Ioannis Kyriazis

Prevalence of obesity in children aged 6-12 years in Greece: nutritional behaviour and physical activity

Introduction During the last two decades, obesity has proved to be one of the most important problems of public health, and it is considerably more frequent in developed countries, not only in adults, but in children, too. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children. Material and methods Two thousand three hundred and seventy-four pupils in primary education were considered for the study (1206 boys and 1168 girls). Results In the population-based study, the proportion of overweight children was 23.9%, of obese children 7.3%, and of those with central obesity 35.5%. The boys were obese in a higher percentage than the girls (9.2% vs. 5.3%, p < 0.05). The obesity rates were gradually reduced as the children were growing older. The nutritional habits which were identified to have a positive association with obesity were the following: skipping breakfast, not consuming fruits and vegetables, and consuming bread and soft drinks. Childrens healthy nutrition in school was related to lower rates of generalised and central obesity, while the hours spent watching TV were positively associated with all types of obesity. Conclusions Results from the study suggest that a high proportion of children are overweight or obese. Therefore, it is important to adhere to a healthy lifestyle which emphasizes healthy food choices and habits, regular physical activity, and limiting screen time.

P0756 ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES OF NEWLY-QUALIFIED DOCTORS TOWARDS AIDS INFECTION

Background: Health-care professionals are at a high risk of AIDS infection, among hospitalized HIV infected patients. Proper training and knowledge accompanied by necessary preventive measures are by all means, the most significant factors which ensure low accident rates and furthermore lower contamination rates of the health-care personnel. Objective: Screening and assessment of knowledge and attitudes of newly-qualified doctors towards AIDS infection. Methodology: We conducted a cohort study with a screening questionnaire, which included demographic data and 16 questions associated with AIDS infection. 51 forms were filled in by specializing and rural doctors. The statistical analysis was conducted using the statistical program SPSS 13. Results: 25,5% (n=13) of the participants in this reserch have treated at least one patient for HIV infection, 19% (n=10), of them would willingly specialize in intense care of HIV patients and lastly 90.2%(n=46) believe that we should preserve the medical confidential for HIV patients. 96.1% (n=49) of the participants doctors knew that AIDS disease is caused by Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), 88.2%(n=45) is aware that HIV virus damages the immune system and finally 92% (n=47) recognize HIV symptomatology.The vast majority of the doctors (98%,n=50) is aware that HIV infection is spread through sexual intercourse, blood contact and by sharing needles or syringes. Nevertheless, a percentage of 13.7% (n=7) believe that HIV transmission is feasible through kissing and 7.8% (n=15) through insects’ bites. At last 85-98% of the personnel refer that it’s familiar with the general preventive measures, which are usually applied to all HIV positive inpatients. Conclusions: Knowledge and attitude of new doctors towards AIDS infection is, in general terms satisfactory. Nevertheless, it’s imperative that we constantly inform and update newly-qualified doctors about AIDS infection, in order to minimize their inhibitions and compensate for the lack of knowledge, which is commonly observed in new doctors.

Measuring the reliability and validity of the Greek edition of the Diabetes Quality of Life Brief Clinical Inventory

BACKGROUND The present study focuses on studying the validity and reliability of the Greek edition of DQOL-BCI. DQOL-BCI includes 15 questions-elements that are evaluated on a 5-grade scale like Likert and two general form-shapes. METHODS The translation process was conducted in conformity with the guidelines of EuroQol group. A non-random sample of 65 people-patients diagnosed with diabetes I and II was selected. The questionnaire that was used to collect the data was the translated version of DQOL-BCI, and included the demographic characteristics of the interviewees. The content validity of DQOL-BCI was re-examined from a team of five experts (expert panel) for qualitative and quantitative performance. The completion of the questionnaire was done via a personal interview. RESULTS The sample consisted of 58 people (35 men and 23 women, 59.9 ± 10.9 years). The translation of the questionnaire was found appropriate in accordance to the peculiarities of the Greek language and culture. The largest deviation of values is observed in QOL1 (1.71) in comparison to QOL6 (2.98). The difference between the standard deviations is close to 0.6. The statistics results of the tests showed satisfactory content validity and high construct validity, while the high values for Cronbach alpha index (0.95) reveal high reliability and internal consistency. CONCLUSIONS The Greek version of DQOL-BCI has acceptable psychometric properties and appears to demonstrate high internal reliability and satisfactory construct validity, which allows its use as an important tool in evaluating the quality of life of diabetic patients in relation to their health.

The effects of a first-aid education program for middle school students in a Greek urban area.

Today, many health-related hazards are known to be of multifactorial etiology, and prevention has been proved to be necessary even in early age before unhealthy habits become established [1]. Children have the ability to learn and mimic others’ behavior, which allows them to build knowledge, attitudes and behavioral patterns. Some of the factors that mold a childs perceptions on health are family, school and also the so-called ‘parallel’ school, i.e. social life, experiences and interaction with ones environment [2]. The most effective way of promoting health in schools is through the development of health education programs. Such programs may also promote learning procedures and connect schools to current social reality. These programs aim at modifying students’ behavior by enhancing personal responsibility, self-confidence, as well as the students’ ability to adopt positive lifestyle choices. A basic rule for the implementation of health education programs is that schools should be actively involved in and supportive of such programs, that these programs are acceptable to students and teachers, and that any opportunity for further cooperation with parents or the community should be fully maximized. The aim of the present pilot study was to determine levels of first aid knowledge among middle school students, before and after the educational intervention, and also to develop an education program aiming at attitude modification and knowledge advancement. This study was part of an environmental education program named ‘Natural Disasters’, which is organized every year by the Ministry of Education. The educational procedure was based on a team-centered system, through which the teams were actively involved, following Kolbs model of experiential learning [3]. The teaching plan was aimed at developing knowledge, attitudes and abilities that enable responsible choices concerning first aid. During the courses, several examples of activities were given, and potential first aid scenarios were discussed. Students were asked to participate in many activities in order to gain experiential learning. Experiential learning has proven to be more efficient than the classical learning of subjects and abilities, as students through practice and personal experience gradually learn the material [4, 5]. Our pilot study involved 87 middle school students in an urban area in Greece, who filled in a questionnaire before and after having experiential learning courses about basic first aid. SPSS 16.0 was used for statistical analysis. There was a statistically significant difference between before and after the educational intervention concerning the following questions: position for resuscitation (27.6% vs. 80.5%), nose bleeding (29.9% vs. 87.4%), choking (56.3% vs. 88.5%), unconsciousness (60.9% vs. 82.8%), recovery position (75.9% vs. 87.4%), trauma (77% vs. 89.7%) and self-protection when giving first aid (78.2% vs. 94.3%). There was no significant statistical difference between questions concerning burns (92% vs. 94.3%) and electric shocks (81.6% vs. 89.7%). There was an important but not big enough statistical difference about the ‘clearing the airway’ question (29.9% vs. 52.9%) (Figure 1). Figure 1 Most noticeable differences before and after educational intervention concerning some first aid situations This pilot study showed that middle school students lack basic knowledge of first aid. First aid education is not integrated in the school curriculum, and it is usually up to the individual teacher whether or not to teach first aid. The most common way students learn something about first aid is via non-profit and non-governmental organizations, various associations and private initiative. Students showed great interest in our program, participating actively, asking questions and clarifying many vague impressions they had from the occasional first aid bits and pieces. The results of similar studies carried out in Europe and the U.S.A. emphasize the importance of developing basic knowledge in the field of first aid not only for students but for the general population as well, and also the value of proper learning based on international science-based guidelines [6, 7]. In spite of the fact that the program has boosted students’ knowledge, the need for further use of the experiential teaching method is obvious. Teenagers should know how to deal with possible health risks and be able to provide basic help to anyone who needs it [7, 8]. International experience has shown that full implementation of health education programs has had some valuable effects, such as: better quality of life for students and families; the social role of schools becomes enhanced; health-related problems are highlighted and explained; students learn how to protect themselves against health risks; in the long run, hospital treatment costs will be reduced; and, finally, local communities get to use available resources and rouse people to get involved. Furthermore, it has been established that the effectiveness of health education programs depends on the teachers’ cooperation and also on the contribution of other international organizations (e.g. WHO, EU) [9, 10]. Besides the significant advantages for the students’ health and attitudes, teaching first aid in middle schools will allow students to master the scientific way of thinking and making decisions, and to form new-found attitudes favoring humanistic values; teaching first aid will also make them able to offer help, and build mental and social skills necessary for every modern civilized person. Health and Environmental Education programs have been shown to be highly effective and therefore the use and implementation of such programs should be expanded accordingly.