Background: The 44-question Thai Home Fall Hazard Assessment Tool (Thai-HFHAT) was developed to assist healthcare professionals in identifying the risk of falls among community-dwelling older adults from their home environment. However, the reliability of this tool has not been studied. This study aimed to examine the reliability of the 44-question Thai-HFHAT and determine the demographic characteristics associated with home hazards. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used to evaluate inter-rater reliability. The participants in this study were 51 older people from various types of Thai houses: a one-story elevated house, a one-story non-elevated house, and a house with two or more floors, 51 caregivers of older patients, and 5 village health volunteers (VHV). A prospective design was used to evaluate test-retest reliability with older people at different times in their homes. All participants answered 44 Thai-HFHAT questions to determine inter-rater and test-retest reliabilities. The reliabilities were analyzed using an intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Demographic characteristics including sex, occupation, and education were used to identify the factors affecting home hazards, and linear regression was used to analyze. Results: The ICC of inter-rater reliability of the 44-question Thai-HFHAT was 0.74 (95% CI: 0.57-0.84) and the test-retest reliability was 0.80 (95% CI: 0.64-0.88) for the older adults, 0.80 (95% CI: 0.65-0.89) for the caregivers and 0.70 (95% CI: 0.477-0.83) for the VHV. In demographic variables, personal business career and education level (grades 1-3) had significant relations with the total number of home hazards in the 44-questions Thai-HFHAT. Conclusions: The 44-question Thai-HFHAT is suitable for home hazard assessment among older adults in Thailand. Further studies are needed to investigate changes in the house environment after using the 44-question Thai-HFHAT to determine which changes can reduce fall risk.
Objectives Noise-induced hearing loss can be prevented. A cross-sectional study aimed to a) assess sound pressure level (SPL) and average SPL for an 8-h period at working sites; and b) examine frequency of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) from audiometric screening and factors affecting NIHL of workers. Methods The samples recruited by purposive sampling comprised a) 18 factory departments, and b) 303 workers being removed from loudness for at least 8 h and voluntary willing to participate in this study. The research instruments included a) a sound level meter (Larson David 800 B), b) an audiometer (Fornix FA 12) and the quietest offi ce room, and c) a questionnaire and recording forms. The χ 2 test, relative prevalence (RP), and 95% CI were employed to analyse data. Results The fi ndings showed the maximum SPL of 110 dB(A) and average SPL for an 8-h period of 91.9 dB(A) in the department of raw material preparation. Prevalence of NIHL was 52.1%. The sample used hearing protection devices of 23.1%. Factors signifi cantly associated with NIHL at p≤0.05 were aged ≥35 years (RP 1.80; CI 1.50 to 2.17), working year ≥5 years (RP
This study explored the elements of the occupational health services model in Thai primary care units. Seven focus groups with nurses and public health professionals working in primary care units, employees, employers, and occupational health service-related authorities were conducted. Content analysis of the focus groups revealed 15 practical elements in five domains: system inputs, throughputs, services, outputs, and feedback. Examples of existing elements in the five domains were occupational health staff competencies (inputs), collaborative network building (throughputs), on-site occupational health services (services), number of activities performed as on-site occupational health services (outputs), and evaluation (feedback) of occupational health services delivery. The findings have implications for further development of the occupational health services model in Thai primary care units, such as training the staff of primary care units to become competent in delivering effective occupational health services.
Objectives to determine the situation and the association between natural heat and salt production workers' health. Methods The cross-sectional study was conducted in Samutsongkhram province, Thailand, during April to September 2009. The working environmental heat was measured with Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) model RSS-214DL by area sampling. Interview was conducted to collect the demographic data, occupation history, job description and health symptoms. Individual heat exposure was measure by ear thermometer. The physiological changes were measured by urine specifi c gravity with refregtometer and vital sign checking. Results average temperature in the working environment was 33.83+0.95 oC. Of 171 salt production workers, 35.67% of worker had adverse health effect from heat during data collection, including heat exhaustion (67.21%), skin rash (26.22%) and heat cramp (6.55%), respectively. The correlation was only noted between temperature in the working environment and physical change with urine specifi c gravity (r=0.89, p<0.01). When classifi ed by work load, there is dose-response between work load and percentage with heat symptoms (p for trend=0.04). The workers who work in environmental heat above standard threshold limit of Thai labour law had statistical signifi cantly higher proportion of heat symptoms than other group (p<0.01). Conclusions natural heat in working environment was a potential source of health hazard for salt production workers. The occupational heath provider should be concerned with this problem and implementing occupational health service for prevention of this problem.
Background: The 44-question Thai Home Fall Hazard Assessment Tool (Thai-HFHAT) was developed to assist healthcare professionals in identifying the risk of falls among community-dwelling elderly from their home environment. However, the reliability of this tool has not been studied. This study aimed to examine reliability of the 44-question Thai-HFHAT and determine the person characteristics associated with home hazards. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used for this research. The participants in this study were 51 elderly people from various types of Thai houses: a one-story elevated house, a one-story non-elevated house, and a house with two or more floors, 51 caregivers of elderly patients and 5 village health volunteers (VHV). All participants answered 44 Thai-HFHAT questions to determine inter-rater and test-retest reliabilities. The reliabilities were analyzed using an intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Personal characteristics including sex, occupation, and education were used to identify the factors affecting home hazard and linear regression was used to analyze. Results: The ICC of inter-rater reliability of the 44-question Thai-HFHAT was 0.74 (95% CI: 0.57-0.84) and the test-retest reliability was 0.80 (95% CI: 0.64-0.88) for the elderly, 0.80 (95% CI: 0.65-0.89) for the caregivers and 0.70 (95% CI: 0.477-0.83) for the VHV. Personal business career and education level grade 1-3 are less than 0.05, which showed these factors had a significant relationship with the 44-question Thai-HFHAT score as dependent variable. Conclusions: The 44-question Thai-HFHAT is suitable for the home hazards assessment among the elderly in Thailand. Further studies are needed to investigate changes in the house environment after using the 44-question Thai-HFHAT to determine which changes can reduce the risk of fall.
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