Publications by authors named "Jacob O Sarfo"

Background: Ghana adopted the policy on Intermittent Preventive Treatment of malaria in pregnancy using Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine (IPTp-SP) in 2004. Notwithstanding the government's and other stakeholders' efforts in Ghana, optimal uptake (three or more doses of IPTp-SP) has slightly declined since 2016. The study examined the individual and community-level correlates of pregnant women who take optimal or none/partial doses (less than three doses) of IPTp-SP using the Ghana Malaria Indicator Survey (GMIS) 2019.

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Article Synopsis
  • Bullying is a significant public health issue among adolescents in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, with a study revealing that 24% experienced physical bullying on school property and 18% off it.
  • The research found that factors like being younger than 15, experiencing physical attacks, cyberbullying, having close friends, and suicidal thoughts increased the likelihood of being bullied.
  • The authors advocate for a comprehensive prevention strategy to address adolescent bullying in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and similar regions.
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Background: Preterm birth trauma has become a growing concern in achieving the sustainable development goal targets for mental, maternal, and child health. Although obstetric and developmental complications associated with preterm birth have received a great deal of research attention over the years, subjective trauma experiences of mothers are often understudied. This qualitative study aims to fill this gap by adopting a phenomenological design to explore the traumatic experiences of mothers from pregnancy to care after childbirth of preterm babies in a low-resource economy.

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Background: Though the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is no more of a public health emergency, the experiences from burying SARS-CoV-2 infectious dead bodies may remain with the workers. For Environmental Health Officers (EHOs), dealing with decedents during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak may arouse strong feelings of pity, horror, repulsion, disgust, and anger at the tragedy. Therefore, this study aims to explore the experiences of EHOs in disposing off of confirmed or suspected SARS-CoV-2 fatalities in Ghana.

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Background: Psychosocial work factors significantly influence both organisational and worker health. Poor management of these factors can create precarious working conditions, risking drivers' health. This review maps evidence on the health impact of these factors and health interventions targeting the working conditions and unhealthy habits of commercial drivers.

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  • Cataracts are a major cause of vision problems and blindness in older adults in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), prompting a review to understand their prevalence, factors influencing them, and treatment options.
  • The review examined 383 records from four major databases, ultimately selecting seven articles that highlighted varying prevalence rates of cataracts in SSA, which range from 13.5% to 62.5%.
  • Key challenges to effective cataract management include low awareness, limited healthcare access, economic issues, gender inequalities, and cultural misunderstandings, indicating a need for comprehensive strategies to enhance treatment and reduce visual impairments.
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Background: The health system plays a critical role in safeguarding the well-being of communities in the face of health risks associated with climate change. This review maps evidence on health systems' adaptation to climate risk and barriers to effective adaptation.

Methods: This review followed the recommendations by Arksey and O'Malley for conducting scoping review.

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Introduction: Terminal illness is an irreversible illness that, without life-sustaining procedures, usually results in death or permanent disability from which recovery is unlikely. When involved, family caregivers are believed to improve health outcomes, such as reduced hospitalization, and establishing a patient's initial access to professional treatment services. However, caring for a patient with a terminal illness is viewed as one of the most difficult aspects of providing care.

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Diabetes is considered a public health problem worldwide, fostered by population growth, an increase in the overall quality of life, changes in dietary patterns, modifications in lifestyle habits, and the natural process of getting older. To properly control diabetes, the transtheoretical model (TTM) may be useful. This scoping review is aimed at identifying TTM interventions for diabetes.

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Background: Work environment is rapidly evolving, unfortunately, it is also becoming increasingly hostile for workers due mostly to common psychosocial hazards. This situation is posing significant challenges for organisations to protect the psychological well-being of their workers. Hence, this review aims to map studies to understand the influence of psychosocial safety climate (PSC) on workplace mistreatment and mental health of workers.

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Background: Improving psychosocial work environment of long-distance bus drivers is essential for their psychological well-being and on-the-road safety. Despite the importance of the work environment of bus drivers, it has received little research attention in Ghana and other developing nations. Hence, this study examined the influence of psychosocial work factors (job demands and job resources) on safety incidents of long-distance bus drivers and how psychological well-being mediates this association.

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Background: Commercial bus drivers account for most road traffic crashes and related mortality. The psychosocial working conditions of these drivers have been found precarious. However, road safety initiatives in Ghana still focus on correcting risky driving behaviours, ignoring the conditions under which these drivers operate.

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Objective: This study sought to examine the association between psychosocial work factors and road traffic crashes (RTCs), and test the differences in psychosocial work factors between minibus and long-bus drivers.

Methods: This cross-sectional survey employed a convenient sampling method to collect data from 7315 long-distance minibus and long-bus drivers who operate between the Ghanaian cities, Accra and Tema and other parts of the country. The drivers answered a job content questionnaire, psychosocial safety climate scale (PSC-12), work-family conflict scale, and demographic questions on age, education, driving hours, and RTC history.

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Background: As a public health concern, serious adolescent injuries constitute considerable global morbidity and mortality. Despite the proliferation of literature on this problem, the evidence on the determinants of injuries among in-school adolescents in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is insufficient.

Method: The study analyzed data from the 2018 Global School-based Student Health Survey to examine the prevalence and determinants of serious injuries in a nationwide adolescent sample in SVG.

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The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) is a widely used measure of a core facet of the positive body image construct. However, extant research concerning measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across a large number of nations remains limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset - with data collected between 2020 and 2022 - to assess measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across 65 nations, 40 languages, gender identities, and age groups.

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Background: Creating a healthy, decent and safe workplace and designing quality jobs are ways to eliminate precarious work in organisations and industries. This review aimed at mapping evidence on how psychosocial safety climate (PSC) influence health, safety and performance of workers.

Methods: A literature search was conducted in four main databases (PubMed, Scopus, Central and Web of Science) and other online sources like Google Scholar.

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Objectives: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a necessary life-saving emergency intervention for patients with cardiac arrest and other medical conditions. The study's primary objective was to qualitatively explore nurses' perceptions of the quality of adult cardiopulmonary resuscitation in Ghana.

Methods: An exploratory descriptive qualitative study was conducted among 13 purposively sampled nurses in Ghana.

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This study investigated the prevalence and predictors of alcohol use among school-going-age adolescents in Panama. Using a national school-based cross-sectional survey, data from a proportionate sample of school-going adolescents aged 13-17 years were obtained from the 2018 Panama Global School-based Student Health Survey [GSHS]. Data were analysed with a Pearson's Chi-square test and weighted binary logistic regression.

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Background: Acute lower respiratory tract infections (ALRTIs) among children under five are still the leading cause of mortality among this group of children in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), especially countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This scoping review aims to map evidence on prevalence and risk factors associated with ALRTIs among children under 5 years to inform interventions, policies and future studies.

Methods: A thorough search was conducted via four main databases (PubMed, JSTOR, Web of Science and Central).

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Background: Diabetes is one of the leading causes of sickness, death, and decreased quality of life globally. The prevalence of diabetes keeps rising globally due to lifestyle changes and urbanization. Therefore, improved quality of life (QoL) and appropriate diabetes self-management practices, including treatment adherence, are crucial to improving and sustaining the health of diabetic patients.

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Introduction: Africa has a higher burden of malaria-related cases and deaths globally. Children under five accounted for over two-thirds of all malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This scoping review aims to map evidence of the prevalence, contextual factors and health education interventions of malaria amongst children under 5 years (UN5) in SSA.

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Introduction: Injuries during adolescence cause lifelong harm and death. Our study used a nationally representative sample to examine the prevalence and risk factors associated with serious injuries among in-school adolescents in Panama.

Methods: We analysed Panama's 2018 Global School-Based Student Health Survey data using SPSS.

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Background: The older person population is rapidly increasing globally, including sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Concurrently, malnutrition is also increasing among older persons in SSA, with a dearth of empirical evidence on nutritional status and associated factors among the older persons in the region to inform effective interventions to promote healthy ageing.

Aim/objective: This review assessed the nutritional status and associated factors among older persons in SSA.

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