Publications by authors named "Baron-Epel Orna"

Introduction: We examined the perceptions of the Master of Public Health (MPH) degree graduates regarding their personal competencies, job performance and professional development using a mixed method, explanatory sequential design.

Methods: A cross-sectional, self-administered questionnaire of the Haifa School of Public Health alumni who graduated between 2005 and 2022 was disseminated to 849 graduates between March and June 2022, from which 127 responded (response rate: 14.90%).

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Background: Digital Health Literacy (DHL) is crucial in navigating digital health environments, yet few studies focus on older adults.

Objective: Explore the associations of digital health information and resource utilization, IT-related social support, and barriers/enhancers to digital health service usage with DHL among older adults.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2022 to April 2023, involving 417 individuals over the age of 60 who were interviewed using an instrument for collecting data on DHL, social support, barriers/enhancers influencing use of digital health resources and personal/demographic data.

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Remote mobile examination devices in telemedicine are a new technology in healthcare. To assess the utilization of visits using remote medical devices. A retrospective analysis of follow-up visits, referrals, laboratory testing and antibiotic prescriptions of 470,845 children's video visits with and without remote medical examination device and in-clinic visits.

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Background: Women's reproduction requires increased energy demands, which consequently may lead to cellular damage and aging. Hence, Telomere Length (TL), a biomarker of biological aging and health status may possibly serve as a biomarker of reproductive effort. The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate telomere dynamics throughout pregnancy and the association between parity and TL.

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Objective: Transitioning to motherhood can create work family conflicts affecting mothers' health. Although employment is generally associated with longer telomeres, this may diminish during the early years of child-rearing. This study aimed to assess the impact of work reentry on telomere length (TL) among first-time mothers.

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Background: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common neurobehavioral disorder affecting children and causing significant impairment. It is not clear to what extent ADHD differs between population groups. This study aims to assess prevalence, diagnosis and treatment of ADHD among Arab and Jewish children of primary school age in Israel.

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Physical activity (PA) within the military can have large effects on the soldier's health, productivity, and ability to meet tasks. This study aims to identify the factors associated with PA adherence during military service, applying the socioecological model, which classifies the factors influencing health behaviors into individual, social, and environmental levels. This cross-sectional survey was carried out among 500 soldiers aged 18 to 49 years in the Israeli Defense Forces.

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The study aimed to generate insights on how best to enhance the compatibility between Public Health training program competencies and the implementation of competencies required by employers to address current and emerging public health needs. A survey adapted from the WHO-ASPHER Competency Framework for the Public Health Workforce was conducted online among Israeli public health managers from August to November 2021. The survey was formulated to mirror Essential Public Health Operations.

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Active travel (AT) is a core physical activity (PA) indicator for children and youth; contributing to health and wellbeing, at both the individual and societal levels. This analysis explores patterns of adolescent active school travel (AST) and cycling and associations with different PA measures. Secondary analysis of the cross-sectional 2018-2019 Health Behaviour in School Age Children study in Israel included an extended PA module with walking, cycling and e-cycling modes.

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Purpose: Active travel (AT) incorporates physical activity into daily living, critical for healthy adolescent development. We explore adolescent and parent attitudes and behaviours related to motivations for adolescent AT and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We conducted semi-structured Zoom interviews with 25 adolescent-parent dyads in communities across Israel during early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Background: Brucellosis (Brucella melitensis) is endemic in many countries around the world, therefore, identifying what is required to control and prevent the disease is essential. The health promotion concept and five areas of action, presented in the Ottawa Charter (1986) may help understand how to go forward in the prevention of the disease. Israel serves as a case study.

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Background: This study examined the strength, shape and direction of associations of accelerometer-assessed overall, school- and non-school-based moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time (ST) with BMI among adolescents across the world. Second, we examined whether these associations differed by study site and sex.

Methods: Cross-sectional data from the IPEN Adolescent study, an observational multi-country study, were used.

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Neighborhood violence is associated with poor health, but the mechanisms explaining this association are still unknown. This study seeks to examine the role of loneliness as a mediator of the association between neighborhood violence and health among two ethnic groups (Arabs and Jews) in Israel. A representative survey was conducted among adult residents (1903 Arabs and 2726 Jews) of four Israeli towns: two Arab towns, one Jewish town and one mixed town.

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Loneliness has been associated with poor health. Social capital (SC) could possibly prevent the ill effects of loneliness. The study aims to assess the association of loneliness with physical and mental health in four different communities in Israel and study the impact of structural and cognitive SC on that association.

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Social support is commonly associated with women's postpartum health. Yet such support can also have unintended effects and trigger negative reactions. This study provides a qualitative examination of the positive and negative social interactions described by Arab postpartum women.

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Objective: The study aims to investigate positive and negative social interactions as predictors of maternal self-efficacy and to examine the mediating role of postpartum fatigue.

Design: Participants included 450 Arab and Jewish mothers of healthy one-month-old infants who visited 14 well-baby care clinics located in northern Israel. The study used a prospective longitudinal cohort design.

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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic might impact substance use behaviours around the globe. In this study, we investigate changes in alcohol and tobacco use in the second half of 2020 in countries of the eastern part of the WHO European Region.

Methods: Self-reported changes in alcohol and tobacco use among 11 295 adults from 18 countries in the eastern part of the WHO European Region were collected between August 2020 and January 2021.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how social capital (social support, trust, and social involvement) influences the health outcomes of women participating in team sports.
  • Data was collected from 759 women in a community sports league and compared to 308 non-participants to analyze health-related effects.
  • Results show that social support significantly improves self-reported health and reduces psychosomatic and depressive symptoms, while trust also helps with psychosomatic and depressive symptoms, but social involvement does not act as a mediator.
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Health Exercise Nutrition for the Really Young (HENRY) is a UK community-based early childhood obesity prevention intervention that was adopted and implemented in Israel between 2013 and 2018. The aim of this study was to explore the implementation process in Israel and compare it with that of the 'parent' programme in the UK, in order to throw light on the challenges of introducing complex interventions into different countries and cultures. Published reports from HENRY and Haifa University's evaluation of the Israeli implementation were reviewed and comparisons between the UK and Israel were carried out utilizing the RE-AIM framework.

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Background: Child injury is prevalent in the Bedouin community of southern Israel, with higher injury rates compared with the general population. Bedouin children aged 0-4 were twice as likely as children from other population groups to suffer any injury, and for example, incidence of burns in Bedouin children was 0.91/1000 children, compared with 0.

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Background: Heath literacy and eHealth literacy are skills that enable individuals to seek, understand and use information in ways which promote and maintain health. The present study examined group differences (ethnicity, immigration) in both literacies and whether there exists an association between the literacies and potential outcomes/gains in health behaviors, health care utilization, perceived health and perceived outcomes of Internet search.

Methods: Participants included 819 Israeli men and women who responded to a nationally representative random-digital-dial (RDD) telephone survey.

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Background: One of the main obstacles of providing home-based palliative care to transfusion-dependent hematology patients is the lack of home transfusions services. While healthcare professionals are concerned with safety and cost of home transfusions, the attitude of the patients toward home transfusions are mostly unknown.

Aim: To obtain quantitative data regarding the willingness and concerns of transfusion-dependent patients with hematological diseases toward the option of home transfusions.

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Background: Child injury is particularly prevalent in low socioeconomic populations and minorities. In Israel, Bedouin children exhibit high rates of injuries and death. A multifaceted community intervention to reduce injury in children in and around the home was run in nine Bedouin communities in Southern Israel during 2014-2018.

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