Knowledge about osteoporosis and its related factors among public health nurses in Taiwan

Abstract

Although osteoporosis prevention has been identified as a critical issue for women and the elderly population, some health professionals still misunderstand osteoporosis. Public health nurses (PHNs) are responsible for health promotion and disease prevention in community populations. The objective of this study was to investigate PHNs' knowledge of osteoporosis and its related factors. A cross-sectional research design was used: 678 subjects from 3,300 PHNs who worked at health centers in Taiwan during 2000 were selected by cluster random sampling to participate in this study; 539 of them returned the questionnaire. On average, the PHNs' knowledge was found to be 0.68 (ranging from 0 to 1). The highest and lowest scores were found in the areas of disease prevention and the detection of the symptoms/signs of osteoporosis. By using one-way ANOVA, our study found that participants who had studied osteoporosis at school, had graduated from university, were RNs or LPNs and had studied osteoporosis as part of continuing education (CE) had higher knowledge scores. This study recommends that CE and nursing education about osteoporosis need to be highly valued. Nursing educators should reassess and reconstruct nursing curricula. Health administrators should evaluate learning needs and provide CE via multiple channels. Symptoms/signs, diagnosis/treatment and prevention issues are suggested as the core components of designing nursing curricula and CE.

Awareness of osteoporosis among female employees in Kerman, Iran

“…Since mass media's education might not be based on the real needs and information level of community, this situation is not unexpected. In Chen et al study, the awareness of nurses toward symptoms and also the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis was less than other aspects [15]. In Barzanji et al study, the most important source of information was TV (58.6%) followed by relatives and friends (30.0%), while health workers (15.4%) had no considerable role in providing information about osteoporosis [17].…”

“…Of course, this problem is not limited to Iran; for example, Terrio et al have studied the awareness of three age groups toward osteoporosis and reported low rate of awareness in all groups [4]. Chen et al in their study in Taiwan have reported the score of 34.16 out of 50 for the awareness of public health nurses [15]. In Zhang et al study in Singapore, mean awareness score of nurses toward osteoporosis was 14.5 from 20 [16].…”

To Assess the Knowledge of Nurses Regarding Prevention of Osteoporosis among Nurses of Jinnah Hospital and General Hospital Lahore Pakistan

“…At the public level residence get adequate prevention regarding disease and other health issue so nurse have sufficient and relevant knowledge to teach others. Opportunity in high job promotion is factor of encouragement for nurses to improve their professional knowledge (Chen et al, 2005).…”

“…(Vered et al, 2008) Nurses who were thirty years old, and who studied from higher education in their fields had a good post in their clinical area as a head nurse and staff nurse. They found in high level of knowledge g related to osteoporosis and also its prevention they can offered osteoporosis education to community people on behalf of their higher scores knowledge regarding osteoporosis (Chen et al, 2005).…”

Osteoporosis Knowledge and Information Needs in Healthcare Professionals Caring for Patients With Fragility Fractures

“…Understanding current osteoporosis knowledge and the needs of health-care professionals with respect to osteoporosis knowledge would provide a framework for the development of educational interventions. Although levels of osteoporosis knowledge have been reported previously in nurses and nursing students, there was no assessment of learning needs and preferences (Berarducci, 2004;Berarducci, Lengacher, & Keller, 2002;Chen, Yu, Wang, Cheng, & Huang, 2005;Ziccardi, Sedlak, & Doheny, 2004). The purpose of this study was to evaluate osteoporosis knowledge and learning needs of a multidisciplinary group of nurses and other healthcare professionals who work in areas providing care for patients who often have osteoporosis and fractures, and to facilitate the development of a knowledge-transfer strategy designed with the ultimate goal of improving osteoporosis management after fracture.…”