Gender differences in health-related practices among university students in northeast Thailand.

The study aims at appraising gender differences in health-related practices, and health behaviour among university students of the Khon Kaen University, northeast Thailand, using a self-administered questionnaire. Of 539 university students, there were 155 males, 384 females, with mean ages 19.7 (+/- 1.2) and 19.6 (+/- 1.1) years, respectively. Persistent health problems were not significantly different between male and female students (12.9% vs. 15.4%). An average body mass index (BMI) was significantly different between male and female students (20.2 +/- 2.1 vs. 19.8 +/- 2.1). Female students reported positive health habits, in terms of drinking, smoking, sun protection, tooth brushing, fruit consumption, conscious efforts to avoid fat and cholesterol, over men, while regular exercise and safety belt use were more likely practised among male students. Using ANOVA and pairwise multiple comparisons, female students demonstrated better health eating habits than men (p = 0.0001). Coronary heart disease preventive habits between the medical and nonmedical faculty was greater for female students than for male students (p = 0.0006 for gender; p = 0.0001 for faculty). Health behaviour (combination of health eating habits, deliberate nutritional practices and coronary heart diseases preventive behaviour) was found to be better practised among women than men (p = 0.0001). These findings, therefore, should focus attention on university students as a target group for health education.

Healthy dietary habits, body mass index, and predictors among nursing students, northeast Thailand.

This study aimed to assess body mass index (BMI) of nursing students, and examine the links between health behavior in terms of healthy dietary habits, positive health habits, dieting and BMI. A structured questionnaire was used for obtaining information on dietary habits, positive health habits, demographic characteristic including body weight, and height by administering self-answering questionnaires to all of nursing students in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year-classes of the College of Nursing located in northeast Thailand. Three hundred and eleven female nursing students with an average age of 19.9 (SD = 1.4), had an average BMI of 20.3 kg/m2 (SD = 1.9). Most of the subjects (82.6%) were in the acceptable weight category (BMI > 18.5-24.99 kg/m2), 5.1% underweight (BMI < or = 18.5 kg/m2), and 2.3% overweight. (BMI > or = 25.0 kg/m2). About half of them (50.8-66.2%) practiced healthy dietary habits in terms of avoiding eating fat/cholesterol, enriched fiber foods, while one-fourth practiced daily fruit consumption. Positive health habits in terms of having breakfast, and taking exercise over the last two weeks, were practiced by 49.5% and 59.8%, respectively. Persistent health problem occurred 13.5% amongst the subjects. The univariate analyses revealed significant associations between dieting with the BMI; perception of body size with the BMI; the enriched fiber food consumption with dieting; and the avoidance of fat/cholesterol with dieting. It suggests that the choice of food was predominantly attributable to dieting. Results from multiple logistic regression analysis showed that dietary belief, dieting, and exercise had effects on the strength of the association (p = 0.0191, 0.0024, 0.0165; Odds ratios = 0.97, 2.21, 1.87, respectively). The results and implications are discussed.

Cornell Medical Index: a comparative study on health problems among Thai and Japanese nursing students.

Cross cultural differences in subjective physical and psychological health problems reported on the Cornell Medical Index (CMI) Thai and Japanese versions were conducted among Thai and Japanese female first year class nursing students from two nursing colleges. All of the Thai (114) and 96.2% (102) of the Japanese subjects self-administered the CMI. The internal consistency reliability of each CMI was acceptable. Mean ages of the Thai and the Japanese subjects were 19.3 (SD = 0.8) and 18.4 (SD = 0.5) years respectively, which was not significantly different. Mean CMI for the physical, psychological and overall health complaints of the Thai subjects were 29.8 (SD = 13.5), 14.5 (SD = 8.0), and 41.3 (SD = 19.3) respectively, and those for the Japanese subjects were 15.7 (SD = 11.8), 7.3 (SD = 6.1), and 23.1 (SD = 15.9) respectively, which were significantly different. Findings indicate that the Thai nursing students have more health problems than the Japanese subjects. These mostly concerned respiratory, cardiovascular, digestive, musculoskeletal, nervous, genitourinary systems, fatigability, frequency of illnesses, miscellaneous diseases, mood and feeling patterns, sensitivity, anger and tension. The only one section that the Japanese reported significantly higher health problems than the Thai subjects concerned daily living habits pertaining to questions concerning such matters as drinking, smoking, exercise, sleeping and rest. Percentages of emotional disturbances or neurotic tendencies of the subjects using the conventional CMI score and the Fukamachi criteria are discussed.

Cornell Medical Index score observed among northeast Thai nursing students.

This report describes physical, psychological and overall health complaints of 513 female Thai nursing students obtained by using the Cornell Medical Index questionnaire (C.M.I.) Thai version. The subjects were 17 to 24 years old in their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year-class of nursing school in the northeast region of Thailand. The Pearson correlation coefficient shows an adequate internal consistency of the C.M.I. The observed C.M.I. scores ranged from 1 to 110 with a mean of 36.6. The highest percentages of yes-response, among physical and psychological complaints, were observed in the questions concerning the genitourinary system, and sensitivity respectively. A statistically significant inverse correlation was observed between year of nursing school and C.M.I. scores in physical, psychological and overall health complaints: the mean C.M.I. score on physical and overall health complaints of the 1st and the 3rd year-class students were significantly higher than those of the 2nd and the 4th year-class.

Cornell Medical Index score observed among Japanese nursing students.

Purpose of this study was to survey subjective health problems occurring among Japanese nursing students. Data collected with the self-administered Cornell Medical Index Health Questionnaire Japanese version (JCMI) from 102 Japanese first year nursing students were analyzed. The total CMI score (section A-R) ranged from 2-108 with an average of 23.1 (SD = 15.9). The mean CMI for physical (section A-L) and psychological health complains (section M-R) were 15.7 (SD = 11.8) and 7.3 (SD = 6.1), respectively. Two-way analysis of variances with multiple comparison of means revealed significant relationships between age and psychological health complaints and both physical and overall health complaints. The older nursing students reported more physical and overall health complaints than the youngest. The nursing students who reported more complaints about psychological health also reported significantly more physical and overall health complaints. A comparison of Fukamachi's and Brodman's criteria for classification of neurotic traits is discussed. Findings from this study support the hypothesis that psychological health is somewhat reacted to physical health.

Health care of villagers in northeast Thailand--a health diary study.

A one-month health diary was used as a research instrument for measuring health care in the northeastern rural area of Thailand during the month of November, 1992. Three hundred forty-five respondents, which represents 22.2% of the total households in 12 villages from 2 districts in the Khon Kaen province of northeast Thailand, completed the health diaries. Self-medication was most practiced for health care (37.5% of ill persons) followed by health service utilization at local health center (19.4%), at community hospital (11.4%), at private clinic (11.4%), and by "wait and see" (9.0%). Analgesics were the most frequently used drugs for relief of fever, headache, common cold and abdominal pain. The use of a combination of drug (eg. a cocktail) was common as self-medication for relief of back and leg pain. Traditional or herbal drugs were a frequently chosen alternative for self-medication, both in adult and children. The authors suggest that the villagers should be educated concerning drug hazards in order to increase their background knowledge on drug use.

Health diary study on illness in rural northeast Thailand.

A health diary was used for measurement of illnesses in the northeast rural area of Thailand during the month of November, 1992. Target population were villagers residing in 12 villages which were randomly selected from 2 districts in Khon Kaen province. Three hundred forty-five households (1690 subjects) were selected for the study from all households in those 12 villages. The sample represented 22.2% of all households. Each respondent was instructed how to record illness which may occur among family members during the observation period. Demonstration of recording was performed as well to ensure uniform reporting. Frequency of ill persons among the 1690 members of the selected 345 households was 299 persons (17.7%) in 333 episodes. The ratio of males to females for the reported illnesses was 1:1.18. The most common illnesses were common cold, fever, and abdominal pain, which occurred in 78, 59, and 47 episodes, respectively, followed by headache, and cough. According to the WHO international classification of diseases, diseases of the respiratory system were prevalent (26.1% of total episodes). Types of illness among age groups 0-1 years and 2-5 years were common cold followed by fever. The others two age groups; 16-45, 46-65 years were ill with abdominal pain as the first rank followed by common cold. Fever and common cold were the most frequent illness in age group 6-15 years and the elderly respectively.

Human space experiments in SL-J: preparation and conducted.

This experiment investigated how human beings achieve visual stability during body movements, including fine motion on the ground. When humans are exposed to an environment with different gravity vectors, the programmed behavior on the ground must be changed, that is, it is reprogrammed. This is called habituation or familiarization. This experiment focuses on visual, vestibular and somatosensory perception coordination and how it changes in microgravity as compared to a 1-G environment. We examined these issues under microgravity during the mission Spacelab Japan [correction of Japane] (SL-J) mission with the cooperation of the Japanese Payload Specialist (PS), Dr. Mohri. In this paper we describe how the first human life science experiments were conducted and how the data processed is being.