presenters and participants are encouraged to dialogue on how recruitment and retention barriers may be avoided as well as to share success stories from their own research with oaMCI.

Relationship between Health Educators’ Variables and Retention in Public Secondary Schools in Delta and Edo States

This study was undertaken to investigate relationship between health educators’ variables and job retention in public secondary schools in Delta and Edo states. The study employed correlational design. The population was 1122 principals and health educators’ in public secondary schools in Delta and Edo States. The population includes 469 principals and 215 health educators ’ in public secondary schools in Delta State and 259 principals and 179 health educators ’ in public secondary schools in Edo State. The researcher sampled 364 (50%) principals and the entire 394 health educators’ in public secondary schools in Delta and Edo States. The stratified random sampling technique was utilised to choose 50 % of principals in the two states that were used in the study. The instrument for the study was a questionnaire titled Health Educators’ Variables and Retention in Public Secondary Schools Questionnaire (HEVRPSSQ). Pearson Product Moment Correlational Coefficient (r) was used to establish the reliability of the questionnaire. Overall coefficient of the whole test value of Pearson Product Moment Correlational Coefficient (r) was 0 .79. Items on the questionnaire were scored by means of the four points scoring scale of Strongly Agree (4 points), Agree (3 points), Disagree (2 points) and Strongly Disagree (1 point). Out of the entire copies of 746questionnaires administered, 1,197 copies were retrieved. Principals were 359 and health educators’ were 387. Mean rating and standard deviation were utilised to answer the three research questions. Pearson Product Moment Correlational Coefficient (r) was utilised to test the three null hypotheses formulated to guide the study at 0.05 levels of significance. Findings showed that work load, class sise with health educators’ retention negatively in public secondary schools in Delta and Edo States. Supportive principals with health educators’ retention positively in public secondary schools in Delta and Edo States. There was a significant relationship among work load, class size, supportive principals and job retention in public secondary schools in Delta and Edo States. It was concluded in the study that work load, class size negatively relate with health educators ’ retention in public secondary schools in Delta and Edo States was low as the ratings were low. Supportive principals negatively relate with health educators’ retention in public secondary schools in Delta and Edo States was high as the ratings were high. It was recommended in the study that work load should be organised for health educators in public secondary schools in Delta and Edo States to enhance their’ retention, class size should be well stated to enhance health educators’ retention in public secondary schools in Delta and Edo States and competent mentors should be used in work load plans for health educators to enhance their retention in teaching in public secondary schools in Delta and Edo States.

On the front line

Victoria Wilson explains the importance of dental nurses as oral health educators

Impact of Stigma and Community Behavior on Covid-19 Survivors: Literature Review

Coronavirus disease or Covid-19 is a viral infection that was first discovered in Wuhan City, China at the end of 2019. The rapid spread of the disease, the absence of a cure, accompanied by a flood of information through social media, not all of which can be trusted have caused a stigma for people related to Covid-19. The study aims to determine the impact of stigma and community behavior on Covid-19 survivors. The research method uses a literature review, searching for data sourced from PubMed, Google Scholar, Proquest, and Ebsco from March-May 2021. Data analysis was carried out descriptively. The results show that there is an increasing number of reports of public stigmatization of survivors from various environments such as family and work. Stigma arises in social behavior such as ostracizing survivors, refusing and ostracizing people who move from one area to another, ostracizing medical personnel who work in hospitals, refusing corpses because they are considered to have a virus that can be transmitted. Based on these observations, the authors conclude that the freedom of the media in presenting news to give different opinions to everyone, the lack of health educators, the number of hoax news that spread, and the different policies of the central and regional governments that make it difficult to control disease and have an impact on Covid-19 survivors in Indonesia. . rejected the corpse because it was considered that there was still a virus that could be transmitted. Based on these observations, the authors conclude that the freedom of the media in presenting news to give different opinions to everyone, the lack of health educators, the number of hoax news that spread, and the different policies of the central and regional governments that make it difficult to control disease and have an impact on Covid-19 survivors in Indonesia. . rejected the corpse because it was considered that there was still a virus that could be transmitted. Based on these observations, the authors conclude that the freedom of the media in presenting news to give different opinions to everyone, the lack of health educators, the number of hoax news that spread, and the different policies of the central and regional governments that make it difficult to control disease and have an impact on Covid-19 survivors in Indonesia.

Initial SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination Uptake in a Correctional Setting: Cross-sectional Study

Background The largest outbreaks of COVID-19 in the United States have occurred in correctional facilities, and little is known about the feasibility and acceptability of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine campaigns among incarcerated people. Objective The aim of this study was to describe a statewide vaccination program among incarcerated people and staff working in a prison setting. Methods Between December 2020 and February 2021, the Rhode Island Department of Corrections (RIDOC) offered the opportunity for SARS-CoV-2 vaccination to all correctional staff and sentenced individuals. Two RIDOC public health educators provided education on the vaccine, answered questions, and obtained consent before the vaccine clinic day for the incarcerated group. All staff received information on signing up for vaccines and watched an educational video that was created by the medical director. Additional information regarding vaccine education and resources was sent via email to the entire RIDOC department. Results During this initial campaign, 76.4% (1106/1447) of sentenced individuals and 68.4% (1008/1474) of correctional staff accepted and received the vaccine. Four months after the first vaccine was offered, 77.7% (1124/1447) of the sentenced population and 69.6% (1026/1474) of staff were fully vaccinated. Conclusions This study demonstrates the feasibility and efficiency of vaccine implementation in a carceral setting. Education and communication likely played an important role in mitigating vaccine refusals.

Learning-by-Teaching Approach Improves Dengue Knowledge in Children and Parents

There is narrow evidence on which strategies are most effective for disseminating information on dengue prevention. This is particularly relevant because social habits have a great prevention capacity for dengue. We investigated how effective are children as health educators, and how much they learn as they teach. We recruited 142 children and 97 parents in Argentina’s tropical area for two cluster randomized parallel trials. In Study 1, we compared the dynamics of dengue knowledge of 10-year-old children who—after receiving a dengue talk—1) listened to an unrelated topic; 2) read a booklet with information about dengue, 3) taught their parents about dengue, or 4) taught their parents about dengue, using the booklet. In Study 2, we assessed whether the parents’ dengue knowledge changed after interacting with their children, in comparison with parents learning about dengue from an expert or about an unrelated topic. Children that taught their parents what they learned, using a booklet, showed 2.53 more correct responses (95% CI [0.20, 4.85]; P = 0.027) than children who listened to an unrelated topic. This style of teaching also serves to effectively propagate knowledge: parents learned from their children the same as from an expert; and significantly more than parents who learned about an unrelated topic. Parents learned from their children even if they were taught with booklets (1.49, 95% CI [0.01, 2.96]; P = 0.048) or without (1.94, 95% CI [0.44, 3.44]; P = 0.006). Specifically, after being taught by their children, parents showed on average 1.49 (if they were taught with a booklet) and 1.94 (without booklet) more correct responses than parents that learned about an unrelated topic. The simple action of prompting children to teach consolidated their own knowledge and broadcasted it effectively to their parents. This strategy is a potential low to no-cost method for sharing information about dengue prevention.