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Background Vaccine hesitancy is relevant for healthcare professionals (HCPs) who face challenges in building trusting relationships with patients. Accordingly, the VAX-TRUST project has been developed to improve experiences of HCPs and patients dealing with vaccinations. To support VAX-TRUST, this work aimed to identify latest interventions targeted at HCPs to address hesitancy and increase vaccine uptake. Methods A systematic review was conducted according to PRISMA by searching PubMed, Scopus and Embase. The protocol was registered on PROSPERO. Articles were eligible if evaluated interventions directly targeted at HCPs/healthcare students. The search was run on 26 January 2022. Articles published in 2016 or after were included. Results A total of 17 492 records were identified; 139 articles were selected. Most articles were set in USA (n  = 110). Over half had a pre–post design without a control group (n  = 78). A total of 41 articles focused on single-component interventions, 60 on multi-component interventions involving only HCPs and/or students and 38 on multi-component interventions involving also other professionals. Main components were in-person education (n  = 76), synchronous (n  = 10) and asynchronous (n  = 23) online learning, educational materials (n  = 26), performance assessment and feedback (n  = 33), electronic record changes (n  = 30), role play/simulation (n  = 21) and online games/apps (n  = 5). Educational sessions were mainly about scientific update or communication. Outcomes of interventions were grouped in: vaccination rates (n  = 69), knowledge (n  = 32), attitudes (n  = 26), confidence in counselling (n  = 30) and acceptability (n  = 16). Conclusions Apps, gaming, role play/simulations could represent innovative interventions. This review highlighted the need of delving into communication strategies and using more robust evaluations, longer follow-up and standardized measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Vaccine hesitancy is an emerging phenomenon in European countries and leads to decreasing trends in infant vaccine coverage. The aim of this study was to analyze the level of confidence and correct awareness about immunizations, which are crucial for the success of vaccination programmes. Methods As part of the NAVIDAD multicentre study, we examined vaccination confidence and complacency among a sample of 1820 pregnant women from 14 Italian cities. The questionnaire assessed the interviewee's knowledge, beliefs and misconceptions, as well as their socioeconomic status, information sources about vaccines and confidence in the Italian National Healthcare Service. Results Only 9% of women completely believed to the efficacy, necessity and safety of vaccinations. Almost 20% of them had misconceptions on most of the themes. There was a significant difference in the level of knowledge considering educational level: women with a high educational level have less probability of obtaining a low knowledge score (odds ratio (OR) 0.43 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.34–0.54]). The level of knowledge was also influenced by the sources of information: women who received information from their general practitioner (GP) and from institutional websites had a significantly lower chance of having misconceptions (OR 0.74 [95% CI 0.58–0.96]; OR 0.59 [95% CI 0.46–0.74]). Finally, the results underlined the influence of trust in healthcare professional information on the likelihood of having misconceptions (OR 0.49 [95% CI 0.27–0.89]). Conclusions The data suggest the efficacy of GPs and institutional websites as a source of information to contrast misconceptions and underline the importance of confidence in the healthcare system to increase complacency and confidence in vaccines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The age around 50 years represents a crucial point for women: menopause leads to biological changes and it begins breast and colon-rectal cancer screening. This study aimed at assessing frequencies of cardiovascular risk factors and analyzing participation in screening and vaccination. Methods In 2017, a cross-sectional study was performed in Northern Italy. Totally, 12 249 women, aged between 50 and 54 years, were enrolled by General Practitioners (GPs). It was used a 21-item form, with information about: socio-demographic, anamnestic and clinical data, execution of a booster shot of tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine in the last decade and of PAP-test, mammography and faecal occult blood test in the last 2 years. Descriptive and crosstab χ2 analyses were performed with STATA MP13. The significance level was P ≤ 0.05. Results Our findings showed the presence of cardiovascular risk factors, such as obesity (10.95%), hypertension (13.76%), hyperlipidaemia (11.57%), glycaemia ≥ 100 mg dl−1 (16.97%), poor physical activity (73.49%), smoking (18.28%), cardiovascular family history (FH) (51.70%). There were a lower participation in colo-rectal cancer screening (45.09%) compared with breast (85.06%) and cervical (77.16%) cancer screening and an insufficient Tdap booster dose compliance (17.56%). Chi-square analyses showed correlations between cardiovascular FH and body mass index, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, glycaemia and smoking, and between cancer FH and participation in breast and colo-rectal cancer screening (P < 0.05). Conclusions Women with cardiovascular disease FH represent a priority target of educational interventions considering the prevalence of concomitant risk factors. Programmes aimed at increasing screening and vaccination participation should be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The misuse of antibiotics is one of the leading causes of antibiotic resistance. Paediatric patients are highly involved in this issue, as they are those who receive the largest amount of prescriptions of these drugs. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the general knowledge regarding the use of antibiotics, as well as the attitudes related to the administration of these drugs to children, amongst parents of children in the paediatric age-group. Methods: In 2014, a multicentre cross-sectional study was conducted amongst parents of children aged 0-14. A questionnaire made up of 33 items was administered in waiting rooms of outpatient departments. Multivariable logistic regression models were performed, in order to assess the potential predictors of a better knowledge about antibiotics. Results: A total of 1247 parents took part to the survey. Around 33% of the samples declared that antibiotics are useful for viral infections, 20.6% that antibiotics are useful for every kind of pain and inflammation, while 14% of the parents stated that they stop giving antibiotics to their children when they start feeling better. Multivariable models showed that males, unemployed and those with lower levels of education are less prone to answer correctly to the questions about antibiotics. Conclusion: The present study demonstrates that parents have a lack of knowledge regarding the use of antibiotics, which results in bad habits and inappropriate attitudes when it comes to giving antibiotics to their children. Attention should be particularly focused on disadvantaged parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Telemedicine has demonstrated to improve access and quality of health services in underserved area, curtailing the costs, therefore its application to the delivery of health care in prison would be desirable. Little is known about its use across European penal institutions. Our study aimed to assess the state of telemedicine within the European jails. Methods: To maximize data availability, we used two different approaches. A bottom-up approach was used by gathering information directly from prison directors of every single penal establishment of the 28 European members. A top-down approach was used to collect information from persons involved in prison administration or project leaders at national level. In both approaches questions were sent by mail. Results: Information gathered directly by contacting prison directors and/or persons in charge come from all the 28 EU members. In total, we contacted 211 prison directors and 116 persons in charge, with a total response rate of 67%. We have found that telemedicine, as additional healthcare delivery model, is used only in 11 countries, especially among members of Northern and Western Europe. Only Romania showed to have a pilot project for a nationwide program of telemedicine. Conclusions: Telemedicine services among European penitentiaries appear still poorly developed. Given the numerous and demonstrated advantages of this technology, it would be desirable to implement its utilization in penal healthcare and to integrate it in the routine services, as benefit not only for prison environments but also for the whole community of each country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We performed a systematic review and proportion meta-analysis in order to investigate the prevalence and the adverse effects of the self-medication among the teenagers. Methods: We selected observational studies published from January 1990 until January 2014 that examined the use of self-medication in the adolescents (aged from 13 to 18 years). Keywords used on PubMed, ISI Web of Knowledge and Scopus were ‘self medication', ‘adolescent*', ‘self prescription', ‘over the counter preparations' and ‘self administration'. Results: Finally, 15 articles met the inclusion criteria, for a total of 143 213 subjects involved. Overall, 50% of adolescents use to take drugs without consulting a physician. Further analyses stratified by number of drugs used demonstrated that in the studies reporting that adolescents use more than one type of drug the prevalence rises up to 63%. Only one study reported the possible adverse effects related to the inappropriate use of drugs, which were experienced by 31.1% of the females and 19.6% of the males. Conclusions: Self-medication use among adolescents is a widespread phenomenon. It would be advisable to give more attention on this public health concern and to promote initiatives, such as mass media campaigns and governmental actions, in order to make the citizens more aware to the risks related to the consumption of drugs without medical consultation. Further studies on adverse effects are urgently needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]