ABSTRACT
Background Many studies have been conducted worldwide and in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) during the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to assess the factors affecting COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. However, only some of these studies have adopted the Health Belief Model (HBM). This study aimed to assess the demographic characteristics and socio-psychological variables affecting the willingness to receive the COVID-19 vaccine among the general adult population in the KSA using the basic elements of the HBM. Methods A cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted. A Google Form questionnaire comprising 30 questions was distributed electronically using social media platforms. A univariate analysis using chi-square testing identified candidate variables for the multivariate logistic regression at a p-value of <.05 at 95% confidence interval (CI) set as a cut-off point. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association between multiple predictor variables and the dichotomized COVID-19 vaccine acceptance variable. Results A total of 1939 individuals participated in the current study. More than 73% were willing to take the vaccine, while the rest were either not willing (14.6%) or not sure (12.1%). The results showed that men were 1.29 times more likely to receive the COVID-19 vaccine than women (odds ratio, or OR = 1.29, 95% CI = 1.01-1.64, p = .04); those who were or had been a healthcare worker (HCW) were 1.43 times more likely to receive the COVID-19 vaccine compared with those who had never been a HCW (OR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.10-1.87, p = .01). We found that perceiving the risk of contracting COVID-19 (OR = 2.86, 95% CI = 1.47-5.55, p = .00) and perceiving the severity of the disease (OR = 2.07, 95% CI = 1.08-3.96, p = .03) were positively associated with the willingness to receive the vaccine. Perceived barriers such as ineffectiveness of the vaccine (OR = 0.28, 95% CI = 0.18-0.44, p < .001), or believing the vaccine is just a media advertisement (OR = 0.56, 95% CI = 0.35-0.87, p = .01) were negative predictors of acceptance of the vaccine. Moreover, perceiving the benefits, such as life going back to normal (OR = 2.28, 95% CI = 1.37-3.77, p = .00) and recognizing the importance of the annual flu vaccine (OR = 3.43, 95% CI = 2.29-5.14, p < .001), were found to be positive predictors of acceptance of the vaccine. Finally, we also found that cues to action were positively associated with vaccine acceptance, that is, participants who were encouraged by their doctors (OR = 1.75, 95% CI = 1.17-2.60, p = .01), and family members or friends (OR = 2.89, 95% CI = 1.94-4.32, p < .001) were more willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine than those who were not. Conclusions The current study provides valuable insights into the determinants of vaccine acceptance and hesitancy based on the HBM from a cognitive perspective. This could be useful in helping the government establish public health programs aimed at addressing barriers and false beliefs among the adult population, which could enhance the public's willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccines and, ultimately, accelerate achieving herd immunity.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is often described than define as a psychological illness that is characterized by excessive worry. Little attention has been given to anxiety disorders by the medical community in Saudi Arabia. This study was carried out to screen for GAD among adults and determine the correlation of anxiety disorder with other comorbidities. METHODOLOGY: This study was a cross-sectional observational study carried out among adults aged 18 years and above in the general population in Saudi Arabia. The people were screened by using an Arabic validated version of General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) questionnaire that was sent as a Google link via emails or different social media (Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Telegram groups) of the general population. The study was approved by the hospital research committee and the Institutional Review Board (HlRI-05-Apr21-01). RESULTS: We collected 338 participants in response to our questionnaire where 60.7% of them were females and 54.5% were aged between 25 and 34 years old. hypersensitivity, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), hypertension and diabetes mellitus (DM) were the main medical conditions represented by 7.6%, 4.8%, 3.7%, and 3.4%. According to GAD-7 questionnaire, prevalence of any degree of anxiety was 62.1% where 33.1% of the total sample had mild anxiety, 15.7% had a moderate degree of anxiety and 13.3% had severe anxiety. Anxiety was related to age, residency, occupation, and some medical conditions. CONCLUSION: We found high prevalence of anxiety among our population which was the highest among younger participants, and students. Moreover, we found that prevalence and severity of anxiety were higher in patients with chronic conditions and depressed patients.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND/AIM: Type 2 diabetic patients (T2DM) have lower quality of life (QoL) compared to the general population. This study was conducted to determine QoL of T2DM patients and analyze factors that affect patients' QoL. METHODS: We conducted this cross-sectional study in January to February of 2019 at several primary care health centers (PCHC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. All adult T2DM patients were invited to participate in the study. We used the EQ-5D-3L and EQ VAS tools to determine the patients' health state and their self-rated overall health. RESULTS: A total of 274 T2DM patients were surveyed, 149 (54.4%) were males. The mean age was 59.7 ± 10.4 years. Of the five EQ-5D-5L domains, self-care had the highest proportion that reported no problem (n = 183, 66.8%). The mobility domain had the highest proportion of reported severe problems (n = 37, 13.5%) and extreme problems (n = 7, 2.6%). Nineteen (6.9%) patients reported with a full state of health. The mean EQVAS was 65.9 ± 22.1, with only 24.1% reported as between 81-100%. Females, patients above 75 years old, those who are in the low socioeconomic income, unemployed, widow had lower EQ VAS. CONCLUSION: Males, with higher socioeconomic status, employed, married and younger patients experience better QoL compared to their counterparts. The overall health related QoL among our diabetic patients is low. These findings suggest improvement of health-related QoL, and more efforts should be invested in patient education particularly among patients who are in the low socioeconomic status, the elderly, females and the unemployed.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: This study assessed "model of care" (MoC) knowledge among Riyadh First Health Cluster (C1) staff (health workers and admin) at Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH). METHODS: This study is cross-sectional, observational, and analytic. Raw data were collected from the data warehouse of the Vision Realization Office (VRO) at the MOH. It was then entered into SPSS, Version 24, and 3,696 individuals were analyzed. Descriptive statistics were presented as numbers and percentages, and a Chi-square test was used to test for associations. The study was approved by the hospital research committee and the Institutional Review Board (HlRI-15-Dec l9-01). RESULTS: The staff who knew of the transformation occurring in the healthcare sector were 98.2% male and 93.6% female (P < .001). The staff having more than 20 years of experience represented the highest level of understanding (44.4%). In contrast, a team with 0-1 years of experience had the lowest level of understanding (13.6%) (P < .001). However, the staff with 0-1 years of experience was associated with the highest agreement percentages (93.4%, 92.2%) while the staff with more than 20 years of experience was associated with a lower agreement of percentages (88.2%, 79.1%) (P < .001). Finally, we found pharmacists and primary healthcare centers to generally have the highest knowledge percentages across the studied dimensions (P < .001). CONCLUSION: The C1 staff who participated in this study had good knowledge of Saudi Arabia's MoC. We recommend future elaborating research about the Saudi MoC to compare in detail with the staff in the other sectors and reach an international benchmark.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND/AIM: Hypertension (HBP) is a chronic disease that has become a public health problem, which has been attributed to numerous risk factors. However, despite numerous HBP management and behavioral treatment guidelines, HBP is poorly controlled among patients due to insufficient care. We conducted this study to identify the prevalence of self-management behaviors and to explore factors affecting self-management behaviors for controlling HBP among hypertensive patients. METHODS: We conducted a survey using the Hypertension Self-Care Profile (HBP-SCP) and the Hill-Bone Adherence Scale among diagnosed HBP patients attending the Family Medicine clinics of King Saud Medical City in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in January 2019. All patients of Saudi nationality aged 18 years and above were included in the study. RESULTS: A total of 187 patients responded to the survey, 95 (50.8%) males and 92 (49.2%) females. Only 93 patients (49.7%) monitor their BP at home, and 68 (36.4%) always measure their BP. Ninety-one patients (48.7%) said that measuring their BP is not important. The most common reason for not taking the anti-HBP medications is they forget to take the medications in 87 (46.5%) of patients. Seventy-two patients (38.5%) did not restrict salt intake, and 51 patients (27.3%) had no time for exercise. More than half of the patients (51.3%) were not motivated to regularly exercise and 56.7% were motivated to limit salt-intake. Confidence to exercise, check BP at home, and eat low-salt foods were also low at 52.4-53.5%. Significant factors including gender, age, BMI, duration of HBP, and presence of cardiac disease were found to be related toward behavior, motivation, and confidence to self-care. CONCLUSION: Compliance, behavior, motivation, and self-care among hypertensive patients visiting the primary care clinics in our representative population are low. Various factors were found to be related to poor behavior, poor motivation, and less confidence to do home BP monitoring, to exercise more, restrict salt intake, and value the control of HBP. There is a need for health practitioners to assess self-care activities and blood pressure control, and educate patients the importance of HBP monitoring and teaching practical techniques to boost their confidence and motivation to achieve a better behavior, self-care, and compliance to management.
