Compliance to food safety standards - Determining the barriers within the hotel industry (preprint)

Abstract The safety of food served to customers is obligatory for all food service establishments for public health effects. However, workplace barriers have led to noncompliance with safety standards resulting in food contamination and outbreak of foodborne diseases. This study assessed the compliance of restaurant facilities to standards by the Food and Drugs Authority’s (FDA) code of standards, awareness and training on the code and the workplace barriers to compliance. The study involved 233 respondents, 205 food handlers, 10 managers, and 18 officers from the regulatory authorities, who were at work after the COVID-19 restrictions. Questionnaire was used to obtain data from the food handlers and face-to-face interview for managers/chefs and officers from the regulatory authorities. Data was analysed using frequencies and percentages, and thematic content analysis. Results revealed that majority of the hotels did not comply with the FDA’s code of standards on the provision of facilities. However, in segregating the items individually, 70% of the hotels had high compliance with the provision of proper storage facilities for raw and cooked food, 81.5% of the food handlers had in-service training, but this was not routine. Most of the food handlers were aware of the FDA’s code on hygiene for food service establishments, but only a few were trained on it. The food handlers reported unconducive working environment, poor monitoring and supervision, inadequate supply of equipment, time pressure and workplace policy as barriers to compliance with food safety standards. We recommend that hotel owners/managers should be adequately trained to provide the required training and supervision for food handlers, provide the needed tools/equipment to enhance work flow and safe food to consumers. Also, regulatory authorities are encouraged to conduct regular and effective monitoring/supervision to ensure adherence to standards, to improve the safety of food served to the public.

Anxiety, Knowledge, Misconceptions, Behavioral Intentions and Prevention Practices in COVID-19 First Year of Pandemic: Network or Psychometric Model? (preprint)

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has spread rapidly worldwide, being life-changing and affecting anxiety, misconceptions, knowledge, and people's health behavioral intentions, which is related to COVID-19 prevention practices adherence. Thus, it is relevant to test whether related measures would have a factor or network model in different populations, and know its’ relations as complex systems. The goal of this research is to test whether the Fear and Health-Seeking Behavioral Intentions Scales follow a network or factor model in a Brazilian sample, in addition to an attempt to understand COVID-19 psychological impacts and its relations in a Brazilian sample during the first year of the pandemic. To do so, we used recent developments in the field of network and psychometrics, with a sample of 476 Brazilians collected during the first pandemic year. We found evidence for a network model using two approaches. In addition, we used the network model to see the relationship between those variables, and the findings are discussed. We highlighted the importance of COVID-19 knowledge, misinformation, and prevention practices adherence relation in the network structure.

Impact of COVID-19 on access to healthcare by persons with disabilities (preprint)

Background: The Sars-Cov-2 pandemic has ravaged societies at their very core and deepened pre-existing inequalities. Meanwhile, persons with disabilities (PwDs), the most oppressed group in Ghana that live in poor and deplorable conditions are most like to be negatively impacted by the Sars-Cov-2 crisis. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore how the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic is influencing access to healthcare by PwDs in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis (STM). Methods: We collected data from 17 participants, nine from the Ghana Blind Union (GBU), five from Ghana Society for the Physically Challenged (GSPC), and three from the Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD). An interview guide containing 25 items was used to gather data from the participants and we employed Phenomenological Analysis (PA) approach in making sense of the data. Result: PWDs encounter many different barriers like; i) stigma and discrimination, ii) cost and availability of transport, iii) poor attitude of healthcare staff, iv) poor communication, v) hospital environment and equipment, vi) handwashing and sanitizing facilities, vii) unsuitable washrooms, viii) cost of healthcare, ix) registration and renewal of NHIS cards, and x) loss of income as they attempt to seek healthcare during this Covid-19 era in the STM. Conclusion: Covid-19 pandemic has widened the disproportionate and inequality gaps against PWDs in the STM when they attempt to seek healthcare. in the face of this, STM may lead Ghana to lag in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.8, which entreats nations to provide quality healthcare for all persons including PWDs. PWDs need education and empowerment to enable them demand for their rights when accessing healthcare. The findings highlight existing gaps in the implementation of the disability law by healthcare facilities in STM and, re-focus the attention of hospital managers in STM to the healthcare needs of PWDs in STM.

Anxiety, Knowledge, Misconceptions, and Health-Seeking Behavioral Intentions in Brazil COVID-19 Pandemic: A network psychometric approach (preprint)

SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has spread rapidly worldwide, causing life-changing and affecting anxiety, misconceptions, knowledge, and people's health behavioral intentions, which need adhering to COVID-19 prevention practices. Thus, it is relevant to develop psychometric measures for those variables on different populations. The goal of the present research is to seek evidence of validity and reliability of the Fear and Health-Seeking Behavioral Intentions Scales in a Brazilian sample. To do so, this research used recent developments in the field of network psychometrics. Using a sample of 476 Brazilians collected at the beginning of the pandemic, we found a four-dimensional structure in the reflective variables, forming a sound structure with good psychometric properties. In addition, using the novel approach to see the relationship between those variables, novel findings are discussed. We highlighted the importance of COVID-19 anxiety in the network structure, as it can be a possible alternative to increase adherence to prevent COVID-19 infection.