ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Determinants of nurses' knowledge gap on pain management in Ghana

There are concerns about adequacy of nurses' knowledge and skill in effective pain management since effective pain management promotes early recovery after surgery. This study explores factors that accounted for Ghanaian nurses' inadequate knowledge of postoperative pain management using a focused ethnographic design for data collection at a tertiary teaching hospital in Ghana. Fourteen nurses designated as key informants with different backgrounds as nurse educators and leaders were purposively sampled to participate. Data were collected through in-depth individual interviews; all interviews were conducted in English, audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. The study revealed that nurses' inadequate pain management knowledge might have resulted from curriculum gaps during training; inadequate clinical supervision, study days, and workshops for practising nurses; lack of funding for organising regular workshops; and, negative attitudes of nurses whereby new information learned at workshops was not readily applied in clinical practice. It was concluded that nursing curricula at all levels of training in Ghana should incorporate credit-bearing courses on pain management, and appropriate pain management education programmes should be instituted for practising nurses. Regular monitoring and evaluation of the impact of such education programs is required. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Source: UG
Determinants of nurses’ knowledge gap on pain management in Ghana

There are concerns about adequacy of nurses’ knowledge and skill in effective pain management since effective pain management promotes early recovery after surgery. This study explores factors that accounted for Ghanaian nurses’ inadequate knowledge of postoperative pain management using a focused ethnographic design for data collection at a tertiary teaching hospital in Ghana. Fourteen nurses designated as key informants with different backgrounds as nurse educators and leaders were purposively sampled to participate. Data were collected through in-depth individual interviews; all interviews were conducted in English, audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. The study revealed that nurses’ inadequate pain management knowledge might have resulted from curriculum gaps during training; inadequate clinical supervision, study days, and workshops for practising nurses; lack of funding for organising regular workshops; and, negative attitudes of nurses whereby new information learned at workshops was not readily applied in clinical practice. It was concluded that nursing curricula at all levels of training in Ghana should incorporate credit-bearing courses on pain management, and appropriate pain management education programmes should be instituted for practising nurses. Regular monitoring and evaluation of the impact of such education programs is required.

Source: UG
Determinants of Nursing Students’ Satisfaction with the Clinical Learning Environment in the Kumasi Metropolis

The clinical learning environment (CLE) is beneficial to the trainee nurse in acquisition of the requisite skills, attitudes and values for future professional practice. Students’ satisfaction with the CLE makes the student dedicated, motivates them to learn and also prepares them adequately for future professional practice. Satisfaction assessment has been linked with graduate competency and student retention in the nursing programme. Using the Expectancy Disconfirmation Model as a framework, this study offers an in-depth understanding of the elements that bring about nursing students’ satisfaction with the CLE in the Ghanaian context. The study employed a cross-sectional survey design. Validated data collection instruments were adapted to gather data from a sample of 340 nursing students from three nursing and midwifery training institutions in the Kumasi metropolis in the Ashanti region of Ghana. The data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0. Descriptive statistics, correlation and regression were the main statistical tools used in the data analysis. The findings revealed that nursing students are dissatisfied with the clinical learning environment. Positive relationships were found between nursing students’ expectations, students’ perceived performance of the CLE and students’ satisfaction with the CLE. Nursing students’ expectations, learning opportunities and communication/ feedback in the CLE were found to be the main predictors of nursing students’ satisfaction with the CLE. These findings have established the need to improve nursing students’ clinical experiences to enhance professional nursing practice.

Source: UG
Determinants of Oral Diseases in the African and Middle East Region

Oral health policies must be developed that emphasize the role of social determinants in health and oral diseases. The aim of this report is to review literature on determinants of oral diseases and apply the concepts to promoting oral health in the African countries in the African and Middle East region (AMER). Structural and proximal determinants of oral diseases are common to those affected by other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Oral diseases are also heavily affected by issues of politics, poor health behaviors, underdeveloped health systems, and low oral health literacy. Wide-scale poverty exists in populations in the AMER. Oral health promotion and preventive oral health programs should therefore be integrated with those for general health and use the common risk factor approach (CRFA). Attempts should be made to improve the daily living conditions and reduce the incline of the social gradient. Oral health practitioners should use the CRFA when dealing with determinants of oral diseases and in the design of preventive oral health programs. The detrimental effects of the social determinants of health may be ameliorated by involving both the individual and community. Interventions in health promotion programs in the AMER need more research on the epidemiology of oral diseases and the role played by the social determinants of oral diseases, especially with regard to poverty. The high levels of poverty and low gross domestic product in most countries in the African region make it difficult to fund high-quality, affordable, accessible oral health services.

Source: UG
Determinants of perceived insecurity in a low-income neighborhood in Accra, Ghana

This study examines perception of safety and security, factors that influence this perception and the consequences of feeling insecure within Nima, a low-income neighborhood in Accra, Ghana. The study is important because previous studies on crime and insecurity in urban areas in Ghana have concentrated on interurban analysis, with limited attention given to the safety and security dynamics within a particular neighborhood. Our study thus provides an insider perspective on security and safety issues in the Nima neighborhood. A mixed-methods approach was used in both the data collection and analysis of the results. The study found that a majority of the respondents perceived Nima to be safe, which is contrary to outsiders’ perception and media reports about the neighborhood. For those who had some safety concerns, it was revealed that their safety concerns were largely accounted for by neighborhood-level factors such as availability of street lights and social cohesion and these contributed to behavioral and psychological reactions to feelings of insecurity among some respondents. We argue that addressing safety concerns of individuals will be more effective if broader structural issues are addressed in the neighborhood.

Source: UG
Determinants of Quality Of Life among Women Living With Cervical Cancer in the Accra Metropolis

Cervical cancer is an abnormal growth or tumour of the cervix, often predisposed by Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and other factors. Cervical cancer is the third most frequent cancer among women globally with about 527,624 cases diagnosed and 265,672 mortalities annually. It is the leading cause of cancer death among women in Ghana. Women living with cervical cancer are affected psychologically, physically, socially, sexually, spiritually and in many forms, after they are diagnosed with the disease. Coping with their spouses, partners, families, friends and continuous integration into the community in which they live become a major task. This study investigated into the determinants of quality of life among women diagnosed with cervical cancer in Ghana. A quantitative approach using a cross-sectional design was used for the study. A total sample size of 176 participants who met the inclusion criteria were recruited for the study. The statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 20.0 was utilised for the data analysis, and descriptive statistics, multiple linear regressions and Pearson’s correlation were computed. The results revealed that, the overall quality of life of the women was moderate (Mean= 3.54, SD=0.70) and symptom status was high (Mean=3.21, SD=0.61), daily functional activities was good (Mean=3.41, SD=0.51) but with high general health perceptions of the women about their illness (Mean= 2.81 SD=0.64). Finally, only environmental characteristics (p=0.008) and age (p=0.028) from the individual characteristics were significant in predicting the overall quality of life of women living with cervical cancer. These findings have implications for nursing and midwifery practice on clinical care, for policy formulation for a substantive policy on cancer treatment and funding for cervical cancer as well as for future research on the socioeconomic status and treatment modalities of these women.

Source: UG
Determinants of safety climate at primary care level in Ghana, Malawi and Uganda: a cross-sectional study across 138 selected primary healthcare facilities

Background: Safety climate is an essential component of achieving Universal Health Coverage, with several organi sational, unit or team-level, and individual health worker factors identifed as infuencing safety climate. Few studies however, have investigated how these factors contribute to safety climate within health care settings in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The current study examines the relationship between key organisational, unit and individual-level factors and safety climate across primary health care centres in Ghana, Malawi and Uganda. Methods: A cross-sectional, self-administered survey was conducted across 138 primary health care facilities in nine districts across Uganda, Ghana and Malawi. In total, 760 primary health workers completed the questionnaire. The relationships between individual (sex, job satisfaction), unit (teamwork climate, supportive supervision), organisa tional-level (district managerial support) and safety climate were tested using structural equation modelling (SEM) procedures. Post hoc analyses were also carried out to explore these relationships within each country. Results: Our model including all countries explained 55% of the variance in safety climate. In this model, safety climate was most strongly associated with teamwork (β=0.56, p<0.001), supportive supervision (β=0.34, p<0.001), and district managerial support (β=0.29, p<0.001). In Ghana, safety climate was positively associated with job satis faction (β=0.30, p<0.05), teamwork (β=0.46, p<0.001), and supportive supervision (β=0.21, p<0.05), whereby the model explained 43% of the variance in safety climate. In Uganda, the total variance explained by the model was 64%, with teamwork (β=0.56, p<0.001), supportive supervision (β=0.43, p<0.001), and perceived district managerial sup port (β=0.35, p<0.001) all found to be positively associated with climate. In Malawi, the total variance explained by the model was 63%, with teamwork (β=0.39, p=0.005) and supportive supervision (β=0.27, p=0.023) signifcantly and positively associated with safety climate. Discussion/conclusions: Our fndings highlight the importance of unit-level factors—and in specifc, teamwork and supportive supervision—as particularly important contributors to perceptions of safety climate among primary health workers in LMICs. Implications for practice are discussed.

Source: UG
Determinants of Scale of Farm Operation in the Eastern Region of Ghana

Background: Ghana’s smallholder share area under cultivation is witnessing a gradual decline, relative to the share of farmland under medium scale that is growing rapidly. Little attention has, however, been given to examining the drivers that inﬂuence scale of operation. Method: Using survey data from 231 farmers, this study employed the binary probit regression to assess factors that inﬂuence scale of farm operation among cassava and maize farmers in Ghana’s Eastern Region. Results: The ﬁndings showed that factors that were signiﬁcant and positively related to farm size were age, second- ary education, land acquisition for maize farmers, and tertiary education for cassava farmers. On the other hand, fac- tors that were signiﬁcant and negatively related to farm size were gender, marital status, access to extension services for cassava farmers, and household size, membership of farmer-based organization and access to credit for maize farmers. Conclusion: The study recommends the provision of mechanization support for medium-scale farmers coupled with the improvement of extension service delivery to medium-scale farmers. With messages focused on the adoption of improved technologies and mechanization of farm operations.

Source: UG
Determinants of Self-Management Practices among Hypertensive Patients in the Accra Metropolis

Hypertension is a global public health problem in high, middle and low income countries. Management of hypertension involves both pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches. Self-management is an important non-pharmacological approach that facilitates blood pressure control. Self-management practices in hypertension include medication adherence, lifestyle modifications and self-monitoring of blood pressure. There is paucity of literature on self-management practices among hypertensive patients in Ghana. An exploratory-descriptive qualitative research design was used to explore the determinants of self-management practices among hypertensive patients in the Accra Metropolis. Purposive sampling technique was used to sample 15 participants aged 39-89 years, who were fluent in English, Twi or Ga, diagnosed of hypertension for 1 year or more and attended clinic at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. A semi-structured interview lasting approximately 45-60 minutes each were conducted with 15 participants using the Health Belief Model (HBM) as the framework for questions and analysis. Knowledge of risk factors and complications of hypertension, motivators, perceived benefits and perceived barriers of self-management practices were the major themes identified from the interviews. Spiritual belief and disease management emerged as an additional major theme that was not related to the HBM. It was observed that there is the need to continuously educate hypertensive patients on the benefits derived from self-management practices.

Source: UG
Determinants of sexual dysfunction in pregnancy in a large tertiary hospital in Ghana

Objective To determine the factors associated with sexual dysfunction in pregnancy. Methods A cross-sectional facility-based study using quantitative methods was carried out among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic of the Greater Accra Regional Hospital from 14th May to 25th June 2018. Four hundred and twenty-seven married or cohabiting women who were at least eight weeks pregnant and have been living together with their partners for at least four weeks prior to the survey were consecutively recruited. The Female Sexual Func tion Index (FSFI) tool was used to assess their sexual function. Pearson’s Chi Square, Fischer’s exact, Mann Whitney and Student’s t-tests were used for bivariate analysis where appropriate between sexual dysfunction (dependent variable) and demographic, obstetrics and gynecologic factors (independent variables). Multiple logistic regression was done. Sta tistical significance was set at p-value of less than 0.05 at bivariate and multivariable analyses. Results The mean age of the respondents was 30.8 ± 4.8 years. Their mean gestational age was 32.3 ± 7.1 weeks. Marital status and duration of stay in marriage or cohabitation were signifi cantly associated with sexual dysfunction with adjusted odds ratios of 1.88 (p-value < 0.05) and 1.08 (p-value < 0.05) respectively. Conclusion Cohabiting and increasing length of stay with spouse are significantly associated with sexual dysfunction in pregnancy.

Source: UG
Determinants of small scale farmers’ decision to join farmer based organizations in Ghana

In recent times, governments of most developing countries have been promoting the formation and development of farmer based organizations as one of the keys to more rapid diffusion and cost effective extension delivery to farmers. This is premised on the assumption that small-scale farmers can have easy access to market information, credit and input for their production, processing, and marketing activities by joining farmer based organizations. However, this study found out that despite such observed benefits, some farmers were not members of farmer based organizations. This study uses the probit model to assess the factors influencing the decisions to join farmer based organizations in Ghana. The results revealed that farm size, farming as a major occupation, access to credit to loan and access to machinery services influenced farmers’ decisions to join farmer based organizations in the Eastern Region of Ghana.

Source: UG
Determinants of Stillbirths in the Tamale Metropolitan Area

Stillbirths are more common than the death of a baby after birth and remained a serious public health issue in the developing world. Although stillbirths are preventable, there has been a sharp increase in the rate of stillbirths in the Tamale Metropolitan area of Northern Ghana in the last couple of years. Majority of the causes and risk factors remained unknown. This study was conducted to assess the sociodemographic, obstetric and maternal medical related determinants of stillbirths. The findings will be used to guide policy change in stillbirth control and provide a basis for future studies of stillbirths in the Tamale Metropolitan area. Method A1:1 unmatched case control study was conducted in the Tamale Metropolitan area. Cases were defined as resident mothers of Tamale Metropolis who delivered singleton lifeless babies at or after 28 weeks of gestation from 1st January, 2012 to 31st December, 2013. Controls were those who had live births within the same period. We abstracted data from maternal health record booklets used in index pregnancies. Also, personal interviews with mothers on home visits was conducted. We estimated both crude and adjusted odds ratios, 95% confidence intervals and p values. Results A total of 368 mothers (184 cases and 184 controls) participated in the study. Maternal age of ≤ 24, prolonged labour (> 12 hours) and diastolic blood pressure of less than80mmHg in late pregnancy were significant determinants of stillbirths (aOR 3.0, 95% CI = 1.08 – 8.39; aOR 3.5, 95% CI = 1.94 – 6.61 and aOR 2.2, 95% CI = 1.04 – 4.54 respectively) Conclusion Low diastolic blood pressure in late pregnancy, young maternal age and prolonged labour were the key determinants of stillbirths in the Tamale Metropolis. Improvement of community moral practices and discouraging early marriage will help reduce the menace of stillbirths. Monitoring of blood pressure and labour should be prioritized Key: stillbirth, determinants, Tamale Metropolitan area

Source: UG
Determinants of Students Utilisation of Computer Information Retrieval Systems In Academic Libraries: Evidence from the University of Ghana

A number of educational institutions and libraries have established computerised information retrieval systems (CIRS) to help students to easily identify resources for their academic pursuit. The study investigates and retests the Unified Theory of Adoption and Use of Technology as a model for explaining technology (UTAUT) use among library users in the University of Ghana (UG). A questionnaire with 31 items based on the UTAUT study of Venkatesh et al (2003) and analysed on a 7 point Likert Scale was distributed to students who used the Balme Library in May, 2014. The results reveal that many students judge their ability to use the computer information retrieval system to accomplish the specified task as poor due to non-familiarity with the system. It is noted that a lot of students also doubt the ability of the system to provide the required responses they are looking for. This may be due to misconceptions from previous experiences or information gained from other people who have not been successful in using the information retrieval system. The study recommends that the Library incorporates the basic skills of interacting with the CIRS in its orientation programme to give students an acceptable perception of the CIRS.

Source: UG
Determinants of students' loyalty in the Ghanaian Banking Industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of students’ loyalty in retail banks in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach – A review of the literature identified four determinants of customer loyalty which were used to survey 624 students from five universities in Ghana. Data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression. Findings – The study found satisfaction with bank services, image of the bank, availability of electronic bank services and perceived service quality as the determinants of students’ bank loyalty. Perceived service quality was, however, not significant in predicting students’ loyalty to their banks. Practical implications – The study highlights the importance of understanding students’ behavior with regard to banking services. The three factors identified as significant predictors of students’ loyalty could be used by retail banks to design effective marketing strategies to attract and retain the student cohort in Ghana. Originality/value – The study was the first of its kind that investigates students’ loyalty in retail banks in sub‐Saharan Africa. The study provides practical leverage to enable bank marketers to identify students’ financial needs in order to design an appropriate value proposition to satisfy them.

Source: UG