Predictors of Nonadherence to Medications among Hypertensive Patients in Ghana: An Application of the Health Belief Model.

Introduction: Hypertension (HPT) is recognized as a significant public health problem worldwide from a health and economic perspective. This study determined predictors of nonadherence to HPT medications in Ghana using the health belief model.

Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive survey employing a quantitative approach was conducted among HPT patients who routinely attend clinics at selected hospitals in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana.

Preaching to the choir? The influence of personal relevance on the effects of gain- and loss-framed health-promoting messages.

This article examines the moderating influence of personal relevance on the persuasive effects of gain- and loss-framed messages. We assessed current behaviour as a proxy for personal relevance, provided 169 participants with gain- and loss-framed messages advocating skin self-examination (SSE) and assessed intention to engage in SSE as the outcome measure. The results showed that loss-framed information was more persuasive than gain-framed information, but only for low-relevance participants.

The effects of scenario-based risk information on perceptions of susceptibility to Chlamydia and HIV.

The simulation heuristic of Kahnemann and Tversky (1982) suggests that the subjective ease by which a risky situation can be mentally construed, positively influences the person's perceived susceptibility to the presented threat. Assuming that a detailed outline of how a risky event can end up negatively increases the ease of imagination, we tested the hypothesis that scenario-based risk information enhances perceived susceptibility towards contracting a sexually transmitted infection (STI). In an experimental design, undergraduate students were exposed to one or two risk scenario messages or no scenario message (control).

The effectiveness of a peer-led HIV/AIDS and STI health education intervention for prison inmates in South Africa.

This article reports on the effectiveness of the first systematically developed health education intervention for the reduction of risky sexual behavior among soon-to-be-released prisoners in South Africa. Data from three out of four prisons are eligible for data analysis including 263 inmates. Using a nested experimental design, short-term evaluation while inmates were still in prison demonstrate that experimental groups showed higher knowledge of sexually transmitted infections and had a more positive intention to reduce risky behavior than the control group in two out of three prisons.

Access point analysis on the state of health care services in South African prisons: a qualitative exploration of correctional health care workers' and inmates' perspectives in Kwazulu-Natal and Mpumalanga.

This paper explores inmates and prison health care workers perceptions of the state of health care services in four correctional facilities in South Africa. Structural and organisational issues are explored in terms of how they impact the delivery and provision of health care to inmates within correctional facilities. Additionally, the study forms an access point analysis of prisons as a health care setting as part of the development and testing of a STI/HIV health education intervention for soon to be released inmates.