Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the dynamic patterns of perception and expectations among COPD patients. Methods: Conducted at the Heart-Respiratory Rehabilitation Unit, IRCCS Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi, in Milan, Italy, the research involved 28 participants (16 males; mean age 72.8 ± 9.9) in face-to-face interviews. Utilizing a Grounded Theory approach, complemented by clinical data, recorded, and transcribed interviews underwent enhancement through the integration of two pictorial tools. Results: The central theme that emerged was a profound sense of responsibility toward their condition, perceived as a significant threat to life. Key symptoms, such as shortness of breath, coupled with negative expectations about their condition, contributed to depressive mood and avoidance behaviors. A notable proportion (N = 17; 60.71%) of participants struggled to envision a positive future, expressing a pervasive sense of hopelessness, which significantly influenced their health behaviors and adherence to medical recommendations. Conversely, individuals who felt supported and optimistic about treatment efficacy exhibited more positive expectations and adopted proactive coping strategies. Discussion: Recognizing the dynamic nature of patients\' perceptions and negative illness expectations is essential to create personalized therapeutic interventions and meet the specific needs of COPD patients, ultimately improving the overall effectiveness of their care journey.

In this study, health risk attitude and health locus of control were included as dispositional factors in the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to explain people\'s protective behavior in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. Empirical data involved two waves of data with a sample of 526 adults with full-time jobs from Beijing, China, and structural equation model results confirmed a partial successful extension of the PMT. Specifically, health risk attitude had a direct effect on citizens\' protective behavior, but without an indirect effect mediated by threat appraisal toward the COVID-19 pandemic; health locus of control did not directly associate with citizens\' protective behavior, but had an indirect effect on it fully via coping appraisal toward the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the PMT has been extended by adding a distal dispositional factor on the impact of coping appraisal on protective behavior. Implications for advancing the government\'s anti-epidemic strategy are discussed.

BACKGROUND: Oral problems are a common occurrence among school-age children. In order to develop effective oral health interventions and services, it is essential to determine children\'s oral health behaviours using an internationally accepted standardised instrument that is child-friendly. However, no instrument currently exists to measure oral health according to the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) in Turkish school-aged children. The aim of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Oral Health Questionnaire, which includes the components of the theory of planned behavior such as attitude toward children\'s oral health, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and self-efficacy, for the Turkish population.
METHODS: This was a methodological-descriptive-correlational study conducted on 298 school children aged 9-10 years. Data were collected using The Oral Health Questionnaire. The data were evaluated using explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis, Cronbach\'s alpha, item-total score correlation, and Pearson product-moment correlation analysis.
RESULTS: Factor analysis confirmed the five-dimensional structure. The factor loads were greater than 0.30, and all fit indices were greater than 0.90. The model consistency indexes were found to be X2 = 146.95, RMSEA = 0.053, GFI = 0.94, CFI = 0.98, IFI = 0.97, and NNFI = 0.97. The Cronbach\'s alpha values of its sub-dimensions were 0.71 and 0.80.
CONCLUSIONS: The Turkish version of Oral Health Questionnaire is considered a reliable and valid instrument that can be used by professionals to determine children\'s attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and oral and dental health intentions toward tooth brushing.

The last few years the Internet has evolved into a prominent information source for many people worldwide. Latest research has shown that an ever increasing number of citizens and patients go online in order to access health information and seek support in managing their health, including understanding their condition, adopting life-saving lifestyle adjustments and keeping up with treatment or aftercare guidelines. Due to this rise on the demand of online health information, health-related sites have increased substantially, with each one of them striving to maintain the most comprehensive and reliable source of health and medical information on the Internet. This paper presents a survey conducted among Greek population aiming at exploring participants general attitudes towards using the Internet to access health information as well as their views regarding a specific Greek health-related website, namely Iatronet. To this end, an online Greek version of eHealth Impact Questionnaire has been used which was developed using RedCAP platform.

OBJECTIVE: Prevention of subsequent primary cancer (SPC) is crucial for cancer survivors, particularly those who developed the disease during childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood (CAYA). The aim of this study was to assess the current status of SPC prevention among female CAYA cancer survivors.
METHODS: A survey regarding long-term health issues after cancer treatment was conducted using questionnaires that targeted women aged ≥20 years who had developed cancer before the age of 40 years. The survey assessed various health issues, and this paper focuses on the items related to the respondents\' perceptions and attitudes toward SPC prevention.
RESULTS: A total of 1,026 respondents were analyzed. Over 60% of respondents were aware of SPC and the need for screening. The percentages of respondents who underwent regular SPC screening were 68.3%, 68.4%, 49.7%, 58.6%, and 57.0% for cervical, breast, lung, and gastric cancers, respectively. After adjusting for age, type of first cancer, and current follow-up, we found that receiving recommendations for SPC screening was the most critical factor in SPC screening uptake (odds ratio=3.836; 95% confidence interval=2.281-6.451; p<0.001 by logistic regression analysis). However, only 40.4% of the respondents received recommendations for SPC screening from their physicians.
CONCLUSIONS: Despite good awareness of SPC prevention, the uptake rate for cancer screening among cancer survivors was inadequate, indicating that preventive measures for SPC should be promoted. Because recommendations from others strongly influence SPC screening uptake, healthcare professionals should have accurate knowledge and provide guidance regarding SPC prevention.

This study examined a set of background psychological and other variables of orthorexic (ON) tendency in a sample of young women with special interest in healthy lifestyle. The sample consisted of female young adults (N = 310; aged 18-35 years; mean age = 24.3 years; SD = 4.97 years) who were recruited through social media health sites. Besides Orthorexia Nervosa Questionnaire (ORTO‑15), BMI, regular sporting activity, the following scales were used: Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI, drive for thinness, ineffectiveness and maturity fears); Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS); and The Proactive Coping Inventory. In this sample, 37.7% were at risk for ON. Eating disorder attitudes, regular sporting and social media addiction were the most relevant predictors of orthorexic tendency with drive for thinness being the strongest contributor (β = 0.54, p < 0.001). For young women with a special interest in healthy lifestyle, drive for thinness together with regular sporting, ON tendency may serve as a tool for achieving their goal. Social media addiction and other psychological problems (feeling of ineffectiveness or maturity fears) can also contribute to orthorexic rendency. It would be important to ask for support from qualified health professionals when changing nutritional practices.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore the potential of convenience stores as platforms for healthy food consumption, including low-sodium options, in response to the increasing trend of meal behaviors at convenience stores and the growing demand for healthy eating.
METHODS: In the study, 627 Korean participants aged 10 to 39 were involved. A self-reported questionnaire survey was used and questions were regarding purchase patterns, consumption behaviors, perceptions and selection attributes of convenience store foods, and consumer perception factors for low-sodium options. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 26.0 (SPSS, Version 26.0 for Windows, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).
RESULTS: The study uncovered significant disparities in the consumption behavior and perception of convenience store foods, as well as variations in the importance and satisfaction levels with convenience store food attributes, including consumer perception factors for low-sodium options, based on sex and age. Furthermore, it was observed that awareness of the need for low-sodium options significantly influenced purchase intentions.
CONCLUSIONS: This study analyzed consumer attitude toward low-sodium convenience store foods to assess the potentiality for promoting healthy eating in convenience stores. These findings indicate the important role that convenience stores can play as platforms for healthy food sales.

BACKGROUND: The study aimed to compare the self-perceived oral health status measured through a self-administered questionnaire with clinically determined oral health status measured by decayed-missing-filled teeth (DMFT) and community periodontal index of treatment need (CPITN) indices in university going females. In addition, access barriers to treatment related to oral healthcare were also determined.
METHODS: A 3-month analytical cross-sectional study was designed for consenting university going females (aged 18-22 years) in Islamabad, Pakistan. The self-perceived oral health was recorded through a questionnaire requesting information regarding socio-demographics, self-perception of oral health, frequency of dental visits and barriers to seeking oral health. Seven independent examiners performed intraoral clinical examination and assessed the oral health status using globally standardized oral health assessment indices (DMFT and CPITN).
RESULTS: A total of 400 students were included in the final sample. The study revealed a significant disparity between self-perceived oral health and clinical assessment. Although perceived oral health was considered \"good\" by 80.0% of the respondents, clinical examination revealed moderate DMFT scores (mean 2.95 ± 1.41) and periodontal disease requiring treatment in 89.5% of the individuals. The most common barriers in seeking dental care were lack of knowledge, dental phobia, affordability issue and false self-perception.
CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrated a notable discrepancy between self-perception of oral health and clinically assessed oral health. These results emphasize the importance of focused educational programs and community outreach programs, especially directed towards this demographic. Prioritizing such initiatives will help individuals to recognize their actual oral health condition thus encouraging positive oral health behaviors and outcomes.

UNASSIGNED: To evaluate the effectiveness of Virtual Teaching (VT) Programme regarding palliative care on knowledge, self-efficacy and attitude among Nursing Personnel working in selected hospitals of North India.
UNASSIGNED: A quasi-experimental study with non-equivalent control group pre-test-post-test design was conducted on 121 Nursing Personnel, selected by convenient sampling technique. Knowledge, self-efficacy and attitude were assessed using structured knowledge questionnaire, Palliative Care Self-efficacy Scale, and Frommelt Attitudes toward care of dying scale respectively. Nursing personnel in experimental group received Virtual Teaching Programme regarding palliative care whereas those in comparison group received conventional teaching (CT). The study included a pre-test followed by the teaching (virtual/ conventional) on day one. The post-test was conducted on 15th day after the intervention.
UNASSIGNED: The results showed that there was a significant difference in mean post-test knowledge (VT group: 17.11 to CT group: 25.05; t=9.25, p<0.001), self-efficacy (VT group: 39.27 to CT group: 43.38; t=6.39, p<0.001) and attitude (VT group: 108.86 to CT group: 133.23; t=9.27, p<0.001) scores between virtual teaching group and conventional teaching group. ANCOVA test revealed statistically significant differences in the mean scores of knowledge [F (1.11) = 86.61, p<0.001], self-efficacy [F (1.11) = 841.75, p<0.001] and attitude [F (1.11) = 82.92, p<0.001] between the groups, with higher means obtained in the CT group.
UNASSIGNED: Virtual Teaching programme and Conventional teaching both were effective in enhancing the knowledge, self-efficacy and attitude among Nursing Personnel regarding palliative care with conventional teaching being more effective.

OBJECTIVE: Pediatric oncology patients face several physical and psychological challenges that can significantly impact their quality of life (QoL) and attitudes toward their illness. Coping strategies are pivotal in managing the emotional and physical burdens of disease. This study aimed to examine the impact of coping strategies of pediatric oncology patients on their QoL and attitudes towards their illness.
METHODS: The descriptive, correlational, and cross-sectional study was conducted with 112 pediatric oncology patients aged 10-18 years. The Sociodemographic Form, Pediatric Cancer Coping Scale (PCCS), Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), and Child Attitude Towards Illness Scale (CATIS) were used for data collection.
RESULTS: Significant correlations were identified between cognitive coping, defensive coping, and CATIS (p < .001). The PCCS and subdimensions significantly predicted CATIS (p < .001), accounting for 15.3% of the cognitive and defensive coping variation. However, there was no relationship between PCCS total and subdimension scores on PedsQL (p = .534). The PedsQL and subdimensions significantly predicted CATIS (p < .001) and accounted for 27.2% of the variation in physical health summary score, emotional functioning, psychosocial health summary score, and total PedsQL score.
CONCLUSIONS: The study reveals that cognitive coping strategies positively predict attitudes toward illness, whereas defensive coping strategies have an inverse effect. The study proposes that comprehensive care models in pediatric oncology support effective coping mechanisms and enhance the QoL of those who receive them.