Why are pregnant women in Togo reluctant to undergo caesarean section? A systematic inventory of motives.

This study explored the reasons underlying pregnant women's reluctance to undergo cesarean sections in Togo, despite its importance in reducing maternal and neonatal mortality. A total of 397 pregnant women who expressed hesitancy toward cesarean sections were enrolled during routine prenatal care visits at the country's largest hospital. They completed a questionnaire comprising 72 statements addressing potential reasons for hesitancy toward cesarean sections.

Why are African immigrants in Montreal reluctant to use mental health services?: a systematic inventory of reasons.

Purpose: Previous research has shown that non-Caucasian immigrants in Western countries are less likely than native-born people to use mental health services. This study examined the reasons underlying reluctance to use mental health services among African immigrants in Montreal, Canada.

Methods: The study participants were 280 African immigrants who had experienced symptoms suggesting depression but did not use formal mental health services.

French lay Persons' judgments of the possibility of a heart attack when experiencing various physical manifestations.

Background: The aim of the study was to characterize the different ways in which, based on certain physical manifestations that an individual suddenly experiences, people judge the possibility that these manifestations indicate the onset of a heart attack.

Methods: One hundred ninety-four French adults--plus six physicians--were presented with a set of realistic vignettes composed by orthogonally crossing the levels of four factors: the type of pain felt, and the presence or absence of nausea, excess sweating, and of difficulty breathing.

Results: Four qualitatively different reactions were found among the lay people.

Patients' Positions on the Degree of Trust to be Placed in Physicians.

Patient-physician relationship is ideally based on mutual trust. Trust usually takes times to build but can quite instantaneously be destroyed as a result of a single action or a single misperception. This study examined the way patients conceptualize the relationship between trust in a physician and perceived competency, honesty and openness, and personal involvement in care.

Judging the possibility of the onset of diabetes mellitus type 2 from reported behavioral changes and from family history.

Background: Undiagnosed type 2 diabetes is common and can lead to unrecognized health complications. Given that earlier detection can reduce the damage to vital organs, it is important for all persons to be able to make the connection between certain new manifestations in their bodies and the possibility of diabetes. This study examined the extent to which people use the behavioral changes they observe in others (or in themselves), as well as relevant family history, to judge the possibility of the onset of diabetes.

Mapping Colombians' positions on sentencing for substance offenses.

Background: In Colombia, a person caught in possession of an illicit substance is not judicially sanctioned as long as the quantity does not exceed the maximum allowable amounts. Given that the public is divided on the appropriateness of this policy, an examination of the various public positions was undertaken.

Method: A convenience sample of 302 adults were presented with 48 vignettes depicting a situation of everyday life easily recognizable by all in Colombia; that of a male person who is apprehended in the street by the police because he is suspected of illicit trafficking.

Young Indians' Willingness to Make a Living Organ Donation.

Background: The large unmet need in India for organs to transplant calls for an increase in living organ donations. This study examined the positions of Indian university students on making a living organ donation.

Methods: A convenience sample of 339 students from Karnatak University rated willingness to be a living donor in 48 scenarios consisting of all combinations of 5 factors: recipient's identity (close family member vs stranger), level of surgical risk for the donor, possible long-term health consequences for the donor, probability of transplant success, and likelihood of finding other donors (the subject is one of the rare compatible donors or one donor among others).

French People's positions on supervised injection facilities for drug users.

Background: Supervised injection facilities have been set-up in many countries to curb the health risks associated with unsafe injection practices. These facilities have, however, been met with vocal opposition, notably in France. As harm reduction policies can only succeed to the extent that people agree with them, this study mapped French people's opinions regarding the setting-up of these facilities.

French People's Views Regarding Xenotransplantation.

Background: French laypeople's views on xenotransplantation were examined.

Methods: A convenience sample of 224 adults (among them, 37 nurses) judged of the acceptability of xenotransplantation in 50 realistic scenarios composed of various combinations of 4 factors: 1. the type of graft (eg, pig cardiac valve), 2.

French People's Views on the Allocation of Organs for Transplantation.

Background: French laypeople's views on the allocation of organs for transplantation were examined.

Methods: A total of 199 adults make judgments of priority for a liver transplant in 48 realistic scenarios composed of all combinations of 4 factors: 1. probability of success, 2.

Willingness to Use Mental Health Services for Depression Among African Immigrants and White Canadian-Born People in the Province of Quebec, Canada.

Studies suggest that non-Caucasian immigrants to Canada are less likely than Canadian-born people to use mental health services. To meet the mental health needs of ethnocultural minorities, insights into their help-seeking attitudes are of great concern. This study examined the willingness of African immigrants and White Canadian-born to seek care for depression from conventional mental health services.

Mapping and comparing French people's positions regarding restrictive control policies: a pilot study.

Background: Public authorities resort to various control policies in order to curb the prevalence of unhealthy behaviors. As these policies can only succeed to the extent that people agree with them, this study mapped French people's positions regarding restrictive control policies in general.

Method: A sample of 344 adults (among them health professionals and lawyers) were presented with 54 vignettes depicting a control policy.

What motivates individuals to volunteer in Ebola epidemic response? A structural approach in Guinea.

Background: The 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa placed greater demands on the affected countries' already scarce health workforce. Consequently, governments in the most affected West African countries made appeals for volunteers to join Ebola response programs. Those volunteers played an important yet high-risk role in aiding the victims of the Ebola epidemic and in limiting its spread.

Infant vaccination against malaria in Mozambique and in Togo: mapping parents' willingness to get their children vaccinated.

: Malaria is one of the most widespread and deadly diseases worldwide and large majority of malaria cases and deaths occurs in Africa. Efforts to develop an effective vaccine against malaria are underway and several vaccine prototypes are on different clinical trial phases.: As many sub-Saharan African countries have shown interest in introducing large-scale infant vaccination against malaria when a definitively approved vaccine will be available, the present study aimed at mapping Mozambican parents' willingness to get their children vaccinated and comparing the results with findings from a similar study we conducted in Togo (209 participants).

Romanian Laypeople's and Health Professionals' Views Regarding Living Organ Donation.

Background: Romanian laypeople's and health professionals' views on living organ donation were examined.

Methods: From July 2015 to May 2016, 263 adults (among them 31 physicians and 20 nurses) judged the acceptability of living organ donation in 42 realistic scenarios composed of varying levels of 6 factors: 1. type of organ, 2.

Why patients want to take or refuse to take antibiotics: an inventory of motives.

Background: Inappropriate use of antibiotics is a worldwide issue. In order to help public health institutions and each particular physician to change patterns of consumption among patients, it is important to understand better the reasons why people accept to take or refuse to take the antibiotic drugs. This study explored the motives people give for taking or refusing to take antibiotics.

Mapping French Laypeople's Views Regarding Living Organ Donation.

Background: French laypeople's views on living organ donation (LOD) were examined.

Methods: From 2010 to 2014, 327 adults (including 21 nurses) judged the acceptability of LOD in 60 realistic scenarios composed of all combinations of 5 factors: 1. type of organ; 2.

Willingness to get vaccinated against Ebola: A mapping of Guinean people positions.

Objective: To map the different personal positions of Guinean people regarding vaccination against Ebola.

Methods: From January to April 2016, 304 adults in Guinea were presented with 48 vignettes depicting situations in which getting vaccinated would be possible. These situations varied as a function of the constructs of health-protective behavior theories.

Duty to provide care to Ebola patients: the perspectives of Guinean lay people and healthcare providers.

Aim: To examine the views of Guinean lay people and healthcare providers (HCPs) regarding the acceptability of HCPs' refusal to provide care to Ebola patients.

Method: From October to December 2015, lay people (n=252) and HCPs (n=220) in Conakry, Guinea, were presented with 54 sample case scenarios depicting a HCP who refuses to provide care to Ebola patients and were instructed to rate the extent to which this HCP's decision is morally acceptable. The scenarios were composed by systematically varying the levels of four factors: (1) the risk of getting infected, (2) the HCP's working conditions, (3) the HCP's family responsibilities and (4) the HCP's professional status.

Cultural concepts of the person and mental health in Africa.

People in different cultures have different concepts of the person that underlie self-understanding and self-representation. These concepts influence many aspects of individuals' life experience, including illness and expectations toward recovery. Psychotherapies aim to promote adaptive change in experience and behavior.

Haitian people's expectations regarding post-disaster humanitarian aid teams' actions.

The way people at the receiving end of humanitarian assistance perceive this intervention may provide invaluable bottom-up feedback to improve the quality of the intervention. We analyzed and mapped Haitians' views regarding international humanitarian aid in cases of natural disaster. Two hundred fifty participants-137 women and 113 men aged 18-67-who had suffered from the consequences of the earthquake in 2010 were presented with a series of vignettes depicting a humanitarian team's action and were asked to what extent these actions corresponded to what ought to be expected from an international aid mission.

Allocation of antiretroviral drugs to HIV-infected patients in Togo: perspectives of people living with HIV and healthcare providers.

Aim: To explore the way people living with HIV and healthcare providers in Togo judge the priority of HIV-infected patients regarding the allocation of antiretroviral drugs.

Method: From June to September 2015, 200 adults living with HIV and 121 healthcare providers living in Togo were recruited for the study. They were presented with stories of a few lines depicting the situation of an HIV-infected patient and were instructed to judge the extent to which the patient should be given priority for antiretroviral drugs.

Acceptability of vaccination against HIV: A mapping of Togolese people's positions.

In anticipation of a future HIV vaccine, we mapped the different personal positions regarding HIV vaccination of people in Togo. In early 2014, 363 adults indicated their willingness to receive a future HIV vaccine under different conditions varying as a function of five factors: perceived susceptibility to HIV, vaccine effectiveness, perceived severity of AIDS, vaccine cost, and family's influence. We found five qualitatively different positions: unconditional acceptance (49%), depends on cost/effectiveness ratio (20%), depends on cost (18%), total indecision (10%), and complete reluctance (3%).

Breaking Bad News to Togolese Patients.

The aim of this study was to map Togolese people's positions regarding the breaking of bad news to elderly patients. Two hundred eleven participants who had in the past received bad medical news were presented with 72 vignettes depicting communication of bad news to elderly female patients and asked to indicate the acceptability of the physician's conduct in each case. The vignettes were all combinations of five factors: (a) the severity of the disease, (b) the patient's wishes about disclosure, (c) the level of social support during hospitalization, (d) the patient's psychological robustness, and (e) the physician's decision about how to communicate the bad news.