Lucas Othuon

Food consumption patterns, diversity of food nutrients and mean nutrient intake in relation to HIV/AIDS status in Kisumu district Kenya

As the causes and consequences of the AIDS epidemic become clearer, so does the fundamental importance of food and nutritional security for HIV-affected individuals. Even as food insecurity remains a major problem in poor households, its effects are worsened in disease states like HIV infection. Food deficiency and nutritional inadequacy compromise an individuals physical status and work capacity, and may also diminish their resource base and household provisioning. The prevalence of HIV and AIDS in Kenya threatens food production systems, which intensifies poverty, increases the nutritional implications for HIV-infected individuals, accelerates the rate of orphanhood beyond what existing social networks can cope with, and basically affects all indicators of socio-economic development in the country. This cross-sectional study sought to assess food and nutrient intake in HIV-affected versus non-HIV-affected households. Purposive sampling was used to select 160 households (77 HIV-affected households and 83 non-HIV-affected households) in Kisumu district, a lowland area along Lake Victoria. A consolidated questionnaire that included a food-frequency checklist and personal 24-hour dietary recall was used to gather information from 40 households. The data were analysed quantitatively; descriptive statistics were mainly measures of central tendency, and inferential statistics involved chi-square tests and independent t-test samples. A table depicting food composition was used to compute the nutrient intake of each household. The findings reveal a significant relationship between a households HIV/AIDS status and nutrient intake.

Assessing Predictive Power of Psychosocial Factors on Breastfeeding Behavior of Mothers Attending Postnatal Clinics in Western Kenya

This cross-sectional study aimed at determining predictive power of psychosocial factors influencing breastfeeding behavior of breastfeeding mothers. The study was conducted from April to August 2010 in Kakamega Central District within 4 postnatal clinics that were purposively sampled. Proportionate stratified technique was employed to obtain 230 respondents. A structured questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data where exploratory factor analysis tested dimensionality of questions, whereas skewness and kurtosis assessed normality of data. Structural equation modeling determined predictive power of latent variables. The model fitted data acceptably well, χ2 = 156, P < .001, Tucker–Lewis index = .93, comparative fit index = .95, root mean square error of approximation = .090, Hoelter’s critical N (0.01 = 230), with regard to breastfeeding behavior. Regression weights showed predictive power for maternal attitude (β = .38, P < .01), subjective norm (β = .25, P < .05), perceived behavioral control (...

Sexual Risk-taking Behaviors among Youth in Secondary Schools in Bondo District, Kenya

Sexual intercourse is the highest mode of HIV/AIDS transmission among youth who become sexually active as early as at 13 years. There is a concern that vulnerability to sexual risk-taking behavior varies across groups of youth. This study examined the sexual risk-taking behaviors of youth across age, gender and orphanhood. The study was carried out using cross sectional research design among 365 students. A total of 8 teachers were also interviewed on sexual risk-taking behaviors of the students. Results indicated that premarital, multiple sexual intercourse were the most common, followed by unprotected sexual intercourse while the least engaged in was sexual intercourse for gifts. Males engaged in sexual intercourse at an earlier age and were more likely to be involved in sexual risk-taking behaviors compared to females. Orphans that had early sexual debut were more likely to be involved in sexual risk-taking behaviors compared to non-orphans. Students aged ≤16 years were more likely to indulge in sexual risk-taking behavior compared to their older peers. Conclusion drawn from the study was that youth in secondary school engage in sexual risk-taking behaviors. The study calls for modification of the current intervention strategies aimed at reducing the high sexual risk-taking behaviors among youths by not only educating them about dangers of early sexual debut but also availing male and female condoms to sexually active youth.

Bias in regression coefficient estimates upon different treatments of systematically missing data

In this simulation study, the bias in regression coefficient estimates was investigated in a four-predictor multiple regression model involving four missing data treatments, namely expectation maximization (EM), mean substitution (MS), pairwise deletion (PD) and regression imputation (RI) methods. This was done under different conditions of percent missing, pattern of systematically missing data and non-normality. Findings indicate no significant difference across the four MDTs in the bias for b2, b3 and b4, the regression coefficients of X 2 , X 3 and X 4 , respectively. Therefore, only the bias in b1, the regression coefficient of the variable with no missing data, is reported. Overall, the bias under monotonic missing pattern was lower than that under non-monotonic missing pattern. For monotonic pattern, the lowest bias was under regression imputation (RI), followed by expectation-maximization method (EM). For this pattern, mean substitution (MS), pairwise deletion (PD) and regression imputation (RI) consistently overestimated the population parameter, regardless of percent missing and level of non-normality. The overestimation consistently increased with percent missing. The findings under non-monotonic pattern indicate that RI had the lowest bias, followed by EM. MS and PW consistently overestimated the population parameter. EM and RI, on the other hand, tended to consistently underestimate the population parameter under non-monotonic pattern. Keywords : Missing data, bias, regression, percent missing, non-normality, missing pattern > East African Journal of Statistics Vol. 1 (2) 2006: pp. 185-197