Efficacy of a psychosocial intervention for parents of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Alexandria, Egypt

Childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD] is a chronic disorder thatcarries an immense amount of suffering for its victims, their families, and communities.The efficacy of behavioral parent training in the treatment of ADHD has beensupported in several studies.To evaluate the efficacy of a predesigned culturally sensitive psychosocial interventionprogram for parents of ADHD children in Alexandria, Egypt.A pretest-post-test intervention study was carried out at the Child Mental Health Clinicfor School Students affiliated to the Health Insurance Organization, Alexandria. Theintervention aimed at improving parents' knowledge of ADHD, building their skills ineffective parenting, stress management and problem-solving, as well as providing socialsupport. All the participants [50 parents] were assigned to groups, each of five to eightparents. They received a total of eight sessions on a weekly basis. The program wasevaluated immediately after completion and 2 months later using the Arabic Versionof Conners' Rating Scale to identify ADHD and to assess its severity, Home SituationsQuestionnaire, Parenting Scale, the Arabic Version of Depression Anxiety Stress Scales [DASS], and parental ADHD-related knowledge questionnaire were used.There was a statistically significant decrease in the mean total scores recordedby parents on Conners' Rating Scale [P<0.001], Home Situations Questionnaire [P<0,05], Parenting Scale [P< 0.001], and DASS [P< 0.001] immediately afterprogram completion and 2 months later compared with Jjiat reported before programinitiation. The total scores of participants on the ADHD-related knowledgequestionnaire increased significantly after attending the program [P< 0.001].Provision of a psychosocial intervention program for parents of ADHD children proved tobe effective in reducing perceived severity of the symptoms and problem situations, aswell as improving parents' knowledge, discipline practices, and psychological well-being

Role of the nurse in maintaining healthy physical environment in primary schools in Alexandria

Healthy school physical environment affects the day to day health and well being of the students. It should be organized in a way that reduces or eliminates safety hazards for all students and school personnel. The nurse collaborates with other school members to provide effective intervention to prevent the exposure of students to potentially physically harmful conditions. They must have the educational knowledge and background to be actively involved in promoting a safe healthy school environment. The present study aimed to know the role of the nurse in maintaining the healthy physical environment in primary schools in Alexandria. The study was conducted at the governmental primary schools in the seven educational zones. The study included all nurses working in 350 primary schools. The study was fulfilled through a cross-sectional approach. A total number of 251 nurses accepted to be included in the study, their mean age were 45.87 +/- 10.61 years, the majority of them [89.2%] were married and had children about 57.0% had a certificate of health visitor diploma. The results showed that knowledge, attitudes and practices of nurses regarding maintaining healthy school physical environment are adequate in some aspects and inadequate in another. As regards knowledge, only one quarter of nurses has the required knowledge, while one third of them did not have enough knowledge. However, there were unsatisfactory attitudes and practices in maintaining healthy school physical environment. The study revealed that a significant positive relationship was found between knowledge of nurses and their qualifications and marital status

Compliance of mothers to the breastfeeding guidelines in Alexandria

The compliance of mothers to the six items related to their practice of the 10 steps of successful breastfeeding [Immediate breastfeeding initiation, rooming in, breast-feeding on demand, avoiding prelacteal feeding, avoiding use of pacifier, and avoiding use of bottles] are of great importance to achieve better breastfeeding outcomes. The objectives of the study were to estimate the extent of compliance of mothers to these items and to identify some factors associated with this compliance. The study was fulfilled through a cross-sectional approach. It was conducted at the MCH and FH centers in Alexandria Governorate. The study included 390 mothers accompanying their breast-fed infants aged 0-12 months to well baby clinics at those health centers. A pre-designed structured interview questionnaire was constructed to collect the data required from mothers. Only 29.8% of mothers started breastfeeding within the 1st hour after labour, 57.2% of them practiced rooming in, and 78.7% of them regulated breastfeeding according to their infants needs. Prelacteal feeding was given to 58.2% of the infants. 22.8% of mothers used pacifiers and 41% used bottles for their infants. Scoring of the overall compliance of mothers to the 6 points related to their breastfeeding practice of the WHO/UNICEF joint statement showed that 24.1% of mothers scored satisfactory level, 41.3% average level while 34.6% scored as low level of compliance. The level of mothers compliance was positively affected by their level of knowledge about breastfeeding and the six items [X[2]=267.582, P<0.01] and by the increase in the child order [FET=15.618, P<0.01]. It was adversely affected by their social level [X[2]=19.853, P<0.01], education [x[2]=28.289, P<0.01] and working status [x[2]=17.439, P<0.01]. Also it was adversely associated with the history of neonatal asphyxia [FET=17.909, p<0.01], the delivery in health settings [FET=44.278, p<0.01], and the delivery by caesarian section [X[2]=40.1 93, P<0.01]

Health needs of preschool children in Abbis II village

The study was carried out in one of the reclaimed villages near Alexandria [Abbis II village]. The aim of the study was to assess the health needs of the preschool children aged 2.5 to less than 6 years. Two tools were used: an intereviewing achedule and the anthropometric measurements. The study showed that the majority of the children were below the 50th percentiles in weight, hight, mid arm and head circumference. 14% suffered from PCM. The highest coverage for vaccination was for polio [94%] followed by measles [81%] and the least coverage was for BCG [24.5%]. A large proportion of children contracted communicable diseases of childhood: masles 62.5%, mucopurulent conjuctivitis 66.5%, chicken pox 33%, mumps 19.5% and whooping cough 13%.

Determining simple parameters for social classifications for health research

Studies of community health problems need correlations with social standards. Estimation of social standards of families in a community needs to identify certain parameters with high validity. The present paper presented three models of social scoring for different health problems. The models were previously used with satisfactorily acceptable social leveling and correlations with the health problems

Reactions to measles vaccination

1- group of 271 children attending 6 M.C.H. centres in Cairo were vaccinated by Edomonston B measles vaccine. They were followed up daily for 15 days. 2- The children showed a reaction of fever, rash, respiratory and gastro-intestinal manifestations which had been recorded by other investigators. 3- The difference of response between those who are two year and more and those who are less than two years who showed milder reactions, induced a recommendation that the latter group is a better receptors for the vaccination. This is supported by the epidemiologic value of vaccinating those below 2 years