Knowledge and attitudes towards COVID-19 infection and anxiety levels of Nigerian youths regarding the COVID-19 pandemic

Objectives@#Youths can function as agents of change by disseminating essential information, but they are also considered a vulnerable group in the COVID-19 pandemic. Literature on COVID-related knowledge, attitude, and anxiety has not focused comprehensively on youths. This study assesses the knowledge, attitudes, and anxiety level of youths in eastern Nigeria during the COVID-19 pandemic.@*Methods@#We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study using an online survey among young people between the ages of 18 and 35 years in southeastern Nigeria during the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyzed data using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 25 software. We used descriptive statistics, the Chi-square test, and bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses to measure the associations. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant at a 95 percent confidence level.@*Results@#We included 397 participants. Majority of the study participants (88%) had a high level of knowledge about COVID-19. Around 68% showed a good attitude toward COVID-19 prevention, overall low anxiety related to the COVID-19 pandemic was proportionally higher at 57.43%. Knowledge and educational level were statistically significantly associated with anxiety levels related to the COVID-19 pandemic. @*Conclusion@#The young adults had a good knowledge of the COVID-19 transmission and symptoms, positive attitude, and low anxiety levels. Those with higher educational levels had good knowledge and lower anxiety level. Public health and mental health experts can use this material to help reduce high levels of anxiety among the vulnerable population affected by the pandemic.

Correlation between anxiety level of residents and needs of traditional Chinese medicine nursing during the COVID-19 epidemic / 四川精神卫生

ObjectiveTo understand the current situation of anxiety level and traditional Chinese medicine （TCM） nursing needs among residents during the COVID-19 epidemic， and to discuss the relationship between them，so as to provide references for maintaining their mental health. MethodsA total of 560 residents were recruited using convenience sampling method， and the selected individuals completed three questionnaires based on online platform， including self-designed general information questionnaire， Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale （GAD-7）， and TCM nursing needs questionnaire. Then the correlation between anxiety level and TCM nursing needs was analyzed by Spearman correlation test. ResultsA total of 552 valid questionnaires were collected. The results of GAD-7 showed that the total score was （11.04±3.72）， and average score of each item was （1.58±0.53）. There were 328 cases （59.4%） without anxiety symptoms， 180 cases （32.6%） with mild anxiety， 33 cases （6.0%） with moderate anxiety， and 11 cases （2.0%） with severe anxiety. The analysis of TCM nursing needs questionnaire showed that the total score was （21.59±7.92）， and dominated by the needs of medical knowledge （2.90±1.15） and TCM dietary care （2.82±1.13）. The item score and total score of TCM nursing needs questionnaire of residents during the COVID-19 epidemic were positively correlated with GAD-7 total score （r=0.240~0.331， P<0.01）. ConclusionResidents suffer from different levels of anxiety during the COVID-19 epidemic， and TCM nursing needs is on the rise， indicating that the anxiety level of residents is correlated with the needs of TCM nursing.

Comparison of anxiety and child-care education characteristics of mothers who have children with or without speech delays / Comparação da ansiedade e características da educação infantil em mães com filhos com ou sem atrasos na fala

Abstract Introduction: Speech delay in a child could be the cause and/or result of the emotional disorder. The child rearing attitude that the parents have accepted could have both positive and negative effects on the personality of the child. Objective: The current study aimed to investigate the sociodemographic features and the mothers' anxiety of children with speech delay. Methods: One hundred five mothers with children aged between 3 and 6 years with speech delays were included in the patient group, and 105 mothers who have children aged between 3 and 6 years with normal speech and language development were included in the control group. An information form questionnaire including demographic characteristics, the Family Life and Childrearing Attitude Scale (PARI - Parental Attitude Research Instrument) and Beck anxiety scale were requested from all mothers in the patient and the control groups. Results: In the current study, there was a significant difference between the groups in terms of gender (p = 0.001). According to Parental Attitude Research Instrument, the mean of mothers of the children with speech delays was higher than the mean of mothers of normal children in terms of the answers to overprotective mother aspect (p < 0.01). The mothers of children with speech delays had more overprotective motherhood attitudes; however, the difference in terms of the answers to the aspects of democratic attitude and provision of equality, refusal to be a housewife, husband-wife conflict, and suppression and discipline were not statistically significant. The Beck anxiety scale, a significant difference was detected between the two groups (p < 0.01). It was found that the mothers of children with speech delays had more severe levels of anxiety. Conclusion: The social structure of the family, the attitudes and the behaviors of the mother, and the anxiety levels of the mothers have important effects on child development. Thus, it is necessary to perform further studies related to speech delays, in which many factors play a role in the etiology.

Resumo Introdução: O atraso da fala em uma criança pode ser a causa e/ou o resultado de distúrbio emocional. As atitudes tomadas pelos pais na educação da criança podem ter efeitos positivos e negativos sobre a personalidade infantil. Objetivo: Investigar as características sociodemográficas e a ansiedade das mães de crianças com atraso na fala. Método: Foram incluídas no grupo de pacientes 105 mães com crianças entre 3 e 6 anos de idade e atrasos na fala e no grupo controle 105 mães com crianças na mesma faixa etária e desenvolvimento normal da fala e da linguagem. Foi solicitado às mães de ambos os grupos o preenchimento de informações em um formulário, incluindo características demográficas, o instrumento Family Life and Child Rearing Attitude Scale (PARI - Parental Attitude Research Instrument) e o inventário de ansiedade Beck. Resultados: No estudo atual, houve diferença significativa entre os grupos em relação ao gênero (p = 0,001). De acordo com o instrumento Parental Attitude Research Instrument, a média das mães das crianças com atrasos na fala foi maior do que a média das mães de crianças normais em relação às respostas sobre superproteção materna (p < 0,01). As mães de crianças com atrasos na fala apresentaram mais atitudes de proteção materna excessiva; no entanto, a diferença das respostas sobre atitudes democráticas e igualitarismo, recusa do papel de dona de casa, conflito marital e disciplina rígida não foram estatisticamente significantes. No inventário de ansiedade de Beck foi encontrada uma diferença significativa entre os dois grupos (p < 0,01). Verificou-se que as mães de crianças com atrasos na fala apresentavam níveis mais graves de ansiedade. Conclusão: A estrutura social da família, as atitudes, o comportamento e os níveis de ansiedade das mães têm efeitos importantes no desenvolvimento da criança. Conclui-se, portanto, a necessidade de realizar estudos adicionais relacionados aos atrasos na fala, nos quais diversos fatores desempenham um papel etiológico.

The management of dental fear symptoms in children in a coparticipation model / 口腔疾病防治

Objective@#To explore the impact of procedural behavior management on children with dental fear (DF) using the interactive mode of coparticipative doctor-patient interactions.@*Methods@#Ninety-eight children with dental fear and aged 3-6 years were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group. Dental treatment was performed on the observation group under the coparticipation model, while the control group adopted the traditional tell-show-do (TSD) operation. The entire process of diagnosing and treating each child was recorded, and the degree of dental fear was assessed using a behavioral grading method as the standard.@*Results@#The degrees of fear in the children in the observation group and the control group were 3.571 ± 0.913 and 3.857 ± 1.000. The two groups showed no significant difference in the degree of fear (t=1.477, P > 0.05). During the treatment, the fear scores of the children in the observation group and the control group were 1.428 ± 1.061 and 3.286 ± 0.707. The two groups showed statistically significant differences in fear scores (t=10.198, P < 0.001).@*Conclusion @#In the coparticipative model, the fear level of DF children was significantly reduced by process-based behavior management, which helped to improve the dental fear of the children.

Effects of Individualized Postoperative Education on Anxiety Levels and Self-Care Compliance after One-Day Cataract Surgery

PURPOSE: To investigate the influence of additional postoperative individualized teaching on the anxiety levels and self-care compliance of postoperative care in patients after one-day cataract surgery. METHODS: The present study included 80 cataract patients who underwent phacoemulsification and posterior intraocular lens insertion performed by a single operator between January 2011 and February 2011. The control group consisted of patients who received postoperative education from an ophthalmology coordinator based on previous hospital policy. The experiment group consisted of patients who received additional individualized postoperative education from an operator in the recovery room. Trait anxiety on operation day, state anxiety on postoperative day 1, and self-care compliance and postoperative satisfaction at postoperative 1 month were evaluated. RESULTS: There were no significant differences of trait anxiety levels on operation day or state anxiety on postoperative day 1 between the control and experiment groups. The experiment group revealed a higher score on the postoperative self-care compliance questionnaire, especially regarding care of the operation site. CONCLUSIONS: Individualized postoperative education increases self-care compliance level and contributes to improve postoperative recovery after one-day cataract surgery.

Social Isolation Selectively Increases Anxiety in Mice without Affecting Depression-like Behavior

It is hypothesized that a number of environmental factors affect animals' behavior. Without controlling these variables, it is very hard for researchers to get not only reliable, but replicable data from various behavioral experiments testing animals' cognitive as well as emotional functions. For example, laboratory mice which had restricted environment showed different synaptic potentiation properties with wild mice (Zhao MG et al., 2009). While performing behavioral experiments, however, it is sometimes inevitable that the researcher changes the animals' environments, as by switching the cages in which experimental animals are housed and separating animals raised together into small experimental groups. In this study, we investigated the effect of environmental changes on mice's emotional behaviors by socially isolating them or reducing the size of their cage. We found that social isolation selectively increases the animals' levels of anxiety, while leaving depression-like behaviors unchanged. On the other hand, alteration of the housing dimensions affected neither their anxiety levels nor their depression-like behaviors. These results suggest that environmental variables may have a prominent impact on experimental animals' emotional behaviors and possibly their psychological states, leading to bias in the behavioral data produced from experiments.

The effect of music therapy at surgical extraction of mandibular impacted 3rd molars

PURPOSE: This research was intended to evaluate the sedative effect of the music by measuring the anxiety-level, the pain-level, the blood pressure, and the pulse rate in patients who were going through extraction of the mandibular impacted 3rd molar. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients were selected among those who visited St. Vincent's Hospital in Suwon for the surgical extraction of 3rd molar from April to May, 2007 and were divided into two groups : the first, experimental group consisting of 32 people was going through extraction with the music and the second, control group also consisting of 32 people was going through extraction without the music. The anxiety-level was measured by filling out Spielberger's State-Trait Anxiety questionnaire. The pain-level was measured by VAS (Visual analog Scale). The blood-pressure and the pulse rate were recorded at waiting period, preparation and anesthesia period, 5 minutes after anesthesia, beginning of extraction and every five minutes after extraction to the end of surgery. RESULTS: The anxiety-level was significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group during the extraction procedure (p<0.01). The pain-level was significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group (p<0.05). The mean systolic blood pressure was significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group at the beginnig of extraction and 10 minutes after extraction (p<0.01, p<0.05 each). The mean diastolic blood pressure was significantly lower in the experimental group than the control group at 10 minutes after extraction (p<0.01). The mean of pulse rate was significantly lower at the beginning of extraction (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The music therapy could offer not only the psychological stability but also the physiological stability during the surgical extraction of impacted 3rd molar.

Design and Research of the Electrical Skin Resistance in College Students / 中华医学教育探索杂志

This article introduced the method and procedure of measuring the electrical skin resistance(ESR) by the digital electrical skin-resistance meter.And the factors affecting the ESR were discussed in the article.