Work-related injuries and illnesses among kitchen workers at two major students' hostels.

BACKGROUND: Kitchen workers face a disproportionately high risk of injuries and illnesses. Yet, despite the ubiquity of kitchen-related injuries, there has been a relative lack of comprehensive research on this topic, particularly in developing countries. Ain Shams University, as a prestigious educational institution with its diverse kitchen staff, provides an ideal setting for studying the challenges faced in professional kitchens. This study aims to measure the prevalence of work-related injuries and illnesses among kitchen workers of two major students' hostels at Ain Shams University in Cairo and to explore their risk factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional analytical study involving kitchen staff from two hostels that house students at the university was carried out in 2021. The study involved all kitchen staff in the dorms for students (n = 128). Data was collected using a structured interview questionnaire. RESULTS: The findings showed a significant prevalence of work-related illnesses (81.3%) and injuries (77.3%) among restaurant employees. Age, education, and job type all had a statistically significant relationship with the frequency of work-related injuries over the previous year. Additionally, there was a statistically significant relationship between age, job type, and the frequency of diseases among kitchen workers (p ≤ 0.05). CONCLUSION: Cooks and other food service employees are more susceptible to occupational diseases and injuries in the workplace. Restaurants and the university hostel authorities should implement preventative measures and policies to lower the risk of harm among these employees by offering occupational health and safety services such as training and education programs, personal protective equipment, and regular health examinations.

Exploring Students' Emotional Well-Being in the Ideal University Hostel Using the Qualitative Repertory Grid Technique.

One of the ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it has lent urgency to ongoing discussions on mental well-being, particularly among university students. While standard techniques are available to diagnose mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and stress, ambiguity persists regarding the emotional aspect of well-being. Emotional well-being (EWB) is a recently developed concept that seeks to understand the contribution of emotions to one's well-being. Interactive approaches for such investigations are recommended to understand people's contextual experiences in the built environment. This study utilizes a qualitative approach, underpinned by personal construct theory (PCT) and the qualitative repertory grid technique (RGT), to understand how university hostel designs can contribute to students' emotional well-being. We interviewed fifteen students from the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) and obtained their perceptions of three built environments they experienced and an ideal place they imagined. The results unveiled design-related factors associated with students' emotional constructs and elucidated characteristics of an 'ideal' hostel in response to these emotional constructs. These findings enrich our knowledge of EWB within university hostels offering insights for the future design that consider the emotional aspect of well-being for residents.

A Night-Time Monitoring System (eNightLog) to Prevent Elderly Wandering in Hostels: A Three-Month Field Study.

Older people are increasingly dependent on others to support their daily activities due to geriatric symptoms such as dementia. Some of them stay in long-term care facilities. Elderly people with night wandering behaviour may lose their way, leading to a significant risk of injuries. The eNightLog system was developed to monitor the night-time bedside activities of older people in order to help them cope with this issue. It comprises a 3D time-of-flight near-infrared sensor and an ultra-wideband sensor for detecting human presence and to determine postures without a video camera. A threshold-based algorithm was developed to classify different activities, such as leaving the bed. The system is able to send alarm messages to caregivers if an elderly user performs undesirable activities. In this study, 17 sets of eNightLog systems were installed in an elderly hostel with 17 beds in 9 bedrooms. During the three-month field test, 26 older people with different periods of stay were included in the study. The accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of detecting non-assisted bed-leaving events was 99.8%, 100%, and 99.6%, respectively. There were only three false alarms out of 2762 bed-exiting events. Our results demonstrated that the eNightLog system is sufficiently accurate to be applied in the hostel environment. Machine learning with instance segmentation and online learning will enable the system to be used for widely different environments and people, with improvements to be made in future studies.

Epidemic Varicella Zoster Virus among University Students, India.

We investigated a yearlong varicella zoster virus outbreak in a highly susceptible young adult population at a large university in India. Outbreaks of varicella infection among adults are not well described in the literature. Infection control measures and vaccination policy for this age group and setting are needed.

When dying at home is not an option: exploration of hostel staff views on palliative care for homeless people.

BACKGROUND: The Department of Health in the UK suggest that hostel staff are the most appropriate key workers for their dying homeless residents and that hostel-based palliative care may be the best way forward. However, little is known about the views of hostel staff with regard to this. METHODS: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with seven participants from hostels distributed across three counties. A total of 37 specific case studies were discussed involving homeless residents with a wide range of life-limiting or palliative conditions. FINDINGS: Eight main themes emerged: understanding palliative care; working with limited medical information; taking responsibility; building rapport; upholding residents' dignity; recognising physical deterioration; managing environmental challenges; role limitations and support needs of hostel staff. CONCLUSION: Discussion centred around the following four topics: policy, principles and practice of palliative care; professional boundaries as a threat to holism and a hindrance to dignity; the social undesirability and invisibility of homeless people; 'community living' as a barrier to hostel-based palliative care and a new concept of family.

Idoso em Situação de Rua e Vivência em Centros de Acolhida: Uma Revisão de Literatura / Elderly in homeless and living in hostels: a literature review

Este estudo trata-se de uma revisão sistemática e integrativa da literatura nacional sobre a temática do envelhecimento e da velhice vivida em situação de rua e em centros de acolhida (albergues). Para tanto, foi realizada uma busca por artigos nas bases de dados utilizando as seguintes palavras combinadas como descritores: "idoso e morador de rua", "idoso e situação de rua", "idoso e sem teto", "idoso e albergue", "envelhecimento e/ou velhice e morador de rua", "envelhecimento e/ou velhice e sem teto", "envelhecimento e/ou velhice e albergue", "envelhecimento e/ou velhice e situação de rua", "sem teto", "morador de rua", "albergue" e "situação de rua". Seguindo esse critério, foram selecionados seis artigos que continham esses descritores. Dos seis artigos, quatro buscavam compreender, problematizar ou descrever de uma forma geral os desafios e as condições dos indivíduos em situação de rua e de suas experiências em albergues. Os outros dois artigos abrangiam os indivíduos idosos em situação de rua. Conclui-se pela necessidade de mais estudos sobre idosos com essas condições, bem como, a elaboração de propostas de intervenções e ações eficazes que resgatem a cidadania e atendam as demandas dessas pessoas e dos profissionais que atuam na área.

This research deals with a systematic and integrative review of the national literature on the theme of aging and of old age lived on the street situation and refuge centers (hostels). Therefore, was conducted a search for articles in databases using the following words combined as descriptors: "elderly and street dweller", "elderly and street situation", "elderly and homeless", "elderly and hostel", "aging and/or elderly and street dweller", "aging and/or elderly and homeless", "aging and/or elderly and hostel", "aging and/or elderly and street situation", "homeless", "street dweller", "hostel" e "street situation". Following these criteria, were selected six articles that contain these descriptors. Of the six articles, four sought comprehend, problematize or describe generally speaking the challenges and conditions of individuals in street situation and their experiences in hostels. The other two articles covered the elderly subjects in street situation. It is concluded that more studies are necessary about elderly with these conditions as well as the developing of proposals for interventions and effective actions to rescue citizenship and meet the demands of these people and professionals working in the area.

The Exploration for Inspector Effect on the Hygienic Quantified and Classified Score of the Hostels / 环境与健康杂志

Objective To explore the health inspector effect on the score of hygienic degree of hostels. Methods Using the scale for hygienic degree of hostels, 38 health inspectors from 9 sections in the Bureau for Health Inspection and Supervision of Haidian District in Beijing, scored 621 hostels in the district. The multilevel statistics model has been used to analyze the health inspector effect, of which the index is intra-class correlation (ICC), in the double level model structured by hostels as the level 1 unit and inspectors as the level 2 unit, and in the triple level model structured by hostels as the level 1 unit, inspectors as the level 2 unit and the sections as the level 3 unit. Results In the double level model, ICC of the level 2 unit is 0.142 8. In the triple level model, ICC of the level 2 unit is 0.0000 and ICC of the level 3 unit is 0.154 1. Conclusion There is inspector effect influencing the score of hygienic degree. And the effect seems to be more similar in one section comparing with the other ones.