Resources for assessing parents' vaccine hesitancy: a systematic review of the literature.

The concept of Vaccine Hesitancy has begun to appear in the scientific landscape, referring to the reluctance of a growing proportion of people to accept the vaccination offer. A variety of factors were identified as being associated with vaccine hesitancy but there was no universal algorithm and currently there aren't any established metrics to assess either the presence or impact of vaccine hesitancy. The aim of this study was to systematically review the published questionnaires evaluating parental vaccine hesitancy, to highlight the differences among these surveys and offer a general overview on this matter. This study offers a deeper perspective on the available questionnaires, helping future researches to identify the most suitable one according to their own aim and study setting.

Attitude of students of health professions towards a health care workers' mandatory vaccination: a multi-center cross-sectional survey.

SUMMARY: Introduction. Seasonal influenza epidemics represent a cost that affects companies in terms of sick leave and lost productivity, therefore vaccination can improve occupational health. The vaccination of Healthcare Workers (HCW) has a dual function because in addition to protecting the workers, it also protects the most fragile patients. The students of medical and nursing degree courses, as well as other health professions, attend the workplace daily and are similar to workers in Legislative Decree 81/08. The purpose of this research is to assess the prevalence of students who are in favor of the introduction of a mandatory vaccination for healthcare workers, and to investigate what factors predispose them to be favorable. Methods. We performed a multi-center cross-sectional study using a validated questionnaire in a sample of students from different university courses from October 10th, 2017 to September 30th, 2018. For qualitative variables, absolute and relative frequencies, and for categorical variables Pearson's Chi-square test (χ2) were calculated. A multivariable logistic regression model was used. Results. A total of 3131 questionnaires were completed by 2132 women and 999 men. The prevalence of students who are favorable to the introduction of a mandatory flu vaccination is 87.3% and that this data is linked to the female gender (aOR 1.52 CI 95% 1.12-2.06), being a medical student compared to nursing (aOR 2.14 CI 95% 1.45-3.17), coming from central Italy (aOR 3.08 CI 95% 2.11-4.51) and northern Italy (aOR 3.09 CI 95% 2.12-4.49) compared to Southern Italy and the Islands, wanting to get vaccinated for the next season (aOR 6.37 CI 95% 3.73-10.88), declaring to have a good/excellent level of knowledge on vaccine-preventable diseases (aOR 1.44 CI 95% 1.04-1.99), planning a recommendation based on ministerial indications (aOR 2.12 CI 95% 1.28-2.30) and having received requests for clarification on vaccinations (aOR 2.02 CI 95% 1.44-2.85). Discussion. The sample of university students showed to be largely in agreement with the introduction of mandatory vaccination for HCW, which is important for the prevention of influenza virus in the workplace. To increase adherence of healthcare workers to vaccination campaigns against seasonal influenza in the workplace, it is necessary that operative strategies are implemented with educational messages.

Violence on doctors. An observational study in Northern Italy.

BACKGROUND: Violence in the workplace is now universally recognized as a significant global public health issue and is one of the most serious issues affecting the healthcare sector. OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of workplace violence. METHODS: We performed a multicenter cross-sectional study using an anonymous questionnaire submitted to doctors from Northern Italy. The survey investigates socio-demographic information, the number of years of work in the health sector and the physical and verbal aggressions that occurred in the workplace in the last 12 months. RESULTS: The sample consists of 4545 healthcare workers, of whom 2603 (57.27%) are females. The mean age of the sample is 49.79 years (SD ± 12.63). The risk of being victim of physical aggression at work in the last 12 months is significantly associated with the following independent variables: male gender (aOR 2.09, 95% CI 1.51-2.88), work in the public sector (aOR 2.57, 95% CI 1.72-3.85), being victim of verbal aggression at work in the last 12 months (aOR 22.52, 95% CI 10.97-46.20), work in the operational units of the Medical area (aOR 2.36, 95% CI 1.33-4.21) and the Territorial area (aOR 1.97, 95% CI 1.04-3.74). DISCUSSION: The prevalence of violent behaviour is difficult to assess, because violent incidents are underreported or unreported. The results of the study suggest that increased awareness is necessary to develop effective control strategies at individual, hospital and national levels.

Predicting disease outbreaks: evaluating measles infection with Wikipedia Trends.

The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the temporal correlation between Wikitrends and conventional surveillance data generated for measles infection reported by bulletin of Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS). The reported cases of measles were selected from July 2015 to October 2018. Wikipedia Trends was used to assess how many times a specific page was read by users, data were extracted as daily data and aggregated on a weekly and monthly basis. The following data were extracted: number of views by users from 1 July 2015 to 31 October 2018 of the Morbillo, Vaccinazione del Morbillo, Vaccinazione MPR and Macchie di Koplik pages (Measles, Measles Vaccination, MPR Vaccination and Koplik's spots in English). Cross-correlation results were obtained as product-moment correlations between the two time series. Regarding the database with monthly data, temporal correlation was observed between the bulletin of ISS and Wikipedia search trends: the strongest correlation was at a lag of 0 for Measles (r=0.9164), Measles Vaccination (r=0.8622), MPR Vaccination (r=0.7852) and Koplik's spots (r=0.8217). Regarding the database with weekly data, both moderate and strong correlation was observed. A possible future application for programming and management interventions of Public Health is proposed.

Nursing students and depressive symptomatology: an observational study in University of Palermo.

PURPOSE: Depression is a common and serious medical illness, considered as a public health issue because it interferes with the interpersonal, social and professional functioning of the individual, and its frequency is constantly increasing. According to a recent review, approximately 34 per cent of nursing students had experienced depression worldwide. The university period may represent a moment in which the mental well-being of students is subjected to stress with a relative predisposition to the development of diseases related to mood disorders. The purpose of this study is to estimate the prevalence and examine the socio-demographic correlates of depressive symptomatology. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: In April 2019, a questionnaire was administered to all the nursing students of University of Palermo of the three years of course, accompanied by informed consent. Multivariable logistic regression was performed. The statistical significance level chosen for all analyses was 0.05. The results were analyzed using the STATA statistical software version 14. Results are expressed as adjusted odds ratio (aOR) with 95 per cent confidence intervals. FINDINGS: The sample consists of 493 students who completed the questionnaire, and the average age of the sample participants is 21.88 years. The multivariable logistic regression model shows that the risk to have depressive symptomatology is significantly associated with the following independent variables: female gender (aOR 1.91), being single (aOR 1.87), second year of study (aOR 1.94), third year of study (aOR 1.92), not performing regular physical activity (aOR 1.78) and perceived low health status (aOR 3.08). ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This study shows that belonging to the female gender, being further along in the years of study, having a chronic illness and perceiving a low state of health are all factors that can increase the risk of developing the symptoms of depression; rather, regular physical activity, friendship and romantic relationships can be considered factors protecting them from the risk of falling into depression that can undermine both the study and work performance. Certainly, it is important to analyze all the involved variables to improve the global health not only of the nursing students but of all the students.